Are you in deep debt because you spend more money than you make? If so, you’re certainly not alone, but that probably doesn’t make you feel much better about the issue.
What could have kept you out of debt? A money-saving mentality that allows you to keep more of what you have instead of constantly making purchases.
Do you have to be born with this mentality? Not at all, as you can develop the financial discipline to start saving your cash, and these three challenges can help you achieve that goal.
1. Start saving your change.
Have you heard of the “Keep All The Change Challenge”? If not, you can probably deduce what it involves by looking at its name.
Instead of keeping your change in the car to use at the drive-thru or for other purposes, you store it in a jar or some other safe place. Every time you buy something and get change back, you put it in the jar.
Do this for a year, and you could have quite a nice mound of money that can be used to pay down some of your debt or for other purposes.
If saving change sounds silly, it’s not. You’d be surprised at how spare change can add up over time. Plus, the simple act of not spending that little bit of money can get you in the habit of saving more.
If you make many online purchases, a similar method is to use the Acorns app to start saving. It will round up any purchases you make to the next dollar and use that amount to invest in a diversified portfolio. Not only does this help you save, but it also gets your feet wet with investing to build a nice financial future.
2. Eat what you have.
Have you looked around in your kitchen lately? If so, you may notice that you really don’t need to go to the store so often, as you have plenty of uneaten food that’s just sitting there.
The “Pantry Challenge” has you avoid the store and eat what you already have. This teaches you to be resourceful, and it can also give you a firsthand glimpse into your buying mistakes.
For instance, you may notice that you buy way too much food that you never eat. By doing the Pantry Challenge, you can learn to be pickier when shopping, and you can also avoid the costly act of wasting food.
3. Stop spending for a while.
Do you find it impossible to go a day without spending? You may not purchase all necessities, either, but you spend simply out of habit or because it gives you a rush.
While it can be hard to stop this habit, the “No Spend Challenge” can slowly teach you that it is possible not to spend money every single day.
Start by picking a weekend where you’ll spend no money at all. This means nothing is spent on gas, food, entertainment, etc. You should find that you can avoid spending, and that you can occupy your time with other things that won’t put you into debt.
Once the weekend is over, compare your savings by looking at what you spent during other weekends. After you see how much you saved, you may get the motivation to do No Spend Challenges more often.
Section 8 Assist
