Congratulations! You made it to the new year. It has already been an amazing start for me, and I hope it has been one for you. Along with manifesting my dreams and goals, I’ve been working to engage more on social media platforms and reach my money goals. I hope to do that by engaging in a savings challenge for the new year. What do you think about that? If you’re interested, here are a few saving challenges for the new year to consider.
The 52-Week Challenge
There are many variations of the 52-week challenge. The most basic one starts with one dollar and goes up in dollar value each week. For example, week one would be one dollar. Week two would be two dollars, and so on. You will follow a chart similar to the one posted here, and at the end, you will have over $1300 saved up. If you’re looking for more of a challenge, you can up the ante by starting at a higher dollar value in week one and doubling it each week from there.
Envelope Method
I believe the envelope method was made popular by Dave Ramsey. While used by many people just trying to get out of debt, it can be the inspiration for a savings challenge. The goal of the money envelope is to have an envelope for every category of spending you have. In the envelope will be your budgeted dollar allowance in that category. Your goal is to only spend what’s in the envelope. You can challenge yourself to spend less than what’s in there. At the end of the month, when you reset, you can pocket the rest into savings.
No Spend Challenge
Another great thing you can do is the no spend challenge. It consists of picking a month, or range of months, where you don’t spend money. That is, except for your necessities like food, shelter, and other vital expenses. Outside of that, you were not going to spend money eating out, going out, or on purchases like unnecessary restaurant visits, Amazon purchases, etc. People generally do this challenge for a minimum of a month, but some try to challenge themselves even longer. How long you do it is up to you.
Here are just a few savings challenges. Which one would you choose?
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Shatel Huntley has a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Georgia State University. In her spare time, she works with special needs adults and travels the world. Her interests include traveling to off the beaten path destinations, shopping, couponing, and saving.