30 Day Money Challenge: How Much Can You Save?
You know that you need to save money. But when it comes to your day-to-day finances, it seems like there’s always something you need to pay for and then you’re back to square one. So, why don’t you try a 30 day money challenge? For a month, you challenge yourself to save as much money as possible or even just a specific amount like $2,200 or $3000. By the end, we bet that you’ll see how you can start saving at least some money every month. Read on to learn about how the 30 day money challenge works.
Overview:
- What is the 30 day money challenge?
- How much should you save a month?
- Savings tips to help you with the 30 day money challenge
What is the 30 day money challenge?
Basically, the whole idea behind the 30 day money challenge is that you save a certain amount of money in a month through a series of gradually increasing deposits. For example, say you want to save $1000 in 30 days. Each day you’ll make a ‘deposit’ into your savings account. For example, one day you could put $5 into your savings, while you put $55 in another day.
There are plenty of online templates and charts that have already done the maths for you, so you just need to figure out the amount you want to save and then start crossing off the days!
How much should you save a month?
This ultimately depends upon your financial situation (your debts, how much you earn, the bills you have to pay etc.). So we recommend sitting down and creating a bit of a budget. That way you can see how much income you have left over at the end of each week once you’ve taken all your bills and debts into consideration.
Savings tips to help you with the 30 day money challenge
While making daily deposits into your savings account seems easy enough, you’ll also need to make some lifestyle adjustments to help you stick to your goal. We’ve outlined a few tips for you below.
Tip 1: Don’t eat out
You don’t have to give it up completely for one month, but consider cutting it way back. This could look like only sticking to 1 drink when you go out for friends, inviting friends over for pizza instead of dining out or meal prepping your lunches so you don’t buy them everyday.
Tip 2: Give up the daily latte
You can do it for 30 days. It’s easier than you think to make coffee at home before you leave. Set the timer on your coffee pot, fill it up the night before and you’ll wake up to freshly brewed coffee ready to take with you to work. Get a good travel mug, and you’ll be set.
Tip 3: Use the library
The library has a number of resources and services to offer (more than you’d think!). Instead of buying new books or the latest DVD, head to your library to see if they have it first. You could even stop some of your streaming services as most libraries offer free streaming platforms for movies and TV shows.
Tip 4: Take a look at your automatic withdrawals
Use this 30 day money challenge to review what subscriptions you’re paying for and think about whether you still need or use these still. Do you really need all the streaming services? Do you really use your gym membership? Maybe you can stream workouts at home or start walking or running outside. Continue down the list of all your automatic withdrawals and see how much money you can start saving!
Tip 5: Use coupons, sales and deals to reduce your grocery bill
Instead of just picking up whatever sounds good each time you head to the grocery store, use this month to learn how to keep a list, menu plan and utilise what you already have. Check the weekly catalogues and plan around the specials.
Tip 6: Declare a ‘no spending’ day each week
Each week of this 30 day money challenge, find a day where you don’t have a bill due and where you can avoid spending any money.. That means you don’t buy petrol, you don’t buy alcohol, you don’t buy ingredients for dinner and the list goes on. Take the savings each week and stick it in your nest egg.
Need help saving?
There are tons of other ways to lower your expenses and pool money towards your savings.. While the whole idea behind this 30 day money savings challenge is to save you a lot of money in a short amount of time, it’ll also set you up for success in the future. Who knows, maybe after 30 days you’ll develop a different money mindset or new savings habits!
However, while you’re building this nest egg, you might find that you’re stuck with a large, unplanned expense. Rather than drain your new savings account, you might want to consider taking out a cash loan from Swoosh to cover the expense. You’ll be able to fill out an application, get your money fast and know exactly how long it will take to pay off. And if you do it right, you can keep saving while still paying off the secured loan!
