48 comments

MMM Challenge: Save 100 Dollars This Week

Perhaps you have been reading along so far, enjoying our little growing community, but you’re still not sure where to get started. There’s plenty of personal finance advice out there, but you’re too busy to search through all the disorganized piles of non-amusing advice. You want to do it the Mr. Money Mustache Way!

Well, It’s time to start putting the pencil to the dollar bill now – earning yourself more freedom in only one week.

Right now, imagine your normal weekly routine – whatever you were planning to do if I hadn’t published this life-changing article.

Now let’s see if you can shave $100 off of it. I’m sure you can think of specific things, but here’s a sample diet.

Idea: See if you can go out to lunch and dinner ZERO times in the whole week! Bring your lunch to work.
Credit: $20 or so per meal, compared to the number of times you went out last week.

Idea: See if you can combine ALL your driving into the trips you already do for work. Don’t worry, you can still go out on the weekend, but you will be taking your bike!
Credit: $10 per day that you eliminate non-work driving.

Idea: Don’t make ANY trips to stores, other than grocery stores, this week. You’ll still be allowed to buy any missing items next week, but this exercise of delaying the purchases might be quite enriching.
Credit: $20 per store you would have normally visited, but postponed.

Tell us all how you are doing on the challenge! It’s okay to break the rules if necessary, but you have to try your best.

At the end of the week, there will be some excellent things to do with the $100 or more you just saved. Remember that every time you figure out how to save money at one moment in time, it gives you some employees that you will keep working for you for the rest of your life. Congratulations!!

  • Brad April 28, 2011, 7:24 am

    Hi [Mr. Money Mustache]!

    Karen and I just discovered your blog through a Facebook post – love it.

    I seem to always think of purchases in terms of “how much would this cost me per month if I split the cost over 1 year” – as in “wow – that trip to Florida is costing us $300/month!!” and it helps put things in perspective for me and make me really think about a purchase.

    Thinking back I realized that I picked up this habit from you back in “the day” at the old nut-house. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

    We are both employed with our own corporation, working from home, eating breakfast with the kids, and living the dream in PEI. Your blog serves as a good refresher on determining what is important, and how our frugal habits helped us to get where we are today.

    Cheers,
    Brad
    PS – if you’re looking to add functionality to your blog (e.g. like social media integration) I’d be happy to share what WordPress plugins work well for me and even give you some tips on configuration

    Reply
    • MMM May 2, 2011, 8:18 pm

      Hi Brad!

      Sorry, I wrote back to you earlier on this comments forum, but when reviewing the comments today it seems to be missing.. so perhaps it was never sent.

      Anyway, I was just saying thanks very much for your comment and that happy update on how things are going for your family these days! Very glad to hear that mastery of spending has played a part in getting you the dream life. This Sunrise Web company of yours looks like an excellent biz too – I checked out the website.

      Best Regards,
      MMM

      Reply
  • Mr. Frugal Toque April 29, 2011, 7:48 am

    I don’t know, Mr. Mustache … this sounds an awful lot like Lent.

    All the same, I didn’t go out to lunch yesterday, so $15 for me.

    Reply
    • MMM May 2, 2011, 8:07 pm

      Lent? Never heard of it! Perhaps you mean Lentils, which I do think are an awesome contributor to home cooking on $100 Challenge Week. And every week after that too.

      Reply
      • Kelly November 20, 2014, 9:43 pm

        As a lifelong Catholic, I had to giggle at this! (I can’t quite tell if you’re being facetious in your Lent/lentils thing.)

        Lent – a period of 40 days prior to Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday, marked by sacrifice and fasting (i.e. – I gave up soda and chocolate for Lent this year, two of my favorite vices.) No meat is to be eaten on Fridays in Lent. If approached prayerfully, it can enhance the faith. Or it can be a real drag.
        lentils – a high protein, fast cooking legume eaten by many people who want to save money and who can’t have meat on certain days in Lent.

        Reply
  • Sam May 9, 2011, 12:40 am

    Love the challenge but I need more challenging ideas. I don’t drive and eat most lunches at home (I can easily switch to eating all lunches at home too). Do you care to offer suggestions to the extremist sort?

