Saving money seems to be a simple concept – spend less, and put excess funds away. However, when you’re actually trying to save, it can sometimes be frustratingly difficult, especially with so many distractions and temptations around. But it doesn’t have to be – there are ways to make saving money more fun!
You might have heard of some money-saving strategies such as the $5 bill challenge, expenses tracking challenge or the 52-week challenge. These have worked for many, but this year, try something different – something creative. Here are some suggestions on how you can turn saving money into a fun challenge.
Coins are generally not popular types of money to have – they can weigh our wallets and bags down quite a bit, and we may sometimes find ourselves trying to get rid of our coins when making payments at the cashier. But let’s take a different perspective. Instead of frantically dumping your loose change, place them in a jar at home or at your workplace. You may be surprised at how much you can accumulate, especially if you pay in cash often! The next time you head to a coffeeshop or hawker centre, don’t baulk at the loose change – see them as a way to help make your money grow. They did it in the movie “Up”, remember?
For many of us, one of the biggest obstacles to saving money is impulse buying. That tempting advertisement from Lazada or Shopee when we are scrolling through our newsfeeds, that Google Ad, or even the ad that pops up when we’re playing mobile games – it sometimes seems like our devices know what we want even before we do!
Instead of buying something you see on an ad, take a screenshot of it, together with its price. Then, store it on your phone or computer. After 30 days, look at all the screenshots you have collected, and decide if you still want to buy the items. Some things may no longer interest you – see how much money they add up to, and that’s how much you saved! You can also try this for offline purchases – simply make a note of what you wanted to buy, and review them at the end of the 30 days!
There’s a popular challenge around called the 52-week challenge, where people make weekly contributions to their savings throughout the year. The 100 Envelope Challenge is similar, but with an element of surprise.
Try this:
1. Put together 100 envelopes, and number each one.
2. Shuffle the envelopes and put them into a box or bag.
3. Every day for 100 days, pick an envelope from the bag.
4. The number written on the envelope you pull out tells you how much money to put into that envelope. For example, if you draw number 50, put $50 into the envelope.
There’s nothing like a bit of healthy competition to keep you going. Challenge some friends or family members to see who can save the most money in a month! You can have a family logbook to place in the living room, or if you’re living apart, try shared files such as Google sheets! To amp up the challenge, award the winner with a prize, such as “being free from household chores for a week”, or a treat from the money you have saved!
This challenge gives the term “saving for rainy days” a spin, quite literally! The inspiration originally came from people living in places with unpredictable weather, but here’s how you can do it in sunny Singapore. Deposit some money into your savings every time it rains, and there you have it – a challenge that’s so random but will give you that extra cash at the end of it!
Doing a challenge is a fun way to motivate yourself to save money, and in a sustainable way. At the same time, there’s so much more to building up healthy financials, such as investing, preparing for unforeseen events, and building a nest egg. If you’d like to explore more ways to map your finances, please feel free to reach out to me or our financial consultants at SG Alliance – I’d love to have a chat with you about how to unlock your true potential as a saver!
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