Saving just got a lot less boring.
Saving money is a great way to improve your financial security and increase your standard of living. But it can be really hard to lock all that money away when there are so many things you want to buy with it right now. Making a list of your goals and tracking your progress can be helpful, but it doesn't work for everyone.
That's why some people are turning to gamification to help them save, and it seems to be working. One Commonwealth study found that gamification helped customers save 25% more often than people who didn't use this strategy. If you're up for trying it, here are a few money-saving challenges you can try to complete in 2023.
1. No-Spend Challenge
The name pretty much sums up this challenge. You choose a time period you're comfortable with -- it could be a week or a month -- and during that time, you only spend money on essentials. So you'll still pay for your groceries and your mortgage, but you might skip desserts or trips to the movie theater.
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Put all the extra cash from your No-Spend Challenge into a high-yield savings account. This will help you earn a higher rate of interest on your funds, which can grow your net worth even faster.
2. 52-Week Saving Challenge
This challenge encourages you to build a savings habit by gradually saving a little more each week. During the first week of the year, you save $1. In the second week, you save $2. And the week after that, you save $3, and so on, until you reach $52 saved for the last week of the year. If you stick with this, you'll have saved $1,378 by the time we ring in 2024.
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And you can feel free to tweak this challenge if you feel it's too easy or too difficult. You could increase the amount you save by $5 intervals each week, for example, or aim to increase the amount you save every other week instead of every week.
3. "Who Can Save the Most?" Challenge
This is a great option for those who have a competitive streak or do best when they're working with someone else toward the same goal. Essentially, you compete to see which member of your household can reduce their average monthly spending the most.
Start by looking at a few of your previous month's expenses to get a baseline for what you normally spend. Then, cut discretionary purchases, use coupons, and employ whatever other tactics are necessary to cut your spending as much as possible. At the end of the month, compare your results with the rest of your household. You may even want to set up a prize for the winner.
4. Round-Up Challenge
The Round-Up Challenge involves rounding up every purchase to the nearest dollar and putting the excess change in savings. It might not seem like much, but it could still be possible to save several hundred dollars each year this way, depending on how much you normally buy.
If doing this math sounds too complicated for you, look for a budgeting app or bank account, like Chime, that will do this for you. There are even some investing apps, like Acorns, that have this round-up feature.
5. 2023 Challenge
In honor of the year 2023, make it your goal to save $2,023. This challenge doesn't have a ton of rules, so you can decide how you'll get there. Setting mini-targets along the way (i.e. saving half the total by July 1) is a great strategy for keeping yourself motivated and on track.
6. Pantry Challenge
We're all guilty of buying food that we don't get around to eating or ingredients that go bad before we can use them. This challenge encourages you to cut down on that food waste and slash your grocery bill in the process.
Do your best to use up some of the older items in your pantry before you buy new ones. There are apps out there that can help you find recipes based on the ingredients you already have if you're struggling to come up with ideas on your own. This could even help you find some new favorite dishes.
7. No Dining Out Challenge
If the Pantry Challenge sounds a little too daunting for you, opt for the No Dining Out Challenge instead. This is where you skip restaurants and takeout for a set amount of time. A month is a good starting point for a lot of people. Alternately, you could decide to limit yourself to only going out to eat a certain number of times per month during the year.
Or you could make your own
The above challenges are just suggestions of things you could try. But you know yourself best. If you want to tweak some of the rules above or create your own challenge to help yourself save, go for it. Keep refining it as the year goes on and track your progress to see how much your savings account balance has grown.
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FAQs
According to this plan, for the first week of the year, you'll set aside $1. In the second week, you'll increase your contribution to $2. The third week, you'll save $3, so on and so forth. If you increase your contribution by a dollar each week, all the way up to $52 at week 52, you'll accumulate $1,378 by the end.
How to Save $5000 in 3 months 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. After you've filled up all the envelopes, you'll have a total savings of $5,050.
What is the $3 savings challenge? ›
The plan is refreshingly easy, even for the math-challenged: set aside $3 in the first week and put it into a savings account. Then add another $3 each week after, so $6 is saved in week two, $9 in week three, and so on.
How to Save $10 000 in a year challenge? ›
7 Ways To Save $10,000 in a Year
- Break Your Goal Down Into Smaller Milestones. On its face, $10,000 might seem like a daunting savings goal. ...
- Analyze Your Budget. ...
- Cut Unnecessary Expenses. ...
- Boost Your Income. ...
- Choose Where to Put Your Savings. ...
- Automate Your Savings. ...
- Celebrate Your Progress. ...
- Use Visuals to Motivate You.
The concept is simple: Start off by saving one dollar the first week, two dollars the second week, three dollars the third week and so on. If you stick with this for a whole year, your savings will amount to $1378.00! Another option to the challenge is doing it backwards.
How to save $5000 in 3 months with 100 envelopes? ›
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.
What is a 100 envelope challenge? ›
The 100-envelope challenge is a way to gamify saving money. Each day for 100 days, you'll set aside a predetermined dollar amount in different envelopes.
Is the 100 envelope challenge worth it? ›
The benefit of the 100 Envelopes Challenge is that it starts small and encourages constant, conscious saving that builds quickly. But the trend—and the internet's obsession with buying “aesthetic” envelopes for it—may not be the most effective way to put away money, according to financial experts.
What is the envelope savings method? ›
The concept is simple: Take a few envelopes, write a specific expense category on each one — like groceries, rent or student loans — and then put the money you plan to spend on those things into the envelopes. Traditionally, people have used the envelope system on a monthly basis, using actual cash and envelopes.
What is the $5 challenge? ›
You simply save every single $5 bill you get. So, whenever you get change you will be hoarding those $5 bills like a chipmunk collecting nuts for winter. You can use a piggy bank or simply make a $5 challenge envelope to keep your cold hard cash in.
"Save $10 a week with this 52 Week Savings challenge will help you to meet all of your savings goals. Each week you tick of each amount in order to save the full 520 in the amount of weeks in a year. Saving can be hard but with this you can make it a fun challenge. Safe enough a week to add to the savings pot.
What is the $20 challenge? ›
All you have to do is save $20 each week for a year, and then you'll easily have $1,040. If you start this now and do it just until the holidays, you will have a nice chunk of change as well! And, it'll make saving money just a little more enjoyable. Yes, saving money can be fun!
What is the 25 cent challenge? ›
Get started with the challenge
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.
How much money is the 52-week challenge? ›
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. You may have that earmarked for a specific financial goal —or you may choose to put it in a high-yield savings account as the start of emergency savings, if you don't already have one.
What is the 1000 savings challenge? ›
The 30-Day Savings Challenge helps you to gradually save up the money to reach your goal of $1,000. On the first day, you are only saving $5! Yep, that's right, only $5! I know you can hit that goal! ▼ You might also like my Budget Excel Templates!
What is the weekly savings challenge? ›
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!
What is the weekly money challenge? ›
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.
What is the 1 per week saving challenge? ›
With this challenge, you save weekly rather than daily. And this amount goes up incrementally. Essentially, you save £1 for each week you are on in the year. So week one = £1 and week 52 = £52.
What is the 52 Weeks savings Challenge 2023? ›
Key takeaways
The 52-week money challenge is a year-long financial challenge that can help you save $1,378 in one year. The 52-week money challenge involves saving an incrementally-increasing amount of money each week, starting with $1 the first week and ending with $52 the last week.
