This 30-Day Cash Challenge Can Slash Your Spending

Saving money is a serious challenge, now more than ever for many. There are plenty of philosophies on how to save and budget out there, but finding one that works for you is a challenge on its own.

With that in mind, we want to create simple, productive challenges and goals to help you save. No bells and whistles, no complicated steps, just actions, and results. One of our favorites is the 30-day cash challenge, something almost anyone can try and (hopefully) succeed at!

The 30-Day Cash Challenge

There are a few different approaches to this challenge, but one method is the simplest and most effective. The goal is to only spend cash for 30 days or an entire month, whichever makes more sense. Before getting started, sketch out your budget for the 30 days and take out exactly as much cash as you need to get through. You don’t need to include any bills or subscriptions that you automatically pay via credit card because you can obviously keep those running.

Everything else, you should pay for with cold, hard cash. You don’t have to cut your credit cards in half or throw them away, but stash them out of sight for a month and work with the cash you have on hand.

The challenge can be effective for a lot of reasons, which makes it perfect for all types of savers and spenders. By restricting yourself to only spending cash, you might be able to entirely eliminate impulse spending or online shopping. Plus, you’re forced to work within a budget, even if you’re usually not very good at doing so. By always working with physical cash, you can see if your wallet gets slim before the end of the month and adjust your habits.

Moreover, since your spending isn’t automatically tracked, you’ll need to focus on logging your purchases and be more attentive to your money. Even while planning your budget, you might start making frugal decisions before the challenge starts. Across the board, the idea is to be more mindful of how and when you spend money, and as a result, potentially find ways to save more.

The Bottom Line

The 30-day cash challenge may not be feasible for everyone. Many people live paycheck to paycheck, and others simply do not have enough on hand to cover a month’s worth of expenses.  Luckily, other saving and spending tactics are available, for anyone unable to attempt or complete the cash challenge.

If you can try it, however, this 30-day cash challenge can help you get your spending under control, and improve your budgeting and saving skills.

See Also: How the 60-20-20 Budget Works