For this year's Spending Detox challenge, I'm choosing 3 challenges that will help me create a strong foundation for my mindset with money.

I chose:

#1 - 'No Spending' Zone

#2 - Create A Holiday Budget

#6 - Give the Gift of Time

For number one, I'm locking in, traditionally, the 4 biggest spending  days of the year: November 27th - November 30th. This encompasses Black Friday through Cyber Monday, which means I'll have to avoid those pesky sales this year. Why? Because if I can avoid spending money then, I'll be good to go for ANY sale seasons throughout the rest of 2021.

For number two, I'll need to create a budget for me and my family. I won't share the actual amount, but my budget will include all unnecessary purchases for things that I want for me and my family this year. That means I'll have to keep my necessary payments in mind, like bills, but I won't actually count that spending into my budget.

Lastly, for number three, I'm going to choose to give some gifts to my family that are not physical presents, but more like gifts of time and fun. I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with family and friends this  year due to the pandemic, but I'm going to make this a priority for the next 30 days. (Also, I'm traditionally a terrible gift giver, so I'll have to get creative!)

I'll use this post to keep you all updated with how I'm doing each week!

What do you think of my choices? Let me know below!

(btw I am terrible at spelling and punctuation)  hey my name is Simon and I am 18 years old, I'm interested in getting into the real estate business .  I watched one of the Beards videos about side hustles and found wholesaling and work for equity, haven't gotten a deal yet but I'm close! My goal is  to own several diverse rental properties.  My question, to get financing for a property would I have to wait till I have more income?  or do I need more credit to take out a loan from a private lender, bank, etc.? Also is now a good time to get into rental properties?

Hey just want to know if you guys have any good stock that might take off in 2021..right now I have Moderna which is up big I might sell here in a few days but I’m looking for anything to put that money into. Something that’s cheap right now that I can research on that might takeoff!!

5g

For various reasons, this is the only challenge that fits me.

I tend to overspend and I never negotiate the price and/or look for alternatives. This happens especially with:

• Food delivery apps
• the labels: "Amazon's Choice" / "Best Seller"
• When I'm not in a discount supermarket to get groceries

I'll do my best 😱😁

Metals like gold, and other 'new-age' stuff like crypto, seem to me like as good as or better than real estate, because you never know when your property will be seized or taxed by the government beyond what's worth it. IIRC he mentioned something about current tax benefits for RE vs. metals, and I haven't seen any of his new videos in months, so maybe something changed.

Hi! The only skills I have really are some IT/Linux, but I have no actual interest in anything, really. I might be one of those types who will do what he doesn't enjoy for the rest of his life, simply because he either hasn't found what he loves to do or because there's nothing he loves. I heard that proofreading's alright, and there's teaching English, but I want to see how far the list goes, even further than what your average personal finance blog says.

Hello,

My name is Simi Vijay

a pleasure to be part of this community.

What is the best strategy for paying off a mortgage early? How do you know how much extra you can put towards your home without losing out on investment opportunities? If the interest rate on the mortgage is fairly low then is there even an advantage to paying the loan off early?

The pandemic has up-ended just about every aspect of normal daily-life, from finances to investing.  We've seen the craziness on Wall Street, buy what I want to know is this:  Are you investing in real estate right now, or are you planning on waiting until after the pandemic?  Why or why not? 🤔

Hello everybody my name is Russ from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. I've been watching MM for about a year now and is hands down one of the most clear, unbiased, and honest financial literacy channels on YouTube. Also love the morning business wrap-up emails.

I'm assuming you're all on here because you feel the same, so I look forward to meeting and sharing ideas with all of you!

I am thinking of purchasing the book Never Split the Difference by Chris Voos. I want to ask your thoughts on it? I am definitely intrigued and do hope it has substance to it.

A second question: Has anyone done the audio book version instead? Is it Chris Voos narrating it?

Looking forward to reading your thoughts.