    Reply
    • MMM May 9, 2011, 11:51 am

      Hi Sam,

      Awesome! That is a complaint I rarely hear. But if you want to go further, what are your goals? Do you want to help the earth more, or mostly save more money for freedom? For example, buying less meat accomplishes more earth and only somewhat more money. Whereas finding a way to increase your income a bit and save 100% of the increase, perhaps through investing or enjoyable side projects, boosts the money side greatly but not the earth side. Either way, I accept your challenge to make more challenging challenges!

      Reply
      • Sam May 15, 2011, 9:50 pm

        Honestly I am not sure of goals. Especially now that I’m coasting and all my habits are ingrained, obtaining new challenges is a bit of a…challenge.

        I’m not a big meat eater and love my job and can see myself staying on evening after reaching FI. For a while I tried working on increasing my income, but I am not really that interested in making more money mainly because it often results in me losing other things I value more such as free time. I am actually gearing up to asking for a flexible schedule at work so I can spend on extra day at home working on things for myself like reading or going on an aimless ride. I think at this point in my life, I’m working on learning how to appreciate my life more with the decisions I’ve made that have made me happy in life.

        Reply
        • MMM May 15, 2011, 10:28 pm

          Dear Sam,
          You sound like a very happy person already! Congratulations again. Maybe I could get you to do a guest posting for MMM readers someday on the joys of a bicycle/nonconsumer/financially non-stressed life.

          I also like your idea of customizing the work schedule for more free time and self-exploration. For the last year of my own work career, I also went down to four days per week in exchange for a 20% pay cut and it was a great feeling.

          It sounds like I still have not been able to challenge you. I am about to get into a more investment/earning good returns section of MMM writing in the upcoming weeks. When you save money, are you putting it somewhere where you are happy with its performance for you? If not, maybe that is something to work on – learning more about investing?

          Nice to hear from you again. I think I will check out your blog again this ‘eve.
          MMM

          Reply
          • Brad May 16, 2011, 9:06 am

            Looking forward to some investing tips!

            Reply
  • Sam May 17, 2011, 12:46 pm

    I would appreciate investing tips. I have a lot of what many consider bizzare ideas on investing and money. I am very risk averse and am pretty content to just not lose money so all my vehicles are about as safe and risk free as I can make it. It is spread in a couple of different buckets, but to date the goal has been to not rely much on money eventually. So if the living structure is paid for and food is gotten to as low of a means possible I consider it a success. Granted, I pay rent and other bills, but I am working on getting all costs as low as possible.

    I would love to do a guest post, and am happy you asked :)

    Reply
  • shadowmoss May 24, 2012, 11:15 am

    I started at the beginning and am reading through all the posts. I read this yesterday, and not long after had a fight with a co-worker. So, I immediately decided that the reason for this job is to pay off debt. I decided not to order some things on-line (I live in Honduras, so on-line is pretty much the only way to go), and decided not to go and stay in the city at a hotel for this long weekend (Memorial Day). I am probably going to put off some more traveling until I am debt-free. So, for this week, reading your post saved me $500-$700, and was a good reminder to get my priorities back in line.

    Reply
    • GregK June 7, 2012, 12:48 pm

      Wow. I think you just eliminated anyone’s ability to characterize MMM’s assertion that this article is “life-changing”. Keep up the good work — once you get off the debt treadmill, you’ll be able to make some real strides towards FI!

      Reply
  • Dom December 13, 2012, 9:43 am

    I love this idea! Since reading this my gf and I have made up our own tally and we treat it like a game. Whoever tallies up the least “savings” puts $5 in a jar at the end of the week. We then put that money towards our vacations or treating our self to a rare night out! Thanks for the continuous great ideas MMM!

    Reply
    • Suzanne January 4, 2013, 4:02 pm

      Hello,

      I am so glad I came across this blog. I have been reading from the end of the posts and am not current yet:) I just put my large family on a somewhat severe budget. My husband doesn’t think I can do it but I’ll show him. We are deeply in debt, for a number of reasons, and hate it. This is the year to get out. Maybe not completely but way out so we don’t feel like we are drowning.

