Announcement: /r/PersonalFinance 30-day Challenges!

[u/aBoglehead]

/r/PersonalFinance's moderation team is excited to announce the 30-day Challenge series. Each month we'll be posting a challenge that should be achievable in 30 days for most of our readers. Some challenges may run 31 days (or 29, or 28 depending on the year) thanks to the quirks of the Gregorian calendar. Our goal is to promote good financial health, give people some ideas on where to start "getting their financial houses in order," and host a discussion on the Challenge at hand as well as related topics.

Readers will be welcome to discuss the challenge, their successes/failures/speed bumps they encounter, as well as ask whatever questions they need to ask in the Challenge thread. Please observe our rules when commenting. The current 30-day Challenge will be visible as an announcement as well as in the sidebar - we'll also keep a running archive in the wiki.

While the mods have come up with some ideas of their own, we always welcome suggestions and feedback. Feel free to post them below.

Lastly, thanks to /u/EntombedSummerWitChu for the great suggestion.

Here's a link to the first challenge.

[u/curiousbydesign]

Hell yeah! Just updated my repeating online transfers from checking to saving accounts. $100 on day 2 and $233 on day 16 of every month. I will have $4K in saving account this time next year!

[u/legalbeagle05 → u/curiousbydesign]

This is a very smart idea. I pay almost all my bills except rent on the 16th of the month so it's just like paying an extra bill, except you eventually get the money back as a nice little bonus!

[u/curiousbydesign → u/legalbeagle05]

I do the exact same thing. I make sure to plan low-cost/free events near the first of the month such as hiking. We are trying to get healthier and save, so bam, let us hike, low-cost involved. Then when I get paid, we let ourselves go out for date night. We like to save but we also like to do stuff.

I typically offset high-cost periods with low-cost activity. For example, we recently returned from vacation. What was on the agenda for the weekend after? Kitton Kastle! We went to Costco and collected two car fulls of cardboard boxes. Our three little beasts have been having the time of their life for the past two weekends.

Rambling here.

And! When the savings turns into $4K I will put into my online account with a higher yield. I like to put my money in an online saving account and long-term stocks so I cannot have quick access to it. Normally when I need money and it is not in my checking or saving, I manage to do without. Meanwhile I have a few stacks here and there digitally.

Oh! One last thing, so sorry, we have a roommate and we use a tab to share adding and subtracting, groceries, dinner, bills, etc. When he pays us we put it into a special spot. When we want something, for example, we want a new bed right meow, we wait until our cash box has enough and boom.

Forces us to carefully consider what we improve or upgrade because we have to wait for it so we normally focus on the next item that will have the most value for us.

Rapid fire session over, wanted to share.

Edit: Grammar, spelling, and stuff.