8 Weeks of Saving More! Ways to Save (Week 2, Part 2)

I hope you've already read the "Ways to Save" post, Week 2, Part 1.  If not, click here to start with that.   Today I'm going to finish outlining the ways to save during our 8 week challenge.  At the end of this post, you should have several good ideas on how to start building your savings, and you'll be able to share with us which methods you've chosen (or if you've come up with your own; that's a-okay too!).

Isn't it funny how when you're studying or researching on a particular subject, information that you've never noticed just seems to start popping up everywhere?  That's the way it's been for me since beginning to write the material for this challenge.  Little quotes and savings tidbits are really jumping out at me.  In reviewing my book, 8 (Really Creative) Ways to Save, one concept stood out to me this past week and I came up with a new way of wording it.  Here it is:

By participating in the act of saving, and doing it at the beginning of your paycheck, not at the end, you are effectively paying yourself.  Now, please don't misunderstand me, I don't want you to go around shirking your responsibilities for your rent or mortgage, electricity, clothing, transportation, and childcare and tell everybody you're just paying yourself first.  You are still responsible for funding your life and your family's basic necessities.  When you start out saving first, it may be a small number, but you are doing it, and that's what counts.  One of my favorite role models, Holly Rigsby, has a great quote that says, "Little by little, a little becomes a lot."  This is just as true with your money as it is with anything else.  Exercise, laundry, chocolate...

Keep all of this in mind throughout the challenge.  Even if it looks small now, your savings will grow if you keep adding to it.  And even a little bit more money trumps no money, every time!

That's enough preaching from me!  Let's get to the remaining 4 tips, shall we?

Ways to Save

1. Christmas in June Savings (Chapter 7): I originally wrote this chapter in my book to detail how you can begin to stockpile savings in the summer to have plenty of cash to fund Christmas by the time Black Friday rolls around.  However, I also address what to do when January arrives.  You keep using this method and save up for an event or large purchase in June.  Let's say you're planning a vacation in June and would like to have $300 in spending money by that time.  You simply take that number and divide it by the number of months from now to June (six) and you end up with $50, the amount you need to set aside each month for the next six months.  Then, when June rolls around, you start again and save in the same manner for another event in December (could be Christmas or something else).
2. Buy It Used (Chapter 8):  With this savings method, you pick a category where you don't mind buying used items, but you save up the full amount needed to purchase the items.  Then, you purchase the item(s) and put the difference into your savings.  In the book, I use the example of buying used books.  I get books at thrift stores all the time that are so cheap.  When I pick up a book that is normally $10 or more, but I pay $1 for it, I could use this savings method by paying the difference of $9 into my savings.  You can save even more by choosing a different category, such as furniture.  The important part is to make sure you're saving the difference.
3. The $5 Ban (Chapter 9):  This one is really fun, but also requires some willpower to accomplish.  Basically, you set aside every $5 bill that comes into your hands.  You don't spend them, but put them in savings instead.  I did some research on Pinterest and found several examples of people who followed this "ban" over the course of a year.  Their savings at the end of a year ranged from $1300- $3000!  You can save so much using this technique!
4. Pantry Raid-n-Save (Chapter 10): This method works best when you have food in the house that needs to be used or you have a pantry that needs to be cleared.  What you do is raid your own kitchen for ingredients to put together simple meals, and skip out on grocery shopping for a week or so.  Instead, you save that money you would have spent on groceries for the week.  I know that right now, I could probably do this in my own kitchen.  We've got plenty of frozen foods on hand, as well as some lean meats like chicken, ready to be used in recipes.  And we're a big egg family around here.  Just last night, my husband made some egg "cupcakes" with some fresh mushrooms that needed to be used and some shredded cheddar.  I know they were delicious because I ended up eating 3 for dinner!

Ok, we've now covered all 8 of the savings tips in my book 8 (Really Creative) Ways to Save.  Of course, each of those tips are covered in its own chapter, so you get a lot more detail when you read the book.  Check it out on Amazon here.

It's time to make some decisions.  Which methods are you going to try during the Saving More Challenge?  That's what I want you to decide today.  

Week 2, Task 2: Read this post and read or review the previous post, which includes 4 other methods of saving.  Decide on 2-3 methods that will work for you and your family, and tweak them as needed.  Once you've decided, comment, comment, comment (!) below and let us know what you've decided.  I'll be posting my choices in the comments, as well.  

One other thing: get started with these as soon as possible!  Once you've got your plan of action, you might as well begin to execute it!

I know I've covered a lot of information in these last two posts, and now you've got some work to do.  It's time to SAVE!  More encouragement coming your way next week, but for now, I'll leave you with this cool quote I found by a famous person.  You may have heard of him: 

"Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left AFTER SAVING." - Warren Buffet

8 Weeks of Saving More! Getting Started (Week 1)

Congratulations, you've made it!  Made it to the starting line, that is.