      FYI My husbands commuting bicycle just broke. It would be a major repair to the derailer and other components. So, I looked on Craigslist and found a nice men’s bike for $50. It blew my budget of $250 for the week to zero but that’s okay. The $250 was for all incidentals and groceries. I can’t believe I stayed in budget and even got my hubby a new/old bike.

      Very excited!

      Suzanne

      Reply
  • kelly February 23, 2013, 6:42 pm

    Hmmmmm, 100 in one week….ok, looks like starbucks and i will part company. but like sam i don’t have much to cut out daily….but starbucks should net me $25 but i’ll keep looking

    Reply
    • Garrett September 16, 2016, 9:18 pm

      What did you find, besides cutting out Starbucks, to do to save yourself the other $75? :)

      Reply
  • Margaret Fuller April 16, 2013, 11:37 am

    I’m cutting out barting to work and bussing home. That saves me $3.60 three days a week–a total of $10.80/week. And it gets me in better shape because I’ll walk instead. I bring my lunch every day and only go out to coffee with coworkers a couple times a month, and I’m not ready to cut that out. I’m also planning to get up earlier on Sundays to walk to church–it’s 2.1 miles away.

    Reply
    • Esther September 24, 2013, 7:49 am

      Hello MMM,
      I am GRS follower and JD introduced me to your site. He was talking about the retreat you guys had recently and really enjoyed your ideas. Thus far I love the Blog. great work. I am still not current yet. I am reading from the beginning.
      Like Sam, I think I may need more challenge, I bring lunch to work every day saves me about $45 – 50 a week. I make coffee at home about $3 a day and I make breakfast as well – I make a shake every morning or I bring my oat meal and make it at work. I have no consumer debt. I am 2 years ahead on my student loan. I want to pay off that sucker ASAP. I was introduced to the “Latte Effect” by David Bach a few years ago and since then, I stopped wasting money on coffee and slowly on lunch as well.
      I love the blog ! I am not quite a mustachian yet, I live in the NYC area it’s a lot harder. But I am getting there.
      Retiring early sounds like a great plan to me.

      Reply
  • Jae October 8, 2013, 2:53 pm

    One thing I did was eat out of my pantry and freezer for a month! You would be amazed at the things I cooked.

    Reply
    • gr8bkset January 16, 2014, 7:18 am

      That’s a great idea to save $$ as well as to de-clutter my pantry/fridge!

      Reply
    • Oh Yonghao March 26, 2014, 2:03 pm

      I tried looking into that but (un)fortunately my wife and I don’t generally buy things that we aren’t going to eat and mostly eat fresh fruits and vegetables, not much in the pantry other than rice and oatmeal. My wife is great at thinking of things to cook and not wanting to waste anything so we usually end never end up throwing things out, and when we are out of food we really are out of food.

      Reply
  • Sue June 26, 2014, 11:17 am

    I am new to MMM and reading along in the blog. I know there is more I can do but not quite along the lines recommended here. I do bring my lunch every day. And I have a box of tea bags from the supermarket that I use to make a cup of tea with free water here from the faucet. During the week I primarily commute and rarely run an errand during it (and not an extra trip). What others ideas do you have? I was tempted earlier in the week to buy a tea out and a candybar but I didn’t so saved about $4 (chai tea is yummy but costs!).

    Reply
  • Sarah C July 11, 2014, 10:16 am

    Late to the game, but I’ll play anyway:
    – bought my kid a bike on craigslist, saving at least $50 over new price
    – washed our own car, saving at least $10 (not to mention the .35 and a blue crayon we found under the kid’s car seat)
    – redeemed a coupon for a free audiobook, worth $14 (not that I was going to buy it otherwise, but I might have gone to the used bookstore to browse, where I would have spent at least $25)
    – sent my husband to the used bookstore to get birthday presents for my kid’s friends, at $8 each we saved about $20 over whatever we would have paid to buy plastic junk at Target (as per our usual, not to mention the $$$ you always end up spending whenever you walk into Target; not going there saves me a hundred bucks by itself!)
    – making homemade nachos for a Friday night treat instead of sandwiches from our favorite food truck, saving $26
    – rode bike to work every day, saving the car mileage of that 6 miles a day and also the parking fees I would have paid – (can’t calculate without using the maths) – but that’s normal for my family anyway
    (I always take my lunch and make my own coffee, so no change there from my usual).
    – decided not to buy the fancy new anti-fog swim goggles I wanted and just use my old ones until they really really leak, saving $14 and the “just add ## more to the cart for free shipping!”

