Save100ADay

6+ weeks and still not "normal"!

2008-10-22T10:32:00.001-05:00

In my last pre-baby post, I said I'd hoped life would be somewhat closer to normal 6 weeks after birth. Well, we're at almost 2 months since birth and, while life has definitely settled down some, I still don't feel like I've found my new "normal" yet. But we're getting closer, and I have NOT given up on this blog! I'm aiming for a mid-November back-to-blogging date. Hope you'll join us then!!

Back after baby

2008-07-23T21:54:00.002-05:00

Well I have just bitten off more than I can chew, when it comes to this blog, as we prepare for baby #3, due at the end of August. So promises of active daily posts are postponed until life gets a little more back to normal. I'm hoping that's like 6 weeks after he arrives, but I'm reserving judgment! But I really need to save $100 a day, so I WILL be back.

Back real soon

2008-07-15T15:27:00.003-05:00

I've unfortunately gotten seriously sidetracked by 2 sick kids. My 8-months-pregnant body (and mind) can only handle so much, so while I have been thinking about and working on my $100 daily savings, I just haven't been able to get it posted. The 16 month old had a 104.5 fever! I was panicky until 2 conversations with nurses and then I calmed down a little; he is fever-free now. Anyway, all that just to tell you that I have not forgotten this blog! Will post again today or tomorrow. We should be on Day 5 now but I don't want to post days 2-5 all at once because that would overwhelm those who are working alongside me day by day, so we will probably make today Day 2 and adjust our end date accordingly. Check back soon!!

Daily to-do list

2008-07-11T16:00:00.004-05:00

If you want to save $36,5000 yourself and not just read along as we work at it, you will like this feature: the daily to-do list!

Day 1's to-do list:
Make a written budget for July.

Well, that's kind of obvious! But remember, we're only on Day 1. As we progress day-by-day, some day's SMID's are going to be do-it-once-and-forget-it, but many are going to require a little maintenance. Day 1's SMID, Make a written budget, per the rules, was implemented in 1 day... for month 1, that is. And while this first monthly budget has definitely laid the groundwork for the subsequent months, we will still need to re-visit the budget each month. So toward the end of July, say July 26th (5 days before the end of the month is good, right?), you will see a daily to-do list that both reminds you to do July 26th's SMID and also to make your written budget for August.

Updated rules

2008-07-11T15:37:00.007-05:00

When I said the rules were going to evolve, I wasn't kidding! I've already thought of another essential rule of the game:

Each day's SMID (Save/Make Idea of the Day) must save at least $100, so sometimes we may need to combine a few smaller, hopefully related, ideas on the same day. And if a SMID saves more than $100 (like Day 1: Make a written budget, whose projected savings is $200), it doesn't count for the next day(s). We want a new SMID every day so we don't lose our momentum!

Here's the updated rules:

1. Each SMID must save $100 over the course of 365 days from when it is implemented. Better yet, as many SMIDs as possible will save that $100 within 365 days from today, the blog's inception. That way we will actually realize as much as possible of our whole $36,500 by 7/11/09!

2. Each SMID must be implementable (basically) in 1 day. Some upkeep over the course of the year is OK, but if a potential SMID takes me an hour every day for the next year then it is not going to past the test -- if nothing else, since I don't know anyone who can find or make 365 hours in a day!

3. Each idea must be usable by a wide range of people. I won't say "everyone" because I cannot think of a single idea that I could guarantee would work for every one on the planet. But we want the ideas to work for as many people as possible.

4. We will use the word "save" most of the time, although making that $100 instead of saving it is OK too. But it would get really old to read "save/make" on every line! Maybe we should coin a new word; can you say "S'make?"

5. The $100 must be net, meaning if we spend $10 to implement the SMID, we must save $110 over the year to have a net savings of $100. So many times I see ways to "save" that require me to spend so much up front that it would take me years to recoup the initial investment, much less actually save $. That won't cut it here!

6. Each day's SMID must save at least $100, so sometimes we may need to combine a few smaller, hopefully related, ideas on the same day. And if a SMID saves more than $100 (like Day 1: Make a written budget, whose projected savings is $200), it doesn't count for the next day(s). We want a new SMID every day so we don't lose our momentum!

Let's remember the rules are somewhat subjective, and their role is just to keep us on the right track, but we're not going to get all caught up in them.

Day 1: Make a written budget

2008-07-11T15:06:00.006-05:00

Today's SMID (Save/Make Idea of the Day) is to make a written budget for this month. Now before you roll your eyes and say, "Oh, that's original," with as much sarcasm as you can muster, ask yourself the question: Do I have a written budget, meaning a plan for this month, where every dollar is spent on paper before I receive it ("on paper, on purpose," to borrow a line from Dave Ramsey)? If not, I cannot imagine a scenario in which a written budget would not save you at least $100 over the course of a year. Even if you do have a general budget, looking at this month specifically, as well as re-visiting the general budget, can be extremely productive.

