Announcing the 50/50 Challenge – Win a Kindle Fire!
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I'm launching a 50/50 Challenge in November and I really want you to be a part of it. Besides having a friendly competition with each other, there's also a prize.
Even if you don't win, you should have some more money in your pocket this month. Oops..I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me explain…
Why a 50/50 Challenge?
“Spend less than you earn.”
Did you see the the two sides of the equation? For many they only focus on spending less, but that's not the entire picture.
If you're not spending wisely,look at cutting your needless expenses. If your income is less than you need to reach your financial goals, then earn more.
Too many personal finance bloggers focus on either cut expenses to the bone or how to make money online.
Neither is wrong, but truthfully most of us need to do both. I want to encourage both frugality and entrepreneurship.
How the 50/50 Challenge Works
It's a month long challenge/contest that I'll be running all through November. It starts with you choosing a target goal.
You set an amount as your goal and split it by how much you'll acquire by saving and how much you'll gain by earning more.
The challenge portion will have tips on saving and earning throughout the month here on Couple Money.
I'll be splitting the tips between frugality and entrepreneurship so whatever side of the equation you need to improve on, there will be applicable information.
The contest portion will include weekly updates on Mondays. You'll need to share your progress, either by leaving a comment on that week's update post or on your own blog (just link back to the posts, so I can track your progress).
I encourage you to exchange tips – there can only be 1 contest winner, but everyone can save/earn more money in their pocket!
At the end of the month, I'll pick the top 5 finalists and the winner will be selected by YOU.
I want the Couple Money community to decide who's the contest winner. (All of us should be Challenge winners- we'll have more money in our pockets!)
50/50 Prize- Kindle Fire! 
We're giving away a Kindle Fire!
This is a big challenge to undertake and I think it deserves a fun prize.
For those not familiar with the Kindle Fire, here are some features:
- 7″ vibrant color touchscreen
- Over 100,000 movies and TV shows re available to stream or download, purchase or rent
- Kindle Fire gives you free storage for all your Amazon digital content in the Amazon Cloud
- Battery Life: Up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback
Signing Up For the Challenge
If you're as excited as I am, please join us for a chance to win!
- Simply sign up for the Couple Money Newsletter so you won't miss out on any of the money making and saving tips and updates.
- Leave your 50/50 Challenge goal on this post's comment section.
- Every Monday when I share my own weekly updates (and highlight other challengers' success stories), leave your progress in the comment section.
Remember, you need to sign up with Couple Money’s Newsletter to be entered for the 50/50 Challenge. While anyone can join the Challenge, the Kindle Fire is for US Residents only.
For Canadian and other international readers I will offer $199 via Paypal only. You must have an account with Paypal or you will be disqualified. You must be 18 or over to qualify for the prize.
The contest ends November 30, 2011 (11:59 PM Eastern). I’ll be drawing the finalists on December 1, 2011 and will contact them. I need a valid email so I can contact you if you’re one of them.
I'll post the finalists here on Couple Money and readers will then have until December 4, 2011 (11:59 PM Eastern) to choose their winner.
My Own 50/50 Goal
I'll be setting my goal for $1,000 – half will be from cutting expenses and the other half will be more hustling for work.
My plan for my $1,000? I'm trying to get a bit more for our car replacement fund and give a portion to Charity:Water.
Thoughts on 50/50 Challenge
What you do with the money saved/earned is up to you so please share it in the comments section below.
Please do me a favor and share this challenge with others on Twitter, Facebook, and whatever site you use.
I hope you can join me this month!
Photo Credit: Amazon
Cool, I just registered. I’m probably going to buy a Kindle Fire, it would be perfect for my web browsing needs at work. Of course, if I win one here I won’t have to buy one, thanks for the contest!
I’m seriously thinking of picking up a Kindle Fire for myself. If I can reach my financial goals for the year, I’ll reward myself 🙂
Nice Challenge! Hmmmm, what’s realistic, yet a stretch:
Generate $10,000 in incremental income in three parts:
* Reduce equity holdings down to under 40% from 90% in the 401k because I believe November will be a difficult month. If there is a 3% pull back on 100% = $9k, then a 3% pull back on 40% is $3.6k, which in my mind is a $5.4k win.
* Develop two new client relationships for the Yakezie Network. Goal is to earn $2k incremental.
* Avoid any material purchases over $100 and save 70% of after tax income. Goal is to save $1.5k incremental.
Should be fun!
Fantastic job Sam! I love the idea of both saving and earning money to reach goals. Best wishes on your goals.
By the way, I hope you had a great time on your vacation.
Yep, vacay was great. Motivates me to work so I can take another.
Hope you got the payment I sent this past weekend.
I realize the saving/making money goal above doesn’t equal $10K, but that’s why it’s a stretch!
Got the payment – thanks! That money is going toward our financial goals (after taxes of course :P) .
I’m looking to make an extra $1000 this month. I’m looking to do that by a 70/30 split. I’ll make 70% of it by making extra income via side hustles like my blog and logo business, and then I’ll save $300 by looking at ways to cut on my regular bills – like switching auto insurance, cutting on cable, etc. We’ll see how it goes!
