Summer Savings Challenge Wrap Up

Back in August, I spoke about the fact I was taking part in the Summer Savings Challenge.

It has now been 6 weeks and it is time to look back on how I did and think about how I can keep moving forward with saving.

What Was the Summer Savings Challenge?

For anyone who missed my original post on the summer saving challenge, I’ll give you a bit of a recap.

While in the name it is for summer, it is a challenge you could look to take on at any time.

Shepherds Friendly kindly produced some printables, which make keeping track of your savings from the challenge easy.

As well as offering up some ideas which you might like to follow for the challenge such as:

• Car Sharing with Friends or Work Colleagues.
• Cancelling SKY or premium TV apps.
• Swap the Gym for Home Workouts.
• Freeze Food to Make it Last Longer and Save on Waste.
• Make Packed Lunches Instead of Buying Out.

To name just a few.

How Did I Do?

For my 6 weeks I decided to take on the following challenges:

Week 1 and 2.
Check out those subscriptions – cancel those that aren’t used or wanted anymore.

Week 3 and 4.
Think about turning things off, a long-term goal to help bring the electric bill down.

Week 5 and 6.
Research before buying. Think about coupons, discounts and search for the cheapest price overall.

If you have been following my Facebook page, you may have seen my weekly updates on how I have been doing with this challenge.

For those of you who haven’t here is how I did.

Over the first fortnight, I managed to save £50 per month.  Just by cancelling subscriptions which either we didn’t use anymore, or downgrading ones which perhaps we didn’t use to the fullest but we did on a smaller scale.

For me, I think this is something I am going to try and do every few months.

Most subscriptions go out on the 1st. So that will be a day to sit down and look them over.

The next fortnight was more a time to look at myself.

I am awful for not switching things off, be it lights, the radio or the shower and even taps seem to be an issue!

I have been trying to be more self-aware about the things I do. It is a slow process, I’m not going to lie and say, oh yes I’ve managed this 100% of the time. As I haven’t.

However, hopefully, I am starting to go along the right path when it comes to remembering to switch more things off.

For the final fortnight, it was all about remembering to look for discounts.

I have to admit I’ve not bought much this last fortnight, so it’s not been as positive as it could be.

That said I have added the TopCashBack* toolbar to chrome and I’ve started trying to dig out all the vouchers I’ve accumulated across the year, ready for Christmas shopping.

Final Thoughts.

I think for me this challenge has been a success, I have visible savings already.

While I also have things to keep working on. As well as ideas to help expand my saving channels as time goes on.

When it comes to what I am going to do with those pennies, I think I will definitely be looking to place them into something like a Stocks & Shares ISA.

Something which will allow me and push me to save long term, due to the rewards it offers.

Have you been taking part in the summer savings challenge, or been doing a savings challenge all of your own, how have you done?

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