My husband and I recently developed what we call a "bare bones" budget where we cut $1100 from our monthly expenses (to be implemented gradually over the next few months, since there are some areas where we know we can save, like insurance and cell phone plans, but it will require some research before we make the switch). I honestly thought we were pretty frugal people to start with, so I was shocked that we found $1100.

So start where you are: if you don't have a budget at all, make one. If you have a general budget, as we did, make a budget specific to this month. No 2 months are alike. If you already have a specific budget for this month, give yourself a pat on the back, and then look at it again: is there an area or 2 you could cut by just 27.3 cents a day? There's your $100 for today!

As we start our running tallies for the year (explained next), I am tempted to put $13200 (the $1100 we cut times 12 months) as the projected savings for today's SMID. Wow, wouldn't that start the tally off with a bang! But since many of the budget areas we cut are fodder for future posts, I'm going to be super-conservative and simply say that the exercise of doing a written budget saved us $200 for the year. In other words, we will discuss (and give the tally credit for) what we cut in the days to come, but for today, we're just giving credit for the discipline of having done the budget.

Here's how the running tallies will work:

Savings based on days tally: $100 as of Day 1. This one's easy: $100 times the number of days in. Since this is day 1's post, the expected savings so far is $100. Next post will be day 2, so tally will go up to $200, and so on.

Projected end-of-year savings tally: $200 as of Day 1. This is the tally of each day's projected savings for the year. Since our conservative estimate for today is $200, we add $200 to the tally for day 1, and we will add Day 2 tomorrow. The reason that this tally exists and is different than savings based on days is our goal is to save a minimum of $100 per day. Some days we will attempt to save more, like today, and we want to make sure we give ourselves credit!!

Actual realized savings tally: $0 as of Day 1. This one's the kicker! How much have we actually saved year-to-date? Until day 365, this will always be lower than the projected end-of-year tally because, well, we haven't reached the end of the year yet! This one's a little harder to figure too, so each day's SMID will include how we plan to calculate success. Today is very subjective since we're trying to putting a value on the discipline of making a budget, so here's what I decided: Since $200 is today's SMID's projected savings for the year, divide by 12 to get $16.67 a month. On the last day of each month in which we actually make a written budget and stick fairly close to it, we will add $16.67 to our actual savings tally; on July 31, we hope to add $16.67! Until then, today's SMID won't have any "actual" savings.

Don't worry, the tallies will never have this long of an explanation again! I just wanted to explain the math in detail so you can follow me from here on out, and more importantly, so you can post your own running tallies as we go!

Save $100 a day! Let's get started!

2008-07-09T22:58:00.004-05:00

Are you ready to save (or make) $100 a day? That's the plain, simple, unadulterated goal of this blog. Just think: $100 a day is around $3000 a month, or $36,500 a year! Wow, that's a lot of money!!!

I know many of you are already ready to abandon ship, thinking "if it's too good to be true..." or "just another get-rich-quick-scheme," but STOP! Let's do the math: the basic 2 rules for each day's SMID (Save/Make Idea of the Day) is that it must be implementable in one day and yet save $100 over the course of 1 year. So when we break it down that way, each SMID needs to save us only 27.3 cents per day. Whew, doesn't that sound more doable? But if we implement 1 idea each day, and do it for 1 year, we will still save that $36,500! I am confident that together we can find so many more than 365 ways to save $100.

Before we get started, let's review the rules:

1. Each SMID must save $100 over the course of 365 days from when it is implemented. Better yet, as many SMIDs as possible will save that $100 within 365 days from today, the blog's inception. That way we will actually realize as much as possible of our whole $36,500 by 7/11/09!

2. Each SMID must be implementable (basically) in 1 day. Some upkeep over the course of the year is OK, but if a potential SMID takes me an hour every day for the next year then it is not going to past the test -- if nothing else, since I don't know anyone who can find or make 365 hours in a day!

3. Each idea must be usable by a wide range of people. I won't say "everyone" because I cannot think of a single idea that I could guarantee would work for every one on the planet. But we want the ideas to work for as many people as possible.

4. We will use the word "save" most of the time, although making that $100 instead of saving it is OK too. But it would get really old to read "save/make" on every line! Maybe we should coin a new word; can you say "S'make?"

5. The $100 must be net, meaning if we spend $10 to implement the SMID, we must save $110 over the year to have a net savings of $100. So many times I see ways to "save" that require me to spend so much up front that it would take me years to recoup the initial investment, much less actually save $. That won't cut it here!

The rules are somewhat subjective, I know, and they are going to evolve just as this site and its participants do, so we're not going to play "rule-police."

There you have it: a few simple rules and we're on our way to saving $36,500! Here's where you come in: post your comments with ideas for SMIDs that we can implement quickly and see results quickly too! Believe me, I have 1000+ potential SMIDs on my list, but we want some really big bang-for-the-buck (or should we say for the time?) SMIDs to start off with and we all know two heads are better than one. Post away!

(Blogger's note: See, I told you the rules would evolve. I've already added #5.)