These Money Challenges Can Jump-Start Progress #458

you didn't. I'm definitely doing it now he's is he calling me a chicken? Is he's you know, is he calling me out as a coward. There are certain things that like trigger us to actually do things. But that is exactly what we're talking about today, man, these money challenges that are going to help us to gain some traction with our money. First, I wanted to give you

a quick little update. We've talked about this on the show before, or at least I think we've talked about how I like, I've been working to teach Evy, So our eight year old Kate and I have been working to teach her let's be honest, specifically to me the you know, the money nerd. I've been working to teach her about investing. So basically, money that she keeps in her account that she doesn't spend is quote unquote invested, and I pay her two percent. But here's the catch.

I pay her two percent weekly. And so every Saturday, we you know, I calculate how much money she gets, and we use this app called go Henry. I transfer that money over to her account. Sometimes she remembers on the day of and gets all excited about it, but sometimes it's a few days later and she's like, oh, and she will go to her phone and, you know, check how much interest she's earned that week. And she

also spends out of that account. And recently we're having a conversation and she was wanting like this really fancy bouncy ball, Like this was the bouncy ball that was like I think it was like in the twenties. What, Yeah, I don't know if it was like extra large, like what was this like the size of a bowling ball or something. Don't know, but we were talking about it, and we're totally going to be willing to let her

make her own decision. But then she asked this question she asked, Oh, if I buy this, how much interest will I then get on Saturday? Like, basically she knew that she was going to have less money in her account, which meant that she was going to earn less money

and interest. And dude, that was a massive win for her to ask that question because not only was she weighing the cost of the actual object, she was weighing like opportunity costs of that money in the markets, and so she was weighing all the different aspects associated with this purchase and the effects that it would have on her money. I was such a proud dad, like in that moment. I was just like, oh my gosh, Like

it totally clicked for her. Uh, And so I wanted to share this because you know, if you have kids out there and you're trying to find different ways to teach your kids about money, I think you can start earlier than you realize. You know, I think you and I mean we both started with our oldest girls, like maybe around five or six years old, starting them kind of down the path of doing chores or different jobs where they would earn money and maybe like another level deeper,

the next level up. And that sounds like a light bulb moment for her where she's gonna remember that a long time. And when you click those things together, that like leaving your money b is actually going to lead to that money increasing is really is really crucial. And obviously right now in savings accounts, that's kind of not

the CAZy, but it is the case. Right You're you're giving your you're helping her to learn the principle, even though in actuality, like saving these accounts right now kind of sucks. It's why I call it investing as opposed to this is money that you're you know, you've got saved in your account, because I'm treating it like it was an investment. Uh, even though there's no risk of that money going down. I'm not going to be like, oh, hey, there's a bear market and you're actually losing money. Now.

I think I think that's uh, that'll be the level three thousand class. Uh. I think another thing worth noting here is is that like we are responsible and no one else is going to teach our kids how to handle money appropriately. And you and I we even recently talked about how in Georgia they're going to start teaching personal finance to a hired agree in high school classrooms, and we applaud that. We think that's great. But one you gotta start young. It's just like learning a language,

I think. Right, when you start learning a language from infancy, you're you're going to become fluent so much easier. But when you start learning language in ninth grade, it's a little bit harder to get good at it. It takes a little more intentionality, and so the sooner the better.

Sure when it comes to money, the different lessons that we can all learn, because that all translates to then these larger, more sophisticated lessons for them to learn, like a bear market when things aren't looking so good, But that's all a part of it. You should you should swipe all her money out of her account and be like bull market baby, And she's like, what, Dad, you

didn't tell me about that banking fraud. This account was not f D. I c ensured exactly, Sorry, honey, you had the wrong joint account holder listed and it was me and I swiped it. Uh, don't do that. That'd be a hard lesson to the stomach. Don't break it hard, Like alright, well, let's move on, Matt. Let's mention the beer that we're having on this episode, and this one is called double Barrel Wild Sinister Kid, which it's just we're we're came to not raise wilds for kids, maybe wild,

but not Okay, yeah, the sinister. I don't want an evil kid, Yeah you know what that But this beer looks deliciously evil. This is by Trillium Brewing Company and listener Ali sending our way, and we will give our thoughts on it at the end of the episode, because of course, you and I we drink a beer every episode to uh, to enjoy something that we love while we're saving and investing well for the future. But let's

get onto money challenges, Matt, and we do it. We specifically, we're gonna outline a few money challenges you can choose. Later on in the episode, we're gonna talk about how

we're gonna partner with you in this money challenge. But when we were thinking about this episode and what we wanted it to look like and how we wanted to help listeners challenge themselves when it came to making money progress in two well, I don't know why, Matt, but it made me think about pregnancy, and uh, do you remember the time when speaking of evy yr oldest, like you guys found out you were pregnant with her, Yeah, I mean, it sticks out in your mind. It's totally.

