Now that you have created a budget (Day 3) and started tracking your expenses (Day 1), I am sure that you are becoming aware of some expenses that you currently have that seem way bigger than you thought they would be.
Day 4’s challenge is to have a quick and stern look at your expenses and then pick one (and only 1!) that you are going to limit for the rest of the month.
Look at the budget you made yesterday as well as your expenses up to now, and pick one expense to reduce. Make a rough estimation of how much you might be spending on it each month, then set yourself a goal of how much you can save during the next 4 weeks. Remind yourself of this goal every day, as at first I am sure you will get tempted to go back to your old habit!
Start with just one expense, don’t try to cut down your smoking habit AND limit the amount of times you eat out AND take down the number of coffees you buy on your way to work from that fancy but expensive coffee bar. If you try to focus on too many, not only will you be cutting out many of the things that you apparently enjoy (and some fun still needs to be had!), you also would focus on breaking up several habits, which will make you much more likely to fail than if you just focus on 1 habit to change at the time.
A final note on this challenge: make sure to set any money that you save aside instead of spending iit on something else. You will find out why in tomorrow’s challenge!
Share your ideas on what expense to limit as well as how much you think you might save in the Facebook group or via a tweet, using the #31DayChallengeToFE hashtag. If you would like any more ideas on choosing an expense to reduce, make sure to hop over to step 14: Limit one Expense of the 100 Steps Mission to Financial Independence.
100 Steps Mission 