30 Days Challenge
Welcome to Day 7 of the 30-Day-Win With Money Challenge. Today we complete the first week. Congratulations! and Thank you for your participation and support. Feel free to share your feedback on our WhatsApp or Facebook group. Also, if you have any suggestions, feel free to reach out. Today's task is an extension of Day 5 and Day 6. On Day Five, you summoned your detective powers to find a pattern in your spending habits. You also classified your expenses as Needs, Wants, and Luxuries.
With the help of the above information, you should rework your budget and look for opportunities to reduce expenses by 5 - 10%. Or more if possible.
Please remember that the goal of budgeting is not just to make ends meet. Instead, it is to create a surplus that can be used to build lasting wealth. Aim to save at least 20% of your income.
Three R's of Budgeting. Refuse, Reduce and Reuse
Refuse
Stop the subscriptions, services, and things you no longer use.
Sometimes we continue subscriptions even though we no longer use them—especially the ones with yearly renewal frequency. We only realize that the subscription is on when the credit card is charged.
It is too late to cancel by then, so we self-justify that we will start using the service again. And this cycle continues for the next year as well.
How many of you relate to this experience? Please drop a comment on our Facebook group.
List all your subscriptions/services and decide if you need them. Cancel the ones you no longer use and those you can live without.
And for the subscriptions you want to keep, look for better and more affordable alternatives at least once in 12-18 months.
Reduce
Look at possibilities of reducing significant expenses, especially rent. Renegotiate your rent or consider moving to a house with lower rent. Ideally, you should spend less than 15-20% of your income on rent.
Try to reduce discretionary expenses like utility consumption, grocery/departmental store bills, eating out, and entertainment expenses by 5-10%.
A slight reduction of 5.00% is easy if you get creative.
Reuse
The average age of a car in the UAE is 5.2 years, while it is 11.5 years in the USA. 11.8 years in Europe and 6.5 years in Asia.
Despite the excellent quality of roads and the sparsity of rain, people tend to change cars more often in the UAE.
So if your car EMI is AED2000, you can save AED24,000 for every additional year you keep the car.
"The Number of Times a Garment is Worn Has Declined by Around 36% In 15 Years. The throwaway culture has worsen progressively over the years. At present, many items are worn only seven to ten times before being tossed. That's a decline ofmore than 35%in just 15 years." -Earth.org
The ideal number of times you should wear most of your clothes in your wardrobe is 20-30 before discarding them. Clickhereto read about the#30WearsChallenge.
Other items you can use for longer are;
- Your phone
- White Goods
- Electronics.
- Furniture
When things don't work, look for options to repair them instead of just replacing them.
Reusing not only helps you budget, but it also helps in reducing pollution and the stress on the landfills.
Start today and keep optimizing your budget every month. You will notice significant savings in 3-6 months.
Do not get too restrictive or rigid with your budget. Leave some room, and don't stress over it.
The idea of a budget is not to restrict or deny but to optimize and do more.
Happy Budgeting.