    – not yet done but we’ll get on it this weekend: selling the outgrown tricycle on craisglist, probably for about $15

    Reply
  • missj August 15, 2014, 1:40 am

    ooooh…this will be tough as we are already pretty frugal.

    we eat out at a restaurant maybe 1 time per month or less and fast food like subway or taco bell maybe another 1-2x per month averaging probably $60-80 per month. So if I don’t eat out at all during the week I can save roughly $15 right there no problem.

    Once a week I usually buy myself a $3.50 latte and $2.50 bagel + $1 tip=$7 midway through my friday morning bike ride. That is a ritual I don’t want to skip, but maybe I’ll bring a snack from home and just buy a cup of regular drip coffee. That will save me $5.

    I experimented with cutting my husband’s and son’s hair today. That was a first for me, I’m still getting used to using the clippers but it looks OK and hair grows back and I saved us about $35 including tip.

    so, I’m up to $55 but kinda out of ideas for the rest of the week to make up the extra $45 since we’re already somewhat frugal.

    I would like to claim the $100+ per month savings from dying my own hair, but I’ve been doing that for years…

    Can I count fruit that I eat from my own trees and eggs I eat from my own chickens? But that’s also not a change from normal….hmmmm…..

    Reply
  • Ninjabuck September 16, 2014, 2:17 pm

    Dear MMM,

    After addictively reading your blog every available minute of every day for the last week, I thought it was time for my first comment! I came back to this one–after starting from the beginning of course–to share a great success of the last week. Before that, I want to say that my wife and I have been incognito Junior Mustaches; having been living the Mustache lifestyle without knowing the Mustache lifestyle existed. I am 24, have been married for 2 years, and paid off my entire student debt in 10 months after graduating in April 2013. My wife and I bike to work in Ottawa, do not own a car, rent an apartment for $800/month, have never had Cable, have no money-eating addictions (unless biting my nails ends up costing me somehow…) The beginnings of a Mustache empire are rising.

    Now to the success story of the $100 challenge: Having recently discovered your blog, my wife and I decided to kick it into another gear and tried to spend nothing this week aside from groceries. This has been accomplished and I haven’t even calculated the numerous savings as a result of that yet… but to make it even more exciting, I remembered I had an old student credit card which cost $19/year. I cancelled it and realized I had been accumulating TD Rewards that were untransferable and would expire in 2 months. So I went to TD Rewards and used my points to get $75 worth of groceries at Food Basics!! To add to that, I had finally taken the time this week to add all of my old University textbooks and other old books to Amazon.ca and just today two were bought! After mailing them I made a profit of $30 for just two books, bringing my total to $105! Not bad if I do say so myself!

    I look forward to finishing catching up on the unread blog posts and to continuing the Mustache ways here in Ottawa!

    Yours sin’stachely,

    Buck

    Reply
  • Yoma January 7, 2015, 9:12 pm

    Enjoyed reading the blog thus far! Glad to see someone else think exactly like my husband and I. We feel that the less we need/want, the more rich we are! We value our freedom to choose the job we like and spending time with family. It took some convincing on the part of my husband to get me on track. But I gradually agreed and we became millionaires in a span of 13 years with very little investing knowledge. It was all saving and not even 1% investing. We have paid off our mortgage and only thing that keeps us at a job now is college education for kids. Once that is completed in 5 years we plan to retire at 50!!! We never spent a dime whe not required and we’re always content with what we had and NOt what others wanted us to have to show off! Will keep reading more of the blog and write more comments as I go.

