The plan for The 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge:
- Each day there will be an inspirational post on frugal living.
- There will be a “Daily Goal” that sets our focus for the day.
- Participation in the forum is vital. And will provide support and encouragement for the journey. Be sure to read “How This Works.”
Recommendations:
I suggest that you keep a “Frugal Living Challenge” binder. There will be “Daily Goal Sheets” that you can download along with many other printables along the way. A binder will help you stay organized.
Here’s the complete list of topics for our 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge.
Notice: Topics and schedule subject to change.
Day 1: Redefining Frugality
Day 2: How To Develop The Frugal Living Habit
Day 3: Creative Housing
Day 4: Reducing Household Bills
Day 5: Saving On Groceries
Day 6: A Healthy You
Day 7: Clutterfree Living
Day 8: Stop The Impulse Buys
Day 9: The 30 Day List
Day 10: Stop Trying to Impress Others
Day 11: Raising Frugal Children
Day 12: Growing Herbs
Day 13: Going Car-lite!
Day 14: The “B” Word~Budgeting
Day 15: Learning To Share
Day 16: Living Within Our Means
Day 17: Tips for Finding Free Entertainment
Day 18: Reducing The Cost of Energy
Day 19: Do It Yourself
Day 20: Stay Home
Day 21: Commit To Eating Out Less
Day 22: Produce Your Own Food
Day 23: A Slow Leak Will Sink A Great Ship
Step 1: Sign The Pledge
So, I have been hit with an idea! A New Year’s resolution of sorts!
How could my life, and the lives of others, change if we were to challenge ourselves to 23 days of frugal living?
I consider myself, my husband, and my children to be fairly frugal people, and sometimes I admit we take it too far; for example, our couch has a hole in it and we still refuse to buy a new one, I used my old running shoes until the soles were bare, and our truck has 140,000+ miles on it but he still runs like a charm.
In no way am I recommending this to others. Nor am I saying that you have to live with holes in your furniture! However, I will suggest that there are many other ways to scale back spending and live a more frugal lifestyle.
Join me in a 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge!
Why attempt a frugal living challenge?
- First, because living frugally allows for you to spend less than you earn. And the benefits from this are endless. You can use the difference to: get caught up on late payments, pay off debt, save, and potentially invest.
- Second, because the less you spend, the less is required for you to earn. The benefits of this one mean: you and/or your spouse have the potential to work less, you obtain freedom from a wage, you may have the opportunity to pursue your true passions, and you may be able to retire early.
Frugal living is not suppressive! Quite the opposite, it means breaking free of the chains that bind us to unfulfilled lives.
It means spending more time with the people that mean the most. It’s having conversations, reading for leisure, growing in knowledge, enjoying nature, doing things that you think are fun, exercising, being a slave to no one, and focusing on what truly is important. The good life is waiting!
So…together let’s see how many people we can get to commit to living frugally for 23 days!
We could change the tide of society! Or, at least encourage each other along the journey. Obviously, there is a broad array of things that could happen!
The Ground Rules:
You are not committing to the implementation of all 23 ideas for living frugally. I should admit that I do most, but not all, of the tips that will be recommended and discussed. My commitment to you is to be honest with you as we move along.
I ask no more from you that I ask of myself.
- Simply commit to the process and to openness.
- Subscribe to Frugally Sustainable by email so you are sure not to miss a single post during the Challenge.
- Read how this will work and go join the forum!
Be willing to change, take baby steps, or jump on the path of frugality for the first time! Where ever you are on the journey, don’t be afraid to join in. We will challenge ourselves to:
- Redefine “enough”
- Learn how to use a 30-day list
- Stop the impulse buys
- Grow a garden
- Cook ahead
- And much more…
Let’s do this!
Make an early New Year’s resolution and commit yourself to the challenge of living frugally for 23 days starting Friday January 6, 2012 by signing your name below.
What an awesome way to start out a new year!
If the entire 23 days is too much of a commitment for you, that’s totally okay. Maybe you can commit for 4-5 days or only just one? Show your support by signing the pledge anyway!
Whatever your commitment level, even if it’s for only for a day please sign the pledge, and let’s discover together how living frugally can change us, our families, our communities, and our world.
The following people have taken the pledge and made a commitment!
Join them by signing your name to the challenge above!
Update: Due to the overwhelming response, this page is unable to maintain the entire list of people who have committed to the 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge. Instead, a total tally of pledge signers will be provided and updated throughout the day!
To date…
2,057
…individuals have made a commitment!
You’re next!!!
Step 2: How This Works
I am super excited! Friday January 6, 2012 is the start of our 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge — it’s free, and it’ll help you kick start a frugal 2012.
This is a great way to start the New Year! I declare 2012 the year of frugal living and fiscal responsibility. Determining to live frugally is better than making a resolution, because if you are focused and determined these changes will stick with you much longer than any resolution.
How This Is Going To Work
Here’s how The 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge works:
- SIGN UP. Join the Challenge, with 1,000+ others, by signing the pledge. Then head over to The 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge forum and sign up…it’s a free forum and very user-friendly. Read the “PLEASE READ THIS FIRST” post under “The 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge” category of the forum when you sign up for more info on how to use it.
- PUBLICLY COMMIT. Once you’ve joined the forum, go to the section that asks you to “Introduce Yourself Here!” Start a new topic, introduce yourself and tell everyone what your goals are for the next 23 days. This is a public commitment that will hold you accountable and motivate you.
- REPORT your progress each day under the “Frugal Living Daily Goals” category of the forum. Each day of the Challenge we will be asked to set an attainable goal based on the topic. Reporting your goal is simple and takes just a couple of minutes: log in to the forum, go to the daily progress thread (there’s a new one each day) and give us an update.
That’s it.
Just three simple steps: sign up, publicly commit, and take a couple minutes each day to report your progress. The hope is…in 23 days, you’ll have a kick start (and tons of encouragement) for living frugally in 2012!
Go to The 23 Frugal Living Challenge Forum to get started now!
Want to increase your accountability: Tell your friends and family about this challenge. Post about it on your blog (by grabbing the button above), email the info. to your co-workers, share it on your Facebook page, and Twitter.
We are building a community of like-minded individuals! Best of luck to everyone who has committed to the challenge! Enjoy encouraging and supporting one another as we reach our goals together!
Okay! That’s it for now. Here’s to frugal living!
