Wondering what’s the 52 weeks money challenge all about
It is about believing that you have no excuse for saving money
You can save for retirement or
You can save for your dream vacation or
Most important you can save for an emergency and
Still not putting yourself into debt
There are few affiliate links, if you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you
Problem with any money saving challenge is
We tend to spend our money without any sacrifices
Because if we sacrifice this means
We fight against our good mood like
Cutting our daily drive thru coffee
I believe in the 52 weeks money challenge
It is a must mission for every household
I will lay down below all the different amounts
You can save in your money saving challenge
How much you can save in the 52 weeks money challenge
There are 5 different levels of saving money challenges
The top 3 are very durable for everyone
You can choose and save one of the amounts below
$1,378
$2,756
$3,000
$5,000
$10,000
(Image of the different plans)
Depending on your household income,
Your determination and sacrifices
You can challenge yourself to go for $5,000 or $10,000
By the way if 10,000 looks aggressive to you
It is not as you think
Because if are not donating to a religious place or a charity on a monthly basis
Then it would be feasible to go for this amount
Why? on average the sum of monthly donations for average household income
It is around $7,800 per household
If you save an extra $2,400 and you will reach the $10,000
How to complete the 52 weeks money challenge
When it comes to saving money
We have different mentality here
I personally like the decreasing method
Because it makes me feel like
I am getting a relief over time
Let me describe below each method
To see which one suits you
Equal Method
Some people are very systematic
They like to stick to a static plan that never changes
Equal method is for those
Who prefer to cut specific amount every week
It works best with money saving challenge for
Amounts like $3000 as you save $57 weekly,
With $5000 you save $96 and with 10,000 you save $192 weekly
Ascending Method
This method works perfect for $1,378 , $2,756 and $3,000
You may prefer to start low and in your mind
You set money aside to cover the increase of saving challenge
As you approach the end of the year
Descending Method
With the decreasing method
You assume a couple of things
When you get bonus on the first or second paycheck
This is a good change to use to pay several weeks on high amount
Going to the end of year for the Christmas time
You plan to go slow as it is time for exchanging gifts
Erratic Method
If you are of this mentality
Who hates any kind of obligations
You would like to keep it loose
I still recommend you to write it down
I don’t want you to keep it loose and at the same time
Writing down a plan you still be tied to a plan
What I meant is that most of us in North America are getting paid biweekly
This means we have 2 extra paychecks during the year
If you plan to start in January
I don’t think you will be erratic on when you will start
Look at the upcoming fiscal year and manage to check
How many payday checks moving during the 52 weeks
For most of us it is on Fridays
Keep in mind to pay big amount on these extra paycheck days
Also plan to pay big amount on the week you get your bonus
Don’t forget the tax season if your household get tax returns
In your case, I would say move all the money to your money saving challenge
Different plans in the 52 Weeks Money challenge
Although I am a big believer in saving money
I rather recommend to start with low level plan first
If you go with the $10,000 and you break it
You will lose confident pursuing the money saving challenge again
So take it easy if you have never done it before
52 weeks saving plan for $1,378 in ascending method
Let me tell you why $1,378
This number came with saving one dollar for week 1
Increase it by extra dollar every consecutive week
This means you save 2 dollars on week 2 followed by 3 dollars for week 3 and so on
If we do the math as shown below by week 52 you will accumulate $1,378
52 weeks saving plan for $1,378 in descending method
Same as above but I reversed the savings
This means I save more on week 1 and
I decrease the amount by 1 till the end of the year
Both ascending and descending methods in the $1,378 challenge are typical
I don’t think saving $52 in week 1 is a big deal
52 weeks saving plan for $2,756 in ascending/descending methods
I double the $1 saving money challenge
Which I think it is still durable
Again I combined both plans as they are similar to above
With Increasing you start saving $2 dollars on week one
Increase it by extra 2 dollars every consecutive week
Plan ahead especially in Halloween and December time
Usually spending is higher due to holiday season
With decrease plan you pay the highest payment first of
$104 on week 1 and decrease it as you go along
This is my favorite plan as you start high
Then every week you get a relief
52 weeks saving plan for $3,000 in ascending/descending
