Money Challenges

Savings Tip: Cutting Down on Monthly Spending

October 16, 2019 By Susan Paige Leave a Comment

Without a proper budget and financial plan, it’s easy to spend out of your means monthly and find yourself in debt without even realizing it. Expenses can add up quickly, and you may end up spending more than you are making.

There are plenty of great methods to cutting down monthly spending that may be worth looking into when you find yourself needing to save money.

Get Some Extra Income

If you found that after creating your budget you do not have extra money to cut down on, another viable option is to get another part time job. This can be reselling clothes on a resell platform, or driving for a ridesharing app.

If you find yourself with some extra hours on the weekend, you can make some extra money to cover extra expenses! Getting a part time job bartending or waiting tables on the weekends could really potentially supplement your income, even if it is just a few extra hours during the week.

Another excellent option for getting an extra influx of cash is taking out a loan, specifically a title loan. This type of loan can let you keep driving your car while you pay off the loan and have some extra money for your budget.

Calculate What Your Spending Habits

Most people love to drink coffee in the morning. Whether it be from a big coffee chain like Starbucks or a tiny little café on your way to work, coffee expenses can add up quickly, and you can be spending over $185 a month on espressos alone! This can be an example of spending outside of your means.

One of the ways to manage your spending habits can be tracking your spending habits. An easy way to do this can be keeping a spreadsheet in your phone and recording what you spend, as well as tracking your automatic debits for more accuracy. Every time you go out to eat, or pay a credit card bill, mark it in your expenses category that matches what type of expense it is!

Create a Realistic Budget

When you find yourself in a financial pinch, sometimes one of the best steps can be creating a budget to understand your financial situation. The first step to creating a realistic budget it to start tracking your monthly expenses. Then, you can separate the expenses into two categories:

Fixed Expenses-These are expenses that do not change from month to month. They can be items like mortgage payments, rent, car payments, or utility bills.
Variable Expenses– These are expenses that will change from month to month. These are generally items like gas, eating at a restaurant, groceries, and entertainment.

By separating your monthly expenses into two categories, you are able to track what money you can save by seeing where you are overspending. If you are spending too much in your fixed expenses, consolidating bills or debt may be your answer.

If you are spending too much in the variable expenses, you may be eating out too much and need to start taking your lunch to work.

Get Control of Your Finances

With the right financial plan, you can get in control of your finances and help cut down on your extra spending!

For more on this consider reading our articles on:

The 52 Week Money Challenge

The 365 Day Money Challenge

The 52 Week Mega Money Challenge

Image source: Pixabay.

Savings Challenge: $1000 by Black Friday

October 2, 2019 By Flanice Lewis Leave a Comment

There are eight Fridays between now and Black Friday. Those are eight opportunities to save up for holiday shopping, especially if you budget or get paid weekly. If you get paid biweekly, you have four or five paydays to save up. If you don’t think you have room in the budget to save, then you’ll need to get creative to reach $1,000 by Black Friday.

Reaching your goal will be easier if you break it up into small chunks. Here are five ways to save $125 per week.

Easy ways to start saving are to cook more of your meals at home and use coupons for groceries. Also, bike, walk, or take public transportation instead of driving if it is more affordable. Skip happy hour and try potlucks at home to spend time with friends. Additionally, review your subscriptions and services you may not use. Cancel Netflix and sign up for free with a new email address for 30 days. You will have saved $12.99 already. If you don’t think that’s a lot, keep in mind that everything will be on sale for Black Friday so that $12.99 plus any interest earned can buy a toy, doll, action figure, coloring book, or pair of kids’ shoes. Dig deep into your budget to see where you can save.
Now is a good time to shop around for new car insurance, cell phone plans, or bank promotions. You can make hundreds of dollars by lowering your monthly expenses and putting the savings into a new account. If you decide to have $125 per week or $250 every two weeks direct deposited, you could have an extra $100 or $200 in your account by the end of November.
Sell items to earn $1000 without having to change your lifestyle. If you’re going to purchase the latest gadget, then sell your old one. You’re probably going to buy clothes and shoes, so make room by selling items on Poshmark. Additionally, You should sell things that still have tags because you will get more. Do you have any watches or other jewelry collecting dust? You can sell them on eBay. If you handmake items, sell them on Etsy. Some brick and mortar consignment shops will buy unused products from Bath and Body Works and Victoria’s Secret.
Extra Work. Side hustles are old faithful for extra money towards a goal. Wash cars, mow lawns. If you’re in the northwest where it’s already snowing, plow driveways and sidewalks. If your job offers overtime, take advantage.
Get a seasonal job. Many businesses hire seasonal workers. Some start earlier than others. Know that it will be two to three weeks before you receive your first paycheck. Plan to set all of the money earned aside for holiday shopping. If you know you want to purchase items at a particular store, try to get a seasonal position there. Many offer employee discounts, even during the holidays. I worked as an associate at Coach after college during the holidays. I started as a seasonal employee and became eligible for the discount and other perks in time for Christmas.

