8 Savings Challenges to Try in 2024 - Experian (2024)

If higher expenses put a burden on your budget in 2023, you're not alone. When money is tight, you may find yourself experiencing significant financial stress. Cutting expenses and building a budget are important ways to tackle tension surrounding money. But without a cushion of savings to rely on, it can be difficult to feel financially stable.

Whatever 2024 holds, building up your savings can help you weather potential hard times and enjoy the good. Here are eight savings challenges to try in 2024.

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1. 52-Week Saving Challenge

The 52-week money challenge works like this: Start by depositing $1 in week one, $2 in week two, $3 in week three and so on. Keep the funds you save in an interest-bearing savings account.

By week 52, you'll have amassed a full $1,378 in savings. That could be a great start to an emergency fund, or a way to cover next year's holiday shopping or a splurge without going into debt.

Here's a fun twist. If you're starting your money savings challenge in the new year, you may be sitting on some gifted funds from the holidays that you want to funnel into savings. Try a reverse 52-week money challenge: The challenge works much the same way, except you start by saving $52 in week one, $51 in week two, and decrease by one dollar per week. You'll have the same amount saved by the end of the challenge.

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2. 26-Week Saving Challenge

This is an alteration of the above 52-week challenge that may work better for you if you're paid every other week.

You'll start by saving $3 in week one, and then increasing the dollar amount you save by $3 each week. You'll save $6 in week two, $9 in week three, then $12, $15, and so on. By week 26, you'll have amassed $1,053 in savings.

The most you'll ever deposit in a week will be $75, and if you're only making a deposit on each payday, it's a fairly bite-sized goal.

3. The No-Spend Saving Challenge

The no-spend saving challenge is highly customizable, but here's the gist of it. You'll turn saving into a game by setting tight restrictions on all the spending you do, limiting yourself to only basic necessities: housing, bills and groceries. You'll cook at home, find free things to do and challenge yourself to see just how frugal you're capable of being. Then, pocket the money you save and direct it toward building long-term financial stability.

Keep in mind that it's tough to go bare bones, so consider starting small with a no-spend weekend. You can push yourself for a week, and the grittiest of no-spend savers can try for marathon no-spend months.

4. Round-Up Saving Challenge

For this challenge, implement a roundup rule. Anytime you make a purchase, round up to the nearest dollar and pocket the change. For instance, if you spend $28.57 at the store, the difference is 43 cents.

Keep a tally of your change throughout the day or week and then transfer that money over to savings, if you're using cards for payment. If you're paying in cash, stash the change away in a change jar.

5. Dollar Saving Challenge

It may not seem like $1 a day is a lot, but it gets you to $365 by the end of the year—a respectable sum that you could funnel into your emergency fund, use for holiday shopping or direct toward another long-term goal, such as saving for a down payment on a house.

To do the dollar saving challenge, set up an automatic transfer for $7 per week into your savings account. Consider completing this challenge in tandem with another challenge to bolster your successes.

6. Financial Minimalist Challenge

Have you considered that implementing minimalist practices could benefit your finances, but aren't sure if you can fully hack the minimalist lifestyle? Then try going minimalist for a week—or even a month—with a money minimalism challenge.

The key to the challenge is living simply, reducing your spending down to only buy what you need or truly love. Try to approach it from the angle of not what you can afford, but rather how little you can buy without diminishing your quality of life. That may mean cooking more at home or going to a free concert rather than paying for entertainment. It could also mean finding things you do need, such as clothing or bakeware, second hand or through a Buy Nothing group.

7. Money Mistake Jar Challenge

Money mistakes happen. But what if every time you made an impulse purchase, went off budget or otherwise made a money move you swore you wouldn't, you put a dollar in the money mistake jar?

The challenge is simple. If you promised yourself you wouldn't eat out for lunch this week, and you do, throw a dollar (or whatever amount works for you) in the jar. If, in a moment of impulse, you did some online shopping that wasn't budgeted for, throw a dollar in the jar.

Will those dollars offset the damage that going off budget can inflict on your bank account? No way. But if you're striving toward better long-term money habits, gamifying your mistakes can help you reinforce those good habits and unlearn the bad.

8. No Dining Out Challenge

How much can you save by not dining in restaurants at all? If you tend to order in or go out a lot, probably quite a bit. That's why this money challenge has very few rules—though, if you're heavily reliant on ordering in, it can be challenging.

Consider starting your challenge small with a weekend or week. During that time, don't eat out at all. Try pairing this challenge with a pantry challenge, in which you challenge yourself to eat through everything in your pantry. To maximize your odds of success, you'll need to do some heavy lifting from the start: Search for easy weeknight recipes online and stock up your fridge with the supplies you need. Consider cooking meals in advance and reheating for busy nights.

Transfer whatever money you typically spend on dining in a week into a savings account. If you're not sure how much you spend on dining out each week, consider this is a stellar opportunity to print out your bank or credit card statements and tally up your typical dining spending.

Make 2024 Your Best Financial Year Yet

Whichever challenge you try—or if you choose to combine challenges to up your savings even more—know where to stash your funds. A high-yield savings account will help you earn interest on your savings.

And on top of getting serious about spending less than you earn and pocketing the difference, consider making some other key money moves this year. If you haven't already, start a financial plan and set a retirement savings goal, then start investing a portion of all your pay toward it. Set up a budget that supports your savings and investing goals.

