We don’t often do budget challenges, but after seeing our savings rate, I was particularly susceptible to You Need a Budget’s 34 Day Reset. It took a little doing, but I was also able to get Mr. FIVE on board too!
The Challenge only has three rules: 1) Track every transaction; 2)Only the Essentials; and 3) No Dining Out.
We agreed that whatever savings we found during the challenge would be split three ways: 50% to our travel fund and 50% to our free spending categories. (I was leaning toward more rebuilding our Emergency Fund, but Mr. FIVE was only interested if there was a personal bonus. Lesson learned – want to save money, make sure there is a dividend attached!)
The Essentials
The first rule of tracking everything was easy, because we already track everything in YNAB. Figuring out the Essentials was a bit trickier. We decided to fund our categories as usual. All of our bills, mortgages, recurring charges and donations we left untouched. We committed to putting off anything optional until after the challenge. Groceries was the biggest area of uncertainty. Food is necessary, but do we have to spend $125 a week? I decided that we would meal plan and only buy the groceries that the meal plan required.
No Dining Out
Did you hear that? That was Mr. FIVE’s cry of anguish. When we first got together, he was spending $800 a month on dining out. Nowadays, we are spending about $400 a month. The convenience factor is so big in our lives right now. It’s also been our way of supporting some of the businesses that we love in the pandemic. However, last year we were averaging eating out four times a week. We could benefit from a reset.
The Stretch: 34 Things in 34 Days
Wouldn’t it be cool if I could use this challenge to knock out some of those pesky financial tasks that I’ve been meaning to get around to? Here’s my list of ideas:
- Call USAA to reset insurance on the Salon Rental
- Find a renter for the Salon
- Cancel Canva Subscription
- Cancel Board Game Arena Subscription
- Seal windows with plastic
- Find a CPA to do our taxes
- Submit Income Certification for student loan recalculation
- Switch my cell phone from Verizon to Visible
- Call\l USAA about decreasing our Car Insurance coverage
- Figure out the work reimbursement process
- Cash out Venmo
- Cash out credit card rewards
- Cancel recurring political donations
- Submit receipts for Mr. FIVE’s therapist to insurance
- Submit receipts for my therapist to insurance
- Order all groceries for pickup
- Move money from Checking to Savings
- Do 4 hours of Instacart
- Cost out 5 meals
- Shop the pantry one week and pay no more than $30 for necessities
- Submit Employer Certification forms for PSLF
- Schedule a Health Coaching Session for $30 with BCBS (They would pay me!)
- Cancel Consumer Reports Subscription
- Cancel our compost service at the bungalow
- Move all surplus products to the Canning Pantry to reduce unnecessary purchases
- Replace Jimmy Dean Eggwich breakfast sandwiches by making egg bake and quiches instead
- Price out prescriptions at Costco vs. Walgreens
- Call Blue Cross Blue Shield about Specialist Charges – Let’s find out what is copay and what is deductible
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Maybe 34 things is a stretch, but I’m hoping I can figure it out!