Non-Financial Goals That Can Help You Save Money
Between 401 (k) s, 529s, IRAs, high yielding accounts and apps that do all the work for you, there is no shortage of ways to save money. And making good use of these accounts and apps is the key to long-term financial well-being.
Perhaps your money goal for 2019 is to save more money by taking advantage of all of these options: you increase your 401 (k) fee, or use an app like Digit or Qapital to save money for your next trip. But there are many other things you can do besides the purely financial area that can help you with your bottom line while fulfilling another of your goals or desires.
Learn a new skill
This may seem counterintuitive because you might think you need new equipment, books, or experience to start learning something new. For example, if you want to cook, don’t you need a cookbook, ingredients, an instant pot, and a new set of knives, and, and, and?
You will undoubtedly need a few things, but for our purposes, the savings come at the cost of time spent learning something new. If you’re messing around in the kitchen or reading a new book on the history of the fall of Rome, you most likely don’t shop online or go to Target “for one thing only.”
Likewise, you may just want to discover new things or interests. As I wrote here , “Pick a topic you’ve always been interested in and grab books from your library, find YouTube videos, listen to podcast episodes, and more. Read the authors that have inspired your favorite authors .” Likewise, try expanding your tastes for music or film, or actually visit free art exhibitions in your city.
Ideally, if the goal is to learn a skill or learn a new topic, it needs to be honed. This can mean weeks or months of being devoted to something and attention and not spending money.
Invest in friendship
Being a good friend or family member does not cost money. There are many cheap or inexpensive activities that you can do, let alone just be there with your friend and for your friend.
Buzzfeed has a great list of ways to show your sincere appreciation, which we’ve summarized here . Here are some basics:
- Set up calendar alerts for big dates and confirm them.
- Take an interest in their interests.
- Create a monthly recipe club.
- Support them when it’s not convenient.
Take part in a reading competition
The obvious resource for free entertainment is a library (or a Libby library application). But instead of telling yourself that you’re going to go to the library after work to pick up a new novel – because you won’t – challenge yourself.
For example, for the past three years, my goal has been to read at least two non-work books every month. This year I am strengthening it by defining that they should be female authors (to be clear, I can and will read books by male authors, but they do not count towards the goal). This challenge gives me an incentive to search for new books more often and spend more time reading. No, there is nothing special here, but it gives me great pleasure to find new female authors and read new works.
You can take part in something like the Goodreads Challenge where your friends and other followers can see your progress, challenge Book Riot, or find a friend to keep you in check.
Create more art
There is no shortage of weekly / monthly / yearly art assignments, but the best way to get involved is by doing it yourself. Pick a medium in which you want to improve – writing, photography, drawing, sculpture, etc. – and commit to creating something in it every day, no matter how much you think it will challenge and inspire you.
If you’re looking for something more structured, this might include:
- Take pictures every day throughout the year.
- Learn a new word every day for a year.
- Write 1000 words every day for a month.
- Write something every day ( check out Austin Cleon ‘s blog for inspiration).
- Try a new recipe every week (or choose Julie and Julia’s complete recipe and keep exploring the cookbook of your choice). For more information, see the 52 Weeks Reddit Cooking article.
- Create patterns every day for 100 days .
- Create a color palette every day, be it based on your outfit, a photograph, or whatever scene you come across.
There are some more ideas here and here .
Depending on your interests, there are countless ways to invest your time and energy without spending a lot of money, if any. If you are trying something else or have an old working standby, please let us know in the comments.