What Is a 52 Week Money Challenge?
A money challenge is a specific set of goals related to your finances. In many cases, people choose money-saving challenges. However, there are also debt-reduction challenges, income-growing challenges, etc. A 52-week money challenge, as the name suggests, lasts for an entire year. Most people start it either on January 1st (the beginning of a new year) or April 15th (tying it to taxes). However, you can start at any time and plan out the 52 weeks in a row accordingly.
Since it’s a weekly challenge, the goal is to do something specific weekly for that year. For example, you might save $10 each week for 52 weeks. Then you would have $520 in savings at the end of the year. Most people who take money challenges, however, take on the extra challenge of incrementally growing their goal from week to week. So you might save $10 this week, $20 in week 2, etc. The 52 Week Mega Money Challenge is a variation on this latter approach.
What Is The 52 Week Mega Money Challenge?
In the standard example of a classic 52 week savings challenge, you would save the same amount as the week number that you’re in. So, in week one, you simply put $1 into savings. In week ten, you would put ten dollars into savings. And you do that all the way through to week 52, when you, of course put $52 into savings.
In the 52 Week Mega Money Challenge, you multiply those amounts by five. So, you start in week one by putting $5 into savings. Then in week two, you put $10 and in week ten you put $50 and so on and so forth. Take the week number of the challenge, multiply it by five, and put that into your savings account for the week.. In the last week of the challenge, you’ll deposit $260 for the week.
How Much Money Can You Save With The 52 Week Mega Money Challenge?
If you complete the challenge as planned every week for 52 weeks, then you’ll save a total of $6890. Here’s the breakdown. You can click on this image and print it to remind you of how much you should put into savings each week.
Flexible Challenge Alternative
Some people find it challenging to increase their payments in this manner every week. If you start in January, it means that by the time that you get to December, you’ll have to set aside over $1000 in savings for that month alone. That’s usually an expensive month so it can be hard to budget for that. If you’re worried about this problem, then you might want to try the “flexible challenge” alternative to the 52 Week Mega Money Challenge. You’ll still save the same amount of money but in a more flexible way, working better with your income and spending budget throughout the year.
In this version, all the amounts are listed at the bottom of the chart, and you choose which one you want to make each week. This allows you to knock off the larger amounts at anytime, and you can save the lower amounts for when finances become unexpectedly tight. This version basically takes into account that life happens and the resources you thought you would have, might not materialize each month as expected. When this happens, there is enough flexibility that you can continue the challenge even if you don’t quite reach the amount you were shooting for each week.
Should You Take The 52 Week Mega Money Challenge?
This is an excellent challenge for those who are highly motivated and currently have the income to support saving more. That being said, the amount saved isn’t nearly as important as making it through the challenge. The purpose is to get you into the habit of saving money each week, and a side benefit is that you can begin to fund your emergency savings as well.
Therefore, you would be much better off shooting for a lower amount and completing the entire challenge, than trying for a larger amount and quitting in the middle. Therefore, if you’ve never done a 52 week challenge, you might want to start with the $1 amount instead of the $5 amount. Do what’s right for you.
On the other hand, if you have the ability to do so, then why stop at $5 for the mega challenge? Why not do a $10 or $20 mega challenge? Of course, if you’re setting aside that much money in a year, then you might want to make it work for you. In other words, you might want to invest in rather than putting it into a savings account. Think about those things as you plan out your money challenge goals.
Other Money Challenges to Try
The 52 Week Money Challenge, and this particular $5 variation on it, can be a great way to save money throughout the year. However, there are many different money challenges out there. You might find that others suit you better. If you don’t like to stick with things for a whole year, then consider a challenge that only lasts one month or one quarter. If you get paid biweekly or monthly, consider a challenge that sets aside money only that often. Think about what works well for you.
Here are some examples of other money challenges to try:
- 26 Week Money Challenge. Like the 52 Week Challenge, this is an incremental savings challenge. You’ll set aside a specific amount in week one, then more in week 2, etc. In this case, you tie the amount to your income. You set aside 1% of your income in week one, 2% in week two, etc. You do this weekly for six months, at which time you’ll have saved one quarter of your annual income!
- 365 Day Quarter Challenge. This challenge lasts one year. However, you complete it daily, rather than weekly. On Day One, you deposit one quarter. On Day Two, you deposit two quarters. And so on and so forth. Now, if you’re able to do so, then by the end, you’re depositing enough that you save over $16000 in one year! However, you can make it easier on yourself by resetting the numbers monthly. You’ll still get a nice savings at the end of the year, since you’ll save over $100 per month. An easier alternative is the 365 Day Nickel Challenge.
- 52 Week Mini Money Challenge. In the 52 Week Mega Money Challenge, you start with $5 per day instead of $1 and increase from there. In the mini version, you start with just fifty cents per day and increase from there. What’s most doable for you?
Come back to what you love! Dollardig.com is the most reliable cash-back site on the web. Just sign up, click, shop, and get full cashback!
Kathryn Vercillo is a professional writer who loves to live a balanced life. She appreciates a good work-life balance. She enjoys balance in her relationships and has worked hard to learn how to balance her finances to allow for a balanced life overall. Although she’s only blonde some of the time, she’s always striving for total balance. She’s excited to share what she’s learned with you and to discover more together along the way.
Comments