Want to make a small change that can have a big impact on your finances? Want a quick win that will get you closer to your financial goals? That’s what we’re going to do today.
If you’ve already set your six-month goal that we talked about in Day 1 of the challenge, then it’s time to start making some progress!
If you missed Day 1 or haven’t written down your goal yet, go back and check out the Day 1 post and video.
Today, in Day 2 of the Frugal Fresh Start Challenge we’re all choosing something– just one thing– to cut out of our budgets for the duration of the challenge to get a jumpstart on our goal!
Even before we get into tracking spending, budgeting, or reducing expenses, I’m pretty sure most all of us can think of a couple of areas right off the bat that we could trim down or eliminate completely. Now is the time!
Maybe gourmet coffee is your guilty pleasure. Maybe you eat out too often. Maybe browsing Amazon inevitably results in unnecessary spending.
In case you’re drawing a blank, here are some possibilities:
- Cut out fast food
- Cancel cable
- Spend $0 on entertainment
- Cut out meat
- Give up treats (for me this would be the hardest one on the list)
- Spend $0 on clothes
- Cancel your gym membership and run instead
- Stay out of Target (or whatever your shopping weakness is)
Just choose one. You don’t have to commit to dropping the expense forever, just for the month of the Frugal Fresh Start Challenge. You can do this!!
If cutting something out completely is overwhelming, make specific limitations on how you will cut back. For example, if you eat out most nights, cut back to only eating out twice a week.
Calculate Your Savings
Do a little multiplication to figure out how much your initial sacrifice will save you this month. How about if you cut the expense for the whole year? Seeing how much your sacrifice is saving you can really motivate you to keep it up.
For example, if you stop by Starbucks on your way to work five days a week and spend $3 a day, you will save $15 a week or $60 a month by ditching the Starbucks habit. A $3 per weekday habit will save you more than $700 over the course of a year! And I’m pretty sure that’s a very conservative estimate on the price of, well, anything at Starbucks (Can you tell I’m not a coffee-drinker?!). Think of what else you could do with that money!
If you have a weakness for a certain website or store, do you know how much you spend there in a typical month? Maybe you always find yourself leaving Target or Costco with a bunch of things you hadn’t planned on buying. Take a look at the last two or three months and see how much you have spent. Average those months together to get an idea of how much you will save by swearing off that shopping temptation for the month.
Attitude is Everything
As the month goes on and you start to feel the pain of the expense you amputated from your budget, remember that you chose to cut this expense. No one made you do it.
Instead of turning down your friend by saying “Sorry, I can’t eat out this month,” consider being pro-active and taking ownership of your choice. You could say, “I’ve decided not to spend money eating out this month” or “I have an awesome financial goal I’m working toward this month, so I’m not spending money on restaurants.”
No one wants to feel like the victim of their budget. Reminding yourself that you are making a choice to improve your financial situation and reach your goals will help you stay positive and feel empowered.
Challenge– Day 2
Choose an expense to cut right now. It doesn’t have to be a lifetime commitment, just for the month. We would love to hear what you chose to cut down in the comments. You might inspire someone else to do the dame!
I plan to cut out eating out, except for once a month. We tend to get lazy and order fast food instead of cooking, which not only costs too much, but also ends up with us wasting food from our fridge and freezer. We also are planning to start eating healthier, including proper portion sizes, which will hopefully result in fewer leftovers, which seem to never get eaten – thus saving us money at the grocery store.
Awesome! I love January frugal challenges. Giving up something sure is hard, but you can do anything for one month. After that, it just becomes a new low baseline. For this month, we’ve given up clothing. Actually, for the whole year. We figured we have enough clothes in the closets and wardrobe, so we’re just looking for new ways to pair different pieces to look more put-together. Alongside that, we’re going to be ironing/steaming them to be wrinkle-free and look even better. I love the comment about Target, it really is a trap.
Yes! It really does set a new standard for after the challenge. Not shopping for clothes for a year is awesome! 🙂
I will not be eating out at all this month. We usually go out to a burger shop where it costs 25.00 for 3 of us. I also started a Starbucks Fund this week. I have been brewing my own coffee most of the year except for once in October. I am saving 30.00 a week that will be put in a fun container. I will not use it for Starbucks I am hoping to do this challenge all year, I will then take the money and put it towards my student loan. I know it sounds funny giving it a name but it helps to keep me motivated, Starbucks was something I absolutely Loved. Now I just buy a bag of fancy coffee and make it at home.
