Jeffrey's 2014 Save Money Challenge

[jeffrey]

This will be my area in the forums about what I do for the 52 week save money challenge in 2014. I'm basically going to do the challenge, but also go through the process of how I'm doing it to help others understand and give them some ideas on how they can also achieve the goal of $1378 by the end of next year. This is the introduction:

Join the 2014 52 Week Money Challenge

[jeffrey]

One of the things that I think most people fail to do when taking on this challenge is do any preparation for it. Since it seems so easy, it seems that preparation isn't really needed, but doing a little preparation now can help significantly as the challenge move forward. Also a lot of people seem to think that finding new and separate savings is the way to do this, but I tend to think the best approach is to find a lot of little ways that you can save week in and week out, and let those all add together for the big savings. Then any other separate savings you're able to find in just an added bonus to this base savings. Here are the things I plan to do:

How to Prepare for the 52 Week Money Challenge

[jeffrey]

Another step that I think is important for anyone who plans to do this challenge is to make sure they create a separate account exclusively for this challenge. Trying to keep track of savings in your head and mixing it together with different accounts will make it a lot more difficult to succeed.

Why Creating a New Account is Important

[jeffrey]

While discussing the challenge with those who did it last year, a lot of them had trouble with what I like to call "phantom savings" -- basically savings that they thought they had made, but never put into a separate account so they were never realized. They thought they were saving money when in reality they were only doing it in tier head, not in actuality. getting into the habit of making sure to put the actually money saved into your challenge account is vitally important.

How to Avoid Phantom Savings

[kyoko]

jeffrey,

Thank you for opening up this challenge for 2014! I had never done this kind of savings before, but I would love to get involved! I truly believe accountability is the key to success, and I am also very interested in seeing how we can encourage one another to achieve our financial goals.

Is this thread going to be the main communication???
I am looking forward to saving every week with you (and many others who would join!!)

Kyoko

[jeffrey]

jeffrey,

Thank you for opening up this challenge for 2014! I had never done this kind of savings before, but I would love to get involved! I truly believe accountability is the key to success, and I am also very interested in seeing how we can encourage one another to achieve our financial goals.

Is this thread going to be the main communication???
I am looking forward to saving every week with you (and many others who would join!!)

Kyoko

I'll be writing the articles for the main blog, but i will also list here those relevant each week. There will likely be more in depth support in the forums with all the members doing it, but you can ask, comment and share on the blog as well. Glad to have you along for the ride and hope you have a good time with the challenge.

[jeffrey]

One of the appeals of the 52 week savings challenge is that it looks like a realistic way of saving over $1000 during the year. Unfortunately, because it appears to be easy, a lot of people just wing it from week to week. There's nothing wrong with that, but taking a few steps at the beginning can make the challenge a lot easier and increase the chances of success. The three important ones I see are:

1. Do some preparation
2. Get a separate bank account and be aware of phantom savings
3. Find yourself support

The combination of these three should make the challenge all the easier to accomplish.

Steps to Succeed at the 53 Week Savings Challenge

[jeffrey]

I finished my first week. I decided to start from scratch so I didn't use any savings that I had derived from things I had started before the challenge. I ended up the week with $5 saved from paying to use my car and emptying change. While not a lot, the fact I was able to begin some of the things I wanted to do on a regular basis during a very busy week, I'm more than satisfied with the start.

Week One Results

[kyoko]

Hi Jeffrey,

I just read your article. Pay to use my car is a fabulous idea! I had never thought about it!
It is really a good way to save money and stay healthy.

Our car got broken down (we have only one vehicle and share.... public transportation is quite good and we are centrally located so we can get around without it) and we are walking everywhere. We will fix our car eventually, but we start liking it...

[jeffrey]

Hi Jeffrey,

I just read your article. Pay to use my car is a fabulous idea! I had never thought about it!
It is really a good way to save money and stay healthy.

Our car got broken down (we have only one vehicle and share.... public transportation is quite good and we are centrally located so we can get around without it) and we are walking everywhere. We will fix our car eventually, but we start liking it...

You can actually do this with a lot of things and it has the same effect of reducing costs. For example, you could charge yourself $1 each time you wash clothes and $2 to dry. When we did this, we made sure that all loads were full and we only used the dryer when we had to -- otherwise we line dried the clothes.

Want to stop watch crap TV? Pay $1 every time you watch a show. You'll only watch those shows you really want to watch and you'll find you have a lot of extra time to do other things.

It's a good system that can work in a lot of different ways.

[jeffrey]

I ended up saving $40 in week two, most of it from a call to the cable company that reduced the cost by $26 each month for six months. I also decided not to buy an item that i regularly would at the grocery store that saved me another $10, then there was the change jar and payment for using the car. Overall a good week.

Week 2 Results

[jeffrey]

This week ended up being a pretty easy week to save (if only they all could be that way). I saved $20 in food costs by doing some pet / house sitting where I didn't need to buy food for a few days. I also got some free clothes that will save me some money in the long run and then the weekly change jar and payment for driving the car. In all, I saved $35 this week.

Week 3 Results

[jeffrey]

I ended up calling my car insurance this week and ended up being able to reduce my car insurance bill by $150 this year ($75 every 6 months). Simple thing to do that everyone should try if they haven't done so lately.

Week Four Results

[fruitbowlk]

I ended up calling my car insurance this week and ended up being able to reduce my car insurance bill by $150 this year ($75 every 6 months). Simple thing to do that everyone should try if they haven't done so lately.

Week Four Results

I did the same thing and got an extra discount for having pay pal.