11/12/2023
Welcome to the $50 a Week Money Saving Challenge - a challenge all about saving money.
With the holidays around the corner and the costs of everything getting higher with inflation and interest rates, when has there ever been a better time to put in some effort to save money!
The aim of this year long challenge is to save (at least) $50 a week for every week of the year. If successful it will save you at least $50 x 52 = $2,600.00.
Is this a little or a lot? $50 a week is the minimum to achieve the goal, but many weeks you’ll likely save more. I'm hoping to save at least $6,000 over the course of this experiment. Why $6,000? It rounds out to a clean $500 a month and will assist me to transition into a new stage of my life (more to come on this later).
The rules of the $50 Money Saving Challenge are simple:
1. Look for a new way to save $50 every week. This will be done by figuring out what you are roughly spending monthly/weekly and subtracting from this total. This is a little extra effort but will show you actual results that you can take to the bank.
2. The $50 amount needs to be saved up within the week or that month (next 30 days). The $50 savings can be included if it is saved within the year if a simple action (minimum effort) can be done once to create the documented savings. Ex - switch to a fee-free bank account and closing your old account or cancelling an annual subscription.
3. Each week as you work toward a new way to save $50, doesn't mean you can’t repeat actions from previous weeks that worked for you. I mentioned I want to save $6,000. I'm looking to do this by repeating some of the successful money savings ideas from the past weeks.
4. Keep track of your savings. This will take effort, but you'll be very surprised to see how much certain things are actually costing you. This will let you choose with insight what you want to keep and where you want to save.
5. Know what you'll do with your savings by having an end goal. Have a reward that you are looking forward to that will keep your reason "why" clear and help you stay motivated.
6. Don’t spend too much time or effort on these saving. The idea is to make small changes that give you big results. Some savings will just not be worth your time or effort.
7. Don’t make big sacrifices to save more money. Similar to the point on effort, I’m looking to make minimal sacrifices. I’m hoping to be able to save without giving up too much. Of course, this will depend on your need for saving and again your “why” but try not to allow this challenge to interfere with your happiness or serenity. Make it enjoyable and manageable.
8. Finally, make the challenge yours. I’ve selected $50 a week based on my own income, spending, and where I live. Set a number that works for you and your circumstances – it may be more or less. Whatever that number take the time to figure out a final amount as it will make your goal clear.
Good luck on the $50 Challenge. Check back to see the ways I've saved and the running total!
Ethan.