I love that idea Gina!! That will feel so good to put all of that toward your student loans! It will be so worth it!
The grocery budget is our Achilles heel! We budget $600 but go over that Every. Single. Month!
I’m going to cut out going to the grocery store several times a week (we always need just 1 thing and invariably leave with a cart full), and work on eating from out pantry. To help with our goal, I’m also going to start meal planning (again).
We have a great stock pile of food but don’t utilize it effectively.
That’s a great plan Brandy! Extra trips to the grocery store can be dangerous! We’re going to have to be extra careful with that this month too!
During the month of the challenge we will cut our grocery spending down to $25 per week. We’ll mostly be eating from the pantry and freezer!
We have completely cut the take out for lunch. I now wake up every morning at 5:00 a.m. and brew our coffee (instead of spending $1.75 * 2 – every day) and make everyone’s lunch (I for example for spending $12.00 a day for lunch * 5 =???) (EXACTLY!!!). I must say it has been a real challenge watching everyone at work order out but in the long run I have a purpose and am determined to succeed. Today makes 20 days since I have gone on this “pack your lunch” challenge and I am proud of myself.
That is some awesome progress Wanda! Way to go! That really adds up! 🙂 You should be proud of yourself, especially because it is hard to be different than your co-workers. Keep it up!
No online shopping for me. I’ve just deleted all my favorites so I’m not immediately tempted. This is a big one. I find it so easy just to jump online and browse for things I don’t need and justify my spending by saying it was on sale.
Yes! Good one Zina! Getting emails from all the different sites having sales can be really tempting.
Yikes, I’ve already cut out coffee, pop, and sugar, and cut the cable.
I usually buy groceries on-line and have them delivered. Minimum order is $50. So I’ll eat out of the pantry and freezer this month, and go to the grocery store only when absolutely necessary. Picking up an item or two will be way cheaper than coming up with a $50 on-line order!
That’s a great idea! I’m glad that you found something even though you’ve already cut out so much!
You also inspired me to cut out our big monthly grocery trip (we usually make one big trip and a couple of small trips for milk, etc). We will be fine eating from the pantry for the most part this month!
I have already cut so much, this is a difficult one for me. I thought we could live without Netflix, but my husband said “no” to that one. We really use it quite often with the kids and it is nice to have and doesn’t cost too much.
Instead, I will cut using store bought baby food for my 8 month old son when we are at home. Sometimes I use store bought when I should just throw a banana in the blender or use the large jars of organic apple sauce I buy from the store. I baked a bunch of sweet potatoes last night to make baby food with. The store bought baby food is convenient, but I’d rather make the fresh stuff myself–especially when we are at home (pretty much all week except for church on Sunday mornings).
It’s important to consult with your spouse! 🙂 That’s great that you were able to think of something else! Homemade baby food is sooo much cheaper that the pre-made stuff. Awesome!
Hmm.
I’m going to stay out of Marshalls and
Homesense.
I’m going to save time and shelf-space and, paradoxically, save money by skipping the weekly flyers for groceries, etc. I’ve always been a sale shopper but lately I suspect that it’s promoting me to buy more than I need, so this is an experiment. I’m going to plan our meals and shop from my grocery list only. Win win: more home cooked meals; less takeout.
Oops — I meant to say that I suspect that flyers are “prompting me”, not “promoting me”, to buy more than we need — they definitely are promoting it!
That is a paradox for a sale shopper, that you save money by throwing away the ads that are supposed to save you money! 🙂 Awesome!
I realized today that I hadn’t actually agreed to cut out any expense. So, I am cutting out take-out coffee/tea/chocolate and related treats. Tim Hortons, which is my weakness, as well as Starbucks, although I rarely go there, etc.
Recying the sale flyers without opening them!
My heart is racing. Just. Do. It.
Wow.
I win this one!
