I have another wonderful challenge for you! This month, I’m kicking off a 30 day savings challenge. This is ideal for those who want quick gratification and some easy money.
Challenges are one of the best ways to save money, especially when you’ve struggled to put cash into your savings account. Overspending is a tough nut to crack! If you have even one competitive bone in your body, you’ll find yourself competing with yourself to reach your goal through this challenge.
It feels like a game as you scratch off those dollar amounts and slowly see yourself sticking to that golden savings number. Sometimes saving money can feel a little drab, so this adds some fun and excitement to building your savings.
I’ve designed this challenge to be totally customizable. Choose a savings goal that works for you, and then outline it as I’ve detailed below. I even have some ideas on how you can cut down expenses (one will even cut down expenses permanently!) The goal is to cut back on spending elsewhere in your budget to make room for savings.
How To Save With The 30 Day Savings Challenge
So if you feel like kicking that last bit of credit card debt out the door or finally going on that holiday you’ve been holding your vacation days for, now is the time. Join me for this quick and easy 30-day money savings challenge!
Step 1: Determine your savings goal.
At the end of the 30-day money savings challenge, what do you plan on achieving? It first helps to know where you would like your money to go at the end. What would you like to save for?
Here are some of the most popular goals I hear about to give you some inspiration:
- Go on vacation. Fill up the vacation fund, get extra gas money, or finally book that plane ticket.
- Refill a sinking fund. If you’ve recently dipped into a sinking fund, get it back to where it used to be.
- Save for the holiday season. Start putting aside money early on to pay for gifts, travel, and food.
- Pay off a loan. Add an extra lump sum to your credit card or loan payment this month.
- Pay for a long-awaited item. How about car repairs or that purse you’ve been waiting to splurge on?
- Add to your emergency fund. Increase your security fund to last you for even longer in case something goes wrong.
- A fun event. Save for an upcoming event like a wedding or concert tickets.
This goal will be your motivation. When outlining your challenge, keep your eye on the prize and remember what you’re working for!
Step 2: Choose a savings amount.
Once you have your eyes set on that finish line, you need to know what you need to accomplish to get there. Determine how much money you want to save by the end of the 30 days. This will look different for everyone depending on their budget.
Ask yourself, “what’s a realistic goal?” Is it possible for you to save $500 by the end of the 30 days? How about $200? You know your potential income and spending habits best. You still want your 30-day money savings challenge to be, well, a challenge. But it has to be feasible!
Step 3: Review your budget.
Crack your knuckles because now we’re getting down to work. Print out last month’s bank statement and begin to review every single transaction. If you’ve done budgeting before, then you’re familiar with this part!
You want to group all similar transactions. For instance, how much did you spend on groceries? Gas? Toiletries? Look for any areas where you can trim down your spending. Food is typically a good place to start. Eating out less and sticking to grocery lists will make a huge impact on monthly spending.
Highlight any recurring bills or transactions that you have. This can include things like utility or phone bills, streaming services, subscription boxes, insurance payments, and more. Can you cut any of these things out by canceling them or pausing them? A month without Netflix may not be so bad!
Of course, there are bills you will have to pay no matter what. Unfortunately, that phone bill and house insurance aren’t going anywhere. But this brings me to step 4!
Step 4: Negotiate better rates.
Did you know you can actually negotiate better rates for many of your bills? A quick phone call can quickly bring down your monthly bills significantly. Here are some bills you can actually negotiate for a smaller rate:
- Credit cards
- Cell phone
- Cable
- Internet
- Medical bills
- Insurance
- Gym membership
- Auto insurance
- Home insurance
- Life insurance
What I love about this part of the 30-day money savings challenge is that its impact goes much longer than 30 days. This will help you in the long run, cutting costs down from what they were forever more. If you negotiated your bills before, don’t be afraid to ask again. This is something you can do every year.
Step 5: Make a plan.
Now that you have a general sense of how you can cut down on your monthly spending, it’s time to write it all down! At this point, write down all the steps you will take to make your money goal.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say I want to save $200 this month to contribute to an upcoming vacation.
- Cut back $20 each week on groceries ($80)
- No spending money for the month ($80)
- Cut fun money by $20
- Negotiate phone bill down by $10
- Pause Netflix for the month ($10)
This allows me to create an actionable plan on how I will achieve my savings. You know exactly where to watch your spending. When you would normally spend that money, send it towards your savings account instead!
Step 6: Visualize it!
This part of the 30-day savings challenge is optional, but it’s one of the most fun parts of it, in my opinion. I love being able to visually see how close to my goal I am.
For each money challenge, I draft out something I can color in whenever I reached an increment of my goal. I recommend splitting your total goal up by ten or twenty. Every time you save ten or twenty dollars, start coloring!
It helps to build that excitement every single time you get to color in a section. Visually seeing you achieve your financial goals only accelerates you to keep going.
As reminders, also include your total savings goal, the list of actionable items you plan to do, and what you’re saving for. Place it in an area where you can see it often, such as the fridge or on your desk. This keeps it fresh in your mind at all times, so you stay motivated!
Share Your 30 Day Savings Challenge
And that’s the 30-day money savings challenge! I like to do this kind of challenge every few months. It’s a nice reminder that I can still trim my expenses and get a little extra cash for something on the horizon. This year, I’m definitely using this cash for the holiday fund.
Let me know what you’re saving for! It helps to hear that others are doing this challenge alongside you. We can cheer each other on and have one big virtual celebration when we’ve all reached our goal.
Want to learn more about saving money WHILE paying off debt? Then you need to avoid the top 3 mistakes people tend to make when it comes to writing their own budget! Sign up below for my free budget class where I’m sharing how you can write a budget that gets you closer to your financial goals without sacrificing what you love!
