A single mum has been dubbed Australia’s ‘Savings Queen’ after she saved $32,000 in a year – on top of her regular salary!
After a divorce, Canna Campbell was inspired to find creative ways to make and save as much money as possible.
‘It was a personal challenge that I set for myself, where I took one really big goal and broke it down into bite-size, mini goals,’ Canna explains.
Her simple tricks to free- up more cash involved renting her house out, taking her lunch to work and enjoying quiet weekends at home.
Canna also took on extra projects and squirrelled away some of her tax refund.
‘I also did market research and I adopted a minimalistic philosophy where I was then able to sell furniture and clothing online,’ she says.
‘I learnt to embrace being at home, saying no to going out to restaurants and bars, and having friends come over to entertain. Or simply having movie nights at home with my son,’ the Sydney finance expert and YouTube star goes on.
The money that accumulated was put into a special savings account, and each time it reached $1000, Canna – mum to four- year-old Rocco – invested it.
‘The moment I had the $1000, before I got tempted to spend it, I went and invested that money into a portfolio of Australian Industrial Shares and some listed investment companies,’ Canna says.
She called her strategy the $1000 Project, and shared it on her YouTube channel ‘to inspire people to think about the money that they spend and the money they earn in a different light’.
Canna’s aim is for people to ‘stop limiting their capabilities by their salary’.
‘I wanted to educate people on the benefits of investing in a long-term passive income stream. Creating real, authentic, financial independence,’ Canna tells New Idea.
By investing in blue-chip Australian shares and international Exchange Traded Funds, Canna received dividends – a form of passive income.
She started the project in 2016, and when her 12-month deadline was up, Canna had saved and invested $32,000, with a passive income of $1750 – which she donated to charity.
‘If someone had said to me: “In 12 months time you’ll have $32k cash invested,” I would have laughed and said: “No way, how the hell?” ’ Canna says. ‘But each time I’d reach $1000, a new idea came up. Or I had a conversation with someone who gave me a new opportunity or a brainstorm.’
Canna has since gone on to do another round of The $1000 Project, and has hustled an amazing $68,000!
Canna Campbell’s The $1000 Project is out now.
