Three 30-Day Challenges That Will Actually Change Your Finances

Summary

In this episode of 'The Totally Chill Guide to Work and Life', Holly Trantham, the creative director, discusses strategies for resetting finances and forming new habits. She emphasizes the importance of starting investments early and introduces Betterment, an automated investing platform. Holly also challenges the '21-day habit formation' myth, citing a study that shows it can take up to 254 days. She suggests three 30-day money challenges: a spending category reset, a month-long money audit, and a short-term side hustle to boost savings, aiming to provide insights and incremental financial improvements.

Takeaways

• 😀 Holly Trantham, the creative director at tfds, introduces the second season of 'The Totally Chill Guide to Work and Life'.
• 🌟 Holly has eight years of experience working behind the scenes on content across YouTube and other tf's channels, and she has also written a book titled 'Beyond Getting By'.
• 💰 The series aims to discuss approaches to money and career decisions from a relaxed perspective, emphasizing a balanced life rather than sole focus on these aspects.
• 🍂 As fall approaches, many people consider resetting their financial habits, and the script highlights the importance of starting to invest early to allow money time to grow.
• 🤖 Betterment is introduced as a tool for automated investing with features designed to maximize returns, making the investment process less daunting for beginners.
• 🧘 The concept of the '30-day challenge' is discussed, questioning the widely accepted idea that it takes 21 days to form a habit, with research suggesting variability in habit formation time.
• 📊 Holly shares her interest in self-improvement and personal productivity, mentioning her detailed budget spreadsheet and meticulous account tracking.
• 🚫 The potential pitfalls of short-term challenges are compared to crash diets and cleanses, which can be unsustainable in the long run.
• 💡 Three specific 30-day money challenges are suggested: a spending category reset, a month-long money audit, and a short-term side hustle challenge.
• 🛒 The spending category reset involves focusing on one area of spending, like food, to identify overspending and adjust habits accordingly.
• 📋 The month-long money audit is a comprehensive review of financial habits, including tracking spending, assessing debt and savings, calculating retirement trajectory, and setting financial goals.
• 💼 The short-term side hustle challenge is proposed as a way to quickly boost savings and potentially discover a new income stream, with examples of gig-based services or seasonal work.

Q & A

Who is Holly Trantham and what is her role in the video?

Holly Trantham is the creative director at tfds and the speaker in the video. She has been working behind the scenes on content across YouTube and other tf's channels for eight years and has also written a book titled 'beyond getting by'. In the video, she discusses approaches to money and career decisions from a relaxed perspective.

What is the main theme of the second season of 'The Totally Chill Guide to Work and Life'?

The main theme of the second season is to help viewers approach their money and career decisions from a relaxed standpoint, aiming to live the life they want without making these aspects their sole focus.

Why is starting to invest early considered important according to the video?

Starting to invest early is important because it allows your money to grow over time, leveraging the power of compound interest.

What service does Betterment provide and how does it help with investing?

Betterment provides automated investing services and tax-smart tools designed to maximize returns. It helps ease individuals into investing by managing the complexities behind the scenes, allowing users to focus on what brings them joy.

What is the traditional belief about forming a new habit and how does the video challenge this belief?

The traditional belief is that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. However, the video challenges this by citing a study that shows the time it takes for a new behavior to become automatic can range from 18 to 254 days, indicating that habit formation is not as straightforward as commonly believed.

What is Holly's personal approach to managing her finances and why does she track her accounts meticulously?

Holly uses a detailed budget spreadsheet to track her accounts meticulously because it makes her feel more in control of her finances. She is interested in self-improvement and personal productivity, and this method helps her maintain a better relationship with money.

What are the potential issues with short-term challenges like 30-day challenges, as discussed in the video?

Short-term challenges can be problematic because they may be similar to crash diets and cleanses, being potentially harmful and impossible to maintain in the long run. They may not lead to sustainable habit formation.

What is the first approach Holly suggests for a 30-day money challenge and why is it beneficial?

The first approach is a spending category reset, focusing on one spending category like food. This is beneficial because it helps identify overspending areas and adjust habits without the extreme commitment of a full no-buy challenge.

What is the concept of a month-long money audit and how does it differ from a no-buy challenge?

A month-long money audit involves reviewing and understanding one's full financial picture without necessarily changing habits during the challenge. It differs from a no-buy challenge by focusing on gaining insights and information to make incremental changes rather than immediate spending cuts.

What is the purpose of a short-term side hustle challenge and how can it help with financial goals?

