20 Money Saving Challenges To Try Before the End of the Year
Saving money is something everyone knows they should be doing, but it may be difficult to put what you know into practice. There are online challenges geared toward everything from fun to education. So why not try a money savings challenge?
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20 Money Saving Challenges To Try Before the Year Ends
Here are 20 money saving challenges that can help build your financial stability.
Setting Money Aside
The most straightforward way to add to your savings is to simply set money aside — but there are several ways to do that. One of them might just work for you.
1. Save the Change Challenge
Every time you make a purchase, put the change aside for savings. In particular, save any amount of change that’s under $5.
2. The $5 Challenge
Save every $5 bill you receive in change. You can choose to set aside other bills, instead, depending on your finances and how fast you want to build up your savings.
3. Trim 1% of Your Salary Challenge
Calculate 1% of your salary. If you earn $100,000 per year, 1% is $1,000 per year. Now figure out ways to trim your expenses and invest 1% of your salary into your savings each year.
4. The Weather Wednesday Challenge
Every Wednesday, check the temperature and transfer that amount of money to your savings. If it’s 50 degrees outside, transfer $50 to your savings account.
Timed Challenges
Having a deadline can help you keep saving in mind. These challenges are paced over different time periods.
5. The 52-Week Challenge
Start this annual savings challenge by saving $1 on your first week. Increase the amount of money you save each week by $1 — so the second week, you’ll save $2, then $3, and continue for a full year. The final week of the year, you’ll add $52 to your savings. You’ll save $1,378 per year when you stick to the 52-week challenge.
6. The 26-Week Challenge
Start by saving $3 on week one. Then, add $3 per week to your savings goal. That’s $6 in week two, $9 in week three and so on. At the end of 26 weeks, you will have saved $1,053.
7. The $20 Savings Challenge
Simply save $20 per week for a year. After 52 weeks, you will have saved $1,040.
8. The Holiday Savings Challenge
CFAL suggests The Holiday Savings Challenge. You’ll start by saving $25. Then, follow the prompts issued by CFAL and end the year with $1,200 in holiday savings cash. It might be too late for this holiday season, but you can start saving for next year!
9. The $2,022 in 2022 Challenge
Clark.com developed the $2,022 in 2022 Challenge. It comes with a tracker that tells you exactly how much money to save per week. You can start this in 2023 to save $2,023 in 2023. Just add $1 to your initial savings deposit.
A huge plus of this challenge is that the saving amounts fluctuate — if you’re having week that’s hard on your budget, you can save a little less this week and make it up next week without feeling like you’re missing your goal.
10. The $33.33 Challenge
Save $33.33 every day for a month. After 30 days, you will have saved $999.90.
11. Bowl-Grab Challenge
Write denominations of money such as $1, $5 and $10 on slips of paper and place the slips in the bowl. Grab a slip of paper out of the bowl every day, and save the amount of money on the slip for a predetermined number of days. If the challenge works well for you, it’s easy to fill the bowl back up and keep going.
12. The 365-Day Nickel Challenge
Save 5 cents on day one. Add 5 cents to your savings goal every day — that’s 10 cents on day two, 15 cents on day three and so on. After a year’s time, you will have saved $3,339.75.
Grocery Challenges
Reducing your spending money can be hard, so these challenges focus on reducing the amount you need to spend on groceries.
13. Restricted Shopping List Challenge
Restrict your shopping list so you’re only purchasing food in bulk. Moreover, if you have the ability to grow food, grow your own and save at the grocery store, further restricting your shopping list and saving you money.
However, it’s important to be realistic with this challenge and don’t buy more at a time than you can reasonably eat before it goes bad.
14. The Change Your Grocery Store Challenge
Stop shopping at high-priced grocery stores. Instead, take your shopping list to the nearest discount grocery store and apply your grocery savings to your savings account.
15. The Pantry Challenge
Instead of grocery shopping, look in your pantry and get creative to make meals out of what you already have. This helps you clear your pantry, stop wasting food and save money at the same time.
Changing Your Habits
It’s not just groceries that you can save on by changing your shopping habits.
16. No-Spend Challenge
The no-spend challenge helps you save by guiding you to only spend money on essential items. The traditional challenge lasts for 30 days, but you can adjust this time frame to make it more comfortable to accomplish.
17. The Kick a Bad Habit Challenge
Pick an expensive habit you have to kick and put the money you save into your savings account. You can save a significant amount of money when you quit smoking, drinking sugary drinks or buying coffee every day.
18. No Eating Out For a Month Challenge
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans spent about one third of their food money on eating out in 2021. That adds up fast. Save the money for a month and bolster your savings account by eating at home.
19. Switching Services Challenge
Each month, call at least one utility service provider that you’re currently not using to find out if they can offer a better deal than your current utility service provider. If so, switch your services and transfer the savings to your savings account each time you pay the bill.
If you don’t find savings with another provider — or there’s only one provider for the service in your area — you can also call your existing utility provider to see if they have any deals or discounts to offer.
Savings Games
Who says saving money has to be tedious?
20. Stackopoly Savings Game
With the Stackopoly savings game, roll the dice each day and move your player the number of spaces on the dice. Save the amount of money printed on the space you land on to make saving fun.
You can also create your own game by modifying an existing game or creating a new board if you’d rather not spend the $3 downloading Stackopoly.
Final Take
Saving money can be fun when you challenge yourself to do so. Take part in the money savings challenges above to bolster your savings account before 2022 is over — and into 2023.
FAQ
Find the answers to the most common questions about saving money below.
What are savings challenges?
Savings challenges are challenges with specific rules designed to help you save money.
What is the most challenging part of saving money?
The most challenging part of saving money is finding the money to save, especially as prices rise on essentials. That's why savings challenges typically focus on saving small amounts of money or cutting expenses.
What are three challenges people face when trying to save money?
Some of the biggest challenges people face when it comes to saving money are:
– Spending too much on housing. If you rent and you're struggling to keep up with bills, it may be worth looking into renting in a less expensive area. And a realistic budget is an important part of buying a house, no matter how tempting it is to overspend.
– Failing to create and follow a budget. Making a budget can be tedious and confusing, but it's worth it to keep track of your expenditures and figure out where you can cut back.
– Waiting to make more money before they start to save. Even if you can only save a little right now, it's important to start. You might be surprised at how fast your savings add up.
Kathy Evans contributed to the reporting for this article.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 20 Money Saving Challenges To Try Before the End of the Year
