This 6-Day Savings Challenge Is Just the Glow-Up Our Bank Accounts Needed This Week

If you’re like most of us, your savings account probably isn’t exactly where you’d like it.

Saving money is no easy feat, especially when you’re attempting to pay off debt and afford sky-high rent prices.

But that’s where this seven-day savings challenge can help. Follow these steps, day by day, and you’ll be able to recalibrate your finances and save for what matters — like buying a house, taking a *real* vacation or planning for retirement.

Heck, you might even be able to knock out a few days at once!

Day 1: Commit to a Week of No Spending

You ready for this? It’s time to commit to a week of no spending. That means you won’t spend any money on nonessentials this week. Definitely still pay rent, your utilities — all those responsible grown-up bills — but don’t spend anything on entertainment, clothes or dining out.

Yes, this will be difficult, and you will face temptations. But this is a great way to reset your spending habits and save up some extra money.

If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can go for a full month, like personal finance writer Jamie Cattanach. She committed to a No Spend November, to help tame some of her holiday spending. When Cattanach finished her challenge, she saved more than $600. Not bad, right?

Day 2: Trade Your Grocery Receipts for Cash

We all want to save money on our groceries. What we don’t want to do is put a ton of work into it. If this sounds like you — someone who just wants to get in and out of the store and save money without doing much thinking — there’s an app we recommend.

It’s called Ibotta, and it pays you cash back for buying certain items at the grocery store. (Beer, cereal, ice cream… you name it.)

Before you shop, search for items on your shopping list within the Ibotta app. When you get home, snap a photo of your receipt and scan the items’ barcodes.

Bam. Cash back.

Ibotta is free to download. Plus, you’ll get a $5 sign-up bonus when you upload your first receipt.

We recommend stashing the cash you earn into your savings. We talked with Nancy Frost, who earned more than $400 in one year. Not bad, right?

 

Day 3: Build Your Savings Plan Into Your Budget

In order to save money, you’re going to need a strong foundation. That’s where a budget is helpful.

If you don’t budget — or if your current budget situation just isn’t working out for you because it’s way too complicated — we suggest using the 50/20/30 budgeting method. It’s easy, and it offers a ton of flexibility. Here’s what it’ll look like:

• 50% of your monthly income goes toward living expenses. These include rent, mortgage, utilities, groceries, car payments, gas and loan payments.
• 20% of your monthly income goes toward money goals, which can include investments, debt-reduction payments above the minimum amount and — yup! — your savings.
• 30% of your monthly income goes toward personal spending. That’s everything else.

Laying out this groundwork might take a bit of work, but it’ll be worth it and help you save even more money in the long run.

Day 4: Stop Giving Your Car Insurance Company Extra Money

If you really want to save money, take a good look at your monthly bills — like your car insurance. Experts say you should be shopping your options twice a year.

OK, we can hear you laughing from here. Who has time to do all that?

But seriously, insurance companies take a lot of factors into consideration, and they change all the time. Ipso facto — you’re paying too much.

Thankfully, a digital marketplace called SmartFinancial could be getting you rates as low as $22 a month — and saving yourself more than $700 a year.

It takes one minute to get quotes from multiple insurers, so you can see all the best rates side-by-side. Yep — in just one minute you could save yourself $715 this year. That’s some major cash back in your pocket.

So if you haven’t checked car insurance rates in a while, see how much you can save with a new policy.

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Day 5: Ask This Website to Pay Your Credit Card Bills This Month

The truth is, your credit card companies are probably ripping you off with high interest rates, and this very well could be holding you back from making an real progress toward your savings goals.

But today things are about to change, because a website called AmOne wants to help.

If you owe your credit card companies $50,000 or less, AmOne will match you with a low-interest loan you can use to pay off every single one of your balances.

The benefit? You’ll be left with one bill to pay each month (much more manageable). And because personal loans have lower interest rates (AmOne rates start at 2.49% APR), you’ll get out of debt that much faster.

Plus: No credit card payment this month.

AmOne won’t make you stand in line or call your bank, either. And if you’re worried you won’t qualify, it’s free to check online. It takes just two minutes, and it could help you save a ton of money on interest.

Day 6: Invest in Real Estate (Even If You’re Not A Millionaire)

Take a look at some of the world’s wealthiest people. What do they have in common? Many invest in large private real estate deals. And here’s the thing: There’s no reason you can’t, too — for as little as $10.

A company called Fundrise lets you get started in the world of real estate by giving you access to a low-cost, diversified portfolio of private real estate. The best part? You don’t have to be the landlord. Fundrise does all the heavy lifting.

Fundrise’s Starter Portfolio has a minimum of only $10 and is geared toward first-time real estate investors. Your money will be invested in the company’s Flagship Fund, which already owns more than $250 million worth of real estate around the country, from apartment complexes to the red-hot housing rental market to larger last-mile e-commerce logistics centers.

Want to invest more? Fundrise offers a variety of account levels and features to fit every type of investor’s needs. Once invested, you can track your performance on Fundrise’s website and mobile app, and watch as properties are acquired, improved and operated. As tenants pay their rent, you could earn money through quarterly dividend payments, and over time, you could earn money off the potential appreciation of the property. Since 2014, Fundrise investors have earned roughly $100 million in dividends alone.

So if you want to get started in the world of real-estate investing, it takes just a few minutes to sign up and create an account with Fundrise.

*Past performance is not indicative of future results. The publicly filed offering circulars of the issuers sponsored by Rise Companies Corp., not all of which may be currently qualified by the Securities and Exchange Commission, may be found at www.fundrise.com/oc.