A short-term side hustle challenge aims to provide a quick boost in savings and build momentum for potential long-term income streams. It can help reach financial goals by offering extra income that can be directed towards savings or investment.

What is the overall message Holly conveys about 30-day challenges in relation to financial habits?

Holly's overall message is that while 30-day challenges may not make one rich, they can be helpful for changing mindsets and habits by setting clear intentions and focusing on specific, achievable goals.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Introduction to the Chill Guide to Work and Life

Holly Trantham, the creative director, introduces the second season of 'The Totally Chill Guide to Work and Life'. She discusses her eight-year experience in content creation and her book 'Beyond Getting By'. Holly emphasizes the importance of starting early with investments and highlights Betterment's automated investing and tax-efficient tools that simplify the process. She encourages viewers to begin investing to grow their money over time and to focus on joy rather than solely on finances.

05:00

🔄 Debunking the 30-Day Challenge Myth

Holly explores the concept of 30-day challenges, questioning the widely accepted belief that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Citing a 2010 study, she explains that the time required for a habit to become automatic can range from 18 to 254 days. Holly, a self-improvement enthusiast, shares her personal approach to budgeting and the pitfalls of short-term challenges, likening them to unsustainable crash diets. She advocates for a 30-day challenge as a way to gain insights into spending habits and to set the stage for long-term financial habits.

💰 Three Approaches to a 30-Day Money Challenge

Holly suggests three strategies for a 30-day money challenge. The first is a spending category reset, where she recommends focusing on one area of spending, such as food, to identify overspending and adjust habits. The second is a month-long money audit, which involves tracking spending, assessing debt and savings strategies, calculating retirement goals, and setting achievable financial goals based on the insights gained. The third approach is a short-term side hustle challenge to boost savings and explore new income streams. Holly provides examples of side hustles and emphasizes the importance of setting realistic goals for a 30-day period to test the waters and potentially establish a long-term additional income source.

Keywords

💡Creative Director

A creative director is a professional role responsible for the creative output of various forms of media, including advertising, film, and television. In the context of the video, Holly Trantham, the speaker, is the creative director at 'tfds' and has been working behind the scenes on content creation for YouTube and other channels, which is central to the video's theme of discussing work and life balance.

💡Betterment

Betterment is a term used in the script to refer to a financial technology company that offers automated financial advising and investment management services. It is mentioned as a tool to help ease the process of investing, making it more accessible and less intimidating for people regardless of their knowledge about the stock market, which ties into the video's focus on financial well-being.

💡Automated Investing

Automated investing refers to the use of technology to manage investment portfolios without the need for human intervention. In the script, it is highlighted as one of the features of Betterment that helps to maximize returns by handling the 'heavy lifting' of investment management, which is a key concept in the video's discussion on simplifying financial management.

💡30-Day Challenge

A 30-day challenge is a self-improvement strategy where individuals commit to a specific behavior or habit for a month to achieve a goal. The script discusses this concept in relation to forming new habits and its potential pitfalls, such as the misconception that it takes exactly 21 days to form a habit, which is a central theme in the video's exploration of personal productivity and habit formation.

💡Habit Formation

Habit formation is the process of developing behaviors through repetition that become automatic over time. The video references a study that challenges the '21 days to form a habit' myth, emphasizing that the time it takes can vary widely. This concept is integral to the video's message about the importance of understanding the process of creating lasting habits.

💡Financial Audit

A financial audit involves a thorough review of an individual's financial situation, including spending, savings, and debt. In the script, it is suggested as a method to gain a comprehensive understanding of one's finances before making changes, which is a key step in the video's advice on managing personal finances.

💡Spending Category Reset

A spending category reset is the act of reevaluating and adjusting spending in a specific area of one's budget. The video script uses the example of food spending to illustrate how this can lead to significant savings and better financial habits, which is a practical application of the video's overarching theme of financial self-improvement.

💡Side Hustle

A side hustle refers to a part-time job or additional income stream outside of one's primary employment. The script suggests a short-term side hustle challenge as a way to boost savings and potentially find a new income source, which is a strategy discussed in the video for improving financial well-being.

💡Emergency Fund

An emergency fund is a financial reserve set aside to cover unexpected expenses or financial emergencies. The video discusses the importance of building an emergency fund and how cutting back on certain spending, like workout clothes, can help achieve this goal, which is a key aspect of the video's advice on financial planning.

💡Productivity

Productivity refers to the efficiency of an individual's work or the rate at which they accomplish tasks. The video script touches on the 'productivity obsessed world' and the appeal of short-term challenges like the 30-day challenge, which is a theme in the video's discussion on the pursuit of self-improvement and efficiency.

