The Only Monthly Money Saving Challenge you Need for 2021 (2024)

FAQs

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.

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!

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.

Take stock of your savings At the end of 100 days, you'll have 100 envelopes containing $5,050. That's right—1 + 2 + 3 + 4 and every other number through 100 equals just over $5,000.

The benefit of the 100 Envelopes Challenge is that it starts small and encourages constant, conscious saving that builds quickly. But the trend—and the internet's obsession with buying “aesthetic” envelopes for it—may not be the most effective way to put away money, according to financial experts.

January starts with a daily savings rate of $1/day. Every subsequent month increases in $1 increments with December ending in $12/day. You can save a dollar a day for 365 days or have more savings per day and establish an even bigger savings pot at the end of the year!

Having a limited budget isn't a good enough reason not to save. With the 365-day penny challenge, you'll set aside a penny amount based on the day. For instance, day 1 – one penny, day 2 – two pennies, so on a so forth until the end of the year. At which point, you'll have almost $668 in the bank.

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. Now let's factor in an interest rate of just 1%.

The 100-envelope challenge

Take 100 envelopes and write the number 1 to 100 on them. This number is the number of pounds you'll need to add to the envelope. Each week, pick out two envelopes at random and put the amount shown on the front into them. In 50 weeks, you will have saved £5,050.

How can I save $500 in 3 months? ›

The cash envelope system, or cash stuffing, is an approach to budgeting designed to help you spend more intentionally. Envelopes used for cash stuffing contain all the money available for specific expenses each month. Cash stuffing could help you avoid credit card debt but requires a lot of physical cash on hand.

Having a set goal for how long you plan to work this 100 Envelope Challenge will help you stay motivated and focused. Knocking it out in just over three months is the traditional target, but if you need more time, take more time! Just write down your deadline and keep it where you can see it.

There are 12 weeks in a 3-month timeline, which means there are 6 bi-weeks. In order to save $5,000 in three months, you'll need to save just over $833 every two weeks with your biweekly budget. If you're paid bi-weekly, you can easily compare your bi-weekly savings goal with your paycheck.

On each envelope, write the day number and the amount you need to save for that day. For instance, on the first envelope, you would write "Day 1: $1" and on the second envelope "Day 2: $2", and so on all the way to Day 100: $100. Each day, you take the envelope for that day and put the designated amount of cash inside.