Let’s save $1,378 this year to spend on ourselves. OMG, how good would that be?! While it doesn’t even seem possible, you can do it with the 52 week savings challenge.
Brought to you by Stockspot
You’ve probably seen something like the 52 week savings challenge around before. This one is a little different, though. See, the thing with other money challenges is that they vastly over-estimate our ability to stay focused. They ask you to save $1, then $2 the next week, $3 the week after and so on. So, each week you have to put in more of a commitment than the previous week.
Nah, that’ll never work. If you’re anything like me, you need a challenge that requires less and less of you as the year goes on. Grab us while we’re feeling motivated, then allow us to dwindle off at a steady pace. That’s my kinda 52 week savings challenge!!
Mumlyfe’s version works with your care-factor
We start saving $52 in the school holidays, when we can avoid the shops, spend time with the kids for free and not have to pay for extra-curricular activities. Then, as the year progresses, this savings challenge has our backs. Each week we put in less and less, until by Christmas next year, we’ll only be putting in spare change.
Couldn’t be simpler, right?
Big $$$ = big motivation
Best bit? You’ll save your money so much faster! You put in a couple of week’s of watching your budget and you’ve already saved over $100. It just grows from there. With the standard 52 week challenge, but the end of the first month, you’ve saved 10 bucks. Meh.
If you’re feeling flush, you can double the amount on the savings challenge each week, starting with a saving of $104. By mid-June you’ll have saved the minimum deposit of $2,000 to open an investment portfolio with Stockspot. After that, commit to adding a minimum $200 a month and you can really watch your money grow.
Find out more about investing here: Stockspot General FAQs
Track your progress
To make it even easier, we’ve created a tracker sheet. It’s quite an important part of the savings challenge because ticking off the chart week after week becomes addictive. No, really, it does. Most places attribute this habit-creating technique to comedian Jerry Seinfeld (randomly), but the “Seinfeld Strategy” has long been a productivity hack to help create good habits.
It works because, as as that legendary financial planning guru Seinfeld says, “Your only job is to not break the chain.”
It doesn’t matter if you feel motivated or not, it doesn’t matter what result you are ultimately trying to achieve, all you have to do is focus on not breaking the chain. So put your weekly money aside, tick the box, and your job is done.
It works because, as that legendary financial planning guru Seinfeld says, “Your only job is to not break the chain.”
Print and begin
So, let’s hop to it. Print out the tracker – click on the image below and a pdf will open ready for you to print. Stick your tracker up where you’ll see it every week, ready for the new year. On 1 January, make your first deposit (a jar works just fine, but eventually you might want to invest your cash), then deposit the next amount, then the next and so on every Tuesday this year.
Good luck saving towards your goal. I plan to take myself to an overnight resorty-spa-relax-me-now type thing at the end of the year to reward myself. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but never thought I’d be able to save for…
How will you treat yourself?
Money jar designed by Freepik / Coin image by Nattapol Sritongcom