If you make it on $2,756 then you would be able to go for $3,000 without any challenges
I added an extra $4 to all weeks under $2,756 plan
This will come up to $2964 with a difference of $36 to reach the $3,000
Just pay an extra $3 dollars for week 4, 8, 12 till week 48
52 weeks saving plan for $5,000 in equal method
In the $5,000 I couldn’t add like $40 to every week of the previous $3,000 plan
The amount here is significantly big
It is better to approach it in a wave technique
You start with $40 for week 1 add extra $40 for the next 4 consecutive weeks
Week 1 = $40, week 2 = $80, week 3 = $120 and week 4 = $160
Then you drop back again to $40 on week 5 and repeat the cycle again till you reach $160 for week 8 and so on
By the way this will accumulate $5,200 by the end of the year
That’s why I modified the plan to keep it till week 12
52 weeks saving plan for $10,000 in erratic method
I couldn’t find a systematic way around the $10,000
The reason is if I double the $5,000 weekly payments
It will be $80, $160, $240, $320 which is very tough for any family
I found that if you get bonus for year end
Plus if you collect a decent tax return
Along with the 2 extra paychecks during the fiscal year
I managed to pay $400 around those weeks
Dropping the amount to $50 or $75 the following week
I don’t know but it is something I wouldn’t do it
But again it all depends on your household income
If you get an annual bonus as some companies pay up to $8,000
Plus if you get a good tax return on tax season
What other challenges beside the 52 weeks money challenge
Again as I said above
Although I tried to show that the $1,378 plan saving $1 on week 1
To sound like it is easy and affordable for everyone
Some people cannot save weekly of around $50 especially
When reaching the holiday time
Even if you reverse it with saving 52$ on week 1
It will not help if you are try to recover from
Extra spending during November and December
You can pursue other challenges like
104 weeks saving plan for $1,378 in ascending/descending methods
If you successfully complete the 52 weeks saving plan for $1,378
Instead of going for another 52 weeks saving plan for $2,756
You can continue on the same $1 every week for another 52 weeks
This will accumulate a total of $5,460 at the end of the second year
26 weeks biweekly saving plan for $1,378 in ascending/descending methods
According to most of the us we get paid biweekly
This means if you pay the contributions when you get paid
You have to pay 2 weeks combined
For example week 1 you pay $3
Which is 1$ for week 1 plus 2$ for week 2
Week 3 you pay 7 which is $3 for week 3 plus $4 for week 4 and so on
The no spending challenge
This is completely different challenge
You are not challenged to save money
But you are asked to stop spending
What about if you spend on your basic needs not on your wants
Perhaps you have to consider saving on basic things and
Stop spending on extra unnecessary items like
- Apply the grocery saving ideas
- Fast food and restaurants
- Expensive cell phone plans especially if you are not using your plan to its maximum
- Cable if you can survive on Netflix and online streaming
- Unnecessary subscriptions if you forgot to cancel any of them
- New clothes and shoes
- Brewing your own coffee instead of buying expensive one
- GYM membership as you can go through your training by watching YouTube video
- Extra alcohol and Juice as I cannot tell you to completely stop alcohol at least make up your mind on your alcohol consumption
- Expensive dates where you pay for baby sitters
- Car wash
- Yard maintenance and learn to do it yourself
- Scented candles and air fresheners
- Replace expensive self care items with cheap one
- Extra toys
- Buy used books from Amazon
You have to go through your credit cards and analyze your spending
The spare change challenge
Get a piggy bank and save any coins
With mobile apps trends
You can download many apps to
Round up your change into an investing account
It will get linked to your credit cards
If a cappuccino is $3.25
It will withdraw $0.75 to the app and invests it
Apps that can help you do that are
WealthSimple Invest and Save for Android and iPhone
Also Mylo round up your purchases for Android and iPhone
Steps to follow to help you in the 52 weeks saving plans
To make sure you have all the tools you need before you start the 52 weeks money challenge
- Start by opening a saving account and make sure it is the kid that gives high interest
- Download your bank app on your mobile phone to make transfer between accounts very convenient
- Set a weekly reminder on the paycheck day to complete the weekly contribution before other commitments
- Since you have no intention of touching the money you can switch any savings to guaranteed investment certificate GIC these are locked and you have to keep them to the end of its term
Finally if you like my 52 weeks saving challenge you can click on the download it link to save a copy for yourself
If you like this blog post please share it with your friend using social media to the left or bottom (mobile)
Leave a Reply