If you’re not into holiday shopping, this plan is an easy way to beef up your emergency fund or save towards a goal. These tips are useful for any dollar figure or event you’re planning. If you have an anniversary trip six months from now, you could have $3,000 saved by following the same plan.

How to Get Huge Savings When Shopping Online

Best Savings Rates For September 2019

Tips on How You Can Save on Vehicle Insurance

What Can You Do With A Frozen Bank Account?

September 5, 2019 By Tamila McDonald Leave a Comment

Learning that your bank account is frozen is usually a shock. While you have some access to your account, a lot of your activity is restricted. This can make it incredibly challenging to manage financially, particularly if your only bank account is frozen. If you’re stuck with a frozen bank account, knowing what you can and can’t do is beneficial. Here’s a look at how a frozen bank account works.

What You Can Do When Your Bank Account is Frozen

If your bank account is frozen, there are still certain things you can do with the account. You do maintain your ability to review your transactions. Additionally, the account can accept certain kinds of deposits. However, that is the limit as to what you can do while the bank account is frozen.

What You Can’t Do When Your Account is Frozen

Once your bank account is frozen, you can’t withdraw any of your money. Additionally, you can’t transfer out any of the funds, even if it is for paying bills.

Until the account is unfrozen, your money is essentially locked away. You’ll have to address the source issue if you want to regain access to your funds.

How to Handle a Frozen Bank Account

The moment you realize your bank account is frozen, you need to call your bank. There are a few reasons why it may have frozen your account, and you can’t take action until you know which scenario is in play.

Usually, banks only freeze bank accounts for three reasons:

Illegal or suspicious activity
Unpaid debts and the creditors have court orders
Unpaid debts to the government

Your next steps may be determined based on the reason for the freeze. For example, if there is an unpaid debt that went to collections and that creditor is trying to access your account to collect payment, you may be able to speak with the creditor and come up with another arrangement.

However, in nearly all cases, it is wise to consult with a lawyer. Getting a bank account unfrozen can be incredibly complicated since it usually means that criminal activity is suspected, you are fighting against a court order, or you owe the government money.

Keep An Eye On Your Mail

As you work to figure out your next steps, keep an eye on your mail. Usually, you’ll be receiving a notice that will discuss whether any of the money in your account is “exempt” from the freeze. Additionally, it should contain instructions regarding what you may need to do to get the account unfrozen. By reviewing it carefully, you may be able to start a procedure that could resolve the issue with or without the help of a lawyer.

You should also review local laws and regulations regarding frozen bank accounts. In some cases, there are legal requirements regarding how much of your money has to remain unfrozen, ensuring you can handle various necessities of life. For example, the Exempt Income Protection Act in New York is one such law. Not all states have the same regulations, so you’ll need to research yours to determine what protections are available.

Should You Open Another Bank Account?

If your main bank account is frozen, opening a new account at a different bank is usually a good idea. This allows you to handle various financial basics, like deposit paychecks and pay bills. This is especially true if your pay is being directly deposited into the frozen account, as you’ll need a new place for that money to go. Similarly, if you are receiving government benefits such as Social Security, you might need a new bank account, so you can have that money deposited into a usable account.

Have you ever had to deal with a frozen bank account? What were you able to do with it? Share your experience in the comments below.

If you enjoy reading our blog posts and would like to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.

30 Day Money Saving Challenge: Save $100 in One Month with Quarters

January 11, 2019 By Jeffrey Strain 4 Comments

Now that the new year is underway, people across the country are striving to make their resolutions a reality. If your goal is to increase your emergency savings (or even start your first emergency savings account), a quick money challenge can be an excellent option. While popular approaches like the 52-Week and 365-Day challenges are great choices, they do require a full year commitment. If you want to start with something shorter, this 30-day money saving challenge might be right for you.

