Have you heard of the 52 week money challenge? I hope your answer is yes since this is something most people are using. It is a great money saving challenge.
However, you should not worry if it the first time you are reading about it. I will explain what it is all about and how to hack it.
We all get the urge to improve our lives more so when the beginning of the year approaches.
At this time, we feel that our lifestyle and finances need to be put in order, and we set ambitious goals all aimed at making our lives better.
However, for every set goal to be achieved, there has to be sacrifice and unending motivation.
Unfortunately, not many of us achieve our annual goals because we do not fully sacrifice and lose our motivation along the way.
You need to put up a detailed way of achieving your set goals.
For financial goals, the 52 weeks money challenge is an idea you should consider.
When you create fun in the steps you take towards achieving your goals, it makes it easier and bearable.
The 52 week savings challenge is a long term target through which you have weekly achievements.
The long term goals may seem hard to accomplish, but when you break the goal down to simpler and short term targets that you achieve often, you are motivated to remain focused towards the big goal.
Read: How to Save Money Live Better
The Basis of the 52 Week Money Challenge
In this challenge, you begin by putting aside $1 in the first week. You can save in a closed jar or some sort of container.
In the second week, you save $2, then $3 in the third week, and the same continues for the other weeks.
With time, towards the end of the challenge, you will be saving $50 weekly.
By the end of the 52 weeks, you will have saved nearly $1400.
Am sure that sounds like a great achievement, right?
Below is an example of a chart for 52 week money challenge.
You can find several 52 week money challenge templates online for free.
Starting off the Challenge
The first place to commence is to get a place where you will keep your savings. A piggy bank might be simple to find and is an okay means of saving.
However, consider opening a savings account where you are able to transfer your weekly savings.
A savings account is better than a piggy bank as you will not be tempted to access and spend the savings for any reason. An account could also boost your savings by earning interest.
You can make the saving easy by also linking your bank to automatically transfer the savings, maybe through mobile or an app.
It is not too late for you if you wish to take up the 52 week money challenge. You can begin by depositing the installments for the weeks that you had not commenced.
Even better, you can simply make today the first week for your challenge. Your first week for this challenge does not have to be the first week of January.
You can start at any time of the year.
Advantages of Indulging in the 52 Week Money Saving Challenge
People save for different reasons. Maybe your saving goal is to buy your dream house, buy a good car, go on vacation, and so on.
When saving, you need to keep on toes to ensure you do not lose momentum or motivation. With this challenge, you gain momentum every week as you move towards your financial goal.
The gaining momentum aspect of the 52 week money challenge has been labeled a challenge by some.
There are those who say it is easier to have a clear target figure which you intend to save and then split the figure with the number of weeks or months to save.
For a savings goal of $1,378, for instance, and with 52 weeks to save, you would need to save about $115 every month.
This may be an option for some, but it is easier to build on the savings amount every week; each month, as pulling out more than $100 every month from your pay may be difficult.
Also Read: How To Make More Money
Pitfalls of the 52 Week Savings Challenge
It is simpler to save $1 weekly with the motivation of your ultimate goal. There are various 52 week money challenge charts you can download to help you keep track of your savings progress.
Below are some difficulties that you might experience with this challenge.
Saving all the Way to the End
The saving challenge starts off easy, but it gets tricky and challenging towards the end. This is because you are expected to save $50 or more each week.
When the last weeks of your challenge happen to be towards the end of the year or during summer, the harder it is as you have a lot of expenditure.
It is advised that you consider taking the 52 week money saving challenge in reserve; that is, you start saving the large amount of $50 and more in the first weeks and progress downwards as compared to staring low and progressing higher.
Sounds better, right?
Remembering to Save Every Week
The early weeks of the saving challenge where you save as little as $1 or $3 may have you easily forget to save that little amount as expected.
It is important that you use all means, including tracking charts to ensure you always remember to save your expected amounts.
Adjusting the 52 Week Money Challenge to Suit Your Needs
Take the whole saving process as a personal challenge, as this will keep you on your toes.
Make it your personal purpose to achieve the savings goal all the way to the end.
Saving as you increase the amount each month is not easy. Therefore, let your goals and purpose for saving motivate you to keep going.
At the beginning of the challenge, you will most likely feel so motivated and ready to overcome all obstacles.
It is therefore advisable to consider the reverse way of taking up the 52 week saving challenge so that as it gets tough along the way, you are saving less but still on track.
Throughout the year, you may get some cash bonuses or birthday vouchers and money gifts that you can consider putting into the saving challenge so that it covers for the times it is hard to meet up the expected amount.
Another option would be calculating the same amount you can save each week to meet the 52 week target amount. When the expected amount at the end should be $1,378, then you will be expected to save $26.50 every week in the challenge.
Maybe your goals may require much more savings than the basic $1,378. You can still save more by starting higher, maybe by saving $2 in the first week other than $1. You could increase the amount to $4 in the second week or more, depending on your ultimate goal.
Achieving the 52 Week Saving Challenge
There are numerous 52 week money challenge charts online.
You can succeed by having a printed chart where you tick each week and the amount saved to ensure you do not skip any week.
You can also write the next week’s amount on the chart so that you work towards attaining it without failure.
When you know you have a bonus, cash reward or interest you are to receive in the next week, you could save more so that the next one or two weeks become more flexible for you.
Concluding Views
I hope by now you are not asking questions like “what is the 52 week money challenge,” or “how much do you save doing the 52 week challenge.”
The decision to save is a good step towards financial growth.
Saving is, however, not easy, and many people fall off along the way.
The 52 week money challenge is a good way to ensure you are able to save and achieve the desired financial objectives.