It’s always been expensive to live, but with inflation on the rise, even your weekly groceries might be running your wallet dry. And that’s not even including all of the frivolous daily purchases you may be prone to give into. This can make spending money on the things you want–like luxury items, vacations, or even gifts for loved ones–increasingly difficult, especially if you’ve never been good at saving money. Luckily, with a little bit of motivation, you may be able to kick your poor spending habits and build a healthy savings account for the things that matter.
To help you out, we put together a list of some of the best money saving challenges to try out this year. Your wallet will thank you!
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20 Money Saving Challenges
Without further ado, here are 20 money-saving challenges to help you save up for those big purchases.
1. No eating out for a month challenge
Eating out can be a great way to get out of the house, try new foods, and connect with friends… but unfortunately, doing it too often can be terrible for your wallet. If you frequently have meals at restaurants, a great way to save money is to challenge yourself to see how long you can go without eating out. You may be surprised how much you save by eating at home!
2. 33.33 Challenge
If you have a good amount of disposable income but can’t stop spending your money on unnecessary purchases, you may benefit from the 33.33 challenge. This challenge will allow you to save $1,000 in 30 days–all it takes is putting aside $33.33 every day.
3. Nickel a day challenge
Saving can start small. Why not start by putting aside just one nickel? The nickel a day challenge will challenge you to double your savings each day for a year, one nickel at a time until the 365th day, when you’ll add $18.40 to your jar. Believe it or not, at the end of the year you’ll have amassed $3,339.75!
4. No swear money challenge
This is for everyone who swears like a sailor. Grab a jar and challenge yourself to adding a few bucks every time you let a curse word slip. In fact, this can work for any bad habit. Either you’ll rack up some cash, or you’ll end up bettering yourself–either way, it’s a win-win situation.
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5. 5-dollar bill challenge
When you receive a $5 bill, it probably only stays in your wallet for a short time before you spend it on something small and frivolous. The $5 bill challenge challenges you to save every single $5 bill you get and put them away in a stash. Over time, you can rack up some serious cash by the end of the year!
6. Penny saving Challenge
It’s time to understand the value of pennies! How many of them do you completely disregard, and how many end up somewhere between your couch cushions?! With the penny saving challenge, you’ll save literally every penny so that not a single one goes to waste.
7. 52-week money challenge
The 52-week money challenge can help you save $1,378 in just–you guessed it–52 weeks. Here’s how it works: every week, you’ll put aside a sum of money corresponding to the number of weeks you’ve been doing the challenge. On week 1, you’ll put away one dollar, on week 2 you’ll put two dollars, and so on, until week 52, when you throw $52 into your savings to complete a total of $1,378.
8. Cash only for a month challenge
It can be hard to resist buying things when you can rely on credit. That’s where the cash only challenge comes in. For a month, challenge yourself to only pay with cash–that way, you’re really only buying things you can absolutely afford.
9. 26-week challenge
This challenge is perfect for those of us who get paid biweekly. With every paycheck, you’ll save a little more money, starting with $3 and adding your savings up in increments of 3 every two weeks–$3 on week one, $6 on week three, $9 on week five, and so on. At the end of the year, you’ll have saved a total of $1,053!
10. 1 dollar bill challenge
Similar to the 5 dollar bill challenge and the penny saving challenge, the 1 dollar bill challenge simply requires you to save every dollar bill you acquire over a year. You can put them in an envelope, a jar, or anywhere else you prefer to keep your savings. You may be shocked at how much you rack up!
11. Holiday gift exchange challenge
The holiday season can be stressful for so many reasons, including the fact that gifts can cost a ton of money. The holiday gift exchange challenge can help with that. Instead of relying on your December funds alone, you can save for holiday gifts throughout the day by adding a small portion of money to your savings each month until you’ve saved up enough to cover your holiday spending budget. Looking at how much you’ve spent on gifts in the past can help you come up with an estimated spending goal.
12. Savings fever challenge
This fun, creative challenge is perfect for anyone who loves crafts. You can put your creativity to work by creating a cardboard thermometer. Instead of temperatures, each line will mark a savings goal–all the way up to $3,000. Color in your progress as you go!
13. No spend challenge
This one is pretty straightforward: If you really want to put your spending skills to test, why not quit cold turkey? The no spend challenge involves putting an end to all unnecessary purchases. But if that goal sounds too lofty, you can limit it to certain categories, like food from restaurants, alcohol, clothes, or anything else that sucks up a lot of your money.
14. Weather Wednesday challenge
The weather Wednesday challenge is a bit kooky, but it can definitely save you some money! All you have to do is check the weather every Wednesday for the highest temperature and put that amount of money into your savings account. Of course, you’ll be saving a lot more money in the summer…
15. Keep the change challenge
Where does all your change go when you pay with cash? If you’re used to having loose dollars or five dollar bills, or even quarters lying around, the keep the change challenge is a great option. All you have to do is put all the loose change you find in one place until it adds up to a significant amount–and that might be quicker than you think!
16. Money throwdown
Sometimes you need a little bit of competition to keep you motivated. That’s where the money throwdown challenge can help you out. For this challenge, you’ll need a partner. You can see who can reach a certain amount of savings (like $1,000) fastest, or see who can save the most money within a certain amount of time.
17. Roll the dice challenge
Leave things to chance with the roll the dice challenge. For this challenge, you’ll roll a dice every day for a year to determine how much money you have to put into savings that day. By the end of the year, you’ll have saved anywhere from $365 to $2,190.
18. Bowl grab challenge
This is another challenge that leaves your daily savings up to chance. Each month, write dollar amounts on 30 or 31 scraps of paper. Put all of the scraps into a bowl, and choose one at random each day. Whatever amount you get is the amount of money you should put into savings!
19. 1% Challenge
It’s time for a challenge that can help give your 401(k) a boost. For the 1% challenge, all you have to do is increase your 401(k) contribution by 1% every 2 months. That small difference over time will add up to a significant amount of savings for your future!
20. Vacation fund challenge
Vacations can be extremely expensive, and if you’re not prepared by the time summer rolls around, you may be stuck with a staycation. However, if you plan ahead by setting aside money every week, you’ll have a solid vacation budget in place! Figure out how much you would like to spend on a trip and how much money you’ll have to save every week to reach that goal, then feed your savings account accordingly.
Conclusion
Saving money can certainly be difficult, but who doesn’t love a little bit of challenge? Whether you like some friendly competition or just want to put a small amount of money away each week, we hope you found an option that will work for you and your budget on this list. Happy saving!
