by Liss | 4 Comments This post may contain affiliate links, see Disclosure.
Adding to the savings account throughout the year can be a difficult task. Here are three fun money-saving challenges for varying budgets. The penny challenge is a daily savings plan for those on the strictest budgets. The 52-week money challenge, for saving on a weekly basis throughout the year; and finally, the monthly weather track savings challenge.
On the first day of each month, whatever the temperature is outside is the amount you add to your savings jar. Always use the high temperature of the day (for maximum savings). Now, here’s the caveat, if you live in a very cold climate area and the number is negative, you must add DOUBLE the amount of the lowest temperature of that day! For example, if it was -18°F on January first, you’d add $36 to the jar.
Last year, this savings plan netted me $919.
Jan 1st: $60
Feb 1st: $48
March 1st: $65
April 1st: $71
May 1st: $78
June 1st: $93
July 1st: $106
Aug 1st: $97
Sept 1st: $86
Oct 1st: $79
Nov 1st: $71
Dec 1st: $65
If you have the ability to save more, pick two dates, for instance the first and fifteenth.
52 Week Money Challenge
The 52 week money challenge is a weekly challenge that reduces the amount you must save by one dollar each week. On the first week you set aside fifty-two dollars, on the last week, you set aside a single dollar. Try this simple 52-week challenge and by Christmas, you’ll have $1,378 in your account!
For many families, by the end of the year, money is very tight, particularly around the holidays, so instead of starting the savings out small and ending big, we choose to start out a bit bigger and end small!
The easiest method to get started, grab a box of envelopes and number them 1 through 52.
Start out with $52. the first week and each week drop it down $1., by the time Christmas rolls around you’ll have $1,378.00
Printable 52-Week Money Challenge Saving Chart
Alternatively, if you’re like many families who literally don’t have an extra $52 to start out with, Save just $4.00 per day and put it in your envelope. That’s the cost of a single Starbucks coffee.
If you want to participate in the Challenge, but you DON’T want to handle Cash all year long, you can set your bank to do an automatic transfer of $26.50 into your savings account every single week through your online banking. You don’t have to remember to put any money in the envelope or to transfer it if you set it for automatic transfer and you’ll save the exact same amount of money!
If you put $4.00 in an Envelope every day for 1 year, you’ll have a whopping $1,460. in your envelope by next New Year’s Eve!
365 Day Penny Challenge
What if you just don’t have an extra $52 bucks to start with (or end with) each week? What if you’re literally living week to week and you don’t really have much at all?
Then Try the 365 Day Piggy Bank Penny Challenge, here’s how it works-
on Day 1: Save $0.01 Day 2 Save $0.02 Day 3: Save $.03 . . . . . . (continue every day adding 1 more penny to the amount) on day 100 you’d save $1.00 on day 101: you’d add $1.01 on day 360 you’d add $3.60 on day 361 you’d add $3.61 365 you’d add $3.65 to the piggy bank.
Literally every single day, you just increase the amount saved by one more penny. By the end of the year, you’ll have saved $667.95 just by saving an additional penny per day!
Set it & Forget it (& an Option for Canadians!!)
If you want to participate in the Challenge, but you DON’T want to handle Cash all year long, you can set your bank to do an automatic transfer of $12.85 into your savings account every single week through your online banking. You don’t have to remember to put which day you’re on or how much money to put in the jar or to transfer it if you set it for automatic transfer and you’ll save the exact same amount of money!
This is perfect for our Canadian friends who no longer have pennies available to save!
Have you taken a Money Saving Challenge Before? How did you fare?
The 100-envelope challenge is pretty straightforward: You take 100 envelopes, number each of them and then save the corresponding dollar amount in each envelope. For instance, you put $1 in “Envelope 1,” $2 in “Envelope 2,” and so on. By the end of 100 days, you'll have saved $5,050.
The premise of the Penny Challenge is simple: You start by saving one penny on day one, two pennies on day two, three pennies on day three, and so on. Each day, you increase the number of pennies you save by one until day 365, where you will save $3.65. By the end of the year, you'll have saved a total of $667.95!
For example, if it is 72 degrees outside one day, you will put 72 cents into a piggy bank or a money jar; if it is 88 degrees the next day, you'll put in 88 cents.
It works like this: Gather 100 envelopes and number them from 1 to 100. Each day, fill up one envelope with the amount of cash corresponding to the number on the envelope. You can fill up the envelopes in order or pick them at random. After you've filled up all the envelopes, you'll have a total savings of $5,050.
This doubling pattern continues for 30 days. By the end of the 30th day, we have $5,368,709.12! This means that in just 30 days, our initial investment of one penny has turned into more than a million dollars.
If you took a single penny and doubled it everyday, by day 30, you would have $5,368,709.12. However, it's important to note that it's all about the power of doubling - if you asked the same question, but changed the doubling time to just 27 days, you would only have $671,088.64.
Ultimately, choosing the penny doubling daily leads to more than five times the million-dollar alternative. Many consider this a lesson of the power of investing and long-term monetary growth, showing just what could happen if you commit to regular investing so that your money is working for you.
There are no complicated rules to remember. Week 1, you save $1.00. Week 2 you save $2.00, and it continues through the year, adding one more dollar to each week's savings goal. By Week 52, you'll set aside $52.00, which will bring the year's total savings to $1,378!
The 52-week money challenge not only allows you to save a substantial amount of money by the end of the year, but also offers a number of other benefits: You start with a small, manageable amount, making it less intimidating for beginners. Helps you identify your spending habits as you find ways to save each week.
Getting started is simple: During your first week, you save $1. The next week, stash away $2. Increase the amount saved by $1 each week for 52 weeks — a full year.
This model suggests allocating 50% of your income to essential expenses, 15% to retirement savings and 5% to an emergency fund. This plan allows you to meet your immediate needs and plan for the future before you spend on anything else.
To accept the $1,000-savings-in-30-days challenge, you'll need to save $250 a week—just over $35 per day. You can funnel the funds into a high yield savings account for safekeeping. Then, set up an automatic savings plan of $250 on a designated day of the week.
After you put the proper amount of money in the envelope, seal it up and place it somewhere safe. 4. Take stock of your savings At the end of 100 days, you'll have 100 envelopes containing $5,050. That's right—1 + 2 + 3 + 4 and every other number through 100 equals just over $5,000.
There are 12 weeks in a 3-month timeline, which means there are 6 bi-weeks. In order to save $5,000 in three months, you'll need to save just over $833 every two weeks with your biweekly budget. If you're paid bi-weekly, you can easily compare your bi-weekly savings goal with your paycheck.
Breaking down the total amount into smaller chunks can transform an overwhelming goal into an achievable plan: Monthly: Save approximately $1,667 each month. Weekly: This breaks down to about $417 per week.
On each envelope, write the day number and the amount you need to save for that day. For instance, on the first envelope, you would write "Day 1: $1" and on the second envelope "Day 2: $2", and so on all the way to Day 100: $100. Each day, you take the envelope for that day and put the designated amount of cash inside.
Introduction: My name is Greg Kuvalis, I am a witty, spotless, beautiful, charming, delightful, thankful, beautiful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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