Numbers are not my friend. In fact, if truth were told (and I guess it is) I am afraid of numbers. It doesn’t seem to matter in what form they approach me: mathematics, addresses, telephone numbers, money, its meaning has always eluded me. I’m not joking. I am numerically challenged. The idea of a scale from 1 to 10 has no real meaning to me. And, please, don’t even get me started on percentages. Yes, I know how to cut a pie into pieces and that half of the pie is 50%… And, that’s the extent of it. Fifty percent is half… but what is half? That doesn’t mean anything to me. Let me try and explain a little better.
I go to physical therapy 3 times a week and each time I am there they want me to document my pain or other various symptoms using that oh-so-familiar numbering scale which has haunted me my entire life. I mean the problem is that those numbers are just words to me, they have no actual value or correlation to my life experience, those words or “numbers” have zero relevance to anything other than, well, numbers. “Ten” is just a word that I know means “a lot more than “one”. So it gets really confusing and difficult when I am then later asked percentage of improvement or impairment questions. Percentage? Huh? Wha?? I have no idea what you are asking me. You might as well be speaking Orkan to me as I understand that equally as well, maybe even better than I do numbers and mathematical concepts. I mean, at least with Orkan I know that Na-nu Na-nu is a greeting and Shazbat is an expletive!
Anyway, I kinda let my number-numbness take over there a bit. My point is: just as understanding eludes me so too does the money for which it may represent. So, beginning today, January 1, 2015, I am going to at least try to keep ahold of whatever I can. I’ve always been good about picking up the pennies off the ground and putting them in the jar, it’s just that by the end of the month I’ve had to empty the jar to get gas or milk or dog food… So it is time to begin an official savings account… the kind in a bank where I cannot access it easily (in other words, a bank I don’t use for anything else and is not conveniently located).
First I will open a box of envelopes (or two) and numbereach of them from 1 to 52. There will be one envelope for each week of my challenge. Week one I will take envelope one to my newly acquired savings bank and deposit the contents of that envelope… one dollar. On week two I will take envelope twoand deposit its contents of two dollars into my savings account where a lone dollar bill sits — Hey look, I’m adding! I will follow my chart and the envelopes will help me keep track of where I am at so I don’t lose track because, believe me, it’s numbers and I’d lose all kinds of track.
And if I keep doing this then by the end of 52 weeks I’ll have saved $1,378 (I only know that because I cheated and looked at the chart above). I always get a tax refund in April and so I thought I might fill the bigger numbered envelopes at that time but wasn’t sure if I’d still be doing the 52-week challenge in April (3 months from now). Sadly I looked it up and discovered that, yep, I’m still as numerically challenged as I was when I began this post. It turns out that there are52.1775 weeks in a year. You’re laughing, but that’s okay, I am embarrassed to see how bad off I really am. It’s good to know the truth, once you face it, you can work on fixing it.
And please don’t complicate matters by asking me about those digits after the decimal point, please don’t laugh or poke fun at me, but I have to pretend they don’t exist. Let’s just say there are 52 weeks in a year and leave it at that. Maybe I’ll throw a little pocket change in with my designated amounts, if the change happens to be in my pocket and I happen to think of it in the moment I’m at that bank on that day with my sealed and saved envelope in hand.
This is my 52-Week Money Challenge and it is my New Year’s Resolution to succeed…. if only just this once at saving a little money.
And I challenge you to do the same, especially if you have kids. Let them help you prepare the envelopes, stuff them, take them to the bank with you and let them have the free piece of candy or proffered cookie. Help them learn to save now, while they’re children and show them that it can be fun. Then at the end of the year put that savings toward something you and your children can plan and enjoy together.
FAQs
But know that this savings plan is effective, and it can help you sock away more than a thousand dollars in a year — $1,378 to be exact. You could build up even more if you put the funds in a high-yield savings account. Doing the challenge takes commitment, but it's easy to start.
How can I save $5000 with the 52-week money challenge? ›
Here are a few more ways to save $5,000 by the end of 2023:
- Save $96.16 every week.
- Save $192.31 every two weeks.
- Save $416.67 every month.
- Save $1,250 every quarter.
- Save $2,500 every six months.
There are no complicated rules to remember. Week 1, you save $1.00. Week 2 you save $2.00, and it continues through the year, adding one more dollar to each week's savings goal. By Week 52, you'll set aside $52.00, which will bring the year's total savings to $1,378!
How to save $5000 in 3 months with 100 envelopes? ›
The 100-envelope challenge is pretty straightforward: You take 100 envelopes, number each of them and then save the corresponding dollar amount in each envelope. For instance, you put $1 in “Envelope 1,” $2 in “Envelope 2,” and so on. By the end of 100 days, you'll have saved $5,050.
