6 (NEW) Money-Saving Challenges to Try in 2022
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Who isn’t on the lookout for additional money saving challenges to save more?!?
Whether you’re building an emergency fund or a sinking funds, paying off debt, or looking to enjoy more experiences, here are six money saving challenges guaranteed to supercharge your savings efforts.
1. Bank balance challenge
This is extremely simple and I like this challenge for two reasons. For starters, it gets you into a routine of checking your bank account throughout the week (to check for signs of fraud and to see what debits have cleared). In addition, this challenge provides a simple way to save money each week.
This is how it works: Select two or three days, maybe a Monday, a Wednesday, and a Friday. Sign into your online bank account on these days, look for the previous day’s ending balance, and then transfer the last digit of this amount into savings. So if your ending balance is $659, transfer $9 into savings.
2. Deck of card challenge
This is another simple one. Grab a deck of cards and take out one Ace and one of each face card (a jack, a queen, and a king).
Next, assign a dollar amount to each card. If you don’t have a lot of extra cash, start small and assign $5 to a jack, $10 to a queen, $15 to a king, and $20 to an Ace. This is only a suggestion. So if you want to challenge yourself, assign a higher dollar amount to each card.
Shuffle the cards and randomly pull one – and whatever card you pick, transfer the assigned dollar amount into savings.
Similar to the aforementioned challenge, you can complete this challenge one or two days each week.
3. Dice challenge
You can complete a similar version of the deck of card challenge with a pair of dice. A few times a week you’ll roll the dice and transfer a certain amount into your savings, depending on the number it lands on.
There are many ways to decide how much to save. If you don’t have a lot of extra money, simply save the face number of the dice. If you roll a $12, this is how much you’ll save. But if you’re in a position to do more, save double the face number of the dice.
4. Put something back challenge
I always recommend shopping with a list, whether you’re buying food, clothes, or household goods. But even with a detailed list, there’s probably at least one item on your list (and in your cart) that you can do without.
For this challenge, before checking out at a store, take one final look at your soon-to-be purchases and see if you can put one item back. This applies whether you’re shopping online or in-person.
If you’re able to put something back, transfer the money “you would have spent” on this item into savings.
5. Round up a payment
This challenge doesn’t provide an immediate savings, but it can help you save money in the long-run.
This is how it works: If you have a credit card bill, a mortgage, a student loan, or an auto loan, round up your payments to the nearest $100 and make an extra principal-only payment for the difference. So if your mortgage payment is $1,460, you’ll make a principal-only payment of $40.
Round up as many payments as you can to chip away at your balances quicker, and to reduce how much you owe in interest.
6. Minimalism challenge
I gave this challenge a try last year and it was eye opening. It can help you examine your needs, and you’re able to see how much of your stuff you actually use.
Some time ago I read a quote that said “most people use 20% of what they own 80% of the time,” and this is without a doubt true for me!!
To see whether it’s true for you, I suggest taking minimalism on a test run (for a month). This might include building a capsule wardrobe with clothes you already own, and then wearing outfits from these items for 30 days.
You can practice minimalism with other stuff too – like makeup, mugs, plates, lotions, etc.
You can see how well you manage with less. And at the end of the challenge, you might realize that you don’t need as much as you thought. This can start the process of shifting how you view material things.
Minimalism can also benefit your pocket. You might buy less and save more, or you might decide to sell things that you don’t need – making a few bucks in the process.