If you are anything like me, there’s nothing like healthy competition to kick you into gear with your savings goals! Get started today with these fun money-saving challenges and see what I mean!
Saving money can be hard sometimes. We don’t like to save money, we want to spend it! After all, we’ve worked hard to earn it, right?
And while that is true, saving money should be a priority for you and your family. It’s a bit of a pain but so much good comes out of it! Putting aside money for your emergency fund, vacation fund, kids’ college funds, retirement, buying a new house, and whatever else you want to save money for should start to be your #1 priority budget-wise.
While we may know that truth, it’s hard to get into the savings mindset sometimes. This is exactly what prompted me to share these AMAZING money-saving challenges!
A healthy dose of competition may be exactly what you may need to help hold your hand and show you exactly how easy it can be to save a lot of money in a small period of time.
Get ready to have your socks knocked off by these amazing bloggers and their money-saving challenges! Check out their blogs for more money-saving tips and tricks.
1. 52-Week Challenge: Dime Money-Saving Challenge
I love this Money Saving Dime Challenge because it’s so simple! If you using cash envelopes (and you really should be!) this is the perfect thing to do with all your loose change. You could also create a 2 liter with each type of change and make it even more fun!
This is a favorite of mine because this is one the kids can get into too. They are never too young to learn! Here’s what the first month of saving this way would look like:
- Week one – .10 (.10¢ savings total)
- Week two – .20 (.30¢ savings total)
- Week three – .30 (.60¢ savings total)
- Week four – .40 ($1 savings total)
Related post:How I Afford to be a Stay at Home Mom
2. 52-Week savings challenge: Penny Savings Challenge
This one is a bit different than the first one, as you are saving a different amount of pennies each day in a jar. As the label below explains, this penny challenge will help you save over $650 in one year! I like this as an idea to help save for the holidays.
- Week one – .01 (.01¢ savings total)
- Week two – .02 (.03¢ savings total)
- Week three – .03 (.06¢ savings total)
- Week four – .04 (.10¢ savings total)
Related post:How to Save for the Newly Frugal
3. $5 Savings Challenge
I’ll admit that the name of this one is a teeny bit deceitful. However, if you can handle the so-called $5 challenge you can save up over $7,000 by the end of the year. The savings pattern looks like this:
- First week – $5 ($5 savings total)
- Week two – $10 ($15 savings total)
- Week three – $15 ($30 savings total)
- Week four – $20 ($50 savings total)
You can see how this one really adds up quickly!
Related Post:5 Ways to Save Money Going Out With Friends
4. 52-Week Money Challenge: $1 Money-Saving Challenge
This $1 money-saving challenge is very similar to the one above, except you are saving an extra dollar each week for a grand total of $1300+ by year’s end. This is a great way to work towards a financial goal while being mindful of your spending habits. The amount you put away will increase by a dollar each week, following a pattern like this:
- Week one – $1 ($1 savings total)
- Week two – $2 ($3 savings total)
- Week three – $3 ($6 savings total)
- Week four – $4 ($10 savings total)
5. Bi-Weekly Savings Challenge
The bi-weekly money-saving challenge is a great way to start saving money. The goal is to save just a little bit, in the beginning, to help break any bad money habit you may have (hey, it’s not just you! Remember that you’re never alone when it comes to wanting to get control of your expenses and stop living paycheck to paycheck) each week, and it’s a little more in the second week and so on. There are many different ways to save money, especially in a bi-weekly savings challenge.
Related post:Top 10 Things I Did to Pay Off Debt in 2 Years
Money Saving Challenge – Weekly Saving Challenge
Related post:Best Money Saving Apps You Need
7. 12-Month Money Saving Challenge
If you have a job where you get paid monthly (such as a teacher), it may be easier to save a larger chunk each month rather than weekly. In that case, this 12 month money-saving challenge might be perfect for you!