    Reply
  • Abbey January 9, 2015, 12:06 pm

    Just starting your blog from a recommendation from my friend and I love it, I’ve always been on the frugal side of things but this makes me want to go mondo frugal.

    I just have a question. I just moved to Chicago and sold my car (because its way to expensive and pointless to have one here). Yes I can bike to work, I plan to once the weather is nicer and we aren’t going through a polar vortex. Though, I do see people out riding still (obviously they have mountain bikes because of the snow) would it be worth it to invest in a mountain bike and not pay the monthly $100 for public transit? Right now it $100 a month for unlimited amount of rides, I thought this may be beneficial since I don’t have a car and the road bike I do have is very new and I am afraid it will get stolen if I ride it everywhere. I also thought about getting an old road or cross bike to ride around so it would be less likely to get stolen when I’m out and about. Just looking for your thoughts on the situation because I if i can cut costs I am more than happy to do so.

    thanks for your time! have a good day!

    Reply
    • Mr. Money Mustache January 9, 2015, 3:27 pm

      Hi Abbey,

      I’m a fan of bikes for short distances (which depends on your cycling level, for me it’s 15 mile radius or so), then public transit as a next priority and cars if the first two fail. So yeah, a basic mountain bike would pay for itself really quickly if it saves you from a $100/month transit pass. And bikes are generally MUCH faster than buses as well – and less frustrating.

      Reply
  • Kathleen Buckley January 16, 2015, 5:40 pm

    It was the Mashable article that brought me here. It’s the freedom: I want it. I must have it. I will do whatever it takes to get it.

    My goal is to save $50,000 in 2015.

    Reply
    • Garrett September 16, 2016, 9:44 pm

      Did you achieve your goal? :)

      Reply
  • Bruno Avilla February 10, 2015, 6:00 am

    Challenge accepted (I hope is not to late for it). I started last wednesday, and altough the week has not ended, I think I already have good results to share.
    04/02/2015 – Had a work travel. Wife took me to the airport, making us save US$ 15 on taxi fare. Had my lunch bill payed by client (i know this was not intentional saving, because i did not do anything, but its money saved, so I will count it), saving 15 more dollars.
    Total of the day: 30 bucks
    Total of the week: 30 Bucks
    05/02/2015 – Came back to hometown, and wife took me in the airport. 15 more saved
    Total of the day: 15 bucks
    Total of the week: 45 Bucks
    06/02/2015 – Went to work by bike, saving 1.5 in subway transportation.
    Total of the day: 1.5 bucks
    Total of the week: 46.5 Bucks
    07/02/2015 – Had lunch and dinner at my parents house, saving 30 dollars of eating out. My wife and me usually have 2 meals out during the weekend, so , this is a big saving for us
    Total of the day: 30 bucks
    Total of the week: 76.5 Bucks
    08/02/2015 – Instead of going out to a restaurant for lunch, we have eaten in a beach kiosk, total price of 15, saving 15 in lunch cost. At night we went to the cinema, and did not eat popcorn, neither had soda or candies, saving more 10 dollars (It´s ridiculous how things are pricey inside the cinema here)
    Total of the day: 25 bucks
    Total of the week: 101.5 Bucks – Woa, reached the goal in 5 days!
    09/02/2015 – Had no soda at lunch, saving 1.5.
    Total of the day: 1.5 bucks
    Total of the week: 103 Bucks
    10/02/2015 – Came to work walking, saving 1.5.
    Total of the day: 1.5 bucks
    Total of the week: 104.5 Bucks
    There is another saving that I need to estimate. During last 7 days I only had shower in my house 2 days, because of travelling and coming to work by bike/walking. Having an eletrical shower I believe I have saved 10 more dollars in eletricity bills.
    Total of the week: 114.5 Bucks
    Not bad for a beginer in mustachian arts

    Reply
    • Jonathan June 6, 2017, 3:15 pm

      With this logic, you can buy a new car for $30,000, not get the leather seats upgrade, and say you saved $3,000 this month.

