The Back Story:

Hi, I’m Daniel, and like many people I spent the better part of my college years in and out of credit card debt (mostly in). Upon graduation I moved cross-country, got married to Mary, my high school sweetheart, and when we got back from our honeymoon (jobless) we came to the realization of how much debt had to be paid off. We found jobs, worked hard, paid it off, saved up and then committed ourselves to purchasing a new house. To prepare for this huge financial plunge, I started Young and Frugal as a way to hold myself accountable for living the frugal lifestyle my wife and I had promised each other. The site grew slowly but surely to the point where I was featured in Forbes magazine for being a “savvy shopper” and haggling over most of the items I purchased. Soon the local news caught on and I was featured in a news story for the same thing.

In September of 2009 I was being interviewed by an online magazine on how to be both Young and Frugal. While providing answers to the interview, I realized that many of the questions were centered around the misconception that the only way to be Young and Frugal is if you are sitting at home with the lights off, not spending money, and not being social. I tried my best to prove this mentality wrong, as well as explain that being frugal is NOT being cheap, but at the end of the day I know the mentality of the questions still reigns.

While pondering on this dilemma I came to the realization that you can’t prove anything to anyone by just telling them, you have to show them and challenge them. And thus, the Young and Frugal challenge was born.

The Challenge:

In an effort to prove the misconception on being Young and Frugal wrong, I’m challenging selected people in some of the largest and most expensive cities in the United States to accomplish fun, social, and “out there” tasks within a constrained budget. The selected people who accept the challenge are in competition with others, and after the challenge is accomplished they are all tasked with doing a write-up. Once all the write-ups are submitted the competition begins. I will write a summary of what the challenge was, post and link to all of the write-ups, and you will vote on who did the best in accomplishing the challenge.

What Does the Winner Get?

Enough CASH to go do the challenge again.