- Week one – $25 ($25 savings total)
- Week two – $50 ($75 savings total)
- Week three – $75 ($150 savings total)
- Week four – $100 ($250 savings total)
Related post:4 Tips for Getting Out of Debt on a Limited Budget
8. 12-Week Savings Challenge
Does the idea of taking on a savings challenge for an entire year intimidate you? Why not try a quarterly challenge instead? While this is called a “travel savings plan“, you definitely do not need to use this to save for travel. In fact, this is the perfect way to jump-start your emergency fund!
The savings amount are pretty varied on this one, so just follow the graphic below. Of course, you can switch the weeks up to make it work better for your family.
9. Save $1000 in 12 Weeks
Here’s a similar way to get together $1000 in just 12 short weeks! I like that you never have to save more than $100 in this money-saving challenge, as it makes it seem a bit less intimidating.
Related post:10 Amazing Bullet Journal Ideas to Organize Your Money
10. 6 Month Money-Saving Challenge
Here’s a way to save $500 over 6 months. This one isn’t too intimidating, especially if you break it up into weekly amounts. Again, the monthly savings amount varies, so just follow the chart below!
11. Save $10,000 Money Saving Challenge
Okay, let’s step our game up a bit. Why not shoot for saving $10,000 in a year? For some people, this may seem impossible, and if so, that’s okay…start with one of the other challenges above. However, if you can stretch your pocketbook I highly encourage you to give this a try—just think of the financial freedom and security $10,000 can bring!
12. Save $20,000 money saving challenge
This one is really going to challenge you but if you can complete this money-saving challenge it can be absolutely life-changing! This is the perfect way to save up a downpayment on a house, or start a college fund or retirement savings.
13. Try a “No Eating Out Challenge“
Money is tight for many Americans, so finding ways to save money is a top priority. One way to save money is to stop eating out. This can be a difficult challenge, but with a bit of willpower, it can be done… and it cana be worth it.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumers spent $3,459 on food away from home. The average consumer unit spent $3,459in 2018(or about $67 per week) on food away from home. Even if that seems high to you, think about how much gets spent on take-out. Could it be $50 per week? That’s $200 per month or $2,400 per year! So you can see how trying a no-spending challenge for dining out can pay off big time.
The first step is to make a list of all the places where you usually eat out. This might include restaurants, fast food places, and convenience stores. Once you have this list, try to come up with cheaper alternatives. For example, if you usually eat out at restaurants, try cooking at home instead.
If you normally get fast food, try making your own burgers or sandwiches. And if you buy snacks from convenience stores, try packing your own snacks instead. Sticking to a list when shopping for groceries is a great way to work on just focusing on necessities and not giving in to the randomness of impulse spending. Buying the ingredients to stock up your fridge with what you need to make your favorite copycat dishes is a huge money saver, too. 🙂 Your grocery bill will thank you for staying on budget.
Remember, every time you think twice about an impulse purchase, your savings account grows!
14. The 100 envelope challenge
This is a money-saving challenge that includes an element of roulette. How this works is you get envelopes, number them 1 through 100, and then every day, shuffle the stack and select an envelope. This will be the number that you need to place into the envelope for cash savings.
- Day 1: Select 5, add $5
- Day 2: Select 70, add $70
- Day 3: Select 42, add $42
- Day 4: Select 1, add $1
This can be fun, but it can also be really difficult if you get back-to-back high numbers.
How much money will you have after the 100 envelope challenge?
If you complete the whole envelope challenge, you will have $5,050 saved!
15. A straight-up No Spend Challenge
This saving challenge is very straightforward: you commit to not spending money on anything but necessities (like rent, bills, and — yes, if you’re not ready to quit any bad habit like smoking — cigarettes). This gives you a great opportunity to save money by having a pantry challenge, where you only eat out of your food in the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer.
This can be a tough challenge for some, and the longer you choose to make your own no-spend challenge, it gets even harder. But a good place to start is just a weekend, then move to 1 week, and then add more and more.