      Reply
  • Nicole Dean July 1, 2015, 12:04 pm

    Dear MMM,

    I just started reading your blog. I am absolutely shocked as to how much money I am actually spending on nonsense. I never realized it until I tried one week without spending.

    Money not spent for one week:

    1 x hazelnut mocha ($5.24) (five times a week) = $26.20
    1 x American Spirits ($6.30) (two times a week) = $12.60
    Assorted candy I buy when I pump gas = $15.00
    I-Tunes (apps and/or songs) = $5.00
    Store bought lunches ($2.50) = (five times a week) = 12.50

    That’s approximately $70.00 a week on NOTHING.

    I am turn 34 next months but I am starting my way to financial freedom immediately.

    Thank you MMM

    Reply
  • Adrian August 1, 2015, 10:30 am

    Hiya MMM!

    I’m from Malaysia, 25 and I’ve stumbled upon your blog only today. I started fresh out of university with a degree that I’ve yet to put to use because I’ve went into a small self-employed business and am currently saving close to 75% of my savings. I’m going to retire early with your blog! Hopefully I can do it together with my partner.

    Great stuff!

    Reply
  • Mikael Broström August 16, 2015, 10:47 pm

    I know of two ways that might help others to save money every week.

    First is to lower your hot water tank temperature as much as possible. The sweet spot temperature is when you can take a shower using only hot water. When you need more heat for things such as doing dishes by hand, you can simply heat up the amount of water needed on the stove. No need for a fifty gallon tank to stay hot 24/7 for the few times you need a small amount of hot water. Our natural gas usage (for out hot water tank and cook stove) costs us about $10 per month and we are a family of five. We also cook a lot as we almost never go out to eat.

    Second, and this one might be obvious, is not to have a cloths dryer. One can use drying racks if you live in an apartment. We did so during the five years we lived in an apartment. Or for a few dollars one can get nylon string, hooks, and cloths pins from a hardware store. During a four year period we strung up an outdoor line between fence posts and trees (knots or hooks are not required, if you wrap the string around the post/tree about four or five times, there is no way for you to pull off the line). Now that we live in San Diego we have strung up lines inside the garage as not to sun bleach our cloths.

    Reply
  • Mukene September 13, 2015, 8:36 pm

    I was introduced to this blog over six months ago and I am only getting to read the entries religiously now.

    I also realized that I ‘thought’ that I was frugal until I employed the jar system where I have a budget and jars that I divvy up money into every two weeks for food, entertainment, clothes & gifts, and misc. I find that I use the food jar the most (obviously) and usually hardly touch the other three jars. However, I only go by a list that I write and only buy what is on the list. Part of it is psychological. Watching the money go down makes me not want to spend on non-essentials. My goal is to always get to the end of the fortnight before getting to the end of the money. Fixed expenses and savings automatically come out of my bank account.

    When it is time to top up my jars, I add up what is left over and it is anywhere from $160 – $170 out of about $240 that I put in. So I have what I call a ‘mama jar’ and I put the left over money there. I end up pushing this extra money into student loan debt (which I am already making triple payments towards) and savings on rotation. The more I read the blog entries, the more I want to guzzle. And I have been spreading the Mustachian gospel to anyone who can listen. Some have looked at me incredulously asking me to ‘live a little’ while for others, it has piqued their interest and raised their awareness about their finances.

    Someone asked me what I thought about retiring in ten years many months ago. I thought the idea was ridiculous. I can’t believe how hungry I am to retire in ten years and ‘work for fun’ thereafter but not because there’s no money for cereal milk. I’m so excited…I’m shaking!

    Reply
  • Daniel December 2, 2015, 9:12 pm

    Another Ottawa person here (I’m impressed by our showing on this blog. .considering Ottawa has the highest median household income in all of Canada thanks to cushy government jobs.

    Here’s an extreme black belt money saving technique that I am currently using: Alternate Day Fasting

    I needed to lose 10 or 15 pounds and can’t stand the idea of counting calories. . so I’ve started just not eating every 2nd day (actually I do eat 2 apples on fast days . just eat under 400 calories). The days I do eat I eat normal meals of whatever I like. . I’m saving almost 50% on personal food costs and lost weight and I’ve started walking to work so I’m getting quite slim now.