It's one of those moments that you never forget. You're like completely exuberant. It's the most joyful you feel like you've ever been in your life up until that point, it's true, until they're actually born, and then, I mean that's the most intensely joyful moment. I mean, like for all for my kids. Definitely cried for every single of them. It's just like unbridled tears of joy. I could not stop the waterworks. Totally, totally, totally. It's a it's a

special moment. But I think when you find out that you're going to have a kid, especially for the first time, and that time in between, uh, that excitement, and then eight or nine months later, whenever your your baby is born, you realize there's this clock ticking and there's it's like there's so much to do, so little time. You gotta get with it, and there's a lot to learn, like how am in the world and everything gonna let me take a human home from the hospital and take care

of it. Who who's in charge here? Like, are you just gonna let me have the kid at home? And then you look in the mirror and you're like, I am that person in charge. Yeah, that's scary. And so yeah, there's like books to read, there's a nursery to outfit, there's ones east to buy, there's a birthing class to sign up for. Right, you and I we attended on back in the day, that's right. Well, so yeah, with our oldest kids, we didn't know what to expect, and

so we went. Yeah, it was a couple's birthday. It wasn't just you and me, and like, like you and I would, all four of us went to the same birthing class and it was a cool experience to kind of learn and mentally and physically prepare a little bit for the birth of those girls. Yeah. Yeah, And really what it was was you're like, I have to figure a lot of stuff out in a short amount of time,

and it lights a fire and uh. And I think similarly to that period between finding out that you're having a baby and the actual birth of your child, how there's this like time span that's really crucial and important where you gotta get a lot of stuff done well,

I think the same. There's a similar analogy to the way a money challenge can be have this jump start effect in our lives, and so like, for our listeners, if if you're still attempting to amass your emergency fund, or you're trying to eliminate credit card debt maybe once and for all, or you realize that you were out

and how you're back in it after the holidays. Well, Matt and I were going to talk about the benefits that a money challenge can have in your life, and we're gonna give you some suggestions today for how to proceed, and we want to partner together with you when it comes to these money challenges. Want to give your ideas and then also be a part of the progress that you're making. That's right. I totally agree with you getting pregnant.

It really is like signing up for a challenge, because you know, being pregnant and giving birth to a kid, those are really hard things to do. But similarly, yeah, when it comes to our money, everyone is trying to make smart decisions, and certainly if you're listening to this podcast, you're probably hoping to make wiser money moves. Um. But if the clock isn't ticking and you haven't officially accepted the challenge. Uh, you're most likely going to continue down

the same path that you've always gone down. And this is uh, you know, it's a it's a well worn path that's comfortable, it's familiar, and you know what to expect, and if your inputs continue to be the same, you know that you're likely going to see the same outputs. But by placing yourself in a situation that's maybe a little bit for and maybe it's slightly stressful, you're gonna see some incredible changes in a very short period of time. And that's what we're hoping for you to see in

your life exactly. Yeah, And I think sometimes the reason that we're not able to see bigger results is because we don't have the actionable steps that we can take to immediately start working towards the financial goals that we have. Maybe it's analysis paralysis, right, you can call it whatever you want, but but we're trying to avoid that phase when you have the correct information, you've performed your due diligence and you know what you should be doing, but

you're just carrying on with what you've always done. Right, We're we're fixing that today, because sometimes you need to be jarred out of those typical habits, those typical routines because and sometimes what you need is a program or a challenge that can serve as a wake up call to get you on your way. That's right. Sometimes that's a pregnancy or sometimes it's just me and Jul talking to you in my podcast. Uh. And I like that you said program too, you know, because it's what we need.

It can often feel like we're just kind of out in space, like floating on our own, when what we're needing is some structure to help give shape to what we're doing with our money. And so, for example, I'm thinking about like signing up for a race. If you've got a half marathon on the calendar, uh, and you've paid to do that race, the chances are much higher that you'll actually get out there and run because you're like, they're staying it. I spent the fifty bucks, yes exactly, Yes,

I'm I'm in now exactly. You've got money on the line, and there is a certain amount of accountability as well. Uh. And both of those can be extremely helpful forms of motivation. And like Joel mentioned we're gonna talk more about accountability later in the show. We believe that it is an

important part of making these money challenges stick. But yeah, the fact that you that you're signing up for a program like it makes me think about I mean again, with a race, like if you say you sign up for a tin k, Well, you know that there's a certain distance that you're training for, and so that gives you direction. You're not just out there running because you are like, well, I just generally need to stay in shape,