💡Crash Diets and Cleanses

Crash diets and cleanses are extreme methods of rapidly losing weight or 'cleansing' the body, often through drastic dietary changes. The script uses these as metaphors for why short-term financial challenges can be harmful if not maintained properly, which is a cautionary note in the video's exploration of sustainable habit formation.

Highlights

Introduction of Holly Trantham, Creative Director at tfds, and the start of season two of The Totally Chill Guide to Work and Life.

Holly's eight years of experience working behind the scenes on content across all of tf's channels.

The release of the second book 'Beyond Getting By' and its focus on a chill approach to money and career decisions.

The importance of resetting finances with the arrival of fall and the benefits of starting early with investing.

Betterment's automated investing technology and tax-smart tools designed to maximize returns.

The ease of starting with Betterment, even for those with little knowledge of the stock market.

The prevalence of the 30-day challenge concept in productivity and self-improvement.

Debunking the '21 days to form a habit' myth with research findings from the European Journal of Social Psychology.

Holly's personal interest in self-improvement and productivity, including writing a book on building a better relationship with money.

The potential pitfalls of short-term challenges compared to the sustainability of long-term habits.

Three suggested approaches to a 30-day money challenge for gaining insights into spending habits.

The concept of a spending category reset as an alternative to a full no-buy challenge.

Chelsea's experience with a food spending reset and the insights gained for adjusting habits.

The idea of a month-long money audit to assess financial habits and set achievable goals.

Applying the concept of a home project to-do list to a full financial audit for clarity and planning.

The benefits of a short-term side hustle challenge for boosting savings and finding new income streams.

Examples of short-term side hustles and how to set achievable goals within a 30-day timeframe.

The value of a 30-day challenge in changing mindset and habits for long-term financial health.