Best wishes Peter! I think the earn more/spend less combo can be extremely power on family finances. I can’t wait to see how it goes this month for you.
Our goal is to spend $1000 less on our MasterCard this month.
Good goal Stephanie. I just had a question – are you spending on your credit card to keep up with bills or for something else?
My goal will be $1000 for November. I know friends will be going out of town for the holidays so I will offer my house-sitting/pet-sitting services for some extra cash and I will cut some expenses, maybe finally cut the cord with the cable company and just use the internet to watch shows and movies, cook at home more often, and pack my lunch more often than I do now. I will also sell some things that I have been meaning to sell, this challenge is getting some things off of my to-do list, lol. My birthday is on Saturday so I will ask for gift cards and cash if anyone hasn’t gotten me a gift yet. This shall be interesting…
I’m going to shoot for a goal of $1,000 in November with the 50/50 split.
50% will be by cutting down on eating out and buying pre-cooked foods, plus grocery throw-away costs, as well as trying to reduce some other monthly expenses.
The other 50% will be from reselling some of the guitars I’ve bought for that purpose, which have otherwise become part my personal collection, and also from trying to come up with another enterprise that I’ve yet to think of, maybe something online or trying to sell my writing by some other means.
We’ll see how I can do. Thanks for the motivation.
Wow, what I great idea, I need to pay off some bills so I would love to try this 50/50 challenge, by cutting down on eating out and renting too many movies from home with the hubby to justs odds and ends that really add up at the end of the month and try to pick up a few extra jobs from cleaning my office at work to pet sitting for friends!!
This challenge couldn’t have come at a better time! I just had my first baby (that alone comes with lots of extra expenses) but on top of that, I am ending my Maternity Leave in a 2-3 weeks and am hoping to return to work on a part-time basis. This will be a challenge because I had a bigger income than my husband. We have been looking over the budget and coming up with ideas to help trim anything that we can!! This will help to motivate us even more!!! Especially with such an awesome prize! Thank you!
So my 50/50 goal would be not necessarily a certain dollar amount, but more being able to survive working part time (maybe equalling $500). Here are some ideas or goals that we were thinking of implementing!
For Baby:
1) Cloth Diapering (received these for my shower, so I didn’t spend any money). Up until now I have been using disposables. I will switch to cloth diapers and the extra work will pay off in the wallet!!
2) I am attempting to put a schedule together for childcare for the 2 days a week i will go to work. Luckily I have family that lives close by who will watch our son on a weekly or biweekly basis, I just have to spend time coordinating everyone’s schedule which will take a little time. But time spent is saved money!
3) Not buying the baby any toys or clothes, because he has plenty, plus he will get more over the holidays. Even though an outfit is super cute, and on sale, I DON’T need it!
Our Budget:
1) Cut back on eating out (mostly my husband). It is funny, I was looking through our bank statements and started seeing all these expenses for food: Dunkin Donuts, Wendy’s, McDonalds, Starbucks, and local Deli’s. The total for October expenses was over $125. I was shocked. We hope to cut this by 75% by preparing more meals at home and packing the left overs for lunch. My husband also agreed to get up a few minutes early to pack his lunch and make a quick breakfast. We also designated a day to do grocery shopping–one night a week I could go out to the store (without the baby) and with my coupons to get the good deals!! Hopefully we can stick to these goals.
2) We are looking into decreasing our cable/internet/phone plan as well. I have been looking around for better prices, or even dropping our phone and cable plan. We will continue looking around to see how we can trim here.
3) Being more conscious of electricity and heat bills. We hope to make the house a little more energy efficient during the winter when the gas bill is over $300/month. Buying some insulation and turning off the lights when not in use (my husband is the culprit with the lights).
As of bringing in more income, when I go back to work, I hope to pick up a few on-call shifts to make a little extra money. These shifts are on the weekend so my husband could watch our son! I would also like to pick up extra work on holidays when my husband is home (he’s a teacher) or during the summer!
Sorry this got a little long. I wanted to be specific with how we are cutting back and adding income! Look forward to sharing updates and successes!
Week 1 update 11/9/11:
Market tumbles 3.5%, but I moved to 14% equities from 70% equities on 11/7 and 11/8. Hence, should be about a $5k “savings” if the markets continue to be weak. The portfolio is up 10.9% after today’s sell-off, and I want to keep it that way!
My tennis racket broke, so I need to replace with a new $170 one. Gotta do it, since I play so much. It’s a need, not a want! lol.
Working on a couple new clients for Yakezie now, but I’ve noticed things are slow this November. We shall see.
I’m blown away by your goals Sam and I’m happy to see you’re focused on achieving them. I completely understand the tennis racket – many of my family members play tennis and feel the exact same way.
I do have to decide this week where I’m going to direct my IRA contribution for November.
Buy a 2nd home in 2012, thats my laser focus goal.
WEEK ENDING 11/6/11 $268 (goal $1,000)
CRAIGS LIST: INCOME 11.4.11 $15
NEW CELL PHONE PLAN: SAVINGS ~ 11.2.11 $39
CANCELLED AUDIBLE ACCOUNT: SAVINGS ~ $14.95
SIMPLIFYING SERVICES: INCOME 11.4.11 $200