16. The Pantry Challenge
If one of the biggest expenses in your weekly spending (or you feel like your whole salary is going toward) your grocery bill, then trying out a panty money-saving challenge could be a great way to get your spending habits under control without feeling like you have to cut out everything you love.
The way that the Pantry Challenge works is that it will force you to put those grocery shopping trips on hold until you’ve used up all the food inside of your pantry, refrigerator, or freezer.
A big key to this success is to not OVER shop beforehand or when the pantry savings challenge ends.
Try out some of these recipes for ideas on what to cook at home:
- Cheap and Easy Instant Pot Recipes
- DIY Starbucks Copycat Recipes
- 45+ Crockpot Dinner Recipes
- Easy Weeknight Recipes – How to Make Dinner Fast and Easy
17. The “Spare Change” Challenge
This is a challenge that has its roots in the earliest ages of time (I assume 😉 ). But it really is as simple as it sounds: every time you have spare change, you put it away in a jar or an empty water jug. This is a very passive way to grow savings and will add up… slowly.
As of right now, the spare change challenge is also a TikTok trend (which, as far as I can tell, has nothing to do with saving money using an actual spare change challenge). But these 2 are different.
18. Weather Wednesday Saving Challenge
This is a very unique weekly savings challenge. For this money-saving challenge, you spend a whole year saving the amount of the high temperature in your area every week on Wednesday. Depending on where you live, according to this post, there are a few hang-ups to this. For example, if you live in a hot weather climate this can be a lot… all the time. But just have fun with it and do the best you can to work on your better spending habits when it comes to cutting expenses and saving more.
19. 52 Week Savings Challenge
If you are looking for a way to save some extra money, the 52-week money-saving challenge chart is a great way to do it. This challenge can help you save — if you follow this chart exactly — $1,378 over the course of a year. The best part is that the challenge is simple to follow and doesn’t require any complicated math, budgeting, or expense tracking to get started
To get started with the challenge, simply save $1 in the first week, $3 in the second week, and so on. By the end of the year, you will be saving a significant amount of money. If you find that you are struggling to save more as the weeks go on, consider increasing your savings amount by $5 or $10 per week.
The 52-week money-saving challenge chart is a great way to start saving money and can help you reach your financial goals!
20. Automatic Money Saving Challenge:
This money-saving challenge is SUPER simple… as in… you don’t have to do anything after you set this up once. Just set up an automatic transfer to your saving account for each week on payday. Every bank should have this feature available (and if yours doesn’t offer this, you should for sure find a new bank) You won’t even have to think about it after you set it up!Just set an amount to transfer every paycheck. And then you can watch your account grow and grow.
21. 8-Week Vacation Savings Plan
If you are planning to head out on vacation or just looking to put away some cash quickly, this is one of my favorite money challenges to save money fast. Best of all, if completed just as it’s spelled out here, you can save $1,000 in 8 weeks.
One great way to save money is to create a budget and stick to it. The saving money for vacation challenge chart can help you do just that. It’s broken down into monthly and weekly goals, so you can easily keep track of your progress.
22. The “Save the Difference” Challenge:
Got change from paying with cash? Budgeted $500 for groceries but only spent $450? Great! Take the extra money that’s left over in the budget and move it into savings.
Note: There are some banks who do this “automatic rounding up” to help you save pocket change. Check with your bank if this is an offering if you don’t want to use cash but would prefer to use a debit card.
23. 365 Day Penny Challenge Reverse
This chart challenge makes it easier to add money at the end, and makes you add more in the beginning. If you follow this method exactly, you will save more than $667! Soooo why is it called the “penny challenge?” Because the last week, you only need to save $0.01.
- Week 1: $25.34
- Week 2: $24.85
- Week 3: $24.36
- Week 4: $23.87
24. 26-Week Savings Challenge
This is a great money saving if you are getting paid biweekly or you could simply do this challenge in half a year (26 weeks). Each week you increase the amount you save by $3.
- Week 1: $3
- Week 2: $6
- Week 3: $9
- Week 4: $12
By the end of this challenge, the last week is 26 and you will deposit $78 that week. By the end, your total savings will be $1,053.