I need to move my body. For some that might work, but for a lot of people, it is incredibly helpful if you know that you're training for six point two miles, or it's incredibly helpful to know, oh, this time, I want to set a new personal record for myself. I want to try to get it underneath forty five minutes. But whatever it is that you know, whether it's a race that you sign up for or a money challenge that you're going to go after, entering that frame of

mind is going to help you to see outsize results. Yeah, there's difference between training for a ten k and I should probably get out there and go for a jog. Like there's a difference in mindset and then a difference in what you're going to accomplish. So let's talk and dig into some specific money challenges that we want to give on the show today that we want you you to consider taking on. And we're going to list out a few that fall under different categories. So let's cover

a few that we think are worth considering. No spend challenges are one of the most popular, I would say, if forms of money challenges out there. It's also one of the easiest to implements. So if you're like, give me that easy challenge to start with, then this might

be for you. And really, when it comes down to it, how much stuff do we need, especially now we're in the beginning of January, he might just realized I got a bunch of new stuff that I don't need and maybe it's time to start partying with a few of those things. Uh, And so yeah, taking part in one of these that can really reset your shopping impulses. It can help you curb what might have become habitual behavior for for on your part. And it's kind of like how Matt A lot of fellas like to grow a

mustache in November or people don't never done it. No, me neither. It's not physically possible. Matt and Joel not very good at the mustache game, true. And or in January right now, a lot of people are not drinking a lick of alcohol for the whole month. They partied it up a good bit in December and they're like, you know what this is. The challenge for me is to not drink anything, no beer, no wine, no spirits

for all of January. And you know, obviously you and I for our job, we have to so there's we can't participate, and we tend not to party as much, so you know, we take a like the more moderation is better exactly if you always do a little bit, it's you never have to give it that point. But we would say that that set period of time where you attempt to buy nothing similar to those other things, well it can be a major help to your finances. Matt.

We of course had Camiko Love on the show on Monday, the Budget Mom, and she had a lot of great advice and and one of the things I don't think we actually talked about with her, but when we were like reading up on her story, one of the things that kick started her ability to save well was she actually spent no money on clothes for a whole year.

I think she did make an exception for like socks and underwear, but that's how intent she was on getting her financial act together and saving money for her future and for more important stuff like what she really she did share a story about h and M and being in the checkoutline and she was going to put those clothes on a credit card, and that was a wake

up call for her. And so I think something like that, finding a category in your life that is worth putting on hold for a period of time and challenging yourself not to spend a dollar on that stuff can be a really helpful challenge to partake in. Totally yeah, and her willingness and intentionality to do this of obviously paid off in a big way. We yeah again, We talked about her story on Monday. But so how to go

about doing this? We would suggest that you choose a specific category and a specific length of time, and so we do want you to try to stretch yourself, but try to keep realistic expectations so you know, so that you don't fall off the wagon. Because remember you can always end up succeeding at that first goal and then sort of set another at another one to the list. I think that will be a more encouraging way to

progress rather than goals that you aren't achieving. And so specifically, maybe this means, for you know, Amazon shopping for an entire month, or maybe you commit to only buying used items through February. Uh. And so you can modify it spending challenge to fit your specific needs and your specific goals. And you might even find that allowing yourself to purchase new items, say only on Wednesday, that that might give

you just the amount of flexibility you need. But whatever path you pick, we would suggest that you write it down and then find a way to keep it front of mind. Maybe that means you just kind of writing tracking your progress on a worksheet that you keep taped to the bathroom mirror. Maybe this means giving yourself a small reward once you crush this challenge, but different things that are going to keep you on this path where you're able to reinforce this behavior that you want to

see done. Yeah, that's I feel like that the no Spend challenge is so flexible. There's so many different ways that people can participate, and we all could probably use it this time of year just as a way to save more and also prevent ourselves from wasting money in a way that maybe we normally see our dollars flow down the drain in this general direction. It's like let's put a let's put a plug in that hole. Um And yeah, so I get hopefully, hopefully this is this

challenge is helpful for lots of people. And of course that modification is helpful because you can kind of make it look however you need it to look. But we've got more money challenges that we want to pose to you than want you to consider. We'll get to those

right after this break. Alright, we're back. We're talking about money challenges, and you know, as we highlight some of these different challenges that we're gonna try to cover a wide range of examples, um, that could spur change, you know, in a few different assets of of how you handle handle your money, because many of us are in different phases of life and we have different areas where we could improve, for instance, like buying too many clothes, Like

that's not a problem for me, that's not a problem I deal with and so for me specifically, that's not a challenge I'm gonna subscribe to because that's one you would easily crush and you don't even need to take it on. Maybe I should take it on just to like, yeah, it's just like adding an it under the top of your to do look already done. But as we introduce several more of these different challenges, we don't want you to get overwhelmed as we discuss these, because first of all,

you don't need to take them all on, right. If you try to do that, they probably mess you up if you try a bunch of these at once. Instead, we want you to think of it more as sort of a choose your own adventurous scenario. Just tackle one at a time and then take a breather, and then again attempt another one if you feel like that they are making a helpful impact. Like it makes me, you know,

we're talking about like running a race. It makes me think that if you decided all of a sudden that you're gonna do everything that you possibly can to get healthy, and you started dieting and you started training for a triathle on and also you're looking to get totally ripped like you're getting small, like you can't do all of these things at once. I mean you you probably could try, but you're either gonna completely burn out or you're gonna

see some negative effects to your body. Uh. If you're pushing yourself too hard, it's a good chance that you're gonna get injured. Uh, and that's something that we want you to avoid with your finances. That's right. Yeah, you can definitely overdo it. And it's possible to say I'm gonna do all the challenges and I'm gonna, you know, and I want to win big. Was that your dead lift? I don't know if I've ever done a dead lift. I'll probably try to refrain forever. But I think you didn't.

