Let’s all pretend that today is Monday September 1st…

My plan was to post this on Monday and being busy mixed with procrastination and forgetfulness detoured that plan a little.  For the entire month of September I’m challenging all of you to join me on a $1000 Savings Challenge (or 10% of your income).  I know that $1000 is more than some even make, so please feel encouraged to do what you can.

The goal of this challenge is to cinch up our belts and cut expenses we are already making.  My family is then taking that money and putting it straight into a savings account.  I hope you’ll do the same.  Hopefully at the end of the month you will have started your emergency fund or have a nice chunk set aside to make the more expensive winter months ahead less painful.

This is week #1.  So let me share our plans for the week.  Since this is Monday… and we are just starting I’ll wait and share what our progress has been for next Monday (don’t worry I’ll start writing it now so I don’t forget).

We sat down the last week in August and analyzed our budget to see where we thought the most excess was.  For us it appears to be food and gas are the top two.  Keep in mind that we are a family of six, so some of my savings prices may seem high compared to smaller families.

We already coupon pretty heavily, but there are items we slip into the grocery cart that aren’t necessary.  We also tend to grab food out a little too often.  We don’t have a lot of excess though since a trip to town takes 20 minutes.  I’m not in the habit of running out for coffee.

Week #1 Plan:

• Pack Lunches and snacks for trips in the car.  No eating out at fast food, no grabbing a quick drink at the gas station. (approx $50).
• No eating out for dinner.  We usually eat out once a week, always at the same Mexican restaurant. ($55)
• Focus grocery purchases on basic needs.  No juices, cookies and packaged snacks. ($15)
• Carpool with my husband.  A trip to town is a big trip for us, so we hope to be more diligent and take one car to run errands etc.  The real goal is live like a one car family, hopefully this will work! ($60 in gas)

Our plan also focused on ways to add revenue we don’t normally have.  While this isn’t necessarily saving, it is a way to push us to the $1000 mark as long we save everything made.  Since the end goal is the money in the bank we won’t be picky on how it got there.  I’ll be going through the garage and kids clothes to see what we can sell on ThredUp, Ebay and Craigslist.

If all goes well the total saved for this week will be $180.  Who knows maybe we can add some other ideas to the plan as the week goes on.

What’s your plan for the month on how to save?  Share your thoughts or plan in the comments or feel free to link to a blogpost below.