I don’t buy clothes monthly; I make my own coffee; I don’t own a TV or cable nor have Netflix (no time to watch TV anyway, Youtube is sufficient!); I make my own lunches to work; I’ve cut Cola out of my diet last year and I group my purchases on Amazon, so I buy only like once in two or three months!
Bring on Day 3 Challenge!
It sounds like you’ve already made some great cuts to the budget!
OMG love today’s challenge!!! I had already started a menu plan and researching how to bulk up meat meals (thanks to your mince recipe) last night. I was brought up on a meat serving and 3 vege dinner (min 500g of meat per meal every night for the 4 of us adds up to alot of $$ per week). I found some yummy looking vegetarian meals too that I think my family will accept, and we plan to have a minimum of 2 nights a week purely vegetarian. Also, making our own snacks (no more pre-packaged bland chemical modified snacks!) and breakfasts (thanks to you again, can’t wait to try the pancake recipe. Do you have any recipe you use with oats? Or is it just for porridge? Sorry to sound dumb).
My grocery budget is $200 per week, and I think I can cut that down to $120 per week (this includes budgeting hubby’s and my biggest weakness; WINE. Also removing from our budget a further $80/mth for alcohol). I don’t know, but from everyone else’s grocery budgets I have read, Australia must be alot more expensive for food, and we don’t have “coupons” 🙁
Cutting down on meat will definitely save money!
You can make baked oatmeal too (just look on Pinterest for a recipe). Of course it’s great in cookies, cakes, and muffins too. In fact, my favorite cookie recipe has oats in it, but you probably shouldn’t have cookies for breakfast, at least not everyday. 🙂
haha “cookies for breakfast” now I know my kids wouldn’t complain about that one :p
Goodbye, cable TV!
Great one Laura!
I have been contemplating my item to cut all day. I have made lots of cuts this year in order to limit our debt accrual, but there is still more that can be cut. Everything I have cut affects me – the housekeeper (I do all of the cleaning now), no eating out (I do all of the cooking now), so I didn’t want to make more sacrifices. In order to reach my goal (to live within our means once my husband’s new job begins in February), we will still have to cut back. So my cut for January will really not hurt me so much, but it will save us money. I am canceling our subscription to the New York Times. We can read it online, and we get the local paper, which is more relevant to our current lives. Moving forward, I am going to review our other monthly charges to our credit card and see if I can’t find more ways to save that won’t leave me cooking and cleaning more 🙂 Thanks for this challenge!
That’s awesome that you were able to think of something that doesn’t mean more work for you. I love that you put so much thought into it Beth. That’s great that you’ve already made some significant cuts too!
I’ve challenged myself to eat from our pantry and freezer stock-piles for January, and honestly I may be able to extend it to February. We’ll need perishables such as milk, eggs, produce, but there’s plenty of frozen items and canned goods that I think we can anticipate our grocery budget to under $200.00 this month. I’ve made a menu for us (family of 4) for this week and the only thing I needed that we were out of was a head of lettuce and some mozzarella cheese, and low on milk, eggs, and toilet paper (I’m including household items to my grocery budget). My husband doesn’t mind stopping by the store on the way home from work, and he’s great at sticking to a list and overlooks those specials that I search (fall) for. This is doable:)
Perfect Karen! I send my husband for errands on his way home from work too. He’s way better at sticking to a list than I am! 🙂
It’s the same with my husband! He’s great a sticking exactly to the list if I’ve asked him to go, but if he’s going because he wants to, he’ll come back with way too much – especially bulk buys – sometimes of things we’ve never even tried before!!
That’s funny Kate! Definitely send him with a list! 🙂
I will be cutting out the unnecessary spending that I do on lunches even though I pack one for work. Also will be cutting out the little stops along the way for treats for the kids and myself, along with lending out money to people who never pay me back.
I thought I was the only one that buys lunch when there is a packed out at my desk. I’m going to stop doing that as well.
Wonderful Tina! That is funny that both you and Crystal back lunches but still end up buying lunches! 🙂
There are a few things that I can cut for the month. First I will cancel my Audible account ($16.99) a month! I love audio books, but I have so many that I havent listened to it will take me months to get through them, then afterward I can get free ones at the library. I will not do any Amazon shopping because there is nothing that I need. Finally Marshalls is my weakness, I always feel like im getting such a good deal from there, and I end up buying much more than I need. So no Amazon or Marshalls for January. Im going to take a closer look at my expenses tonight and think of a few more things that I can live without! This is exciting and refreshing!
