Ready to start building your savings? If the answer is yes, then it’s time to put your money where your mouth is. We’ve scoured the internet looking for the best money-saving challenges and narrowed it down to seven. One of which can help you save up to $10,000 in a year. So put your game face on and let’s get started!
$5 bill challenge
With this challenge, the concept is simple. Every time you come across a $5 bill, you save it. Store your fives in a jar and don’t touch it until the end of the year. You’ll be amazed by how much you’re able to save with minimal effort. Depending on your financial situation, you may want to experiment using bigger or smaller bills. Whatever you decide, just be consistent.
30-day quarter challenge
Save over $100 this month just by holding on to your quarters. The day of the month determines the number of coins you’ll need to add to your stash. You’ll start out saving 25 cents the first day and work your way up to $7.50 on day 30. Once you see how easy it is, we’re sure you’ll want to repeat the cycle for the rest of the year.
365-day penny challenge
Having a limited budget isn’t a good enough reason not to save. With the 365-day penny challenge, you’ll set aside a penny amount based on the day. For instance, day 1 – one penny, day 2 – two pennies, so on a so forth until the end of the year. At which point, you’ll have almost $668 in the bank.
Want to build your savings fast? Consider a 12-week challenge. Each week, you’ll save between $60-$100 as depicted in the chart. If you stick with it, you can have $1,000 in your account in just 3 short months.
52-week challenge
This is one of the most popular money-saving challenges on the internet. How it works is, week 1 you’ll save $1, week 2 you’ll save $2 and you’ll continue the pattern until you save $52 in week 52. Some people find it too difficult to save during the holidays so they prefer to jump around. Choose one of the weeks from the chart, set aside that amount and cross it off the list. Continue the process until you cover all the weeks. No matter which approach you take, you’ll still wind up with $1,378 a year from now.
$5,000 bi-weekly savings challenge
Aiming to save $1,000 is a great way to start building your emergency fund but for most people it’s not enough. Everyone needs to have at least 3-6 months’ worth of living expenses in the bank. The more money you have in your account, the less likely you are to reach for your credit card when issues arise. If you’re ready to step up your savings, give the $5,000 bi-weekly savings challenge a try. Every time you get paid, you’ll save the amount suggested in the chart.
$10,000 challenge
Dream of buying a house soon? If so, the $10,000 challenge can help you save up for your down payment. Every two weeks, you’ll set aside the recommended amount which ranges from $275-$575. Saving that kind of cash sounds difficult but it’s totally do-able. Remember, the average tax refund was $3,252 in 2022. If you put your entire refund in the bank, you’ll be more than a quarter of the way towards your goal. Some may call it cheating but do what you have to do to hit your target.
You do that by breaking it down into smaller chunks. Instead of thinking about saving $10,000 in a year, try focusing on saving $27.40 per day – what's also known as the “27.40 rule” because $27.40 multiplied by 365 equals $10,001.
The 52-Week Savings Challenge helps you to gradually save up the money to reach your goal of $10,000. This $10,000 Savings Challenge Printable can serve you for so many purposes, such as paying off debt, setting it aside for a house down-payment, taking a vacation, increasing your emergency fund and much more.
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!
Start with the base amount you want to save each week, then the rule adds $1 every week for a year. For example, if you start with $5 on week one, you'll save $6 on week two, $7 on week three, and so on for 52 weeks. In a year's time, you would save a total of $1,568.00.
Possibly one of the most famous money challenges, the 365 day challenge involves saving a certain amount each day. You'll typically start on the 1st of January and complete the challenge at the end of December. But don't use starting late as an excuse — you can begin any time you like.
Kids start small and gradually deposit a little more into a kids savings account every week for 52 weeks — a full year. For example, during week one your child puts 25 cents into savings.On the second week, 50 cents is added.On the third week 75 cents gets deposited.By year's end, your child will have saved $344.50.
You can save over $5,000 in just over three months with the 100 envelope challenge. 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.
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!
Check out our guide on how to budget to start getting a handle on your spending and saving. You'll end the challenge with over $1,300 saved If you successfully complete the 52-week money challenge, you'll have $1,378 set aside.
The 100-Days Saving Challenge Printable is easy to use. There's a total of 100 shapes and each one of them represents one day of the 100. You don't have to go in order, choose any amount and save it for a particular day. Once you have that amount saved, colour it in and see your progress grow!
Match each week's savings amount with the number of the week in your challenge. In other words, you'll save $1 the first week, $2 the second week, $3 the third week, and so on until you put away $52 in week 52.
To reach $10,000 in one year, you'll need to save $833.33 each month. To break it down even further, you'll need to save $192.31 each week or $27.40 every day. These smaller chunks are much more realistic and simple to comprehend, making it easier to track your progress.
The 52-week money challenge works like this: Start by depositing $1 in week one, $2 in week two, $3 in week three and so on. Keep the funds you save in an interest-bearing savings account. By week 52, you'll have amassed a full $1,378 in savings.
The 50-30-20 rule recommends putting 50% of your money toward needs, 30% toward wants, and 20% toward savings. The savings category also includes money you will need to realize your future goals.
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.
You can follow the $20 saving challenge if you are comfortable saving $20 every week for the entire year. You start by saving $20 in the first week, another $20 in the second week, and so on.
Setting realistic savings goals is essential to ensure that you don't set yourself up for failure. One way to do this is by breaking down your target amount into smaller milestones. For example, if you aim to save $10,000 in three months, you can divide it into monthly targets of $3,333.
Breaking down the amount you need to save in shorter intervals can help you make concrete changes to your monthly budget and make the end goal more tangible. If you wanted to save $1,000 in three months, for example, you'd need to save roughly $84 per week.
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Introduction: My name is Duncan Muller, I am a enchanting, good, gentle, modern, tasty, nice, elegant person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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