25. $1 Bill Save Challenge
This is a fun challenge for you to save money. And this is great if you use cash for any of your purchases or use the cash envelope method. The way this challenge works is that every time you receive a $1 bill, you save it.
26. 26 Week Money Challenge
This is anotherbiweekly money-saving challenge. If you are looking for a money challenge that you contribute to biweekly, this is another option for you to work on.
Using this challenge, in 26 weeks (or deposits if you get paid biweekly, it would be the whole year) you will have $1,404.
27. 3-Month Savings Challenge
Looking for a shorter term savings challenge? This 3 month savings plan is a great one if you’re looking to save $1000+ in 90 days. So how does this work? Every week deposit $84 to your savings account.
- Week 1: $84
- Week 2: $168
- Week 3: $252
- Week 4: $336
28. $30 Savings Challenge
Use this easy money saving challenge to save $30 per week for the whole year. This will leave you with a balance of $1,560 after the year is through.
29. The “Curb Your Vices” Savings Challenge
We all have bad habits and vices that have strained our budget. The idea is to sacrifice a vice (or start cutting back on it if you’re struggling to cut it out altogether) and put that money towards savings account.
This could be anything from cigarettes, Starbucks, wine, beer, chocolate, People magazine at grocery store checkout.
Depending on your chosen vice that you want to give up, this could range from being a few bucks per month to hundreds.
This is really another eye-opening experiment on mindful spending to help you get your spending under control. Try it out and see how much you can save.
30. 52-Week $5,000 Money Saving Challenge
Want to save $5,000 in 1 year? This is a great challenge for you to add to your routine!
31. 52- Week Money Challenge
32. $2,425 in 1 year 52-Week Money Saving Challenge
If the previous month’s challenge seems like too much, this option has a fairly lower option to contribute weekly money. The peak of the money spent is $95 in 1 week. Try it out and see if it’s a good fit for you, your family, and your savings goals!
33. Save $2,020 in 1 year with this 52-Week Savings Challenge
34. 30 Day Money-Saving Envelope Challenge
35. Holiday Heads Up Money Saving Challenge
Does Christmas savings always sneak up on you and throw your budget for a loop? Then you need to do this savings challenge!
Starting in the beginning of the new year, set aside $20 per week towards your holiday fund. This will set you up to have $960 by the end of November!
Related posts:
- 50+ Best Christmas Money Saving Tips from Top Personal Finance Pros
- 25 Crazy Amazon Hacks You Need This Christmas Season
- How to Have a Debt Free Christmas
36. $5 Bill Money Saving Challenge
You can use this simple $5 per week challenge, or you could…
37. $5 Bill Savings Challenge
… every time you get a $5 bill you add it to your savings! You can make this your own or add even more to it each week.
38. 12 Month Money Saving Challenge
Want a month-to-month money saving challenge that will be pretty easy to stick to AND will help you end the year with $1,050 in your new savings account.
39. Track Your Expenses Savings Challenge
It’s a smart way to visually see where your money is going and how to conserve more. If you haven’t tracked expenses, this is an chance to start. Challenge yourself to write a category for each item purchased from one category for an entire month. You might be surprised at how much you spend on specific things!
40. Money Saving Bingo
Who said that saving money had to be boring?! Make it a game with this chart of money saving bingo. If you complete each of the squares in the Bingo card, you will save saved $300 in 24 days! Crazy, right?!
41. Subscription Cancellation Challenge
This is one that will make your jaw drop. Go through your bank statement and credit card statements and see what subscriptions you have that you aren’t using anymore or don’t love anymore.
I use Albert for helping me track my expenses, spending, and savings. They also help you see what subscriptions you are still being charged for.
42. $10 Money Saving Challenge
43. $10 Bill Money Saving Challenge
Every time you get a $10 bill, put it aside to save all of your $10 bills for the whole year. This can be especially lucrative if you use the cash envelope method or just use cash more often than cards.
