How to save money quickly.
Welcome to Day Nine of the Micro Saving Challenge.
Do you need to save money quickly? Read our step by step guide on how to achieve big results.
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. Even those with small budgets can make some savings once they have a savings goal. 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.
As lockdown 2.0 looms on us in the UK I am conscious that there is a lot of uncertainty out there for many of us. I will keep posting my daily challenges. If you can join in please do. Even if you can only make a couple of changes it will all help. Remember that our Micro Saving challenge is ideal for small budgets. We make a lot of small changes which help you to save money quickly.
Step One
If you are just joining us and have missed the instructions from Day one, you can access them here.
It’s a while since we caught up so let’s recap on our 11-week savings challenge ‘daily amount’. We have been together on this journey for 38 days! Who would have thought 6 weeks ago what we could have achieved?
If you are on Challenge 1 you should have £22.61 saved, Challenge 2 should have £102.79 and Challenge 3 a whopping £116.85!
To be honest I have been absolutely swamped with my job and my business development recently so have slacked a little. Today is an admin day and time to get caught up on the challenge.
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
Before we get started with today’s challenge lets recap the challenge from day eight.
Your challenge was to look at how much you are spending on the weekly shopping.
I must admit that I have been overwhelmed with ‘being busy’ these last few weeks (lots and lots of exciting things coming to the blog) so have been feeling a bit disorganised by the time I get to Friday and the shopping planning is the last thing I have wanted to do.
Nevertheless I have still been shopping within budget but have been finding myself doing top up shops because of my disorganisation.
This week I took back control and did a proper meal plan (factoring in the kids ever changing appetites is a challenge). Thankfully we appear to be back on track and the likelihood of the fatal top up shop is reduced.
Step Three
It’s another simple task today. I want you to look at your non-essential spending. What spending can you defer for a few weeks or months?
Lockdown 2.0 made this easy for me. No haircut, no nails, and no unplanned trips to the shops.
It’s very easy to get caught up in the Black Friday events this week for online shopping. Don’t be pressured into buying unnecessary things.
Before you part with any cash this week, ask yourself these questions:
- Is this spending essential?
- If I spend this money will it stop me from achieving my goals?
- Is it really a bargain?
If you are worrying about Christmas shopping you can read all of our Christmas money-saving guides here.
This week I need to start my Christmas shopping so I will be posting daily challenges on the Facebook group as I bargain hunt.
Remember to try and divert any money you have saved by non essential spending into your savings account.
Step Four
Make sure you keep track of what you have saved. It is really important to see how all of the small changes you are making are adding up.
Step Five
Remember we aren’t trying to become millionaires overnight. This challenge is about reaching the small goal we set for ourselves by 31st December. If you think you can reach your goal with a lesser saving then do it, otherwise, try and save even a small amount for the next three months.
