September is for Change

Sadly this weekend marks the official end of summer. But the start of every season always gives me a lift to start new things. For one I'm getting into the back to school spirit by assigning myself to read more personal finance books. More about that another day. It's also a great time to take on a new challenge.



Recently I read about SmallNotebook's No Spend Month in which a family of 3 decided to spend no more than $250 for one 31-day month. This included: food & eating out, gas, clothing, coffee,
household necessities and entertainment. Not included: gifts, Rent, insurance, bills, health expenses, work expenses, savings and investments. And they did it! On the last day they still had $4 left from their budget and celebrated by going out for coffee.

Wow! This is amazing! But I don't think my family is ready. So I've come up with another challenge. So far, however, my success at challenges hasn't been so great. I'm still struggling with the Savings Saving Challenge. But anyhow on to my September challenge...

I'm calling it the Change Challenge. This month I'm going to challenge myself and anyone who wants to play along to save change. It's a tactic that's always part of any "how to save" tips. And Safeway has been using it to encourage shoppers to give to charity. It works like this: whenever I buy something I'll round up the expense to the nearest dollar. If my bill is $3.75 then $.25 goes to savings. If it's $4.09 then $.91 goes to savings. It sounds simple, but there is discipline involved. To get the rest of my family to join in will be tough, but we've got 3 days to prepare.