How to Save $100 in a 30 Days

If you want to start slow or simply have a need for a quick $100, you can painlessly get the money you need with a 30-day quarter challenge. This approach is great for individuals who are living paycheck to paycheck, as the daily deposits never exceed $7.50.

On day one, deposit $0.25 in your savings account, the value of one quarter. Then, on day two, you deposit two quarters instead of one, making your deposit into your savings account $0.50 and bringing your balance up to $0.75.

As you proceed with the challenge, you just add $0.25, or one quarter, to the deposit amount from the previous day. On day 10, your deposit will be $2.50. On day 20, you’ll reach $5.00. Finally, your day 30 deposit is only $7.50.

You can also remember the amount by recognizing that the number of quarters you deposit matches the day of the challenge. For example, on day 10, you would deposit 10 quarters, which have a value of $2.50.

At the end of the challenge, you’ll have $116.25 in your account. Plus, if you put the money in a high-yield savings account, you might even earn a little bit of interest too.

If you would rather do the challenge in cash, you can place the appropriate number of quarters into a jar at home instead. However, you won’t earn any interest this way, and you might have to wrap up your change in rolls before depositing it into a savings account.

Want to Save $500 in 30 Days Instead?

If you want to challenge yourself, and pull together almost $500 instead of $100, then use dollars instead of quarters. On day one, deposit $1.00. Then, deposit $2.00 on day two, $3.00 on day three, and so on until you finish the 30 days.

At the end of a 30-day dollar challenge, you’ll have $465 in the bank. Plus, your largest deposit is just $30, the cost of a single fast food meal for many families of four.

Benefits of the 30-Day Money Saving Challenge

While the biggest benefit of completing the 30-day challenge is increasing the balance in your savings account, you also get more out of it than that. Along the way, you are setting good savings habits, helping you create a solid financial cushion in case of an emergency.

Plus, there is nothing to say that you have to stop after 30 days. You could always keep going, increasing your deposit by $0.25 each day until you reach a particular savings goal or hit the end of the year. Alternatively, if you are living paycheck to paycheck, you can start over each month, using the date to guide the size of your deposit. That way, your largest daily deposit never exceeds $7.75, making it much more manageable for anyone with a tight budget.

Consider Money Saving Apps

A great way to supplement your savings is the automated approach with an application like digit.co

Simply sign up and let the program analyze your checking account. The app will then make automated withdrawals which don’t impact your spending and sweeps them to an account you control. It is a super easy way to save money without a lot of effort. Click here to check it out.

In either case, you are creating an easy way to bolster your savings, ensuring that you have a health emergency fund in place at all times.

Do you have a tip for saving $100 a month? Share it in the comments below.

If you enjoy reading our blog posts and would like to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.

26 Week Money Challenge: Build Your Savings Faster

January 11, 2019 By James Hendrickson Leave a Comment

A few years ago when I first heard about money challenges, I thought they might just be another opportunity for people to humblebrag about their money. However, since then, I’ve tried money challenges myself and now believe they’re actually effective in reaching savings goals.

Whether it be a fitness challenge or a money challenge, internet challenges help millions of people reach their goals. This is why I created the 26 week money challenge, which helps you build up to saving a quarter of your income.

How Money Challenges Work

Before learning about the 26 week money challenge, you should be aware of how money challenges work. Money challenges are typically online challenges which help people save more money. Many people start with the 365 Day Money Challenge or the 52 Week Money Challenge. These money challenges usually have you save a certain amount of money each day or week and slowly increase it over time. S0metimes the process doesn’t work for everyone, so, like me, others have decided to design personalized money challenges.

The 26 Week Money Challenge

When you hear the words “26 Week Money Challenge” you might think of the bi-weekly money challenge. However, this version of the 26 Week Money Challenge simply takes place over half a year (or 26 weeks). Like other money challenges, you can start at any time of the year and simply follow the week-by-week organizational chart below. (I’ve filled it out with my first 26 Week Money Challenge, based on a $1,000 per week salary).

Unlike many other money challenges, the 26 Week Money Challenge helps you increase the amount you save week-by-week through percentages instead of dollar amounts. Week one you’ll save 1% of your week’s salary, 2% week two, 3% week three and so on. After the end of the 26 Week Money Challenge, you’ll be saving approximately a quarter of your salary (which is a commonly recommended gauge on how much you should be saving). After the challenge is over, you can simply continue saving at the level you end up with at the end of the challenge.

