A How to For Money Saving Challenges for Beginners!

I enjoy saving challenges. I like that there are so many different ones to choose from also. Another plus is that there seems to be one for just about every amount of money that you want to save. Not a one challenge only type of thing. When I was looking for some information on money saving challenges, I was not able to find some answers to some of the questions I had. So I decided to write A How to For Money Saving Challenges for Beginners.

I thought it would be nice to write a post about them now since the holiday season is quickly approaching. The holidays will be here before we know it.

I thought it would be nice to write a post about them now since the holiday season is quickly approaching. The holidays will be here before we know it. Are you nervous thinking about needing to buy gifts soon? Afraid that you will not have enough cash on hand to purchase them and want to use a credit card to pay?

In this How-to Money Saving Challenges for Beginners, you will see that regardless of what you are saving for or how much you are saving; you can do so without necessarily making huge changes in your lifestyle.

I am looking forward to the upcoming holiday season. Unfortunately, it seems to go by so quickly. But what sometimes can linger on way past the season being over are the bills for items that were purchased. It is then a fresh new year and it can be very nice to start it without those bills. Doing a money saving challenge for the holidays I think is a great idea to help stave off extra bills from the holidays.

There are all kinds of different savings challenges. You can research different ones and see if there are any that interest you and that could fit into your budget. I am going to share a couple ideas in this post as well.

Why save money?

There are many different reasons why to save money. It can be different for everyone. But some include: financial freedom, less worry, emergency preparedness, for gifts, for a vacation, or a wedding. These are just some of the reasons why some people save money.

Saving money is very important yet it can be difficult to do. One thing that can come from saving money is peace of mind. Knowing that you have money set aside, can be reassuring and cause less stress. But another reason to save money is to actually help us get into the habit of saving money. The more that we save, the more it will be instilled in us to save. The art of saving money is also teaching us to continue to save money.

We may think that in order to save, it has to be a lot of money that we have to save up. Sure, if you would like to than you can. But it does not have to be a large amount. It depends on what you want to save up for that will determine the amount. If you have an extra $5 for example, consider saving it. It will add up over time as you continue to save.

What is a money savings challenge?

A money savings challenge is when you set a goal to not only save money, but to also stay motivated to save. The continued act of saving your money can be a challenge. But it can be rewarding if you stick with it.

The great thing is, is that there are many different kinds of money saving challenges. If there is one you do not like, that is okay because there are many to choose from. You can do multiple ones as well. The great thing is, it is up to you.

You can choose the amount to save, the amount of time to save it in and how you are going to save it. You can be as creative as you would like to be with it. Or it can be very simple. When deciding which challenge to choose, try to pick one that you think will best work for you. One that you would like to do. Remember that if when you pick one you change your mind, that is okay.

An example of a money savings challenge

• The Penny Challenge

This is just one of many of the different challenges that there are to do. This may not seem like a lot of money to some. But if you do it correctly for an entire year, you can save $667.95. Now that sounds like a lot of money to save with a penny challenge I think.

How this challenge works is like this. On the first day of this challenge, you will save one penny. On the second day you will save two pennies. And on and on until you get to day 365 and save $3.65 on that last day of the challenge. You do not have to only collect actual pennies for this either. The goal is to save a penny more in increment than you did the day before.

What would you do with an extra $667.95? If you don't know, that is okay. Just save it. As I mentioned before, things come up that we need to pay for. I know that an extra $667.95 can really come in handy, especially when you need it.

Step 1: What is your why?

It may seem silly to ask yourself this, but it is important. Ask yourself why you want to save money. Be honest with yourself. Is it to have money to put a down payment on for a home? Is it to have in case of an emergency? Or maybe it is something smaller like to get your nails done.

Whatever your why is, it is yours. Let it be your motivation to save your money. It can come in handy during times you may feel like not wanting to save money anymore or if you may want to spend it on something else.

Step 2: Decide how much money you need or want to save.

When getting ready to do a money savings challenge, an important step of coarse is to determine the amount of money you need or want to save. You should to be realistic in setting your goals. If you know that an amount is not going to be able to be achieved for any reason, you do not want to add extra stress for yourself.

If there is a higher amount that you would like to save for, but know that it is not possible with your current income, consider if you could maybe get a part time job to help you reach your financial goal. Another idea would be to have a garage sale or sell consignment if you feel that may help you to earn enough money to reach your goal.

An example to figuring out how much money to save

In this example we will save for Christmas.

• Write down everyone that you want to purchase a gift for.
• Next to each person's name, write the amount of money you want to spend.
• Add up all of the amounts.
• Divide this number by the number of weeks until Christmas.
• This amount will be how much you would need to save each week to afford the gifts you would like to purchase in cash.
• Determine if you feel this is achievable or not.
• If the number is too high, then go back and adjust the numbers until they are where you feel they are where you want them to be.

Step 3: How much time do you have to save for it?

The next thing to determine is how long you have before you need to have the money. If it is a long period of time, possibly spreading out the savings over months may work out best for you. If it is a shorter period of time, perhaps breaking it up week by week or bi weekly would work better. Think of all the possibilities and what you feel will work best for you.

I will refer to our example of savings for Christmas above. If you were to start saving for it in January and stretch it out over the next twelve months, you will not have to save as much each month. Whereas if you wait until June to start saving for it, your monthly savings will have to increase. Not that it could not necessarily be done. But you want to ask yourself some questions. Do you want to save larger amounts each month? Would you be able to with your current income? If not, would you need to take on another job? There are all of these different things to consider.

What may work best for one person, may not for others. Just as what one person may prefer another may not. So be sure to pick what works best for you.

Step 4: Save even if you don't know what to save for.

Even if you do not know what you may want to save for, still save. There are things that come up that we need money for. An example, needing new tires for your car. It does not have to be a vacation or another big event that you have to save for. Sometimes what can delay people from starting to save, is not knowing what exactly to save for.

Every penny adds up. What may not be a lot to one person may be a lot to another. And that is okay. Everyone's goals are different.

Step 5: Write down your vision.

This may seem silly. But writing down our goals can help to propel us towards reaching them. When it may be hard to stay motivated, looking at our goals and why we are doing them, can really help us stay focused on them. You can put it on something as simple as a sticky note and putting it in a place you see often for a reminder and for motivation.

I think that sometimes it can be easy to overlook some of the simple things that can help us. Sometimes thinking that it has to be the big things that will remind us most. As those can help us too, don't underestimate the small things such as this one as well.

Step 6: Where to keep your money.

When you see that you have some extra money laying around, do you ever feel tempted to spend it right away? When saving your money for a saving challenge for example, seeing it may make you want to spend it. Consider storing your money as you save it in something that you would have to break in order to get to it. So maybe instead of a box for example to hold it in, maybe using some type of piggy bank or jar that you cannot take a lid off of. One that you would have to break to get the money out of.

This simple decision to store your money in one of these types of options may just help your money to continue growing. Helping you out with not as much possible temptation to borrow from it.

Step 7: Something extra to think about.

When you are determining what it is that you want to be saving for, something else to think about considering saving for is saving for an experience. Something that will stay with you for much longer than that day. Perhaps maybe a day trip somewhere. It does not have to be to an expensive one.

Conclusion

There are many different saving challenges to do to help us save money. Research some different options and really think about your goals and which challenge you feel will work best for you. Be proud of yourself for setting a goal and working towards achieving it.

If there are some tips that I may not cover in this post that you would like to have discussed, please share them in the comment section below. Thanks so much.