Are you excited about Saving Money this year?!

I have always seen friends post in January about “Money Saving Challenges” and then as the year goes on, when I ask about them, they said they got too hard to do, so I never started them.

What is a Money Saving Challenge?

Essentially, a money saving challenge trains you through a year of diligence and creative thinking, how to implement a regular savings strategy. But the typical one that circulates the most is pretty hard to do for the average person. It involves saving $1 for each week of the year, but not just $1, it’s $1 times the week of the year it is. So on the 52nd week, you have to put $52 in the money jar. That is over $200 during December. Um, that’s when I want to HAVE the savings so I can SPEND it!

So I started researching easier money saving strategies I could do with my kids. Here are my results and five really easy to implement ones for you to choose from this year!

1. The Penny Saving Challenge

This is a creative one I set up to do with my family this year! All you do is set aside a penny for each day of the year. Well, for each date of the year. So 1 penny on day 1 and 5 pennies on day 5 and then $1 (100 pennies) on day 100 and so on. The most you will ever put in the jar in one day is $3.65. And it is super easy to start mid way through the year if you ever happen to get off track. Plus, by the end of the year you will have over $670 dollars! That’s a good chunk of pennies! Download a Jar Label and Calendar to keep you on track!

2. Weekly 50¢ Savings Challenge

What if you deposited things a little differently? How about half? Deposit $.50 the first week, then $1 the next, $1.50 the following etc. Until the last week is only $26 (instead of the typical $52) and you end up with $689 at the end of the year.  Download the checklist to save $689 this year!

3. Save $702 Weekly 50¢ Savings Challenge (Focused in Summer)

This is a twist on the same Weekly Challenge except it utilizes that time during the Summer when you might have more time to save a little more money by holding a yard sale or picking up a summer gig to save more money (as a kid, I always watched neighbors pets during the summer when they went on vacation). The idea is to spread out the savings to make it a little easier during the holidays. It starts out the same way but have the large deposits during the summer months when you can have a yard sale or have extra time to get creative to earn money. Then the savings amounts go back down near the end of the year in order to not feel the crunch in November & December. Download the sheet to save $702 here.

4. The Spare Change Challenge

This one’s also a fun and easy one. Years ago a popular bank started a program called something along the lines of “Round up the Change” and essentially, every time you used your debit card, they rounded it up to the nearest whole dollar and deposited the difference in a savings account. Well, as you know, the best way to save money is to switch over to a cash budget, and since you are spending cash, that means you will have change. So, at the end of the week, empty your purse of that change and put it into your jar. Just make sure you resist the urge to dig back into the jar and use the change!

5. Clutter Buster Challenge

This one will not only help you save money, it will also help you clean up your house. A double Bonus! While this is not necessarily a “savings” challenge per se, it will definitely help with your mindset if one of your goals this new year is to de-clutter and/or keep things simple. The goal of this challenge is to get rid of unused items in your house by giving away, throwing away or selling one item every day for twelve whole months. If you stick with it, imagine how much you could make and or clear out!

Here’s what you ask yourself when deciding if you want to part with something. Just  ask yourself this: Would you go out right NOW and buy it all over again? If the answer is yes, hold on to it! If it’s a no, throw it in the sell/donate pile. Have a yard sale or list things online in order to add more money to your Savings Jar.

~Happy Year of SAVING!

What do you think? Are you going to do one of these challenges?
Do you have another challenge idea? Comment below and let us know! We’d love to hear your thoughts.