Audible, Amazon, and Marshalls: those are great ones Samantha!
You hit the nail on the head with mine….Starbucks! I spend $5 way too many times per week. I’ve been justifying it in that I use their rewards card so I get free Starbucks and coupons. But how much am I spending before getting those free coffees? About $60 a month! WOW! I’m cutting out Starbucks for the rest of the year to help pay off this debt. Thanks for all your encouragement!
That’s awesome Tracie! Every time you get a Starbucks craving, let it remind you how much you want your debt gone! 🙂
Bye-bye, Target! Thanks for doing this, it’s very helpful!!
Target is dangerous! You can last for a month though! 🙂
I want to get my monthly grocery bill down to $300. I have recently realized that I am still making meals for a family of 5, but our 2 adult children no longer live with us. So, I am going to cut back on how much meat I use and the amount of food I cook for our main meal.
I bet it’s hard to go back to cooking for two after cooking for four for so long! That’s a great thing to focus on though. Meat is expensive, so I’m sure it will be a nice savings!
I’ve been married married and child-free for 26 years, but I’ve always cooked like I’ve got a household of at least 4 or 5. No idea why (but our weight sure suffers for it). And this will show you how bad my Amazon-in-general and book-more-specifically problem is – after reading your post, I went to Amazon to look up “cooking for two” books. And I REALLY wanted to justify buying one as “a money saver”, even though it’s been only hours since I said my cut was No Amazon In January!
But I told myself no.
And THEN I remembered that we’ve now got a library right down the street (we moved here two months ago), and that I signed up for a card over the weekend. AND they have a website where I can search for books, and even reserve some for pickup. I’ve now got a “for two” cookbook requested, and it should be ready for me to borrow in about a week. =) For the win!
Mel, that’s a great idea about “cooking for two” books, we still have our youngest at home, he’s 18, but I know it won’t be long before he’s spending most of his time at college. A little confession, I always use him as my excuse to have some treats in the pantry. I guess I won’t be able to use that excuse for too much longer!
If you looked at our shopping this past weekend, you wouldn’t know it, but our goal for January is to cut our grocery shopping to $50 per week. Sunday, we ended up having a bigger (legit) stock-up than we intended, but it was still close to our normal grocery shopping for the week. My biggest weakness is walking in the door at Target. Might have to send my husband the rest of the month since he doesn’t make as many impulse purchases. We pay cash for many things, and I am also pulling all the $5 bills out. It is hard when your cash supply suddenly goes down, but in one week, I’ve stashed $40! Once we get to $100, I will trade it in for a Ben Franklin and add it to the thermometer stash so that we can make a lump sum payment once we get to $500 or $1,000.
Cutting your grocery budget is a great goal! And that’s a fun idea to save your fives for a lump sum payment!
In our house we give up eating out for January. It usually gets us out of any bad habits we develop in the fall when eating out just seems to ramp up for some reason for us.
That’s a great one Emily! And that’s neat it’s a January thing!
I am having a hard time with this one. We are living overseas so I can’t go to any store I want. I guess I can only purchase what we absolutely need from Amazon we can’t get a lot of what we need and eating out. It’s so easy to eat out here because EVERY place delivers including McDonald’s and Baskin Robbins.
Fast food with delivery does sound dangerous!
Hi. So glad I found your blog! Thanks for inviting us to the challenge. =)
There were already a bunch of things I’d decided not to buy this year; books, cds, dvds, makeup – just a few specific exceptions. And I was going to let that be my answer to today. But instead, I’m going to cut all Amazon for the month. Usually by the time each Friday rolls around, I have the whole amount I allot myself for spending in the shopping cart, ready to press the “GO!” button. If there’s money left from last pay, I may even just do my weekly buy on Thursday night. Yep. It’s near compulsion.
