5 Challenges To Save Money (Regardless Of Current Income)

Saving money is tough (especially in this economy), and let’s be honest… it’s not always fun either. But thankfully, there are some ways that we can make the process more manageable and entertaining for ourselves. Such as trying out some premade challenges to save money.

There are a lot of these challenges to choose from, but I’ve compiled a list of my favorites for you today. And don’t worry, I’ll be talking a bit about how to customize them to fit your household’s needs. So that you can start saving no matter what your financial situation is!

1. The “No Spend” Challenge

One of the most popular money saving challenges online at the moment is the “no spend” challenge. Which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, a challenge where you avoid spending any money that you don’t have to!

You’ll obviously still have to pay bills, buy groceries, and deal with other necessary expenses; but you’ll cut out things like streaming subscriptions, going out to eat, etc. Then you’ll immediately put the money that you’re not spending into savings!

Different people will do this challenge for varying amounts of time… A single week, a month-long period, or maybe even a “marathon” attempt to see how long you can go without spending extra money.

Regardless of the length of the challenge though, it will still come with multiple benefits. Such as…

• The ability to be able to save more during the “no spend” period.
• The knowledge of which expenses you can actually go without.
• And some practice with strict budgeting that can serve you, even after you end the challenge.

This concept is also great because it can work for anyone, regardless of how much money you currently make! Because at the end of the day, most of us will have at least a few expenses we can cut out.

2. The 52-Week or Bi-Weekly Savings Challenge

This section is technically going to feature two different challenges to save money, but they’re so similar and interchangeable that I wanted to combine them.

Let’s start with the 52-week challenge! The rule is that you start by saving just $1 in the first week of the challenge, and then increasing the amount you save by $1 for the rest of the 52 weeks! So $2 the second week, $3 the third week, and so on…

As you can see, this is a really manageable way to save. And by the end of this period, you’ll have put back $1,378!

The bi-weekly savings challenge is very similar, but may be a better option for people who get paid every other week. With this challenge, you’d start with $3 or so on the first week and then add that starting amount to every payment you make (bi-weekly of course). So $3 on week one, $6 on week three, $9 on week five, etc.

All in all, during a 52 week period you’d be making 26 payments to your savings account. And to put things in perspective, you’ll have saved $1,053 by the end of the challenge.

Variations To These Challenges

Now, there are a couple of different ways that people customize these two challenges.

• The first way is to lower or increase the amount you save, depending on how much you’re making. For people that can afford to, it might be more beneficial to up the amount you save each week (or every other week). And for people who find that the original amounts are too much to handle, it might be best to lower them.
• The second way that many people personalize these saving challenges is by reversing the schedule. So they start by saving the highest amount, and just go backwards from there. This is helpful for people who find it easier to save towards the beginning of the year, and harder towards the holidays.

3. The “Cash Only” Savings Challenge

This money saving challenge is best suited for those who struggle with impulse buying, because it revolves complete around the shopping process.

Essentially, with this challenge you want to only take cash into stores! No credit cards, no checks, you can only buy something if you have the cash for it.

This will teach you to prioritize what you really need while you’re shopping, and get you out of the habit of impulse buying if it’s something that you end up doing frequently.

You may end up being really surprised at how much your expenses decrease after starting this challenge, and of course… that excess money can go straight into savings. Plus, if you have kids and take them along for these shopping trips, the “cash only” challenge can be a great way to teach them the true value of money.

4. The “Roundup” Savings Challenge

The “roundup” savings challenge is also related to shopping, but has a completely different premise! With this challenge, you simply round each purchase to the nearest dollar and then put the difference into your savings account.

So let’s say you buy something for $5.76… You’d then put 24 cents into savings! And because this is such a small way to save, you can make this into a habit over time and keep it going. There’s no need to set a time limit, like with the other types of challenges.

But now let’s talk a bit more about the specifics of how to implement this challenge. Because it could look different for everyone.

For instance, if you pay with cash then you may need to invest in a jar to keep the extra change in until there’s enough to take to the bank. Or, if you pay with credit cards, you may need to manually keep a tally. Then send the money over to savings once you hit a certain amount.

There are even some banks that will “roundup” for you, if you choose to enable that feature. So if you’re planning on making this a long term thing, you may want to look into that!

5. The “Savings Thermometer” Challenge

Out of all the different challenges to save money out there, this one might be my favorite. And… my most used! Because I’ve been using the savings thermometer off and on for a very long time.

All you have to do is draw out a thermometer and list a target goal at the top. Then, working your way down, you list smaller and smaller amounts at regular intervals along the way. You can then put the drawing anywhere (I used to hang it on my fridge so that the whole family could see), and update it as you go.

As I’m sure you can tell, this savings challenge doesn’t necessarily have to do with actually putting back the money. It’s more of a motivational tool to keep you moving along your savings journey. Especially since it’s so visual.

Which is why… you can use this challenge at the same time as your other savings challenges if you want! That way you can “see” your progress every day.

Final Thoughts

Trying out various challenges to save money can be a great strategy to make the process more enjoyable. So I really hope that you’ve found at least one from this list that piqued your interest! And if you did, I’d love to hear which one it was in the comments.

Plus, if you’re interested in hearing more about my top tips for saving money, then you can check out this article on saving or this one on the importance of emergency funds!