Click here for a blank, downloadable version of the 26 Week Money Challenge.

Other Money Challenges to Try

If the 26 Week Money Challenge above doesn’t seem like it’s for you, don’t worry. No one’s financial needs are the same. There are plenty of other money challenges out there for you to try. Over the years, internet users have adjusted the original money challenges to better suit their saving needs. Here are just a few money challenges you might want to try:

It seems like there’s a money challenge out there for everybody. No matter which way you do it, deciding to save money is one of the most important decisions you’ll make… even if it’s just a couple dollars a day.

A Savings App Can Help

Money challenges are easy ways to get your savings started. However, you can also try a savings app that automates the process for you like Digit. For instance, first, choose a money challenge, then supplement your savings with an automated approach like the digit.co app.

Digit.co is a favorite because its super easy to use. Just sign up and let the program analyze your checking account. It will then make small automated withdrawals which don’t impact your spending and sweeps them into an account you control. It is a super easy way to save money without a lot of effort. Click here to check it out.

Have you ever tried a money challenge or savings app? Did you have success? Share with us in the comments below.

Photo Credit: 401K 2012

The 26 Bi-Weekly Money Challenge: The Easy Way to Save $1378

January 3, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 5 Comments

I have received several requests from readers asking if there is a better way to do the 52 week money challenge if you are paid on a bi-weekly basis. They mentioned that it tends to be easier to save the money for the week when they get paid, but more difficult to do it the second week when no income is coming in. Those who are paid bi-weekly may want to follow this bi-weekly chart.

26 Bi-Weekly Money Challenge (click on image to print)

printable bi weekly money challenge — Printable Bi Weekly Money Challenge Chart

The concept is the same as the 52-week money challenge, where you’re adding a single dollar for each week of the year. The only difference is that instead of making the payment each week, you combine two weekly payments into one, and make it every other week. There is no difference in the amount of money you save.

At the end of the year, you’ll still have saved $1378. The only difference is, you’ll be making 26 payments during the year, corresponding to your paychecks, which should make the challenge easier to accomplish.

With the standard 26 week version, you would make a payment of $3 ($1 for week one and $2 for week two) for the first bi-weekly payment, $7 ($3 for week three and $4 for week four) for the second bi-weekly payment, and $11 ($5 for week five and $6 for week six) for the third bi-weekly payment, until you reach the 26th payment which would be $103 ($51 for week fifty-one and $52 for week fifty-two). While straightforward and simple, there is a major drawback. As with the standard 52-week version, this can make it difficult to save money toward the end of the year with the high payments during the holiday season. This is why we created an alternate version of the money challenge.

Alternate Version (click on image to print)

26 week bi weekly money chart alternative

The alternative version gives you more flexibility while still sticking with the 26 bi-weekly option. With this version, you still make the same payments throughout the year, but you get to choose which one you make for each bi-weekly payment. The goal is to pay the highest amount from the options at the bottom of the chart, then cross out that number. That allows you to pay off the higher amounts when it makes the most sense as the year progresses, rather than at the end of the year when money might be the tightest. This version takes into account that a steady increase in payments over the year doesn’t always correspond with the reality of life. For that reason, it’s nice to have some flexibility in the amount when making the payment.

As with most things that pertain to finances, it’s important to find the best savings method for you. The 26 week bi-weekly money challenge is simply another variation that might make it a little easier to save than the standard 52 week money challenge. It’s certainly an option worth considering if you are paid on a bi-weekly basis, and you know you’ll find yourself short on funds when it’s time for the next paycheck to arrive. As with all savings plans, they tend to be much more effective if you pay yourself first rather than at the end when there often isn’t any money left to save.

Go With Passive Savings Apps

If all this seems like too much effort, consider a passive way to save money. The last couple of years have seen rapid growth in apps which help people passively build their savings. One great new piece of software is digit.co. Digit is clever. It analyzes your checking account balances and then automatically makes small deductions which are swept into a savings account for you. It’s super easy to install. Once you have it configured you pretty much need to make no effort to save – Digit does all the heavy lifting for you. Check it out at digit.co here.

Finally, if you’re still looking for the right money challenge to fit your personality, here are other variations of money challenges that might be worth taking a look at:

Earn More with the 52 Week Make Money Challenge
52 Week Kids Money Challenge
Printable Monthly Money Chart
365 Day Money Challenge

If you liked this article, please rate it 5 stars below, leave us a comment or share it on social media!