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While inflation has slowed, the increased costs of living have taken a toll on consumers’ bank accounts. Most Americans (81 percent) say they haven’t increased their emergency savings at all since the start of 2023, and about one-third saw their savings diminish since then, Bankrate’s emergency savings survey found.
The new year offers a great opportunity to reevaluate your budget and rebuild savings. For anyone trying to improve their savings in 2024, the 52-week money challenge is a simple and effective way to stay on track. And at the end of the year, you’ll have $1,378 extra dollars to bulk up your emergency savings or put toward a savings goal, such as a vacation fund or a down payment on a home.
Using the 52-week money challenge, you should deposit an increasing amount of money into your savings each week for one year.
Match each week’s savings amount with the number of the week in your challenge. In other words, you’ll save $1 the first week, $2 the second week, $3 the third week, and so on until you put away $52 in week 52.
Those numbers are guidelines, but you can get creative with the amount you save each week if you’d like to save more over the year or you don’t have enough extra cash available for the regular challenge.
If you stick to this challenge throughout the entire year, you’ll save a total of $1,378.
Week number Weekly deposit Total savings Week 1 $1 $1 Week 2 $2 $3 Week 3 $3 $6 Week 4 $4 $10 Week 5 $5 $15 Week 6 $6 $21 Week 7 $7 $28 Week 8 $8 $36 Week 9 $9 $45 Week 10 $10 $55 Week 11 $11 $66 Week 12 $12 $78 Week 13 $13 $91 Week 14 $14 $105 Week 15 $15 $120 Week 16 $16 $136 Week 17 $17 $153 Week 18 $18 $171 Week 19 $19 $190 Week 20 $20 $210 Week 21 $21 $231 Week 22 $22 $253 Week 23 $23 $276 Week 24 $24 $300 Week 25 $25 $325 Week 26 $26 $351 Week 27 $27 $378 Week 28 $28 $406 Week 29 $29 $435 Week 30 $30 $465 Week 31 $31 $496 Week 32 $32 $528 Week 33 $33 $561 Week 34 $34 $595 Week 35 $35 $630 Week 36 $36 $666 Week 37 $37 $703 Week 38 $38 $741 Week 39 $39 $780 Week 40 $40 $820 Week 41 $41 $861 Week 42 $42 $903 Week 43 $43 $946 Week 44 $44 $990 Week 45 $45 $1,035 Week 46 $46 $1,081 Week 47 $47 $1,128 Week 48 $48 $1,176 Week 49 $49 $1,225 Week 50 $50 $1,275 Week 51 $51 $1,326 Week 52 $52 $1,378The 52-week money challenge not only allows you to save a substantial amount of money by the end of the year, but also offers a number of other benefits:
It’s important to first find somewhere to store your savings that’s manageable, risk-free and has growth potential.
A simple piggy bank may work for you, but not everyone has cash on hand to deposit each week. Plus, having your savings in such an accessible place may tempt you to dip into it before the end of the challenge.
Consider opening a high-yield savings account and transferring your challenge money into it each week instead. In addition to curbing any impulse spending, a savings account can help you accumulate a bit more over the course of the year through interest earnings.
If you really want to make things easy, consider utilizing automated savings features. These features, which come with many mobile banking apps and money-saving apps, let you set up automatic transfers of a certain amount of money into your new savings account. If you never see it, you won’t have the chance to miss the cash before it goes into savings.
One way to improve your chances of sticking to the challenge for the full 52-week period is to personalize the process to suit your needs. The details don’t matter as much as actually succeeding in accumulating your savings by the year’s end.
Saving money in increasing increments over the course of a calendar year can be difficult, mostly because your spending likely increases in December. If you’re worried about your savings falling off during the holidays, try flipping your money challenge. So, instead, you put away $52 the first week, $51 the second and so on until you owe just $1 the last week of December.
Perhaps you’re anticipating a bonus sometime during the year or a cash gift for your birthday or a holiday. Use those extra sums to get a head start on the tougher weeks or catch up if you’ve fallen behind.
Instead of keeping up with changing deposits, you may want to simply save the same amount every week until you reach your year-end goal. This is helpful if you want to go the automated route, as you’ll be able to direct the same amount each week or pay cycle. If you transfer $26.50 into your savings every week, you’ll accumulate the same $1,378 as in the regular challenge.
Maybe you have more ambitious goals. Double up on the challenge by saving $2 in week one, $4 in week two and $6 for week three until you save $104 in week 52 for a total of $2,756.
There are countless versions of the challenge that you can find templates for online, but don’t be afraid to put your own spin on things. The best method is whatever helps you reach your goal by the end of the year.
