Each time the New Year rolls around, many of us promise to save money and be prudent in spending. Understandably, not everyone is able to follow through with this vow.
Now that we’ve entered a new decade, it’s time to turn things around and actually save until the end of the year (and hopefully far into the future). After all, you’ll need a lot of savings in store for large expenditures like a car, a romantic wedding, traveling to other countries, or getting a new home by securing a housing loan in the Philippines or any other country. What better time to start than now?
You don’t even have to save money the boring old way. There are some challenges you could try that will ensure every penny is saved in a systematic way. The road to being rich is paved through focus and discipline. Are you ready? Here are three that you could try:
Envelope Challenge
If you want something simple yet creative, this saving challenge is for you. What you have to do is obtain a number of envelopes and label those with varying amounts that you could spare from your monthly income. The goal is to fill these envelopes with the stated amount, which would serve as your savings. Save money at your own pace and watch your bank account thrive.
Homebody Weekends
“Go ahead, treat yourself. You deserve it.” That’s what we tell ourselves when the weekend rolls around, after which all hell breaks loose in terms of expenses. Suddenly, pricey, fancy meals make their way to your Instagram account, online shopping carts find themselves full, and credit card charges pile up.
So, why not change that pace? Disrupt these expensive weekend routines and try to stay at home, prepare a home-cooked meal for yourself, and enjoy your rest days. Whatever amount that you would have spent for a day out, put that into your savings instead. It’s not hard to estimate how much you would have spent for a movie, a meal or two, and a few things you’ll purchase.
Incremental Saving Challenges
You’ve probably seen posts about it on social media — 52-week, 12-month, or 30-day saving challenges. The gist of all these challenges is that you’ll start saving a small amount of money at the start and work your way up towards bigger amounts over time. Because of the timeframes, these challenges are not as flexible as the other two, but can certainly force you to save a large sum of money.
You just have to find a scheme that works best for your situation and mindset. The 52-week challenge is the toughest of the bunch and would require you to save significant amounts of money during its later stages. The 12-month one is slightly simpler and more flexible but still needs a year-long commitment. For the 30-day challenge, it’s much easier to manage at the expense of a lower amount saved.
CONCLUSION
With the right level of commitment and discipline, you could start and end this year with a healthy bank account — in a fun way, at that.