I used to lift in high school, so it shows. So Yes, as we continue to roll roll out some of these challenges, don't feel the need to do all the above, and in fact, it's best not to go in that direction. But Matt, let's let's offer up another challenge here. We talked about no spend challenges, but food challenges can be helpful, helpful way to save more money

in a hurry too. And that's because when you look the numbers, the average American family spends a lot of money every month on groceries and not to mention eating out as well. And the average cost of a meal that you eat out is twelve dollars and seventy five cents.

Needless to say, I guess that includes like like fast food, right, Yeah, so like five seems kind of affordable if you're looking at like a I don't know, like you're like if you're going to like out on a date, Kate and I aren't walking out of there, you know, for more than that. But there's a whole lot of people who eat way too much fast food, and they're eating in seven dollar meals every right, And so yeah, you can eat really well, we would say at home for a

whole lot less than that, of course. But here's the thing. The average person, not only are they paying twelve dollars and seventy five cents on average per meal that they eat out, the average person eats out between four and five times a week. That's crazy. Yeah, And so that's a lot of money that you're spending on food that you could easily avoid if you want to. And in fact, the average American would save almost forty dollars per person per week by eating all of our meals at home

and avoiding restaurants. And when it when it's his forty dollars per person per week, I was just thinking, oh my gosh, Matt, that you have a family of six, I have a family of five. Like, that's a lot of money when you add it up. And so eating out is definitely one of those areas where if we don't pay attention to it, if we don't challenge ourselves in this specific way, we will find ourselves just bleeding money.

That's right. Yeah, And you know we're talking like before the break we talked about no spend challenges, we're kind of talking about some of these different food challenges here. One of the reasons we're starting with these specific challenges is because it does not require any additional resources from you. In fact, all it requires is just discipline and you removing things from your life, which is something that most

people can do. And then there's that immediate reward, right Like like when it comes to earning more money, there's like a slow build up and it takes additional time from you. But we're not necessarily wanting you to fill all of your hours of the day with trying to earn a little bit more money. But as we're talking about food, like, it's important to know that we don't hate restaurants, you know, like we love supporting and eating out at our our favorite local joints, although we don't

hit them up five times a week. But this is one of those instances where we need need to focus on the health of our own finances before we're looking to support local restaurants. And since we're talking about money challenges, a short term commitment to homemade meals, home prepared meals

can be a big win for you. So, for instance, if lunch is one of your problem meals where you're constantly, you know, finding yourself eating out, going out with the co workers, that kind of thing, just opt to pack your lunch every day for an entire month. It's as simple as that, and in one month alone, the savings

will be significant. Not only will you find that you have a lot more money at the end of the month, but there's a good chance that you are probably going to feel more healthy since you're avoiding just a bunch of processed food. Uh, chances are you're gonna be eating much more health especially if you're eating leftovers. I mean, come on, you don't even need to buy special bread and special lunch meats. Just take those leftovers to work, heat him up in the microwave, and you've got a

great meal ready to go. Are the leftover? I've not met anybody that loves him as much as you. It baffles me, Like who doesn't love a delicious leftover? Especially to oh. I mean, granted, this is a little bit different because I'm at home and I can fry up at an egg real quick, but any leftover, it's always

better with a frieda egg on top. Yes, and you know what leftovers are great, But you can also, you know, make your lunch from other things the carrots, almonds, ruth that I typically do throw a banana in as well. But that is that is one challenge to not eat out for a whole month, and I think that is a challenge worth accepting for a lot of people because you're going to see a huge boost your savings really quickly. Another food challenge that you can consider is the pantry challenge.

And this means, yeah, this is like basically pushing you to eat whatever is left in your pantry and in your freezer before you go back to the grocery store. It's kind of like the like a leftover challenge, which is what I just made up, right, like forcing yourself to eat everything that you have already prepared, exactly like forcing yourself to eat all the food that you've already purchased.

You've already spent money on these items of food, and they're sitting in your cabinet, your cupboard if you call it, or your fridge, uh, and making sure that it just doesn't go to waste. And the things that you don't want to you've pushed the sides, you pushed typically to the back. And so I guarantee you there are things in there that are edible, can don't do anything that's like nasty and expired and just like completely non edible

at this point. But there are I'm sure a lot of things in all of our collective pantries and freezers that are edible, that are worth eating, that you can make taste decent at a minimum, And so I think it's worth that challenge to be like, you know what, no, I'm gonna eat it all. I'm gonna I'm gonna get to the point until there's nothing left in there, and that One of the websites we've mentioned on the show

before is super cook dot com. It's a site that can help you make whatever you've got on hand edible. You kind of put in the ingredients and then it spits out an idea for a recipe for you, which can be majorly helpful too, super cool because you're like, how do I combine these three ingredients? And it's like, well, maybe go to this website and they'll help you out. Yep, there you go. No spend challenges can be just a great way to to spend less while also wasting less um.

