The Goal’d on Growth Saving Challenge

I love to play games, and I love to save money. So, I hereby bring you a combination of 2 of my favourite concepts: Savings and play! If there has ever been a time that showed us the importance of saving, it should be this Covid era with it’s need for emergency funds. Similarly, savings are the start of most financial goals. Because they buy you travel and help you pay-off debt faster. Above all, it’s usually savings that become investments. So why don’t we save more?

Procrastination, not setting goals and lack of discipline are some of the reasons I found deterred me from saving. This challenge aims at fighting all of them. Therefore, I’m challenging you, in this community of growth-minded people to make 2021 a year of saving money and building financial discipline. 

The challenge has a purpose of helping you to:

• Save for a specific goal(s) 
• Build discipline – The challenge will help you become disciplined with saving. Discipline might be hard to build, but nobody ever regretted building it. Discipline in one area builds esteem in getting things done and might encourage you to seek it in other areas.   
• Build new financial habits – Actions become habits. If you have been operating on financial habits that don’t particularly align with your goals or the life you want to lead, this is a good time to change and build new ones. 

The challenge is action-driven. You are making a commitment to stop procrastinating or using money to buy things outside your intention. If you stick to the challenge, these are the expectations at the end of the year:

x Money in the bank, paid-off or reduced debt or a tick next to a goal that you set now.

x Disrupted old patterns and new habits of disciplined and good financial behaviour.   

Most saving challenges begin in January, with the new year. However, considering that it’s Janu-worry for many and financial recovery will only come end of the month, I would like to start the challenge end of January/ early February.  

Challenge Instructions 

1.  Set an objective – Do you want to pay off debt? Save for an emergency fund or travel? Set one or more goals that you’d like to achieve by December 31st 2021. 

TonG Tip: Writing your goals down makes them visual, which solidifies them. If you have more than one goal, make a list.

2. Price tag your goal(s) – This is how much you need to save in order to achieve the goal you set. How much do you need to pay off? Put a number on the goal and be clear about how much you’re challenging yourself to save.   

3. Have an account dedicated to your savings – The idea here is to avoid keeping your savings in the same cheque account with the card you use to buy normal, daily expenses. You can keep a different savings account for your challenge (if you can). You can also use your usual savings, call account or unit trust account, etc. If you are using your usual savings account, its advisable to keep record of your savings for the challenge (with spreadsheet, a note in your phone, etc.) for accountability. 

TonG Tip: Create a specific reference to use when you deposit or transfer to keep record. i.e. #goaldongrowth

4. For the challenge, you are going to save in chunks of a specified amount or more. You specify the amount that you can afford – N$300, N$500, N$1000, etc. You’re continuously going to collect this amount (or more, not less) and deposit it into the account you chose. Here are 2 ways you can save: 

• Monthly – we should all strive to make saving a portion of our income before we spend it a normal practice. You should therefore set up a payment to your savings monthly and get used to it. Make this practice automatic with a stop order arrangement or a recurring payment set up. 
• As you go –  by cutting down on spending in areas you feel are unnecessary and increasing your income. The purpose of this is to collect money until you reach the amount you specified and deposit into your savings account. You can collect and deposit hard cash or via bank transfer. As soon as you deposit, start collecting again. 

Examples of saving for the challenge via cost-cutting

1. No spend challenge – This is when you decide not to spend on a specific expense for a specified period of time. You could decide to not spend on take away, home décor, clothes, shoes, etc. A friend of mine did a no spend challenge on clothes last year to renovate her house. Though that sounds intense, it’s totally possible. You don’t need clothes, you want them. So, you can go a few months without buying them, if you so choose.
2. Reduce impulsive buys – You know what you spend on without planning. For some, it’s food, alcohol, clothes, etc. I mostly buy food, books and skin & hair products. You don’t have to completely eliminate these buys if you don’t want to. However, you can reduce them by being more intentional. The way I avoid spending on these is by avoiding window shopping, not going into bookshops “just to look around”, and if I have food at home, I have food at home.

TonG Tip: You can stop spending and reduce impulsive buys all you like, but it’ll all be in vain if you don’t really save the money you are “saving”. It’s not saving if the money is not in your account or off-setting a debt balance somewhere. Do not repurpose expenses, save.

5. Hold yourself accountable – Self-discipline is the ability to control your feelings and overcome your weaknesses. It’s an act of the self, so you should hold yourself accountable. Celebrate your wins, recognize mistakes and correct them. You could come up with rules to encourage yourself. Like, if you ‘almost’ impulse buy, you should save the money, because the fact that you were willing to part with it means you don’t really need it. You could also impose a penalty – e.g. if you impulse buy, you owe the challenge the same amount + N$20, etc.  

Though finances can be serious and all, I want to challenge you to have fun in looking for areas you need to reduce spending and collecting savings. Challenging yourself means pushing yourself as an act of love, not condemnation. Learn from your mistakes and keep it moving.

I would love to hear from you! I do a version of this challenge every year in private and I’m excited about going public with it. If you are doing the challenge, please keep me updated on your experience, by using the hashtag #goaldongrowth on social media. I can’t wait to hear from you. Let’s gooooooo!!!