You don't typically hear those words at the beginning of a challenge, right?  More likely when you hit the finish line.  I decided to write them now to not only give you a preview of what's to come, but also to cheer you on for just getting started.  Not everyone shows up to the starting line!  So, hooray for you for taking on the challenge.  We've got 8 weeks of fun and fatter wallets headed our way!

Today's post may get a little lengthy, but that's only because I have so much to tell you as we embark on this savings journey.  Here's the main question I'd like you to keep asking yourself as you read through this post:

"Why am I doing this challenge?"

What was it that piqued your interest, that made you sign up to take on 8 weeks of saving more?  It's really important that you answer this honestly.  Telling yourself, "I just want to save more money" is a superficial answer.  Read through the following statements and see if you identify with any of them:

• Are you tired of the same old, same old when it comes to managing your finances (as in, not having any extra to manage)?
• Would you love to go on vacation this year and not have to put it on a credit card, but don't know how that's even possible given the size of your budget?
• Is there a big ticket purchase you'd like to make and not have to worry about financing?
• Would you like to have a cash reserve to pull from anytime you wanted or needed to?
• Would you like to finally take charge of your money, instead of always feeling like you never have enough?

I can tell you I have identified with all of these at one point or another in my life.  After I had my son, Landon, I started to realize just how expensive life is, especially with a kid!  My husband, Jamie, was working full-time and I was working part-time, and we still had very little savings to spare.  That was not the legacy I wanted my son to grow up with, so establishing a stable financial foundation for our growing family became my "why".  My what and how evolved into the book that is now 8 (Really Creative) Ways to Save.  If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend you check it out.  I will be pulling something from it each challenge so it helps to be familiar with it.  Here's a snippet of what I have to say about the importance of knowing your "why" in 8 (Really Creative) Ways to Save:

"Finding your why is critical to get you started on any goal, big or small.  If you say you want to lose twenty pounds and then set out to do it, the first time an obstacle in the form of a hot, glazed donut presents itself, you're going to fail if you don't know why you're trying to lose weight.  It's the same concept with your money.  If you're not accustomed to saving regularly, you might start out strong, but without a clear reason why you're saving, it will be too easy to quit the first time you're tempted to blow your savings."

So, now you see why it's so important to know your "why".  You will have it in front of you when you want to quit.  And yes, there are going to be times during this challenge when you'll want to quit. So will I.  But we won't because it's at that point, we'll be able to remind ourselves (and each other) WHY we're doing this savings challenge in the first place.  Do you have your why yet?  If so, you've already completed half of this week's task.

Week 1 Task 1: Define your "why" for completing this challenge and write it down!

Now that we've completed that, I want to share how the process works for this challenge.  There are 3 Steps to the challenge, and they are the same 3 steps that I outline in my book.

Step 1: Define 2 goals to save for.  We'll come up with these this week!
Step 2: Begin saving using the 8 creative ways to save outlined in the book.  You'll choose a couple of these to try and tweak them to work for you.  We'll discuss these next week.
Step 3: Pay cash for one or both goals.  Note: this may not happen at the end of the challenge.  You may have to keep saving to reach your goals, but you'll have two months of a savings habit that is sure to give you a great start!

Week 1 Task 2: This week, your challenge is to come up with 2 goals to save for during this challenge.  Here's the really fun part: you can choose any two goals you want, large or small.  Get creative!

I'll share mine with you to give you an idea of what will be motivating me.  The first goal I have is to save cash for my "sister trips".  My sister and I have decided that we will take two trips this year together.  She's a flight attendant, so we can really fly anywhere we want for little to nothing (!!), but I know I'll want to have plenty of cash when we get to where we're going.  We each get to plan a trip.  I am so excited about this, so I'm very motivated to save for this goal.

My second goal is something a little more practical, but no more less exciting to me.  I've wanted LASIK vision correction for a very long time.  I think I wanted it before it was even invented because I've had poor eyesight for most of my life.  Because I have many issues with my eyes, I'm sure the procedure will not be on the cheap end, so my ultimate goal is to save up enough cash to have the procedure, pay for it outright, and enjoy the rest of my thirties with contact-less vision.  Wow, I can't imagine how great that would be!

Ok, now it's your turn!  Make sure the two goals you come up with excite YOU.  It doesn't matter if they mean anything to anyone else; it's your money and your goals.

Part of this challenge is going to be interacting with each other.  So, once you've completed the two tasks outlined in the week 1 challenge, please share them in the comments below!  I can't wait to read about your "why" for saving and the two goals you came up with.

This is going to be so much fun!!!

Kristin

Ps. If you're just reading this post, but aren't a part of the challenge, you can join us at anytime!  Simply follow this blog by email and you'll start receiving each challenge post right to your email inbox.  I do recommend starting here first and performing the challenge tasks in order!

