10 Fun Money Saving Challenges to Try This Year

Money saving challenges can inject some excitement into your financial journey while helping you achieve your goals.

money saving challenges

Key Takeaways

Money saving challenges offer a fun approach to building savings, providing structure, encouragement, and visual progress tracking.
While challenges like the 52-Week Money Challenge and No-Spend Challenge are great for building disciplined saving habits, they are less flexible and require sustained commitment.
Whether you opt for doing a savings challenge or creating a traditional savings plan, the idea is to cultivate a good habit of saving money.

Do you struggle with staying dedicated to your saving goals? Make it more fun with money saving challenges!

Money saving challenges can inject some excitement into your financial journey while helping you achieve your goals. Here we’ll share 10 fun savings challenges to try. Any of these can be done on your own, or, if you’re married, get your partner on board with you.

Savings Challenges vs. Traditional Savings Plans

When is it time to pick a fun money savings challenge over a traditional savings plan? Mostly when you feel like you need some more structure to your plan to keep on track.

A traditional savings plan means you are putting away a portion of your paycheck each month toward savings. When your savings are automated, this plan can be easy to follow. But if your paychecks aren’t consistently the same, you make cash tips, or you have a more specific situation that takes away the structure of automating your savings, it may be worth trying a savings challenge.

You might also consider a savings challenge when you have a bonus savings goal and a timeline. For example, maybe you’re saving up for a vacation at the end of the year and you already have a traditional savings plan in place to cover the logistics – airfare, lodging, tickets, etc.

But this would be a good chance to do one of these fun money-saving challenges to save some extra money for the trip. Maybe you use the money saved from a challenge for excursions or extra spending money toward activities and souvenirs.

While money saving challenges offer a dynamic and engaging approach to building savings, they're not suitable for everyone. Let's compare them with traditional savings plans:

Ultimately, whether you opt for a money saving challenge or a traditional savings plan depends on your personality, financial situation, and savings goals. Some thrive on the structured nature of challenges, while others prefer the flexibility of traditional approaches. Whichever path you choose, the most important thing is to cultivate a habit of saving!

Where to Store Your Savings

The best place to stash your savings is in a savings account. This keeps your savings out of sight and out of mind, so you’re not easily pulling from it.

Does it matter what type of savings account you use? Well, a high-yield savings account allows you to store your savings separately while also allowing it to grow. A traditional savings account works great too, but you'll earn a much smaller return on your funds at a slower rate.

10 Money Saving Challenges

52-Week Money Challenge
Reverse 52-Week Money Challenge
Biweekly Savings Challenge
No-Spend Challenge
Envelope Challenge
Round-Up Challenge
Meal Planning Challenge
Digital Detox Challenge
DIY Challenge
Sell and Save Challenge

Try these popular money saving challenges to give your savings a boost.

152-Week Money Challenge

Save a specific amount each week, starting with $1 on week one, $2 on week two, and so on, until you reach $52 on week 52.

2Reverse 52-Week Money Challenge

Flip the 52-week challenge by starting with $52 on week one, $51 on week two, and decrease by $1 each week until you save $1 on week 52.

3Biweekly Savings Challenge

Set a fixed amount to save every two weeks, such as $50, $100 or more, depending on your financial capacity.

4No-Spend Challenge

Challenge yourself to avoid unnecessary expenses for a set period, maybe a week or two, and put the money you would have spent into savings.

5Envelope Challenge

Allocate a certain amount of cash to various envelopes labeled with different spending categories, such as groceries, entertainment, etc. Once an envelope is empty, refrain from spending in that category for the rest of the month and transfer the remaining cash to savings.

6Round-Up Challenge

Round up your purchases to the nearest dollar and transfer the difference into your savings account. For example, if you spend $23.50, transfer $0.50 to savings. To easily do this, pick a time at the end of the week or month to review your bank statement and calculate those differences from each transaction.

7Meal Planning Challenge

Plan your meals for a week or a month in advance, purchase ingredients in bulk or on sale, and avoid dining out. Then put the money you saved from restaurant expenses into your savings.

8Digital Detox Challenge

Cut back on digital subscriptions, online shopping, and unnecessary app purchases for a month, and divert the saved money into savings.

9DIY Challenge

Challenge yourself to DIY common household items, such as cleaning products, personal care items, or home decor, instead of buying them. Save the money you would have spent on store-bought items.

10Sell and Save Challenge

Declutter your home and sell unused or unwanted items online or at a garage sale. Put the proceeds in your savings account.

Choose a challenge that aligns with your financial goals, lifestyle and preferences. Adjust the challenge as needed to ensure it remains motivating and achievable. Happy saving!