💰 Saving with the Vital Few

01/05/24 - Friday

Happy Friday!

It’s time for our No-spend Challenge check-in and a helpful concept to ponder through the weekend!

As I (Jill) participate in this No-spend January, I continue to realize how much money I typically spend on food.

It’s a necessary purchase category, but sometimes I spend more than I need to! 😳

One of the culprits for my overspending is a lack of meal planning.

When this happens I end up making multiple trips to the store, eating out more often, and not optimizing the ingredients I have on hand.

To exercise my future thinking muscle and reign in my food spending, I am embracing the concept of the vital few and useful many.

It’s another way of phrasing the 80/20 rule (aka The Pareto Principle).

When looked at through a personal finance lens, it’s this aim of 20% of our efforts leading to 80% of our results. 💸

Rather than dividing our attention on many less consequential things, we can focus on a few heavy hitters that yield the best results.

For me, this means meal planning at home every 2 weeks.

If I can spend 1 hour doing this, it makes a BIG difference in mental strain throughout the week when hunger pangs strike and people are asking what’s for dinner?!

AND it’s helpful for my spending plan because I am able to incorporate food I already have in my pantry and plan for repurposing ingredients throughout the week. 

I need the useful many, but I’m focusing on the vital few.

And so much of my daily life is benefitting!

Whether or not you’re doing this No-spend Challenge with us, I encourage you to think through:

  • What are the vital few for you?

  • What efforts could make the biggest impact on your finances?

HINT: Start with your largest spending categories and consider what small steps would make meaningful results for your wellbeing and finances.

On Tuesday we released our interview with Paige Pritchard about Deinfluencing Yourself on Social Media (EP 368). Paige helped us find the radical middle of our social media involvement and what to do if this is the key trigger for impulse spending. 

Today we covered How to be Content Without Being Complacent (EP 369) which is another Jen & Jill original! :) We want the ability to know what our enough is while still being open to growth and change and considering what this means for our money.

Tune in wherever you get podcasts and let us know what you thought of the episode over on our latest Instagram post!

✅ Listen: To anything but Christmas music 😅

✅ Watch: One of these documentaries on minimalism to help inspire you this month! 📺

✅ Do: List your space on AirBnB and get $40 after your first booked stay. This doesn’t have to mean that you have extra houses to spare! With AirBnB you could rent out a room in your house, an RV spot on your property, or list your whole house just while you’re away on vacation! ⛱️ **

✅ Meal Plan: Trinidad Stew. My sister introduced me to this one and it’s a crowd pleaser! I like it because I usually have most of the ingredients on hand (you miiight have to pick up a can of coconut milk if that’s not a pantry staple for you). AND it goes great over rice. 🥘

How many impulse purchases do you typically make per week (when not on a no-spend challenge!)

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Catch ya later,

⭐️⭐️ P.S. Want to share all this goodness with your friends AND earn cool Frugal Friends merch?

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