How Saving Money has Enhanced My Life

Hello my fellow savers (and spenders too; we all have those times)!

It's been a while since I posted on this blog.  I'm sorry about that.  I don't have a good excuse for you other than to say that life has been incredibly busy, in a great way.

I enjoyed a great summer, spending time with my son who just turned three!  Wow, where is the time going?  We worked really hard on potty training, and although he still has his moments, I can say that we've definitely saved money on diapers since he's transitioned to using the potty.  Well, most of the time!

Here's my sweet boy at his 3rd birthday party in September!

I wanted to write a post on how building our family's emergency fund has enhanced my life.  And it has done so in a major way.

After much deliberation, my husband and I decided that I would not return to work as a teacher this school year.  That has been a decision years in the making, but we didn't feel that we were financially in a place to do that until now.  After releasing my savings book (check it out here), we were able to eliminate our household debt by paying off my car and student loan.  Then we started piling up any extra cash and were able to quickly establish our full 3-6 month emergency fund.  And that enabled us to make the decision for me to be a SAHM for this season!

It's been an emotional rollercoaster for me.  I've had days, especially in the beginning, where I was so sad to give up a job that I like a lot.  I mean, who wouldn't want to teach music to sweet little cherubs every day? Except when they're not so sweet!  But overall, I am really enjoying my life and time at home with my boy.  We've bonded more than ever before, and I know that's due to the extra time we get to spend together.  I don't believe I'll always be a SAHM, but in this season, I wouldn't wish for anything else.

Being able to quit my job and not worry so much about finances is only one huge benefit of our saving money.  Another perk is that I've been able to work on and fund some of my dreams.  Currently, I have two projects in the works, a novel releasing soon and a vocal warm-up program for singers, that I'll be using some of my stashed-away savings to fund the creation of.  Unfortunately, product creation takes money for all of the preliminary work that goes into it, but I made a plan to set aside some extra $$ so I could work on these.  Without that cash, both projects would still only be dreams on paper.  With it, they're coming together before my eyes!

Another benefit of our savings is being able to plan and take our version of a vacation.  I say our version because we use vacation time to visit my family who lives about 15 hours away.  Most of the time, our trips are for extended weekends, but this time, we've planned a trip that spans 8 days!  While we're visiting with family, Jamie and I get to travel 3 hours south for a business conference and have our own date weekend.  I can hardly wait!

Posing with my book.  Can you tell I'm proud?

I wrote today to give you an update on what's happening in my world and also to let you know that none of it would probably be happening were it not for the journey I went on with saving money and the book that came out of it.  8 (Really Creative) Ways to Save is that book and I would love to see it make a positive impact on your money too!  Check it out here.

What are some of the things you've been able to do with your savings?  Leave a comment below!

Spring Sale (Don't Miss It!)

My Spring Break has officially begun!

I don't know about you, but spring makes me happy.  I love looking at trees that have been barren all winter and watch them slowly erupt in buds of new life.  I love how the grass that has been brown starts turning that beautiful, vibrant green.

This year, I'm determined to do some deep spring cleaning.  Do you have any special plans for springtime?

I wanted to let you know about a very special sale that is taking place during my spring break.  For the dates of March 20-26th, the eBook version of 8 (Really Creative) Ways to Save is going to be just $1.99!!  For less than a cost of a Big Mac, you can purchase this awesome resource that will save you money.  To access the Amazon product page, click here.

I am certain that just by reading the first few chapters, you will save at least 4 times the cost of this resource.  And that's if you purchased it at full retail price of $9.99!

Here is a description of 8 (Really Creative) Ways to Save:

"Are you ready to start living your dreams?  Wouldn't it be nice to have the money to fund them?  What if you're not a natural saver or your income is limited?

8 (Really Creative) Ways to Save will walk you through fun, innovative tips to inspire new savings habits that you will want to use the rest of your life. Written by a resourceful and innovative mom, wife, and teacher, Kristin King has researched, tested, and lived each one of the tips she shares with you.

Here's what this book will do for you:

- Enhance your ability to think creatively when it comes to saving money
- Provide you with the tools you need to fund your dreams, even if you have a low income
- Empower you to save, even if you've been a "spender" all your life
- Help you increase your savings, whether a little or lot, through fun and unusual tips
- Facilitate and establish habits of a lifetime saver by taking the tips and making them work for you and your family
- Give you three surefire action tips at the end of each chapter to get you on the fast track to great savings

If you're ready to get serious about your financial future, 8 (Really Creative) Ways to Save (plus three bonus chapters with additional tips) will jumpstart your savings habits so you can fully fund your wildest dreams!"

Remember, this sale only lasts Sunday-Saturday, March 20-26th, so make sure you download your copy soon!

I can't wait to hear how this book helps you become an expert and creative saver!

Again, here's the link to the Amazon product page.

Happy reading and happy saving, dear friends!