Reach your savings goal one day at a time.
Welcome to Day Four of the Micro Saving Challenge.
Would you like to reach your savings goal one day at a time? This challenge isn’t about making you rich overnight. It is meant to be a plan which uses small, baby steps to help you reach your saving goal one day at a time. I am going to focus on what can be done in just under three months. If I can do this for three months I know that I will find it motivating to move to a six-month goal and so on.
I am going to post a new entry each day talking about the challenges I have faced and the small changes I have made to get to my money-saving goal.
Step One
If you are just joining us and have missed the instructions from Day one, you can access them here.
Before we get started on day four’s challenge, make sure you have banked your 11-week challenge money. We are on the 17th day of saving. Challenge one should have £11.90 banked, challenge two £47.77, and challenge three £50.49. You have probably guessed that I have been a little distracted with half-term recently but am ready to go again today!
As a reminder here is what you should be able to bank by December 31st by following this step alone: challenge one saves £30, challenge two saves £155, and challenge three saves £255. Pick a challenge which works for you and stick with it.
Remember to keep a track of what you have banked. The numbers today might seem small but I want you to remember this is a day by day challenge. It is not meant to change your bank balance over night however it is meant to show you that with a few small changes you can achieve big things.
Step Two
Hopefully you all had a productive few weeks decluttering and making some extra cash from your preloved items. Don’t assume that selling on the second hand market ‘isn’t worth the hassle’ – if you saw my PayPal transactions I can assure you it is! Read our guide to Second Hand Children’s Items to make sure you get the process right. Remember that second hand doesn’t mean second best.
Today’s challenge is simple. I want you to check your PayPal accounts, cashback balances and any other small balances you have stashed away. I know that I have £2 balance on an old bank account and £50 on my PayPal account. These combined will help me reach my goals much quicker.
Step Three
As you find all of your small amounts of money stashed away I want you to transfer these balances to your savings account we setup on Day One. If you need a reminder of why we need to do that read the Day One guide here.
Don’t stop at your bank accounts. Try old hand bags, under the sofa, in the car, anywhere where you think there could be a few pounds hiding. If you have cash and you don’t trust yourself to get it into your bank account. Transfer the money from your current account and put the cash in your purse instead.
Step Four
Make sure you keep track of what you find. It is important to see how the small amounts are adding up to something much bigger.
Step Five
Think about any extra steps you can take from the previous three days. Can you find some more things to declutter? Are there more direct debits you could cancel? By constantly reviewing and refining your finances you will reach your goals faster.
