Saving money is essential to achieve your financial goals, whether they are small or big. However, many of you flinch from carrying out budgeting strategies. You all try some ways to whittle down your expenses in order to strengthen your savings, but financial ups and downs or unforeseen expenses make it difficult for you to carry it off.
This is why you will need money-saving challenges. These challenges spur you on achieving a financial goal in a better and more creative way. Whether you are trying to set aside a big amount of money or you just want to improve your financial habits, money-saving challenges can help you come along.
Here are some money-saving challenges that you can use to improve your financial condition. It will not just make it fun, but it will also help you have better control over your money. Note that before you choose a money-saving challenge, you should know your financial goals.
You can use various types of challenges, but each one has been designed for a different purpose. It also depends on how much amount of money you want to save and how much you want to use for your current expenses. Here are the money-saving challenges you can use:
If you want to start with an easy move, you should use the 52-week money challenge. It does not require you to put in a lot of effort. Your goal will be contributing to your savings account an increasing amount of money every week.
You will have to look over your income statement to see how much you can set aside every week. Make sure that this amount grows as weeks pass by.
You must have some coins around your house, and when you buy something, you get some change. How about stacking up all of them? Do not forget that every penny counts.
If you stack all of them, you will find extra cash. So every time you get a change from a store, you should keep them in a jar. This additional money can help you tide over when you are running out of money. You can avoid taking out urgent loans in Ireland.
The only cash spending challenge is basically for those people who quite often use their credit cards for shopping and end up overspending. You even buy those things that you cannot afford, and as a result, you take out bad credit loans in Ireland for paying off your credit card bills.
You should keep cash in your pocket when you go shopping. Keep your credit card at home so you do not get tempted to use it to shop for things that you cannot afford. Cash will restrict from overspending, and you can avoid falling into debt.
This challenge is slightly different from a 52-week challenge. The purpose of this challenge is also to encourage savings, but this will last for only 26 weeks.
You should be saving every week in increments of €3. The first week you will save €3, the second week you will save €6 and then €9 and then €12 and so on. You will do it until 26 weeks.
This challenge is apt if you are running out of money at the end of every month. Your lifestyle can also be the cause of being in a tight spot. A minimalist lifestyle can be a great way to whittle down your expenses and have better control over your money.
This will help you contribute your money to your savings. You will be less stressed about your finances by downsizing your lifestyle. You do not have to live this way forever, but you will stick to this plan for two months. You will not use your personal vehicle.
Instead, you will be using public transport for travelling from home to office and vice-versa. For smaller distances, you will walk on foot, or you can use the bicycle.
You should try to cut back on your discretionary expenses like expensive dine outs, and above all, appreciate what you have and stop keeping up with the Joneses. This minimalist lifestyle will improve your finances and help you stay on top of your expenses.
Most of the times, you are guilty of overspending money. You waste your money on buying inessential things. In order to control this habit, you should set a 30-day no spend challenge. You will have to cut back on nonessential spending.
This will help you restrict from spending money on things that you do not need. You can also pick some categories on which you will not spend money at all, like clothing, takeout or home delivery. Make do with clothes available to you and prepare meals at home.
If you struggle to keep up with your expenses, you should use the spending tracking challenge. As the name suggests, you will track your expenses so you can stay on top of your costs. You will need a budgeting app to do so.
However, you can do it manually, but it can be challenging for you to track every expense. The app will have a record of all of your transactions, and everything will be in front of you. You can decide where you can pare down your expenses. There are several budgeting apps that you can use to reach out to your financial goals.
Money-saving challenges can genuinely help you achieve your financial goals. However, you will have to ensure that you choose the challenge that serves your financial goals. If you are overspending, a 30-day no spending challenge will be suitable for you.
However, if you struggle with building savings, a 26-week or 52-week challenge will be suitable. These challenges can help improve your financial goals, provided you stick to them.
