The 50% Project

"No matter how much you make or where it comes from, save 50% of everything."

Photo Credit Julie de Waroquier

That right there is the best financial advice I've ever gotten. However, living up to it is harder than it looks. I recently got my first job (part-time, entry-level), and of course, there's the bills. 

Me and my husband still live with his mom, and we want to get our own place. We want to get a car. I'm going to college next year (hopefully). These things cost a lot of money, money I'm not going to find in my small paychecks. 

We can't take out a loan, and even if we could we don't want to.

So instead, I'm doing the 50% Project. It starts today, with my most recent paycheck. And the goal is simple - save 50% of every penny that enters my wallet. Don't let my expenses exceed my means.

Eventually, I'll have enough to open a savings account. And then accomplish those goals I mentioned above. 

So how will the project work? If you want to join in, here's what I'm doing:

1. Put away 50% of all income, whether it's from work or gifts.
2. Make it as difficult as possible to spend the money you're saving, so you're less likely to spend it. This can be putting it in a locked savings account, or just giving it to a more responsible spouse to keep safe. Safety deposit boxes work well, and old fashioned piggy banks are good too.
3. Keep track of how much money is coming in, how much is going out, and where it's going. I do this in a small, portable notebook. I save all my receipts, organized in little envelopes by month.
4. Every once in a while I'll post an update here on the blog of what I've managed to save, and a glance at where my money went, and any suggestions I have or lessons I've learned. 
5. Daily motivating myself by looking at my bank account statement as it grows with every penny saved.
6. Doing Christmas for as little money as I can possibly manage. I'm hand-making gifts, writing letters and mailing photos instead of buying gift cards, using leftover cards from previous years, and making Christmas Eve phone calls to the distant but precious family. I'm only buying gifts for 3 people, and I'm keeping it under $20 each.
7. Staying accountable - I promised my husband that I'm going to stick to this, and now I'm promising you.
8. Stay positive - if I mess up, I'm not going to beat myself up. I'm going to keep moving forward, and so should you.

What do I hope to accomplish with this project?

1. A small savings to help me and my husband accomplish our goals.
2. Develop self-discipline and better money-managing skills.
3. Learn to live minimally.
4. Stay out of debt.
5. Be financially independent of others (not needing to rely on help from family or welfare).

When will the project end?

For me, I'm going to wait to end the project until I reach my goal of $4,000 in a locked savings account. However, if you're participating in this project, too, you can do it until whenever you feel like. If that's for only 1 month as an experiment, or until you have the $400 for your new PlayStation 4, so be it.

But it's Christmas.

I am very aware that it's December, the hardest month for almost anyone to save. But I also believe that it's the perfect time to test this, to try and stretch the limits of our self-control and practice delayed-gratification. For more information on a minimalist Christmas, I highly suggest this post over at Zen Habits. Christmas doesn't have to cost you.

I wish all of you luck with your own financial journeys, thanks for sticking around to read about mine.

Playing Around With Intermitent Fasting

Well, I've heard a lot of good stuff about intermittent fasting lately (from both real people and research studies) and I'll admit now I've done and tried a lot of those diet fads, but I think I'm going to give it a try. There's this guy a like, and he's coming back in town in a month, and I want to be prettier than when he left so that maybe he notices the difference. You know, the stop, once over, twice over look, and "woah". Yeah, that. I want that.

So... I'm dieting. Duh. That is the only way to quickly lose weight. Now, I'll be restricting my calories (obviously, again only way to lose weight via dieting), but I'm going to do it the smart way... by eating lower-calorie stuff. And cutting my drinking calories completely.

So, I'm going to be drinking only water. No juice, tea or coffee (I drink too much of all three). I don't drink soda like ever anyways so I'm not worried about that.

Calories are restricted to 1200 (1600 is the suggested for me to maintain weight). That's subject to change though since I may need more or less to lose weight effectively and not die.

And, as for the fasting part, I'll be exteding my sleep-time fast till noon (AKA I won't eat after waking up until noon).

I'll also be exercising a lot, hopefully. Swimming, running, riding my bike, dancing, some bodyweight stuff (like pushups and side crunches and squats), walking, yardwork, fishing, hiking, soccer and basketball sort of things.

So. We'll see how this goes. Wish me luck!

Edit:
Intermittent Fasting Update

A Minimalist Experiment

A few weeks ago, due to a family emergency, I had three hours to pack and then nine people would cram in one car for an 8 hour drive to Portland. Needless to say, it was a challenge. It also posed the perfect chance to try a minimalist experiment inspired by Zen Habit's post on Teaching Kids to Pack Ultralight.

The experiment? To pack for a whole week, with only a small duffel bag.

What I packed:

• 3 shirts (one tank top, one t-shirt, one long sleeve)
• 2 pairs of jeans
• A belt
• My bible and notebook
• My sketchbook
• 1 book
• Toiletries in a tiny makeup case
• My i-pod (it's smaller than my phone)
• My phone
• My camera

What I learned:

• Make sure all your clothes fit. One of my jeans were too tight and didn't fit. I ended up with only one pair of pants for the entire trip which became problematic when I spilled Chinese food on them.
• I didn't need my sketchbook - copy paper or my notebook work perfectly fine, and I didn't draw anything anyways.
• Bring a packed lunch so that you don't resort to fast-food.
• Don't forget your phone charger. Bringing a phone without a charger is useless.
• The car ride was a lot more comfortable with less stuff.
• I didn't need my i-pod - I had a more fun talking to people instead of listening to music.
• It was easy to pack up quickly and get going earlier with less stuff to cram in the car.
• I didn't have to carry a huge bag around town

Overall, I loved this. I can't wait to do it again. Despite the few problems I came across (my pants not fitting, for one), I highly suggest doing this. Just, take into account the lessons I learned so that you don't have to repeat them.

Do you travel light?