Sue Torr, a Director at Crue Invest, has conceptualised the #just1thing campaign to show people how sacrificing something small, like a cup of coffee or manicure, can have a meaningful, positive effect on your bank balance.

The saying “short-term pain, long-term gain” is no truer than when applied to saving. Due to the wonders of compounding, saving a little here and there can result in serious long-term gain.

“When it comes to saving, most people believe they do not earn enough to save, but the current water crisis has shown us that we can all use less,” said Torr.

Torr advised that if you don’t have extra cash in your monthly budget, think about giving up something and putting that money away. She outlined some ideas:

Ideas for the #just1thing challenge:

• Smoking one less box of cigarettes per week (@ R29 per box) can save you R116 per month.
• Making your own take-away coffee instead of buying a take-away cappuccino (@ R28 per cup) every work morning can save you R560 per month.
• Saving your money instead of a buying a weekly Lottery ticket (@ R5 per ticket) = R20 per month.
• Eating one less takeaway burger per week (@ R43 per burger) can save you R172 per month.
• Boiling and bottling your own drinking water instead of spending R10 per 750ml of water daily can save you R280 per month.
• Reducing your data consumption by R35 per week (that’s 100 MB per week) can save you R140 per month.
• Packing your own work lunch instead of spending R25 on a pie and coke once a week can save you R100 per month.
• Drinking one less beer per week (@ R10 per bottle) can save you R40 per month.
• Making your own pureed baby food (@ R17 for a 1 kg bag of apples) versus spending R14 for a bottle of Purity can save you R300 per month.
• Buying your own nail polish at R40 per bottle instead of paying for a monthly manicure (@ R150) can save you R110 per month.

If your household implements all of the above, you could save R1 838 per month or a surprising R22 056 per year.

Torr has challenged wannabe savers to try and give up #just1thing, then tell her on Twitter or Facebook, (using the hashtag #just1thing) what you have given up and how much you saved.