Here are some tips for keeping up with the challenge throughout the year:
By adjusting the 52-week money challenge to fit your personal financial circumstances, and utilizing such tools as high-yield savings accounts and automated savings features, savers can make the challenge more manageable and increase their chances of success.
To stay motivated, set reminders, have an end goal in mind and involve others for accountability. And once the challenge is completed, you can continue the savings momentum and set new goals for the future.
— Bankrate’s René Bennett contributed to an update of this story.
Did you know that using a calendar is a money saving tool that you can use and one of the best ways to save money? I am so excited to share with you How to Save Money by Using a Calendar in your everyday life! Plus, I am sharing some awesome printables to get you started!
We all have on, in fact, you have a calendar on your phone, computer, and possibly a paper one. If you want a paper one, there is a free paper calendar in this post. The truth is you are most likely wondering how to save money using a calendar. The first thing I want you to do on your calendar is put events that are going to cost money. There are several events that will cost money: birthdays, anniversaries, medical appointments, car maintenance, mortgage payments/ rent, lights, water, ETC. In another color pen or pencil put in when you get paid. I would suggest putting what you get paid minus 20% you need to get in the mindset that you make 20% less and put that in the bank in three accounts. Long-term savings, and in case of an emergency account, and saving for something account. I place my 52 week savings challenge amount that I owe myself right on my calendar. It helps remind me to put back the things I really do not need.
Then I want you to put items on your calendar that are bills that you are unsure of like grocery shopping. I want you to try to grocery shop once a week on the same day. I want you to stay out of the grocery store until that day. If you do so, you will save money. Next, I want you to pick a day each week to look over your debt. I want you to pay then off your debt. I use my credit card all the time and on Wednesday night I pay it off. That way I am not spending more than I have.
On your calendar, I want you to list your errands, responsibilities (picking kids up), and then I want you to arrange as many errands as possible by geography and your responsibilities. This will save you time and gas that saves you money. The next thing I want you to look at is when making dinner at home will be hard for you to accomplish. These nights you have three choices 1) Order in or get a to go 2) Go somewhere 3) Have a meal you prepared ahead of time. It is obvious that choice one and three would offer the most savings since drinks and service fees are expensive. You, of course, have your water bottle or the ability to buy 24 bottles of water for around $3.00, and that is what you should do if you are doing a to go order.
Once you have determined on your calendar your responsibilities you should list out meal options for every night of the week or month. I do batch cooking once a month. This cookbook by my friend ALEA on batch cooking will help you or feel free to use my recipes on www.thesassyslowcooker.com. I promise if you take a couple of hours making your meals so you can pop them in the crockpot on busy days you will save yourself a headache and expense of wondering what is for dinner. Planning is the key to saving money. I find having a plan is half the battle. The other thing I suggest doing is using your calendar the night before to remind the family about events and to think of ways to save money. we also use our free printable grocery shopping list.
Using a calendar to save money is also easily done because you can add all the free events in your area that you find on your calendar just in case you are looking for something to do. I know our library offers a lot of activities. I also know in our area businesses offer free events for families to attend put them on the calendar.
Using a money management calendar to save money is easy. It is a tool we all have access to using. It is a way to have a plan. With a money savings plan and proper planning, you can keep your money in the bank.
Get our free printable calendar and use it to save money by making it your money management calendar.
Free Printable 2017 Calendar
Free Printable 2018 Calendar
I also highly suggest you track your spending weekly and monthly so I had printables made up to help you do just that!
I’m challenging you with a 52-week saving plan. This is a way to save $1378 in 52 weeks, you start by saving small amounts at first then it will gradually increase every week. If you want to challenge yourself more, you can do one for each child you have or do the 52 -week savings plan in reverse. Get our 52 week money challenge printable.
How do you use a calendar to save money?
Real Advice Gal Tip put all your trackers in sheet protectors and then use these markers to write on the printables. That way you have them forever! I also love these Baseball card sheets.
The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness
Money Honey: A Simple 7-Step Guide for Getting Your Financial $hit Together
How to Manage Your Money When You Don’t Have Any
Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide To Money: The Handbook of Financial Peace University
Cash Envelope System for Budgeting and Saving Money Budget Keeper
Boxclever Press Budget Book. Pretty Monthly Bill Organizer & Budget Planner
Blue Starter Envelope System: Finanical Peace University
Sign-up so you can get our free printable savings planner!
Cook, Baker, Phototaker, Fitness Mover and Shaker, Cupcake Tester, Deal Maker, Adventurous Undertaker, Do Good “Deeder”, Teacher, Mom, Wife, Patriot for Life & Giver of Good Advice – RealAdviceGal
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