How much is $1 dollar a day for a year? ›
The answer to that question depends on interest rates or rates of return. With no interest involved, putting one dollar a day into a bank account (or a jar at home) will see you end up with $365 in a year. Multiply that amount by 30 years and you'll end up with $10,950.
How much money will you save with the 52 week challenge? ›
You'll end the challenge with over $1,300 saved If you successfully complete the 52-week money challenge, you'll have $1,378 set aside. You may have that earmarked for a specific financial goal —or you may choose to put it in a high-yield savings account as the start of emergency savings, if you don't already have one.
How can I save $1000 in 30 days? ›
11 Easy Ways to Save $1,000 in 30 Days
- Create a Budget. ...
- Automate Your Savings. ...
- Create a Savings Bingo Sheet. ...
- Negotiate Your Bills. ...
- Separate Wants From Needs. ...
- Plan Your Meals. ...
- Buy Generic Brands. ...
- Cancel Unnecessary Subscriptions.
Here's (roughly) the amount you'd need to save at different intervals to reach the $10,000 savings target:
- Monthly: $833.
- Bi-weekly: $385.
- Weekly: $192.
- Daily: $28.
The idea is to begin by saving a small amount of money, increasing the amount saved each week until the end of 52 weeks. One of the most popular ways is to start by saving $1 in the first week, and increasing the savings amount by $1 each subsequent week.
How to save $2000 in a year? ›
5 Ways to Save Close to $2,000 in One Year
- 1) Cut out one coffee or drink per week. Do you get coffee daily or get a drink on a frequent basis? ...
- 2) Cut out eating out once per week. ...
- 3) Use Store Apps for groceries. ...
- 4) Unused subscriptions/memberships. ...
- 5) Find local free entertainment or stay at home.
It works like this: Gather 100 envelopes and number them from 1 to 100. Each day, fill up one envelope with the amount of cash corresponding to the number on the envelope. You can fill up the envelopes in order or pick them at random. After you've filled up all the envelopes, you'll have a total savings of $5,050.
What is the 100-envelope challenge for 52 weeks? ›
The 100-envelope challenge is a way to gamify saving money. Each day for 100 days, you'll set aside a predetermined dollar amount in different envelopes. After just over 3 months, you could have more than $5,000 saved.
How to save $3000 in 12 months? ›
If you save $11-12 every weekday, for 52 weeks of the year, you get about $3,000. Now, if you also eat out a lot for dinner, eating in for dinner would save you just as much. And if you eat out on weekends, your total amount saved by cooking for yourself could reach $7,500 or more.
What is the envelope budget trick? ›
You just take the exact amount of cash you've budgeted for each category and stick it in individual envelopes. Then throughout the month, you check your envelopes to see what's left to spend—because you'll see the literal amount in cash. Right there. How easy is that?
How to save $10,000 in a year challenge? ›
6 steps to save $10,000 in a year
- Evaluate income and expenses. To make room for saving, you'll need a meticulous budget that outlines all your sources of income and all your expenditures. ...
- Make an actionable savings plan. ...
- Cut unnecessary expenses. ...
- Increase your income. ...
- Avoid new debt. ...
- Invest wisely.
How to Save $5000 in 3 Months [2024]
- Create a Budget and Plan.
- Pick up a Side Hustle.
- Sell Things Around Your Home.
- Refinance Debts.
- Cut Unnecessary Expenses.
- Reduce Living Expenses.
- Try an Envelope Savings Challenge.
- Use Cash Back Apps.
For something as short-term as this, it may be easier to set smaller, daily goals in order to make saving a part of your daily routine. In order to save $500 in 30 days, you would roughly need to save $17 per day, and this can be a combination of cutting back on spending and making extra money.
What is the $100 in 30 days challenge? ›
The goal of the Challenge is simple: save $100 in a 30-day time period through a series of gradually increasing deposits. November has 30 days so every day is a savings day. As shown in the picture below, daily savings deposits start at $1 a day for five days followed by $2, $3, and $4 each for five days.
Numbers are not my friend. In fact, if truth were told (and I guess it is) I am afraid of numbers. It doesn’t seem to matter in what form they approach me: mathematics, addresses, telephone numbers, money, its meaning has always eluded me. I’m not joking. I am numerically challenged. The idea of a scale from 1 to 10 has no real meaning to me. And, please, don’t even get me started on percentages. Yes, I know how to cut a pie into pieces and that half of the pie is 50%… And, that’s the extent of it. Fifty percent is half… but what is half? That doesn’t mean anything to me. Let me try and explain a little better.