Because I know there’s a 97% chance I’d “forget” and buy something before remembering that I’d committed not to (since it’s so easy to do so fast), I took my credit card number out of Amazon’s payment system. Now I’d have to fully acknowledge I’m making a conscious decision to break my resolution to buy. But there’s nothing urgent on my wish list. It’ll all still be there when February comes. Surely I can handle delaying gratification for 25 days. (And if it’s really difficult to do that, all the more reason I should!)
I love that you challenged yourself even further after already committing to cut out some purchases. And I love that you took the extra precaution to take your credit card off of your Amazon account so you won’t accidentally buy on auto-pilot! You can totally make it a month!
I second what Monica said. Thank you so much for blogging and sharing the experience. The interaction makes this a lot more of a community challenge and not a drag.
In regards to the challenge, I’ve been holding on to a gym membership that I never use, which is compounded by the fact that I’ve been using equipment that I have at home. I’ll go in and cancel today. That’ll save me 26 per month – 312 a year (they don’t charge maintenance fees).
My husband laughed when he saw “Cancel gym membership” on my list of ideas. He said “January is when people buy gym memberships!” I figured there were people who were hanging onto a gym membership they didn’t use or “planned” to use. That’s fabulous that you have equipment at home to use!
It’s funny you said that because while I was cancelling, another person from the company I work for was joining lol.
Love that this is Day 2’s assignment because it’s something I’ve brainstormed as I try and calculate truly how much is possible to save in one year. I’ve come up with monthly assignments for the first 4 months, then I’ll reevaluate based on their success, our savings balance, and life events.
January’s Challenge: No eating out, except for the one birthday girl’s date with Daddy.
February Challenge: No grocery shopping except for the essentials.
March Challenge: Only free options for entertainment, except the two brithday girls’ gifts.
April Challenge: Cut electricty usage, especially the TV since temps should be warmer!
I love that you have one for each month! They all look great!
We are cutting sugar out of or diet for the month of January (and hopefully beyond!). I can only estimate I will save us at least $100 since we won’t be purchasing sugary soda pop, donuts, cakes, vending machine chocolate bars, etc!
That’s awesome Maureen! I can definitely see how cutting out sugar would save you money (and be so much better for your body at the same time)!
Cutting Sugar is the hardest thing for me too. I love sugar! But, after having a hard look at finances and watching my dad’s health get ruined by sugar. It is an easy thing to stay focused on. Go to youtube and watch Foodinc . It isn’t just about the money you are saving now. It is about the healthcare you will be saving later.
I tend do get caught up in the thrill of bargain shopping or what is called the grocery game. I’m going to cut out shopping this month. The only thing I will buy is stuff we absolutely need (food wise). I already have a nice pantry and freezer stockpile, so I will only purchase things like milk, fresh fruit, and vegetables. Bargain shopping and getting a great deal is perfect for frugal living but for this month, I plan to stay home and not be tempted by all the “great deals”! I am also going to stay off the deal websites and shopping apps on my phone. If I cut out the temptation, then I know I can succeed.
Thanks for all you do! Your blog is very encouraging. I know I have said this before, but I really appreciate the fact that you blog about how to save $ not spend $ by posting all the great “deals”. I tend to buy stuff because it is so inexpensive even if i don’t need it because I saw it on a frugal lifestyle blog. While I do think we should get things we need at the least price possible, most of the time I don’t “need” the product and therefore spend $ I could be applying to debt.
I totally hear you Monica! That happens to me sometimes too (and my mom is that way too, so it’s in my blood). I haven’t done any of the drugstore freebie deals since we’ve lived here (almost 2.5 years) and we are still using some toiletries that I got from long before that. It can be hard to stop though, when you find great deals. Fortunately for me, we live in the boonies and my time in town is limited, so I don’t even check the ads anymore.
Cutting out the temptation will help so much! You can do it!
A super hard one for me! NO AMAZON SHOPPING! Wow! I said it! yikes. Thanks to Prime, I’m always buying stuff I need. And most times it is things that I need for the house or birthday presents. But its WAY TOO EASY to just hit that button! With no cash exchanging hands, it doesn’t seem like a lot until the bill comes in the mail.
Yes! Amazon can be a wonderful and a dangerous thing! You can make it for a month Jennifer!