Saving Challenge! #6

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We made it. 2018. As you'd have been able to tell from my previous post, I was pretty glad to say ciao to 2017, so I welcomed this new year with open arms. I don't have a list of resolutions, per say. I do have a list of steps I'd like to take in order to become happier and more fearless by 2019. Some of them include things to do with my business or my appearance but mainly they are to do with my mind and keeping my mind in a great place this year.

One thing that I definitely want to get better at this year, is controlling my money. It seems that every time I turn on the news, or scroll on Twitter I'm greeted with messages about 'Millennials' and how we're never going to be able to afford to buy a house. I roll my eyes every time I see it, whilst sipping my £3.60 coffee, holding my £900 iPhone and carry on with my day. I've had enough of wondering where my money has gone at the end of the month and complaining to my friends that I don't have enough money to save, when i'm CLEARLY spending my money on things that are totally unnecessary.

So. I've been looking at ways to help me start to save. I've tried standing orders to my savings account on Payday, I've tried giving the money to my mum, I've even tried hiding cash under my bed hoping I'll forget its there! (I never do). Today I was scrolling through Facebook and saw a LadBible article about saving. The article itself was about saving weekly but it ends up with putting around £50 per week away in December, I'm never in a million years going to do that, so I clicked straight off. I love to torture myself by scrolling through the comments every now and again. Seriously, the comments section on a LadBible article is a breeding ground for fucking idiots. However this time, I came across a little piece of genius. Someone had put up this picture of the saving plan she had done in 2017: (if you’re on a phone, click on it to enlarge the pic & screenshot!)

This just spoke to me. I mean, how do-able is this? To some people, £667.95 is not a lot of money, I get that. I get that some people can afford to save a couple of hundred quid a month, but here is something that is true: Even if you've got a lot of money, you would rather have an extra £668 in an account for next January, when usually you wouldn't. Use it to treat yourself, book a holiday, or even pay off some bills!

For most of us January is a pretty bleak month. Most get paid early, splash out on Christmas and then have to suffer through January with £14.57 to last them until next payday. I don't think I'm being naive by saying this plan is pretty much achievable for most people. I say most people, I mainly mean people who are working and have a steady income. I'm well aware that this plan won't work for you if you don't have a monthly income.

So the idea is to transfer one of the amounts in the table into a savings account everyday from the 1st Jan 2018 - 31st December 2018, the amounts are so small and most less than you'd spend on a coffee, its not aiming to save you a deposit for a house or a new car, its literally an aim to save a little when you'd otherwise save nothing!

From the comments that I saw surrounding this picture, I picked up some handy tips and tricks for you, if you want to try it too.

- Enter numbers 1-365 into a random number generator and whichever number comes up that's the amount you pay. For example if 245 came up, you'd pay £2.45.

- Cheat! Don't use the generator on days you're a bit skint. Pick one of the lower amounts and put that in. You could even be clever about it and save a whole weeks worth of low numbers each month for that week before payday and visa versa with the bigger numbers when you'd just been paid!

- Transfer the money into a savings account or an account you can't get hold of. I have a separate bank account that I never use so I'm going to send mine over to that account and give the card to my mum so I can't use it!

- Don't forget. Set a daily reminder to transfer the money every day. You'll kick yourself if you forget to do it for a week then have to transfer a whole lot over.

-When you get a little extra money in your life, double that days payment or just chuck a little extra in to top it up!

I'm not taking any credit for this idea whatsoever but I thought it was perfect for my first post of 2018. I'm so excited to try it and update you all next year.

Let me know if you try it too! Happy Saving!!

Love,
Ayme's World.