Welcome to my Money Makeover Challenge……
a series of articles I will be sharing with you all as I personally give my finances a much needed overhaul!
Adopting a mindful approach to how we use and spend our money has been a really effective financial management strategy to date, particularly when it comes to what I call discretionary spending (meals out, outings, coffees, clothes, ‘stuff’, kid’s things etc). But what has fallen by the wayside are some of those money admin and money maintenance tasks.
Just like owning a car, your finances might keep on running without a service but not as efficiently as it could do! And of course the ultimate aim is to use your money to maximise your version of a rich life, now and in the future.
The Plan!
So over the next 12 weeks I’m going to share with you a different area of ‘money maintenance’ each Tuesday that I’m planning to tackle. I will give you an unedited account of where I am at (some of it won’t be pretty!) and what steps I took to get a better deal, create a better system or just end up with more money in my hot little hands! You can find out how long it took me, how easy or painful it was! And how much better off I am as a result.
Why not join along with me?
There is no email sign-up, or costs. It’s totally free. Just weekly articles posted right here on The Rich Life webpage, and chat and conversation on the Facebook page – a great place to share your progress, ideas, or questions.
The intention is simply to see how much we, as a collective, can save.
Each week’s task will take anywhere between half an hour to several hours. And remember – often even half an hour will give you a positive result and will leave you better off that with zero action. You may find that some weeks don’t apply to you – feel free to sub in another money task you need to get on top of or catch up on anything you missed. And for those not in Australia, some of the specifics may not be relevant but the principals probably will be.
So why not give it a go?
The Task For This Week…
To kick off, the task for this week is to have a think over the next few days of how much money you would like to stash over the next 12 weeks – get specific. Put a dollar figure on it. Then connect to your bigger purpose for this money. Are you trying to clear your debt, save for an adventure, or build your financial assets and create more freedom? Whatever your goal, get clear on what matters to you and use this to drive your commitment over the coming weeks.
Personally, my goal is to continue to build our financial investments. I’m thinking longer term baby – financial freedom. I’m aiming to walk away with an extra $2,000 in my pocket by week 12. Too optimistic? Perhaps! Time will tell.
Stay tuned next Tuesday for the first instalment!!!!
And feel free to share here or on the Facebook page how much you are aiming to save and the greater purpose for more money in your pocket. (A great way to stay accountable!)
Until next week – here’s to living a rich life!!!
[And don’t forget, if you want a summarised version of over 40 ideas to find your Money Mojo, you can download them here – for free of course.].
Great blog, Sam! I really enjoy reading it. Oh my, I’ve just done our expenses for January and eating out is our pain point. I think we have it in hand and aren’t doing it very often (I’m very careful about watching where the dollars go!) but a milkshake here and coffee there really, REALLY adds up! Keen to take part in the challenge! Jo
Doesn’t it just! We were so conscious in January about eating out and takeaway snacks, and still it added up to several hundred dollars. Some of those outings were totally worth it. Others would have been just as fun if I had remembered to pack a snack myself.
So glad you are keen to join in. Be sure to share how you get along! xo