deedee421's Challenge

[deedee421]

Great job on the challenge! I think it is great you are going to do it again, too. I will be doing my own version of the Money Challenge, which you can read about over on my blog.

I stay pretty caught up on your blog and I did see that you and others were going to be doing the challenge for 2014, so I'm excited about that. I'll probably be checking those for tips/ideas to get me through the next challenge year. Thanks as always for the encouragement!

[deedee421]

Week 51 deposit

I deposited $3 for Week 51 of the challenge.

[deedee421]

Week 52 deposit

I made my last deposit today! I deposited $2 for Week 52 of the challenge. I plan to post my total (with interest) after the deposit is credited to Ally Bank on December 31st, but I'm glad I made it through this first year. I plan to do the challenge again in 2014, but I haven't decided how I'm going to modify it or if I will continue to update this thread. I plan to keep reading the blogs for ideas and encouragement as I go through the next year of deposits. Whew - I made it!

[creditcardfree]

Congratulations!! Great job meeting the goal. Have you thought of doubling the amounts? I even read somewhere you could continue and go with week 53 up to week 102. That would be a challenge!

[deedee421]

Congratulations!! Great job meeting the goal. Have you thought of doubling the amounts? I even read somewhere you could continue and go with week 53 up to week 102. That would be a challenge!

Thanks creditcardfree! I'm not at the point financially (yet) to do either, but I passed your ideas along to my family as we are all deciding how to make the challenge more challenging for our households. I personally decided to do the Yahtzee style again, and I have $65 as my highest amount (my mom will be 65 in 2014) so my lowest deposit amount is $14. The total deposit amounts for 2014 if I meet the challenge will be $2054.

[creditcardfree]

Nice plan!

[scfr]

I made my last deposit today! I deposited $2 for Week 52 of the challenge. I plan to post my total (with interest) after the deposit is credited to Ally Bank on December 31st, but I'm glad I made it through this first year. I plan to do the challenge again in 2014, but I haven't decided how I'm going to modify it or if I will continue to update this thread. I plan to keep reading the blogs for ideas and encouragement as I go through the next year of deposits. Whew - I made it!

Awesome job!

[deedee421]

Thanks creditcardfree and scfr!

[deedee421]

Final balance for 2013

I just checked my Ally account and my last deposit for 2013 has posted. I made total deposits of $1378 and my savings account balance with interest is $1384.84. I will be adding to this with my 2014 challenge. I have been blessed and I'm looking forward to starting the new year!

[jeffrey]

A big congrats! Looking forward to your new challenge in 2014 as well.

[deedee421]

Thanks Jeffrey! Your blogs have definitely given me more ideas, so I'm glad you started writing on this topic.

[deedee421]

2014 Challenge - Week 1

I deposited $65 as my first deposit for the 2014 challenge. This year my highest dollar amount is $65 and the numbers run sequentially down from there to my lowest dollar amount of $14. I did it this way so that I can continue to challenge myself while also working on other financial goals. My retirement is in just as bad a shape as my emergency fund, so I plan to increase my Roth IRA contributions this year. I'll be praying for success again this year and I figured that this site will keep me accountable.

I used a $50 cashback bonus from Discover as part of my deposit, and I scheduled a $50 transfer from PayPal for monies I earned from Swagbucks and Pinecone surveys so that I'll be able to use that toward next week's deposit.

[jeffrey]

Way to start off strong.

[deedee421]

2014 Challenge - Week 2

Thanks for the encouragement Jeffrey! I was able to deposit $64 for Week 2 of the challenge, but management announced a 10% pay cut for a little while, so I'll have to adjust my budget accordingly. I used the money from my PayPal transfer to fund the majority of this deposit, and I decreased my spending on food this week, so that helped as well.

[PauletteGoddard]

What are the top new strategies you learned from doing this 52 Week Savings Challenge for 2013?