    Calorie restriction and fasting have been shown in animals to fight disease and prolong lifespan by up to 30%. . So I’m sticking to it!! If I get too thin I’ll add in some extra eating days.

    Reply
  • Ms. GoingMinimal February 11, 2016, 7:34 pm

    Facebook also has local buy/sell/trade groups for most locations…even in the small town that I live in that’s 1.5 hours from 3 major cities. I’ve been purging my house of excess, living on less and finally getting ahead. I sold my woodworking tools to a friend today – there’s my $100 for this week – and I have several items listed for sale on FB…Loving your blog! Thanks for the inspiration. I’m a bit of a late-bloomer at 57, but I did buy my little farm at the right time ($112,000 in 2005, used the proceeds from my previous house to pay the mortgage down and do some repairs/upgrades and it’s now valued at around $275,000 – no, I didn’t do any additions to the house, Just painted the ducks, deer and geese off the living room walls (true!), remodeled 1 bathroom down to bare studs and started over doing all the work myself for a total cost of <$3,000, exterior painting..done by myself over about 3 months, bartered for fence wire and did the fence repairs myself) I'm thinking it's close to time to cash out and either rent for a while or find a new fixer and do it again…

    Reply
  • Luke March 14, 2016, 11:47 pm

    Hi MMM,

    I’m new to the site, but became addicted instantly. I’m reading through all the posts from the start now :D

    This challenge can definitely work!! I have a 60K per year job and for years now I’ve been fairly steady financially, although with a couple of holidays I guess I could say it’s going backwards slowly. Last month I decided to make a change and bring lunch from home every day. It’s not as fancy as some bought things, but it’s still pretty good and does the hunger busting job. I also decided stopped drinking as much as I did.

    In that month, I went from being able to pay about $300 to $500 off my card to taking off $1600 this payment alone. That can definitely continue into the future, and within three months I should have paid off my credit card in full. The money will then go into saving for a deposit on a house!

    Thanks for the great advice mate, I look forward to more articles!

    Reply
  • Mike May 16, 2016, 1:30 pm

    Love your edge MMM!

    My nieces and nephews will tell you, “Uncle Mike says, it’s not what you make, it’s what you DON’T spend!”

    Nice to find a kindred spirit!

    Keep up the GREAT work!

    Uncle Mike

    aka – Mike The Shipping Guy (mr. cake pan lady)

    Reply
  • Mrs. Picky Pincher June 10, 2016, 7:26 am

    This is the small goal we started with when we began our FIRE journey. Saving $100 sounds easy on paper, but in reality it’s much tougher than you think it’ll be! In the beginning we drastically cut our food costs, phone bills, and impulse buys. We thought this would make us feel deprived, but you’d be surprised how these small changes make a huge difference for your finances and your outlook on life.

    Reply
  • Courtney Maki February 22, 2017, 1:37 pm

    I listened to your interview on Tim Ferriss’ podcast and was sold. I have started reading the blogs in order from day 1 am am excited to start implementing changes. I am 31, engaged, and own my own business. Yesterday and today I haven’t used my car at all! Granted I’m taking an online course so I’ve only had to walk to the gym and the market. I live in Michigan, and my excuse for not biking 100% is of the “i hate the cold” variety. I also drive around a LOT for work, visiting clients multiple times per week. But to be honest with myself, many of those clients wouldn’t judge me for biking – or even know i did!