But how do you make sure that you don't daily reabsorb that money that you saved into other areas of your life, Like, well, who I spent less on clothes, I spent less on food, but I just bought a PS five or or now I'm going out more because I've got all this extra money in my budget. Well, spending less in some specific categories will only get you so far unless you're immediately channeling those funds towards a specific purpose. Uh, And that is where savings challenges step in.

They can be the perfect way to build that all important emergency fund, or they can help you to more quickly, say for a bigger purchase that you might want to make in cash. Uh. We want you to have more financial margin, more money in the bank. Uh. And there are a couple of great money savings challenges that are going to help you get there. So let's let's go

with our first savings challenge that you can consider. This one goes the entire year, and so you want to start now, and by the time you get to you know, Christmas, you're going to have a lot of extra cash in the bank that you didn't realize you're you're going to have going into it. And so this one is the

fifty two weeks saving challenge. It's uh, it's where you ramp your savings up slowly by saving one dollar in the first week, two dollars in the second week, three dollars in the third week, and so on until the final week of the year, where you are saving fifty two dollars. And how much money Matt has someone saved if they are doing this fifty two weeks savings challenge? Like crunch the numbers, I know what, what is it?

One thousand, seventy So it seems like you're starting small it's like one dollar in the first week, not a big deal. Two bucks next week. I can handle that. And as you ramp up, you slowly feel the impact of that increased savings, which makes it a little bit easier to accept because each week it's just getting incrementally harder. It's not getting way more difficult. When more quick you're

not jumping off the savings cliff. And so yeah, I think this challenge shines because it also does allow you to save a big chunk of cash for an awesome goal that you've got, like maybe taking a family vacation or Christmas gifts at the end of the year. And and like you said, one thousand, three hundred and seventy eight dollars is what you're gonna save this year if you choose to go with this challenge. Um, and yeah, you can go even harder if you want. You can

double the numbers. If you're like that's too easy, then good for you, like double it up and and save twice that amount. But this is a good one I think for a lot of people who are like, I just gotta get some savings in the bank, totally. Yeah, So that's the savings challenge Investing challenges are basically just like savings challenges, except that you funnel that money into

the market, hopefully into a roth ira. And so there are a lot of individuals out there who have a large enough income, but they just lacked the organization to have enough at the end of the year to to sink six thousand dollars into the market. And so you know, you could easily parlay thats from savings to an investment.

That is definitely a great start. But if you want to be a part of the weekly Rath challenge so that you've maxed out your roth ira a by the end of the year, that's gonna take you setting aside a hundred and fifteen dollars every single week. You just

stepped up the challenge here. It's it's like it's not gonna be easy, Like it's it's not meant to be something that's overly easy, but it is much more doable than I think what people you know, the situation that folks find themselves in at the end of the year when they're like, well, where am I gonna come up with six thousand dollars? Like that's just not possible. It's like joining this challenge and sticking that money into your wrath, say with Vanguard, with Fidelity or with m one Finance.

That's a great way for you to finally get your money growing for your future in a big way. If you're someone who hasn't yet taken that first step towards investing, maybe you are, you're a decent saver, but you haven't yet started investing. This is a great way for you to get that roth ira a ball rolling. Yes, we've talked about no spend challenges, you know, not not eating out as one of those. We've talked about savings challenges, Matt.

You just you just dished out the weekly wrath challenge, which I think for a lot of how the money listeners is probably in their wheelhouse right now. They're like, listen, I've got the fund built up, but the thing I haven't done is maxed out my wrath yet, Like I've put in a few hundred here and there, like maybe by the end of the year they've maybe let's say

they've got like two thousand dollars in there. That's great and I'm glad that folks are doing that, but there is four thousand more dollars that folks can slide into that account. Yeah, and we want to encourage them to make like, let's let this be the year where you make about your wrath for the first time. And yeah, Matt, when we were hearing our listener Money Wins, so many people was like I saved a ton this past year, or was like I invested majorly for the first time.

I've seen a lot of how the Money listeners share that sentiment where it's like, because of listening to the show and the how the Money community, the Facebook group, it's like I was motivated for the first time ever to go to the max with this and that's what a challenge can do, and that that's what a community can do too. I'm hoping by the end of this year we'll have somebody who sends in a voicemail and says, hey, this is the first year ever actually maxed my wrath.