44. 26 week savings challenge
45. $0.25+ 365 Money Saving Challenge
This is a VERY ambitious saving money challenge, but it starts off so slowly and quickly ramps up from there to help you save more than $16,700 in one year. Start by increasing the amount you send to savings by $0.25 each day proving that these coins add up.
46. 10,000 in 52 Weeks Saving Money Challenge
I know that a $10000 savings challenge can seem SUPER daunting, but this will help take some of the “scary” out of any saving money challenge! This is a 52 week money challenge $10 000 weekly saving money challenge that never goes above adding more than $130 to savings in a week. That means to me that this is a much easier challenge than some others. You can customize this savings challenge by adding more or less per week, but this is showing that it’s possible to save more than $10,000 in 52 weeks.
47. Realistic Money Saving Challenge –$1,000 Biweekly Savings Challenge
Simple Money Mom is doing the Lord’s work for those of us with tight budgets! This is perfect if you get paid biweekly and are really working with a tight budget. The most you’ll ever add to savings with this plan is $60 in a week or in a pay period.
48. $1,469 Weekly Money Saving Challenge
Cash Those Checks has made saving money challenges kinda fun with this one. The way it works is that each week, you choose one box to cross off with one amount that you’ve moved into savings.
49. $500 in One Month Money Challenge
Mint Notion has a VERY ambitious saving money challenge here for how to save every day to wind up with a savings balance of $500 by the end of the month. The simple way this works is that every day you move the allotted amount of money into your savings account. Do this every day and you’ll see that it will pay off and help you to grow your savings account.
50. Save $5000 Challenge –Biweekly Savings Challenge
In Mom Managing Chaos‘ savings plan, this $5000 challenge can be completed biweekly. If you get paid every other week, this is the money savings challenge that you need.
51. $200 in 30 Days Savings Challenge
52. 3 Month $5000 Challenge
If you want to save $500 in 3 months, The Little Frugal House has you covered. This is a nice and gradual savings challenge that if you live on a tight budget, this is great. The most you will put into savings with this money challenge is $75 in 1 week. But just like with all of the money savings challenges, this is customizable for yourself and your own money.
53. 12 Week Savings Challenge to Save $1000
Living Low Key shares a SUPER simple savings challenge that will add up to more than $1,000 in just 12 weeks. Set up your bank account for moving $84 each week into savings.
54. 52 Week Money Saving $5000 Challenge
55. $1000 Money Saving Challenge
Grow your emergency fund with this monthly money saving challenge.
56. Monthly Money Saving Challenge
57. $1000 Money Saving Challenge
58. $1000 30-Day Money Saving Challenge
59. 52 Week Money Challenge
60. 12 Week Christmas Savings Plan
61. 52 Week Dice Game to Save Money Challenge
This fun save money challenge makes saving less rigid and more fun. This doesn’t give you a solid number for how much you’ll save exactly, but you WILL have a fair amount of money saved if you do this every day. You can change the amounts of each number as well based on what you and your budget can handle.
62. 52 Week Money Saving Challenge
How to Set Aside Money for a Money-Saving Challenge
Now that you’ve seen how a little can add up over time, let’s talk about how you can set the money aside to start saving. For some people, this challenge is as simple as just setting aside the money.
However, most of us will have to make a real effort to begin saving. In this case, you can tackle setting aside money in one of two ways. You can make more money by taking on a side hustle or gig. Thankfully, you can do that right from home with this list of 30 real ways to earn money from home!
Secondly, you can also start making some major lifestyle changes to get the money set aside. Here are some money-saving hacks from an extreme cheapskate as well as 10 weird ways to save money to get you started! Plus, make sure to check out this post with 5 lifestyle changes to really save money
Are you broke? If so, you need to read this article about how to save money when you’re broke as well as this one about how to save money when you can’t afford it
What kinds of money saving challenges are you in need of? Tell me in the comments and I’ll find them for you!