:Nef:

Hi I’m Elexis!
I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area. I work at Home Depot and study Construction Management in college. Let’s connect on LinkedIn!  LinkedIn.com/in/elexis-m

Is anyone else on here from or live in the Bay?

My name is Veronica. I have a degree in Art History with a minor in Dramatic Arts. I'm interested in the learned about investing, side hustles, etc.

I'm pretty new to investing, but here it is so far.

VTI: 48.55%

ARKK: 12.53%

ICLN: 10.51%

AAPL: 4.69%

MSFT: 8.39%

TSLA: 6.45%

SQ: 2.46%

V: 2.75%

AMD: 4.38%

Ideally, I would like VTI to be 45%, ARKK & and ICLN to be 15%, though I plan on getting out of ICLN and into QCLN. AAPL, MSFT, TSLA, SQ at 5%, and V & AMD at 2.5%.

I am not too confident in V and AMD which is why I have them at low percentages. I understand that they are companies worth having long term, but it doesn't make me comfortable having a larger position in them until I learn how to analyze companies. The other individual holdings are companies I believe in for the long term. Any advice is appreciated!

This holiday season, I’m choosing Spending Detox Challenges #1 (Declare a “Zero Spending Zone”) and #4. (Buy Prepaid Cards).

With Challenge #1, I plan to limit my habit of online shopping for Christmas by picking four days (November 23rd, November 30th, December 4th, and December 5th) in which I won’t spend at all. The real challenge here is to cut out Cyber Monday - I always head in with plans to buy cheap deals for family and friends, only to spend exclusively on myself. This year, I’m cutting out that possibility altogether.

With Challenge #4, buying prepaid cards and gift cards will keep me honest about how much I’m spending - that way I won’t be tempted to break my budget. And pro tip - if you have a Target Red Card, you can get 5% off on any non-Visa gift cards at any Target location. For example, if you’re planning on buying video games or Disney toys as a gift, you can always buy a GameStop or Disney gift card and save 5% on whatever you end up purchasing.

Let's all look out for each other to make sure that none of us ends up a George!

Any in particular that you'd recommend? Let us know below!

What do you look for in a trading app and what are some of the best ones out there right now?

Hello & welcome to the Minority Mindset Community! Let’s get to know each other. Leave a comment with your name, where you are from, and something interesting about yourself (did you know I love tennis?) I look forward to meeting you!

For the Spending Detox Challenge, I decided to go with #2, make a holiday budget and #3 don’t overpay.

Challenge #2: I decided to go with this one because I usually splurge during the holidays. I often buy last-minute gifts for family and friends, and that’s usually the worst time to buy. My nephews are 8 and 10 years old so I always try to be “the cool” uncle by buying the hottest holiday toy or a full-priced video game. This year, I decided that I am going to plan earlier when it comes to gift-buying, but also buy on a budget.

Also, my friends and I usually do a “secret Santa” type of thing, but this year we all agreed to avoid buying gifts for one another. 2020 has been strange, and it’s more important than ever to really re-strategize how we spend our money, especially during the holidays. As for my nephews, I’ll be looking to buy more practical gifts.

I decided that I’m only allowed to spend $65 on gifts from here until December 10th. I think that’s a fair amount. I usually spend around $150 - $200 when all is said and done.

For challenge #3 I really wanted to apply this to my grocery shopping plans. Too often I walk to the local Whole Foods when I’m too lazy to shop at the more reasonably-priced grocery stores, and man it kills my budget. Instead of being lazy, I will make a concrete plan to grocery shop once a week at places like Kroger or Walmart to make sure I get the best deals on the items I need. It might also be time to buy more “in bulk” so that I can make fewer trips to the store.

No, I’m not the guy that’s gonna take 100 rolls of toilet paper, I promise 🙂 Generally, I won’t be overpaying for items at Whole Foods just because I’m hungry and want something now.

My overall theme of both these challenges that I chose is plan and budget better.

I can budget very well, but do love to shop and have debt. There are days that go by that I have not spent money, but forcing 4 days no spending can be a challenge.