    Reply
  • kozma March 23, 2017, 12:51 am

    Hello, I am new to MMM too and actually I live in France. With my husband we have no TV (less 120 audiovisual tax per year and less 30 euros per month for cable tV). We shop in grocery once a week. We (especially my chéri :)) buy new clothes rarely (between 400-600 eur per year for we three). We goes to restaurant once-twice per year…As an ex-URSS I can saw, cook and so on (so we need not to pay a third person to sew an jean’s hem). But I buy some books cause in our library there is not books in my native language, its about 30 eur per year. Some things we could find via ” french craiglist” (leboncoin) or facebook’s pages.
    I grow up our child of 2yo. But cause of mortage and a lot of work with our new-very-old house we have no any trip and I see my husband once a week cause house it’s not really habitable for we three (so I live in opposite side at his family). And 4 month like this, without my bike, without my husband, without breakfast together – it’s not simple. My goal is make a trip with my family. I look forward to find a part-time job (as my husband a full-time worker I need a nanny or nursery). And actually my husband spent 4 hours for round trip for his work. He has no time to look at another for a moment. And his directer put in his contract 2 days of distance work from home but it’s only on the paper not in reality. So for us it’s not so simple…But our life style is very close of this MMM blog. Thank you.

    Reply
  • Precious May 12, 2018, 3:55 am

    I started reading a few days ago..
    I already cut down some of my expenses earlier this year.
    I am learning to cook so I can save more.
    10% of my salary goes to 401k.
    50%-60% net.. which I was able to save every month..
    I have a car loan.. 10,849.54 more to go..
    I had the option to pay it right away instead of stashing it as my emergency fund (6 months worth of my salary)…
    lucky I didn’t pay it right away.. I was able to afford my mom’s surgery and hospitalization without getting into more debt and retirement fund is still intact..
    I learned to value money since my childhood days thats why I saved a lot.

    The challenge for me will be: Save $100 more every month.

    I am currently living in my aunt’s house since she has an extra room. some sort of a freeloader… but, I buy them some groceries every month..
    I wasn’t able to contribute from last month due to my mom’s situation.

    My monthly expense:
    $300 car loan
    $106 remittance for my Mom
    $82 postpaid
    $40 gas
    $150 food
    $150 others
    ———-
    $828

    I already cut down my groceries.. before my expenses goes up to $900-$1000.
    My postpaid contract will be finished next month, so I can downgrade it to $50.
    more savings to come. I will try to live with 10gb data every month.

    After this challenging 2 months.. I will focus on paying the car, then max my 401k contributions.. stash an emergency fund and start my investment plans.. I am reading about stock market since last year and observing how it works.

    I still have a lot of things to improve on.
    Early retirement is possible since $1 = 52 in my country 😁

    Reply
  • Andrew November 7, 2018, 10:03 pm

    I love reading your blog. I always thought my $50,000 salary for a family of five was barely enough to live on. Well I was wrong. After reading your blog i started looking at my finances differently. I was so upset to find out that month after month that I was some spending $553 and nothing to show for it. So in two days of reading you blog I have gone from, ” I barely make enough to provide for my family”, to , ” I have some serious buying power each month that I can put to good use. ” I am only 31 and I am taking more control of my finances more than anyone else I know. Thanks and keep the posts coming. I would like as much details on how you structure your portfolio. Thanks again

    Andrew

    Reply
  • Kate November 11, 2018, 8:37 am

    Ever so late to the game, but I save about that when I cut and color my hair at home. I save $30 when I cut it at home. Over 10 years, if I stick with my buzz cut, I’ll ‘make’ about $3400, plus interest. Not too shabby!

    Reply
  • Rachel December 3, 2018, 11:05 am

    I’m happy to report that I saved about $150 last week when I took the challenge. There was an easy $20 per day by not eating out. In the recent past I have had to strictly limit myself to ONLY one meal a day in restaurants as it would be easy for me to eat both lunch and dinner out. It’s now been nearly three weeks and I have eaten out twice, once for my boyfriend’s bday (he’s an advanced moustachian so our restaurant of choice was Sweet Tomatoes for the unlimited salad bar, soups, and breads with a 25% off coupon) and once with my father for an Indian meal that feeds us both at least twice for $50.

    Thanks to the challenge I also saved about $1 for a load of laundry I chose to line dry rather than put through the dryer. I saved an additional $7.50 on fresh herbs I would have purchased in the supermarket. Rather than buy the exact herbs I was used to using in particular recipes I chose to use the herbs I had growing in my garden instead

    The challenge was extremely fun and engaging and has me even more motivated to keep up the savings.

    Reply

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