Today, I’m introducing the 31 Days to a Better Bank Balance project. The premise is that we can all do things to improve our financial lives — and our bank balances.
Most of these things are simply small steps that that add up to big changes. It’s just a matter of doing them.
So, there will be 31 days worth of posts relating to the subject, spread out over a period of time.
However, they won’t be generic posts that talk about the topics. Instead, each post will contain a specific step you can do that very day that will put you that much closer to a better bank balance.
I’d love it if you’d join in and participate. Feedback is great as well — on how the tips work for you, whether you do something different, etc.
So, are you in?
Today’s step is very simple. If you want to improve your financial life and are committed to building a better bank balance, leave a comment here describing the one area you would most like to see an improvement in.
That’s it: identify an area, and commit to making a positive change.
Posted in 31 Days to a Better Bank Balance on 08.31.10 with 27 comments.
I would love to see my credit card balance recrease – preferably to nothing!
This is a great idea!
I would love to see a decrease in my miscellaneous spending; I blog the benefits of a spending diary and fail to carry out my own advice.
I need to spend less money on food (and coffee!). If I could cut my food costs by 30% I’d have an extra $100/month!
I’m in – I’d like for Mr. BFS and I to actually stay under our $500 a month food budget consistently. You’d think that would be easy, but splurging and potlucks always seem to take us to $550-$600 before we know it…I’ll work on that.
I’m with Robert and Fun Stuff–I have to cut my food bill. I’ve been feeling uber overwhelmed lately and have turned to eating out and “healthy” (ha!) convenience foods from Trader Joe’s. I want to get back to cooking in bulk (to make my own convenience foods), eating out rarely and reducing the ol’ grocery bill.
I’m so in. My goal this month is to cut spending by $100. So far, I’m sucking at it. I had subway for dinner :(
Thanks for joining in guys :)
I guess I should say that I’m in too! I want to work on increasing income.
What have I got to lose! I’m in :)
I want to play! I’d like to increase my emergency fund, and not just so I can splurge come Chrismas
I need to figure out ways to reduce my home energy costs and improve the energy efficiency of my home. I am certain that my electric and gas bills can be lower if I only tried!
Best,
Len
Len Penzo dot Com
I would like to wipe out my overdraft for good and inform the bank I don’t need it any more !!
I’m with Len. My gas and electric bills are outrageous even when our house is empty.
We already have solar heat for the pool and I want to replace our current gas hot water heaters with solar. That change alone should save quite a bit of money since we use forced hot water to heat our concrete floors.
Maybe we’ll even put in a windmill :-)
Betty
Sounds like spending less (in various ways) is a big one!
Last year, 3 weeks after we had our baby girl my husband got laid off unexpectedly. We had never adjusted our emergency fund to reflect having an infant in the house, so in no time we had blown through our savings & started to rack up credit card debt. My husband ultimately got a new job. But for less pay – which would be fine, if not for that stupid cc debt. Therefore, my goal is to get the debt paid OFF so our finances STOP getting worse every month (its been a total snowball effect) and we can get money back into savings again.
I’ve been there. Once you get thing stopped they get better!
Not too late? I would like to get my debt down. After paying bills last week all I had left for food etc. was 6 dollars.
Nope, definitely not too late. Getting debt down (and maybe income up too) sounds like a good thing.
I want to pay off my student loan in the next year and save money for my dream trip to Italy.
Glad to have you joining in Kim!
need to py-off credit cards and car loan asap and save money..
Thanks for joining in, Naresh. Getting those debts paid off will make it much easier to save money too.
Cutdown on my FPL bill. Going way too high and the owner doesnt plan to change the AC that is 30 year old.DW doesnt care about $200 extra as long as she hears the AC humming.
Need to cut down on groceries too..Publix is damn expensive
Thanks for participating. Sounds like cutting spending is the biggest priority for you.
I need to stop eating out – and do an envelope system faithfully
You’re braver than me if you plan to stop eating out entirely :)
I realize that this is an old blog, however, I just found your website and am excited
to read and learn more! I am going to take this challenge and do the 31 days. I am
going to start by stating I need to start with the basics and keep my bank account
balanced!
Great, let us know how it goes!