Transcripts

hello everyone I'm Holly Trantham tfds

creative director and this is season two

of The totally chill guide to work and

life for the past eight years I've been

working behind the scenes on all of the

content you see here on YouTube and

across all of tf's channels and I also

wrote our second book beyond getting by

throughout this series I'll be talking

about how to approach your money and

career decisions from a chill place

where they help you live the life you

want without ever becoming your sole

Focus so now that fall is almost here a

lot of us are looking to hit the reset

button when it comes to our fin ances

and one of the most important aspects to

investing is getting started early so

your money has time to grow and with

betterment investing does not have to be

some scary daunting task no matter how

much or little you know about the stock

market betterment helps take care of the

heavy lifting their automated investing

Tech and tax smart tools are designed to

help maximize your returns so your money

is put to work betterment can help

someone ease their way into investing as

their financial experts are working

behind the scenes to make your money

hustle while you spend more energy on

what actually brings you Joy get started

be invested click the link in our

description or head to betterment.com

tfd to sign up in minutes in our

productivity obsessed World which I've

already spent some time talking about in

this series the idea of the 30-day

challenge is inescapable whether you're

interested in trying out Whole 30 or

considering doing the annual 30-day

challenge with yoga with Adrien for some

reason we love this idea that we can

totally reset our lives or form a new

healthy habit by sticking to it for just

1 month that might be because for a long

time we have accepted the idea that it

takes 21 days to form a habit however

research has shown us that that might

not be as true as we think a 2010 study

published in the European Journal of

Social Psychology found the length of

time it takes for a new Behavior to

become automatic varies from 18 days to

254 days according to the authors

missing one day did not hinder progress

however the more difficult Behavior

change was perceived the longer it took

for the Habit to form now I am someone

who has always been interested in

self-improvement and personal

productivity I literally wrote a book on

how you can build a better relationship

with money and not be so strict about it

but I personally still utilize a hyperd

detailed budget spreadsheet and I

meticulously track my accounts because

that makes me feel more on top of it and

I think the problems people run into

with these short-term challenges can be

the same ones we see with crash diets

and cleanses Beyond being potentially

harmful to your health they are just

impossible to maintain in the long run

but that does not mean I think a 30-day

challenge cannot be beneficial for

kickstarting a new habit and when it

comes to money I think short-term

challenges can be really beneficial when

it comes to providing perspective you

won't necessarily be able to save

thousands of dollars in a month

especially if you don't make that much

to begin with but you could gain some

insights into your current spending

habits and finances that can help you

decide on longer term habits to work on

here are three ways I would personally

approach a 30-day money challenge

starting with number one a spending

category reset so full no buy challenges

are really popular for a reason they are

tough to commit to and they make for a

great headline and we've interviewed

plenty of people who have gone through

them here on this channel but they are

definitely not possible for everyone and

they're also only really effective if

you were buying too much of everything

to begin with which is a pretty

privileged position to be in so rather

than doing a full no buy month consider

doing a reset in just one spending

category like your food spending this is

actually something Chelsea did back in

February which she tracked in our

newsletter after not going out to eat

for an entire month she did end up

saving a lot of money but more

importantly she was able to identify

where she was overspending before and

adjust her habits moving forward she

also shared a breakdown of exactly how

she did this in one of our members only

workshops and also included a guide for

how to conduct your own categorical

spending reset and this is just a

reminder that if you join the society at

the 499 tier or higher you get automatic

access to all of our previous member

event recordings and if you want to do

this and you're deciding which category

to focus on take a look at your current

spending and see where your constantly

going over budget or if you don't

currently keep a budget decide which

non-essential spending category you are

spending the most on number two a

month-long money audit so before I

finally internalized better everyday

habits around my home life I used to

religiously do the apartment therapy

January cure which is a month-long

challenge with daily tasks to help you

get control over your home one of the

tasks they always assign is to do a home

projects to-do list where you simply

walk around your home with a notepad and

take note of everything you want to do a

room you want to paint a bookcase you

need to clean out or the scary under

sync area that you need to stop avoiding

and I always loved this assignment

because it didn't come with any

expectations you end up picking just one

manageable project to focus on during

the month-long cure But ultimately this

list making exercise is meant to just

give you a clear idea of what you would

like to get done in your home so you can

start tackling those tasks on your own

timeline and I love the idea of applying

this concept to a full money audit where

you don't actually set up to change any

of your habits during your challenge but

you give yourself a look at your full

Financial picture before you decide what

your next step should be this could look

something like this week one track your

spending go through several months of

bank and credit card statements to see

where your money is actually going week

two assess your debt payoff and savings

timeline look at your current debt and

savings strategies and assess when you

will be able to pay off debt or hit your

emergency savings goal or other goals

based on your current contributions week

three calculate your retirement

trajectory you can use an online

calculator like this one to see if you

are on track to retire when you want to

week four pick a goal to focus on based

on all of the above you will probably

find that all of these areas are

interconnected and you will need to

adjust some to reach your goals in

others for instance if you decide you

are spending too much money on workout

clothes you could see that if you cut

that back by x amount you could reach

your emergency fund goal in a matter of

months the point is not to walk away

having saved more but to actually just

give yourself the information you need

to start making incremental changes and

I think when it comes to money

especially this kind of slow intentional

step back can be really helpful for

people who tend to bite off more than

they can chew lastly number three a

short-term side hustle challenge so this

is just a quick reminder that the best

way to boost your savings and

Investments is to start earning more but

that's not necessarily something you can

do in a 30-day challenge especially when

you consider that the average job search

takes between 3 and 6 months focusing on

just a 30-day side hustle challenge is

meant to be temporary as a way to get a

quick boost in savings and start

building momentum or potentially find a

new stream of income you could stick

with in the long run to help you reach

even more savings goals down the line

this could be an app based side hustle

like dog walking grocery delivery or

other gig Based Services if you've

worked in Food Service before you could

add a temporary side Hustle by offering

your services to pickup shifts at a

restaurant where you have an existing

connection or you could also look for

seasonal work such as gift wrapping or

working on a customer service hotline

during the holidays and to make this

effective you have to determine what is

an achievable goal on this timeline for

example if you've already worked on a

dog walking app before and already have

solid reviews it will likely be easier

to just pick up where you left off and

get some new clients you could set a

goal to walk a certain amount of dogs

each week with the express purpose of

putting everything you earn minus taxes

into your emergency fund and just seeing

how much that saves you by the end of 30

days or if you want to dog walk as a

side Hustle but don't actually have

experience on an app before your goal

could just be to find your first few

clients by the end of the month which

you could aim to achieve by setting up a

profile and procuring some testimonials

from friends and neighbors you could

even do this by offering up your

services in your neighborhood's Facebook

group at the end of the day regardless

of what 30-day savings challenges you

see on social media you're probably not

going to magically save a bunch of money

in a month again unless you already earn

a fair amount and just cut out all of

your spending for the month but focusing

on one specific side hustle can help you

determine whether it is worth your

energy to stick with it and give you a

solid idea of what kind of extra income

in the long run is possible and while

any 30-day challenge is not going to

make you rich I do think setting out

with a very clear intention can be very

helpful for making changes to your

mindset and habits going forward thank

you so much for watching and I will see

you back here next week on the next

episode of the totally chill guide to

work and life