Check out these money challenges to help you save money and gain better control of your finances. Start challenging yourself today!
Everybody likes a little competition in life. These money challenges provide a chance for your saver-self and spendy-self to compete. Some of these challenges provide a savings goal and a simple path on how to achieve it. Others provide financial tips and tricks on how to achieve a better understanding of your finances. I suggest trying one of them if you feel like you are in a money slump, can’t ever seem to save enough money each month, or just need some motivation to fix your financial situation.
1. The 52-Week Money Challenge
This challenge takes 52 weeks (obviously) and you will save $1,378. Each week you save the number of dollars equal to the week number. For example, during Week 1 you save $1, during week 10 you save $10, during week 37 you save $37. This challenge starts slow (everybody can save $1 in 1 week), but increases in difficulty by ending the year with saving $52 in one week! I like how this challenge makes it super easy in the beginning to keep you motivated. The best printout I’ve seen of this challenge can be found here – it’s a one page PDF from the Local Government Federal Credit Union and it lists each week number, the amount you have to save that week, and your balance. You can check off each week as you complete the challenge
2. The Food Stamp Challenge (aka The SNAP Challenge)
This challenges you to reduce your food costs to $4.40 per day (per person), which is the average amount disbursed to those on food stamps. You’ll definitely save tons of money on your grocery bill, will eliminate all restaurant spending (restaurants don’t accept food stamps), and you’ll probably have a better understanding of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and the difficulties low-income families on this program face. You can do this challenge for as long as you want – there have been many political figures that did it for a week, and some food bloggers that did it for a month.
3. No Spend Challenge
Do you feel like money is just falling out of a hole in your pocket? Are you overwhelmed by how much you end up spending each day? Try a no spend month where you avoid all unnecessary purchases (restaurants, Target hauls, shopping at the mall, etc) and only purchase essentials (like fuel for your car, groceries, your rent). Here is a great summary of starting a no-spend challenge. At the very least, it’s a good way to clean out your pantry!
4. Rockstar Finance Challenges
Each Monday there is a new challenge that will help you on your road to financial freedom. Not every challenge will save you money, but all are intended to help you achieve more control over your money and get one step closer to wealth. The forums create a space for you to share your accomplishments from the week’s challenge with others in the Rockstar Finance community.
5. 14 Day Money Finder by Rachel Cruze
This challenge only takes 2 weeks – easy! Each day, Rachel emails you a new challenge that is supposed to help you “find extra money.” Why not give it a shot? It starts super simple (day 1 is just logging into your bank account) and the last few days have some more time-consuming tasks like shopping around for insurance. I think this is a great challenge for someone who is just starting to budget, visualize their expenses, and cut down on costs. It probably won’t help you if you are already frugal to the bone.
6. Rachel Cruze’s February Money Challenge
In February 2016, Rachel Cruze developed a list of 29 money challenges. They are very easy, doable challenges. For instance, one day she has you develop a weekly meal plan, another day she has you use a coupon, and another day she has you eliminate soda. While these challenges were developed for the month of February (1 challenge per day), you can do them any month you’d like by checking out the full list of challenges here.
7. Refinery 29’s 30 Day Money Challenge
This challenge is a two-for-one. It helps you sock away money each day (totaling $465 by the end of the 30 days) and gives you mini money tasks each day to help you improve your financial outlook (like check your credit score and cancel unnecessary subscriptions). A one page printout of the plan is provided here.
8. Save your Spare Change Challenge
While this isn’t an official challenge, almost everyone’s done it at least once in their lives, and IT WORKS! Save all your spare change in a piggy bank (or mason jar…anything works!) at the end of each day. At the end of the year, take it into your bank for a machine to count, and deposit the money directly into your savings! I always love to guess how much I’ve saved before I read the receipt. Just make sure that the machine you are using to count your change isn’t charging you a fee (sometimes there is a 10% fee, which is a high price to pay to count coins).
9. The $5 Bill Challenge
Every time a $5 comes into your possession, you put it in a box (or jar or drawer). So, if you break a $20 bill and get two $5 bills, those $5 bills get saved. Who knows how much you’ll have by the end of the year!
10. No Eating Out Challenge
One of the easiest ways to save money is to stop eating out at restaurants. This challenge requires you to eliminate all visits to restaurants, takeout, and coffee trips all while staying within your grocery budget. Try it for 30 days and I bet you’ll save some money and feel a little healthier too.
Have you already tried one of these money challenges? Did it work? Of the money challenges listed above, which one do you think you’ll try next?