I right, And it's because y'all talked about it at the beginning of this year. You gave me enough of the head start. Exactly. You need that runway, you know, any time, because it's like, yeah, if you gotta stop an airplane on a dime, it doesn't happen. You need

you need the runaway to stop. But let's le's let's talk about an earning challenge here too, because that that's another thing I think is worth is worth pursuing, because there are different ways to save or to spend less, but it can also be helpful to have a challenge that's going to help you make more money and to do so quickly. And so, yeah, you can ask her raise, you can get a hustle in order to to boost

your earnings. Those are things that you know, for different people at different places in their life, we would potentially suggest. But the earning challenge we want to present is something truly that anybody can do, and it's doubly helpful because it's also a decluttering challenge. Yeah, you can flex some of your minimalist muscles. And so the way you do this, uh, first of all, spring right, like this is the perfect time to do this, and it's right around the corner.

Like it doesn't feel like it in early January, but it's coming. That's true. It'll be here faster the folks realized. But put a date on the calendar now where you'll have say a family yard sale, if you've got neighbors that you're close with. This is something that you could share with them, because you know, it's better than just having a family yard sale, a multi family yard sale.

And that's what you know. Anytime you see any time to folks see the science where it says multi family yard sale, there's a lot more bang for your buck, and folks are willing to turn off onto that side street see what you've got laid out on blankets around the tables in your front yard. But personally, I'm a fan of listing things on eBay. This is something that I literally started doing this back while I was in college. Um but literally a few months ago I started listing

some items on eBay. Fired back up, Yeah, fired back up. And what's great about it though, is that you are able to I mean literally you're getting top dollar for it, right whereas with uh, like a yard sale, it's just kind of like, Okay, you've got thirty minutes left everything like everything is you know, twenty five cents and you can move a lot of items that way, but you're also not getting the most money that you possibly could. Granted with eBay there's shipping involved, but I love the

sustainable practice of listing something regularly. Having that being kind of like woven into the daily patterns of your life. Maybe not daily, but like this can be something that's more weekly. And obviously, even aside from eBay, there's other

places where you can sell stuff like Facebook, Marketplace. But challenge yourself to get rid of and profit from one item every single week in the same way that we're talking about sitting aside a hundred and fifteen dollars every single week in order to max out your roth ira A. This is something that's totally doable. Just picking one item that's been in your closet that you haven't warned, that you haven't plugged in, something that you haven't used in

the past year or two. Go open your attict. There's a bunch of stuff up there. I promise you that that you could list on eBay uh and get some decent money for and then by the end of the year you can easily have made over three thousand dollars by sticking to this plan. Assuming you're you know, you're selling an item every single week for like sixty bucks.

Can't sell like a hairclip that second yeah, Thatt said, I could sell sell us for sixty bucks three u staplers, But again, put all of that money into savings, uh if you don't have an emergency fund yet, or you can let it jump start your investing. But having less stuff cluttering your place uh and more money on hand is going to be for sure a great thing. And

this is one of my favorites. And we haven't mentioned this but on in the show notes for this episode, we're gonna have PDFs for many of these money challenges that can help you kind of document your progress. And then I like the PDF for this one, Matt, that you've created because it makes it super easy to be like check mark what was the kind of item that you you're writing the kind of item in that in that blank, and then how much money did I sell

it for? And you can track and you can see how much money you've made over the year just by selling stuff that was, you know, lying aroun in your house. And so this is one of my favorite challenges because it does have that double whammy effect and you can, like Marie Condo, say thank you for your service to that item, and then you can sell it to somebody who are retiring in your neighborhood, who who wants who wants it and is gonna give it a second life.

So all right, Well, we've got a little more that we want to discuss, including how Matt and I are going to help keep you accountable when it comes to the money challenge that you decide to undertake this year. We'll get to that right after this break. Money challenges, that's what we're talking about today, and how they're gonna jump start your finances. They're gonna put a dent in

a good way in your money. Uh. And so you know, we've introduced several different challenges really accept but how is this money challenge going to make a difference? Um, Well, we're all about sustained change. I kind of talked about this a little bit when we were talking about eBay, But we're all about this change over time, and we believe that the winds can extend beyond this initial period of time during the challenge, and we wanted to become a part of who you are. You know, it's not

just about this one win. It's about starting a pattern of winning with your finances. And you know, like quickly making a few bucks this week selling an item, that first item, that's cool, but we're less interested in the short term success. Uh. And we're more about looking towards those longer term wins. Uh, and it's snowballs as well.

You know, success it builds upon success. And in one way I just said that, like that first cell, it's not about that twenty dollars that you get for that first item that you sell, except that that makes you somebody who sells stuff on eBay. That makes you somebody who lists something within Facebook marketplace. You did the porch pick up thing. Uh, they paid you. You know, the item was out there. You didn't have to talk to him or interact with him. If get your gears starting

and be like, well what else can I sell them? Exactly, it starts you down that path and that is the mindset shift that we're trying to get you in. Yeah, yeah, I agree. I think there's something about these challenges that that is, like said in the title, that it jump starts, uh, something that is hopefully what we would say, is going to become a habit. And so yeah, short term actions. It might sound silly, but the goal isn't for you to constantly be part of some challenge that you've heard

about on a stupid money podcast like ours. You shouldn't want or really need a challenge every single month, right, that the goal is for these habits to become second nature, where you're doing financially sound, financially smart things without even realizing it on the rag and and I think you're right, Mad, it's like that paradigm shift and how you handle money, it's it's key. And then creating an environment where positive action is consistent and then where it also gets rewarded.

