The positive effects of financial compound interest have been well documented for centuries. In fact almost all strategies for achieving financial independence and early retirement rely on this mathematical boost to drastically reduce the time and funds required. What is less well documented and yet still just as important are the cumulative effects of making changes in your lifestyle and habits.

Mr Money Mustache has recently blogged about his own very minor lifestyle changes which he hopes to compound into bigger positive effects.  Focusing on reducing the daily diet of irrelevant information by extremely simple changes such as removing the bedside phone charger, he has given himself more free time to promote worthwhile activies. This small change will inevitably compound into forming a bigger and healthier habit.. however it has only begun to scratch the surface of possibility.

A couple of months ago I wrote about how I believe we make our own luck by working towards achieving our goals instead of hoping to rely on external factors. Nowhere is this more apparent than by seeing the results gained from a change in habit which can compound into something much bigger.

My Dry January

For the month of January as part of Cancer Research UK’s Dryathlon I have joined in by giving up alcohol entirely for these 31 days. It’s a great cause and with the added bonus of giving myself personal benefits alongside the ‘feel good’ factor of supporting a worthwhile charity. However this morning I realised how simply taking part in this event has already started to compound into bigger positive changes.

Typically on a Saturday night I would indulge myself in a spot of alcoholic consumption whilst watching a movie with my partner or chatting to friends. I’ll be the first to admit that such consumption usually ends up in an over-consumption and the following Sunday would be spent in a dozy state of unproductiveness infront of the TV. What a refreshing change it was then that come 9am I found myself awake, washed, dressed and outside in the 4-degree cold to wash my car. Infact I felt so energised that I then went on to scrub down and rinse my partner’s car and the motorbike. I finished assembling my new bike (finally purchased in the sales from this month’s alcohol fund), completed repairs on the shed and had cleaned out all of our furry friend pets before the neighbours had so much as wandered downstairs for their morning coffee.

By making this small change in my normal weekend habit I’ve manged to:

– Improve my health by not drinking and the exercise of scrubbing

– Scored points with the partner by washing her car

– Saved myself the £20 I’d have normally spent on alcohol

– Saved us both £7 each for a car wash

– Given myself an extra 2 hours in the day

This may only be a small example, however it does demonstrate the multiple positive outcomes from making just a single change in lifestyle or habit. That £34 saved can be invested to compound over the next 2 decades, the exercise completed will hopefully lead to decreased healthcare costs and scoring points with the partner is always invaluable!

Trying to start a positive habit from scratch is always going to be difficult. For a long time I’ve wanted to go on a weekly bicycle ride for a couple of hours however always struggled to find the time to actually begin this aspiration. By choosing to give up alcohol just for this single month, I’ve managed to save the time and money required to purchase a bike and start getting out there. When I had originally planned to make this minor change, my thoughts were only on the immediate gains such as health and money.. however now that it’s started; it’s compounded it into achieving additional benefits.

2014 was the year of big physical changes. 2015 is going to be the year of small personal changes which compound into bigger positive outcomes.

What small changes have you made which compounded into multiple benefits or bigger positive changes?