Expense tracking PRACTICE

Duration: Ideally, expense tracking will become an ongoing practice, but it could start as a 30-day or one-month challenge.

Parameters: Track all your daily expenses using an app or spreadsheet.

Why this challenge? Tracking your expenses is a cornerstone to achieving your financial goals. All my recommendations relating to personal finance (saving money, budgeting, and investing) begin with this exercise. The key is to start now, and it may be easier to try it as a 30-day challenge. The sooner you begin, the more information you’ll have to determine your patterns of spending. For lasting impact, I recommend maintaining this as an ongoing practice.

My experience: I started tracking my expenses (and my income) shortly after I started working full-time. This experiment started yielding results almost immediately, and I was able to start saving money, despite having a relatively low income at the time. Over the years, I’ve been able to meet many of my financial goals — buying a condo, paying off the mortgage in five years, travelling regularly, and eventually being able to leave my full-time job. I attribute a large portion of these outcomes to my daily expense tracking practice.

no-buy or low-buy CHALLENGE

Duration: This is great to try as a 30-day or one-month challenge. If you want to try living a more simple life, an annual no-buy can teach you a lot about yourself.

Parameters: This challenge is very flexible. You can adjust the parameters relating to the categories, repurchase rules, timing, etc. When I did my annual no-buy in 2019, I set the following rules for myself:

1. My no-buy included clothing, accessories, toiletries, makeup, and home goods.

2.  I was allowed to buy replacements for staple items.

3. “Staple items” were defined as true staple items that have no substitutes.

4. Replacement items could be purchased in bulk but only up to a six-month supply.

5. I decided to use my judgment when accepting free stuff or using gift cards.

6. I was allowed to buy items that truly add value to my life.

7. I decided to be fully transparent and document all the items I bought or brought into my home — this meant sharing every item that came into my home in 2019.

Why this challenge? This challenge is a great way to disrupt your pattern of shopping. The longer you take on this challenge, the more you’ll learn about your shopping habits, the things you tend to buy, and why you shop. Besides the learning and reflection aspect, you’ll also benefit from saving money and reducing the number of items you bring into your home.

My experience: This can be a difficult challenge. I tried beauty no-buys many times in the past and failed. However, I kept trying and eventually I started to change. When this challenge clicks with you, it will have a lasting impact on your future behaviour. Most recently, I completed an unintentional no-buy in 2018 (this wasn’t planned, but I just didn’t feel like buying anything that year) and an intentional no-buy in 2019 (this was one of my formal goals for the year). While I wasn’t perfectly compliant by any means, I learned so much about myself. This challenge allowed me to re-evaluate my shopping habits and I now make much more thoughtful purchases.

To-do List Practice

Duration: I like experimenting with this practice in one-week intervals, as needed.

Parameters: Experiment with using different to-do lists. Click here to read more about the different types of lists that I use. I’ve also been experimenting with the Ivy Lee method, which you can hear me talk about here.

Why this challenge? This challenge can improve your level of motivation and productivity. Completing items on a to-do list can help create momentum, while making big projects seem less overwhelming and more manageable. Trying out different types of lists each week and seeing what works for you can be a great way to find a system that enhances your life.

My experience: I’m a huge fan of to-do lists, but I use them only when they serve a purpose. My routine used to be pretty stable so I’d use to-do lists on an ad-hoc basis, usually when I felt flustered or when I needed something to jump start my motivation. These days, because I have a flexible schedule filled with personal creative projects, contract work, and daily household activities, use a daily to-do list via TickTick.