Our March Challenge: Cut Your Expenses Down!

March's challenge - Take control of your finances

After February's challenge, we wanted to keep the momentum going. We looked at the "No Spend March" challenge that is everywhere this month 😬. Yes, reducing expenses is important, but total deprivation is a bit sad... That's why we came up with a bingo of 16 checkboxes to adopt new financial habits 👀: 

- Click on the image to download and print it! -

👉 Here's a bit more detail on the boxes, so you understand what it's all about:

• Budgeting fixed expenses (rent, insurance, etc.)
• Buying second-hand
• Setting a spending pleasure goal
• Asking: want or real need?
• Batch cooking
• Borrowing an item: go to the library, ask a friend to lend us a book or something else...
• Selling unused clothes or items on Vinted / Leboncoin
• Shopping around to reduce bills (phone, internet, etc.)
• Cutting out an extra (restaurant, delivery, etc.)
• Going out without your wallet
• Enjoying a free activity (forest walk, board games, playground)
• Cancelling unnecessary subscriptions (to the gym we never go to, for example, or VOD platforms we don't watch)
• Carpooling / eco-driving
• Lowering the heating from 19° to 18°, or even turning it off during the day, especially if we're not teleworking
• Buying with a promo code or during sales / at a reduced price
• Setting money aside (even if it's only $10!).

👋 This article may interest you: "Cash stuffing": The envelope method for saving

Our tips for saving money

To go further, here are some tips from a few team members 💸:

👉 Katie: For really tough periods, we can create a nice Excel spreadsheet annotating our income and fixed expenses (it also works on a small notebook). It's also possible to allocate a budget for groceries, a budget for extras (reasonable), and a potential budget for unforeseen events (and we know that unforeseen events rarely happen at the right time). With card payments, especially without receipts, it's difficult to see the expenses incurred. So, by closely monitoring the cash flows, we can more easily see the state of our account when we start to go into the red: direct debits, purchases, savings...

👉 Rosie: The best way for me to save money is to budget my fixed expenses and establish a pleasure budget, just to see where my limits are. I also only buy second-hand, and I resell as much as possible anything I don't wear or use. It's really satisfying to see money coming into my account, rather than going out!

👉 Lauren: I'm a spender, and it's becoming more and more problematic, add to that a mantra like "you only live once" and here I am, me and my overdrafts! Except that I also have a reasonable side, phew! Every month, I put money aside, even a small amount, it's always money that I won't spend, and then, I work on myself. Ecology is becoming increasingly important in my life, overconsumption is therefore no longer an option, and I also try to understand why I spend so much. The worse I feel, the less comfortable I feel in my own skin, and the more I want to buy things. So now, I use alternatives: sorting through and trying on old clothes rather than buying new ones (even second-hand), taking time for myself and my loved ones, rather than filling virtual shopping carts, and I continue to search within myself for the resources for my well-being, rather than trying to find them in objects. So, those are our tips for reducing our expenses on a daily basis 😉! 

However, did you know that a lack of self-esteem can impact our money management? Yes, saving money and managing your wallet go beyond good organization! So, explore everything to stay afloat.

Be sure to check out the following articles too;

• How to cope with financial stress
• Why pay transparency is so important
• 8 Things I no longer care about