There is a smarter way to approach budgets sexy, and it starts with knowing a few key details. This guide covers them, along with tips you can apply immediately.
Key Takeaways
- This page here showcases all of these experiments, including the ones I’m currently trying now, and those I’ve since hit pause or retired.
- So far we’ve hit our cable/phone/internet, car insurance, and the whopper of them all - our cell phone plans (bye bye iPhones,*gasp*).
- After all, “saving money” doesn’t count unless it’s actually SAVED!
- You can about what we’re doing here: Challenge Everything!
Tips That Make a Difference
The principles on money have pretty much stayed the same over the past hundreds/thousands of years, so each now and then you have to change it up a bit to be sure those epiphanies happen. I highly suggest trying out any that sound interesting to you! ******************************************************************************************************** Current experiments going on (last updated 3/2/16): ******************************************************************************************************** “Challenge Everything” This is where I’m challenging all my monthly bills to see what I can cut down for real without affecting my quality of life much.
- Worth noting: and to keep us motivated, we’ve thrown each last dollar saved into a brand new separate savings account to watch it pile up and reveal us what a difference it’s been making.
- We’ve been going for months now, and have since made hundreds of dollars while freeing up the mind… It’s SO much easier than trying to sell a whole bunch of crap all at the same time!
- More importantly, you can see our main experiment page here: Weekly Craigslist Rule And here’s how much we’ve earned so far: $1,127.67 Let’s See How Much Digit Saves Me!
Common Mistakes to Avoid
This is one of the easiest of them all as it requires absolutely no effort once it’s set up. All I did was to my new favorite financial company out there, Digit, and now each few days it xfers over a few bucks into my account based on what it’s algorithm thinks I can safely save without noticing.
- It’s all automatic, and it’s all awesome (and FREE!).
- Remember that each time you make a transaction with your money, it rounds up to the nearest $1.00 and drops the difference into your account.
- So the more you spend the more you invest (though hopefully you’re not trying to spend TOO much! :)).
Is Budgets Sexy Worth It?
You can check out my review of Acorns here: Acorns review And here’s how much I’ve invested so far: $336.66 ******************************************************************************************************** Retired experiments: ******************************************************************************************************** The Baby Expense Tracker! Capping my record at a respectable 29 months, and freeing up my time to be spent more wisely ;) It was a fun experiment while it lasted!
- As a rule, you can see the running total of everything spent here: Baby Costs Tracker And the final summary and category breakdown here: The Grand Finale - $28,185.49 Operation Mortgage Pay Off A few years ago I had the urge to purge our mortgages once and for all and become completely debt-free.
- We had a surge of income for a nice period of time, and I figured if we plowed an added $2,000 against them each month we could get rid of one of our biggest expenses and live scott-free forever!
- I mean, who doesn’t wish to shed their mortgages or rent??
Where the Real Savings Hide
Well, we did excellent for a solid 18 months or so knocking out a cool $35,000, but sadly times changed and it didn’t make sense anymore to continue. In short, we were beginning to make room for a new baby in the household, and we knew we didn’t wish to live there forever.
- So we hit pause, moved out (it’s now a rental property by default), and now just pay an added $150+ towards it each month by rounding up the payments.
- We didn’t make it past the finish line, but at least we got $35k of debt knocked off!
- That’s a win, yeah?
A Closer Look at Budgets Sexy
Worth noting: you can check out the whole payoff plan here: Our Mortgage Payoff Plan And the follow up on our thoughts one year later here: Do I Regret the Payoff Plan? The “Active” vs “Passive” IRA Test After I left my 9-5 to blog full-time, I had the decision of what to do with my old 401(k) at the company.
- I wanted to roll it over into my own accounts over at USAA instead of left tied to my company who later went out of business and screwed me (fun times!), but I didn’t know *what funds* exactly to roll them into.
- So similarly to other experiments I enjoy doing, I decided to break up my $180,000 into three separate traditional IRA accounts and then track its performance.
- More importantly, wish to guess which one? :) The portfolio I left alone and wasn’t actively managed.
What to Know About Budgets Sexy
Here were the final results: IRA #1 (NOT Managed): $79,141.43 IRA #2 (Managed, USAA funds only): $73,199.26 IRA #3 (Managed, ALL different funds): $74,024.92 You can learn more about this experiment here: The Ultimate IRA Test. I eventually dumped them all into a single Vanguard account which finally streamlined everything and became MUCH more efficient.
- It was a fun experiment to say the least though… And the folks at USAA had a solid kick out of it too.
- Remember that well, most of them ;) 12 Months of Love Drop In 2010 I sucked about giving back, so I partnered up with a philanthropy buddy of mine (Nate St.
- Pierre) and together we challenged ourselves to affect one family’s life each month for the entire 2011 year.
How Budgets Sexy Really Works
We built a site near “micro-giving” (if thousands of people only donated a dollar we could make a large impact in someone’s life!), and traveled throughout the country showing up on peoples’ doorsteps to “drop the love” our community put together for them. Each of these “drops” were filmed, along with the story on why we chose to assist these families, and we then shared them back with our community to reveal them the power of their generosity.
- As a rule, after all, it’s one aspect to donate a few bucks, but a whole other to watch the faces of the recipient receiving it!
- It was hard to pull off month after month, but we completed the mission and when all was said and done Love Drop had raised over $90,000 of goods and services (and money) for our 12 families, and it’ll be a project we’ll at no point forget.
- The highlight was when a recipient of these gifts later turned near to launch her own version of Love Drop to pay it forward :) Little acts of kindness can be powerful in life!
Getting the Most From Budgets Sexy
You can check out the entire site here: LoveDrop.us And what our community did for each of our 12 families here: Love Drop Recap The $2.00 Savings Experiment This was when I realized that the more $2.00 bills I came throughout, the more I ended up saving since I at no point wanted to spend them! In short, so I started a “rule” that each time I passed a bank I had to go in and “purchase” whatever $2.00 bills the teller had at that time.
Sometimes I’d walk away with 3 or 4, and others 20. Over time my stash grew like crazy and it was definitely working, but then it got to the point that I didn’t wish to have so much cash just laying near my house and not banked somewhere or invested :) So I ul.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I save money on budgets sexy?
Compare prices across a few retailers, look for active coupon codes, and time bigger buys around sales events. I highly suggest trying out any that sound interesting to you! ******************************************************************************************************** Current experiments going on (last updated 3/2/16):....
Is it worth shopping around for budgets sexy?
Usually yes. Worth noting: and to keep us motivated, we’ve thrown each last dollar saved into a brand new separate savings account to watch it pile up and reveal us what a difference it’s been making.
What should I check before buying?
Read the terms, confirm any code still works, and factor in shipping or returns. We’ve been going for months now, and have since made hundreds of dollars while freeing up the mind… It’s SO much easier than trying to sell a whole bunch of crap all at the same time!.
Smart Ways to Save More on Budgets Sexy
- Sign up for the retailer newsletter to catch first time and seasonal discounts.
- Compare the final price including shipping, not just the headline number.
- Check for student, military, or first order offers you may qualify for.
- Time non urgent purchases around major sale events for the deepest cuts.
- Leave items in your cart for a day; some stores send a follow up discount.
Final Thoughts
The bottom line on budgets sexy: a little research goes a long way. Compare your options, watch for seasonal offers, and never pay full price when a better deal is a click away.
Originally published at budgetsaresexy.com.