That's the hope here, that's what we want to see. Yeah, and then there's that element of healthy stress that we want to expose ourselves to write because we humans, we like seventy two degree weather, we like our warm beds, we like our netflix, like some of us. But by self imposing some different stressors in our lives that we think can be helpful, we're able to allow our selves to grow. It spurs us on and if we don't do the hard work ourselves, life will impose hardship upon us.

And it doesn't usually happen on the timeline that we wanted to A tweet I saw recently was if you don't make time for exercise, you would probably have to make time for illness. Snap. Yeah, And you know, so it really is up to you as to which path you want to take. You can choose a little bit of sacrifice now in order to say for your future, and if that's the path you take, you'll have plenty

of options available to you down the road. Or you can completely ignore it in the present and you won't have any options in the future where you'll be forced to sacrifice. Then at that point when you're older, whether that be through the work that you'll need to continue to perform or through lifestyle sacrifices, it is up to you.

And we want to make sure that we're not just inoculating and shielding and protecting ourselves from every amount of stress, because oftentimes and measured amounts that stress will allow us to grow. That's right. Yeah, Like when little kids when they're playing in the dirt, when they're even licking their own toys stuff like that, Like there there's like a healthy immune response what's happening in the midst of that disgusting,

vile act that they were taking in. I know this because I've seen my kids do a lot of weird stuff through the years. But then there's also the fact map. Yeah, there's there's a healthy stress fact but but there's also a reality to which some of these money challenges can be fun because we we all like playing games, and me and I we prefer long form nerdy board games, although usually we're too tired to stay up too late to play those nerdy board games these days. But money challenges,

I would say create this gamified atmosphere. It helps you push harder than you might normally. It's it's kind of like how playing a sport, it doesn't feel as much like exercise. If some of your friends are like, hey, let's let's get a three on three basketball game together, You're like, sure, sounds like fun. Not sure sounds like exercise. Like that's not how you respond because it literally it

sounds like playing a game. But at the same time, you're you're running, and you're joking and doing all those things that are good for your muscles. You dun't con Joel h No. People ask me that because I'm six five, But the answer is no. He's like, let's just be honest, I'm just traveling and breaking a lot of attempted three pointers. But basically, yeah, you're you're still getting a workout, you're

hanging out with friends. But it's just it's so much easier to want to do that for most of us than it is to want to sign up at our local CrossFit gym wake up at six am every morning. There's that community vibe that we get from sporting events and the gamification of exercise that can be really, really helpful, and that makes something that sounds otherwise boring into something that's actually fun to do. Okay, I believe you're showing throwing some shade up the CrossFit folks. You know, I'm

so I'm CrossFit curious. Well then, which is why I'm not gonna say that basketball is a lot easier that than cross fit cross across. It does have that community vibe, which is because they tap into those elements and there's that competition, there's that camaraderie. A good point. I probably

shouldn't have singled that CrossFit. I probably should have singled that, like l a fitness or like just waking up at five in the morning going for a run by yourself, no headphone is when you haven't signed up for a race? How about that? Because that sounds like in the middle of January and you're like, no, this was the bad, bad decision. It's so cold outside right now, and one of the other ways that money challenges are successful is

because they up our commitment level. Because if you've only been marginally thoughtful with your finances, making less progress than you vote for a money challenge can just ratchet things up in a big way. It's similar to that. Like that half marathon that I mentioned, you've got skin in the game now that you signed up for it, And the same is true with starting a money challenge. You

don't want to let yourself down. Uh. And so accountability comes into the equation here as well, because when you say that you're going to do something, it makes it real because you might end up telling your partner, you tell a friend, maybe you publicly post about it, you post your intentions what you're planning to do. When you do that, something important happens. Tell everyone on Facebook that you just signed up for a half marathon. People are

going to ask you about it, well, hopefully they will. Yeah, there's just this level of accountability that's established. And when you know that folks are are probably going to follow up and ask you about how things are going, it does create the stickiness that is hard to replicate. That's right. And so since we're talking about accountability, we want to help you out in that regard. We want to see

the money challenge that you attempt this year. We want to see you succeed, And so you don't necessarily need matter I to become your accountability partner when it comes to, yeah, crushing that money challenge, saving more or spending less. We know you've got other friends out there who can help you with that, but we are going to offer our services anyway. And so yeah, just go to the show notes for this episode and you can join an email

list where you'll receive resources and encouragement from us. We promise we're not gonna spam you or try to sell you anything. We really just want to help you succeed. The emails that we send are just gonna hopefully be encouraging and they're gonna spur you on towards success as you attempt to challenge yourself when it comes to some of the things you want to achieve with your finances over the coming months and really out throughout this year.