Lastly, start monitoring your credit through Experian to work toward strong credit. A higher score can help you save money on auto insurance or qualify for a mortgage.

Learn More About Savings Challenges

  • How to Do the 52-Week Money Challenge
    Ready to jumpstart your savings? Here’s how to complete the 52-week challenge to save over $1,000 in a year.
  • 5 Best Ways to Save Money
    There are many ways to save. Here are five of the best.
  • How to Do a No-Spend Challenge
    A no-spend challenge can help you kickstart your progress toward a saving or debt-free goal. Here’s how to create and complete your own no-spend challenge.
  • 30 Ways to Improve Your Financial Health in 30 Days
    Improve your financial health in 30 days by taking simple steps like checking your credit report, tracking spending, using bank account alerts and more.
  • 7 Tips to Boost Your Emergency Fund
    When you want to build your emergency fund faster, these seven tips can give your savings a boost.
  • How to Stay Motivated to Save Money
    Do you have big goals for your money, but find saving hard to stick with? Here are six ways to stay motivated.
8 Savings Challenges to Try in 2024 - Experian (2024)

FAQs

8 Savings Challenges to Try in 2024 - Experian? ›

The 52-week savings challenge

On a weekly basis, you save an amount that corresponds to the week of the year. Although we are already near the end of January, it will be easy for you to catch up. You'd start by putting away just $1 for the first week of 2024. Then $2 for week two, $3 for week three, and so on.

What is the money saving challenge for 2024? ›

The 52-week savings challenge

On a weekly basis, you save an amount that corresponds to the week of the year. Although we are already near the end of January, it will be easy for you to catch up. You'd start by putting away just $1 for the first week of 2024. Then $2 for week two, $3 for week three, and so on.

How much money is in the 52 envelope challenge? ›

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!

What is the $3 52-week money challenge? ›

Match each week's savings amount with the number of the week in your challenge. In other words, you'll save $1 the first week, $2 the second week, $3 the third week, and so on until you put away $52 in week 52.

What is the 52 week rule? ›

Start with the base amount you want to save each week, then the rule adds $1 every week for a year. For example, if you start with $5 on week one, you'll save $6 on week two, $7 on week three, and so on for 52 weeks. In a year's time, you would save a total of $1,568.00.

How to save $10,000 in 6 months challenge? ›

Here's how I did it & how you can do it, too.
  1. Set goals & practice visualization. ...
  2. Have an abundance mindset. ...
  3. Stop lying to yourself & making excuses. ...
  4. Cut out the excess. ...
  5. Make automatic deposits. ...
  6. Use Mint. ...
  7. Invest in long-term happiness. ...
  8. Use extra money as extra savings, not extra spending.

How to save in 2024? ›

  1. Create a balanced budget. Many financial experts advise people to allocate their budgets using the 50-30-20 method. ...
  2. Cut back on big fixed expenses. ...
  3. Spend less on your must-haves ... ...
  4. ... ...
  5. Make a plan to pay down debt. ...
  6. Save for the unexpected — and the expected. ...
  7. Increase your cash flow. ...
  8. Check in on your investments.
Jan 2, 2024

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.

What is the $5 10 15 dollar challenge? ›

The challenge is simple: Save $5 the first week, $10 the second week, $15 the third week, and so on until you reach $260 in the final week. You can start the challenge at any time, but it's easiest to start at the beginning of the year. You can save the money in a jar, envelope, or savings account.

How to save $10,000 in 100 envelopes? ›

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.

What is the $5000 challenge? ›

How can I save $5000 in 3 months with 100 envelopes? You can save over $5,000 in just over three months with the 100 envelope challenge. 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.

What is the 365 day money challenge? ›

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!

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 can I save $5000 fast? ›

Here are eight ways to save $5,000 in a year with small, manageable steps.
  1. “Chunk” Your Savings. ...
  2. Automate Your Savings. ...
  3. Save in a High-Yield Saving Account. ...
  4. Track Your Cash Flow. ...
  5. Boost Your Earnings. ...
  6. Declutter for Cash. ...
  7. Evaluate Your Subscriptions. ...
  8. Challenge Yourself.
May 3, 2024

What is the 52 week high breakout strategy? ›

The 52-Week High Breakout strategy is based on the idea that stocks making new highs are likely to continue their upward momentum. When a stock reaches its highest price in the last 52 weeks, it signals that the stock is gaining positive attention from investors and may have strong underlying fundamentals.

How to do the 50 30 20 rule weekly? ›

The idea is to divide your income into three categories, spending 50% on needs, 30% on wants, and 20% on savings.

What is the $5000 challenge in a year? ›

Key takeaways. The 100-envelope challenge can make it fun to dedicate more cash to savings. Using envelopes labeled 1 to 100, you could set aside more than $5,000 over 100 days. If you can't afford to stash that much, you could halve the amount of cash you set aside or stretch out the number of days the challenge lasts ...

How to save $5000 in 3 months challenge? ›

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.

Is it possible to save $10,000 in a year? ›

If you're looking to boost your savings — and give yourself a challenge — saving $10,000 in a year is feasible with careful planning and dedication, even if you aren't a high-income earner.

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