Folks.

I might not be the most scientifically inclined person, but I love a good experiment.

I am also (unfortunately sometimes) someone who learns best by doing.

I’ve been talking a lot lately about how I’m hardcore lacking motivation (skill kinda true), but I got to thinking about what I do when I am motivated and I realized that a lot of my earlier financial success came through an fairly endless series of initial experiments.

And, you know what? With an excess of time and lack of cash on my hands again, perhaps it’s time to renew that spirit.

But for now, we’re going to journey to the past.

What do I mean by experiments?

Well, there’s a lot of financial advice out there. Like… a lot. Initially I found this sort of overwhelming. And also a little frustrating because while the content has diversified a little better over the last few years, when I first started blogging, there weren’t a lot of people speaking from the view point of alternative career paths like… cough, cough… theater.  

The more I read, I felt I just had to start trying stuff.

Which, in retrospect, was actually a pretty cool time in my financial journey.

I tried a lot of things I wound up hating.

Some I hated and never did again, eff that nonsense.

Some I hated and filed away in a mental cabinet labelled “only if I’m super desperate.”

One or two I hated but was like… dang, that was efficient (I’m looking at you No Spend Weeks).

But the fact is, if I did experiment with them a little, I never would’ve decided if they were right for me.

And I absolutely did waste some time and even some money sometimes on the journey to find which things worked best for me.

So with that in mind, here are a few experiments I’ve undertaken in the past that might be worth a look for you, especially while we’re killing all the time while the theaters are closed:

• Tracking My Net Worth (winner! Probably the habit that keeps me on track and motivated)
• Carefully Crafted Budgets (loser! I hate budgeting, but once in a while, it is still a tool I use)
• Tracking My Spending (winner! I do this monthly too and can course correct enough to not wind up going over a financial cliff using this method)
• Set Up a Mint Account (super useful for minimal effort finance tracking)
• No Spend Weeks (winner when cash was very tight. Fairly unpleasant)
• Receipt Reimbursement Apps (loser, I just can’t seem to remember to use them)
• Rewards/Loyalty Apps (winner, installed once and with my regular shops, I do usually remember to use them)
• Cashback Browser Tools (winner, super easy to use and have saved me some real cash)
• Online Eyeglasses (75% wins, 25% losers -overall, quite a bit of money saved)
• Mystery Shopping (winner when money was very tight and I was living in a big city)
• Rewards Card Churning (overall a winner but because I’m forgetful, I’ve also paid a few more annual fees that I really should’ve)
• Buying Cheaper Versions of Stuff I Use (very mixed results, but that’s a story of a win)
• Bank Account Churning (fail, too many hoops to jump through and also some banks are nightmares)
• Reading Personal Finance Books (like 90% win and in the beginning, pretty much all wins)
• Savings Challenges (fail, though I’m not sure why, I probably just wasn’t committed at the time)
• Setting Clear Money Goals with Concrete Numbers (win! I don’t hit them every year, especially at the beginning, but knowing how much I wanted to save and invest did make a big difference in where my money went)

Some of these experiments were busts.

Some were really useful in the moment.

Some, as silly as it seems, helped me reach those clear money goals, because even though the payouts were small, in the beginning, my goals were too.

So if you’ve been seeing some easy and/or short term financial tips that look interesting or doable to you – consider giving them a try.

After all, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And maybe that step is buying an Auntie Anne’s pretzel and banking $5 from mystery shopping.

Stranger things have happened.