That's right when you signed up. You can select a different box depending on which money challenge you're looking to implement in your lives, and so whether that's a no spend challenge, your savings challenge or or one of the food challenges will include those options there for you when you enter in your email. We're really looking forward to this being a part of your journey this year. And you know, like there are just so many different approaches

to getting better with your money. Because I see a money challenge, how it could almost be like this on sprint, where you're just able to gain some important grounds so quickly. Oftentimes making positive traction with our money just feels like a slog. But the point of these challenges is for you to see a lot of results really quickly. And keep in mind, some of the challenges that we mentioned today might sound ridiculous to you, and that's fine, you

can completely ignore those. But I bet there are gonna be one or two that we mentioned that sound appealing and it might be exactly what you need to incorporate into your life. So latch onto one of those and put all your focus into knocking that challenge out of the park. And if it would be helpful to have

some accountability from us, we are happy to help. Yeah, man, it's gonna be a lot of fun to see what a bunch of different how the money listeners are going to be able to achieve because they have sigh up, They've gotten all these elements that are good and helpful about a money challenge, and they've said, you know what, I'm going to take that on of my own accord and I'm gonna sign up on how the Money dot Com and hopefully just that intentional choice, it breeds some

accountability and it leads to just excellent money action that otherwise you might have floundered or you might have continued along in the same pattern as like you said that you've been taking part in for years now, and especially at the beginning of the year. This is this is a great time to start because we all want to accomplish something. You're turning tuning into this podcast. Maybe you've been listening for years now, or maybe you're brand new

and you're like, I don't know where to start. Well, this episode is is a great place for you to

enter in is where you start. Yeah, and even for some of our listeners, long time listeners who have been listening for years on end, it's like, you know what a money challenge can help you achieve a new goal or a goal that you've had, and you're like, it's gonna take me a long time to get there, and this can accelerate your progress towards one of those goals, even though you've been handling money well for a number

of years now. So I think challenges can work well for people of all different places in their money journey. But Matt, let's get back to the beer that we had on this episode. This one is called Wild Sinister Kid. It's a double barrel Wild Ale from Trillion Brewing. What what were your thoughts on this one? Well, I will

say that this is a delicious beer. Dude. I am so stoked that not only were we able to finish last year off with some with a Trillion beer, but we're able to kick off two just on such a great note. This was a fantastic beer. As soon as we cracked it open and poured it, you picked up on those barrel notes, like it just had so much barrel action going on, and the no is just from smelling it, Like, I mean, you mentioned this, but you

you said you're like, is this a stout? And I think that's because oftentimes when we smell bourbon notes in a darker beer, you immediately think, oh, it's a bourbon barrel aged stout. But this was a sour. This is also dark to write like it is dark. It was. It was a dark sour. Yeah, exactly, a porred black in the glass. And so I think it's because it's um in an old ale maybe, is what it said. Yeah, exactly. Uh and so yeah, certainly aged more having gone through

the barrel aging process. But dude, it had excellent acidity and tartness, and it honestly it kind of made me think of like a whole new style of beer, or not a new style, but like it made me think if I had to call this something else, I'd call it an Imperial Flanders red because it had all the flavors that you typically associate with the Flanders, right, the acidity and the darker notes, some of the vinegar vibes from Yes, but it was just punched up to a

different level. That's where the imperial comes from. But but yeah, I really enjoyed this beer. A huge things to to Ali for sending this one, r A. But yeah, what were your thoughts on this? I saw? I just really quickly say I agree, this was delicious and it was completely unique and there were so many different flavor vibes going on in this beer that it's almost hard to

pinpoint exactly what I was tasting. But it's also I thought of it almost like a thousand piece puzzle where there are all these things going together, but they fit together perfectly. So there's a whole bunch of beers out there that are trying to do a lot that don't accomplish it where you're like, I do not get what the brewer was was trying to go for there, but this was not one of them. It was delicious in all of its eccentricity. It had just a huge amount

of drink ability like to it. It was it was just it was delicious. And what's so amazing is the fact that this is a wild American ale. This is a sour and that is another style that I've had by Trillion before. Yeah, they're mostly known for brewing delicious I PA. There are New England double dry hopped I p A s is essentially their flagship style. And for them to take on you know what I would call not like a style that's not in their wheelhouse and to take that and just knock it out of the

park like that speaks tremendous amounts of their capabilities. They're up at Trillium Brewing Company. If you ever see some trillium, I would suggest that you order that beer because it is likely going to be delicious. You will not be upset, And one day we might get some trillium distributed to Georgia. That would be a that would be a greatday. Well, big thanks to Ali for since we don't get trillium

in Atlanta, for sending the to be our way. We really appreciate it, and that's going to do it for this episode again. Sign up for those money challenges on our website in the show notes for this episode, which are up on how to money dot com. We're excited to see what you can make happen this year with your money. That's right, buddy, So until next time, Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,