Whether you’re barely making ends meet or earning in surplus, saving a portion of your income seems like a challenge. But do you desperately want to start saving? This 100 days money saving challenge may be the best way to make saving a part of your routine.
Challenges make things fun and let you accomplish saving goals in real time. While the internet is flooded with hundreds of money saving challenges, the best is the one that fits your budget and yet lets you save a significant amount.
This 100 days money saving challenge helps you to save $5000 by the end. However, if that seems to exceed your saving capacity, you can customize daily savings as per your finances and willingness.
How To Save $5000 In 100 Days?
Did the viral 100 envelope challenge just cross your mind? Well, this challenge is a similar one but with a few interesting twists.
We understand $5000 may be a too aggressive saving goal for many. But as said earlier, you can customize your overall and daily saving goals. If you’re beginning your savings journey, any suitable amount would be a milestone.
There can be two ways to save during this challenge:-
1. Fixed Savings Approach
If you are determined to meet a specific savings goal over a pre-decided duration, this approach would be a great choice. Divide your goal amount for example it’s $5000 for this challenge into equal portions for your daily or weekly savings.
From day 1 to 100, put aside $50 each day without fail. Make sure to maintain a tracker to see how far you’ve come. These savings can be in the form of cash or an automated transaction into your emergency fund savings account. Choose an amount that you can easily stick to for 100 days.
2. Variable Savings Approach
If saving a fixed amount each day seems difficult, you can take up the variable approach. This one offers you flexibility with your daily or weekly savings. While you still need to put some money aside everyday for 100 days, you can decide a different amount when you want.
Want to make it more spontaneous and fun?
Fill a jar with chits that have random amounts from $25 – $100 (or more) on them (can be a different range based on your preference). Every day pull out a chit and set aside the amount mentioned on it.
Well, your saving doesn’t have to be limited to the amount on these chits, you can always save a little more when you wish. You can also use a number generator to save time on creating chits. Although make sure you have a tracker to guide with your daily/weekly progress.
Calculate your weekly savings to make sure you save enough to meet your total saving goal. Again, you can either keep your savings as cash or make a transfer to your savings account.
Not sure how much you should save? Try this savings goals calculator by Kapitalwise to set realistic savings goals for yourself.
Getting Started
As crucial it is to save a portion of your income, it can often seem difficult. Now that you are taking a step towards improving your money saving habits, begin correctly.
Where To Keep Your Savings?
One of the major concerns is finding where to store your savings. While a piggy bank or a secret box is absolutely fine, making your savings easily accessible may tempt you into spending them the next time you get a chance.
We suggest opening a special, high-yielding savings account instead. You won’t have an excuse of having no cash in hand and your savings will be safe from impulse spending.
If you intend on saving a fixed amount every day, make use of the automated savings feature. This way your money will automatically get added to your savings before you get a chance to spend it on something unnecessary.
Customize The Challenge As Per Your Preferences
Adjusting the saving challenge as per your preferences and needs increases the chances of you sticking to it till the end. Saving something is better than spending every penny in your wallet (or bank account).
Moving ahead with the variable saving approach lets you choose a different saving amount each day or each week according to current or upcoming financial necessities.
Suppose you start the 100 days money saving challenge somewhere near the holiday season. Flipping your savings may help you keep up with it till the end. In the earlier months, your savings can range between $50 – $100 every day. As holidays get closer, you can save $10 – $40 every day.
In simple words, you can tweak and flip the savings amount from higher to lower or vice versa depending on your expenses. Remember the ultimate goal of this challenge is to save SOME amount of money.
Let’s Make It Fun!
We told you this money saving challenge comes with interesting twists. Daily and weekly challenges will help you pave the way through unhealthy spending habits and discover new ways to save extra dollars. Let’s hop right onto them!
Daily Challenges
Choose at least 2-3 from these every day.
1. No Spend Day: Choose a few days in a week when you pick free activities and stuff over spending your dollars on something you can absolutely live without.
2. Meal Prep: Prepare a meal plan and spend the day savoring home-cooked food so you don’t have to eat out. Pack your lunch for workdays and cook your own delicious dinner. This can be done on most days of the week. You can reward yourself on the weekend with a budget-friendly meal at your favorite place.
3. Make Your Own Coffee/Tea: Instead of spending on coffee/tea at a cafe down the street, make one for yourself at home. There’s certainly no harm in making this a regular practice.
4. Pick Free Entertainment: Look for free or low-cost entertainment around you – library events, free concerts, movie nights in local parks, etc instead of spending on subscriptions, expensive parties or movies.
5. Discount Hunt: You cannot completely slash shopping off from your lifestyle. But when you have to shop, make sure you look for great discounts. Look for ways to get maximum discounts on groceries, clothes, and more. Plan your next shopping spree according to upcoming sales.
6. Unsubscribe: When trying to save money you need to beware of several money parasites that are often missed out. Subscriptions are few of those. Get rid of unnecessary subscriptions to save a significant amount from your monthly income. Keep a check on auto-paid subscriptions to cut-off unnecessary expenses.
7. Declutter: Perfect for cleaning up your surroundings and making money out of it. Reassess your belongings and sell the ones you no longer need. Transfer the money to your savings. Do this one in a while to boost your savings and declutter your space.
8. Walking/Cycling Day: Ditch your vehicle on a few days to choose walking or cycling for shorter distances. You can also opt for cheaper public transport to save money on gas. This is yet another lifestyle change that can help you save significantly.
9. Carry Your Own Bottle: Instead of spending on bottled water, start carrying your own reusable water bottle. Good to make it a habit!
Here’s a blueprint of what your daily savings should look like (this may help if you’re making variable daily savings):
Weekly Challenges
Choose 1 from these every week.
1. Pantry Picked: This one’s a part of the daily meal prep challenge. Assess what’s already available in your pantry and plan the entire week’s meal with only those supplies. This helps save on groceries, ensuring no wastage of food.
2. No Impulse Buy: Avoid any impulse purchases for an entire week. You can do this every week honestly. Whenever you’re tempted to buy something unnecessary, wait for at least 24 hours and understand if you really need that stuff or you can go on without it. Mostly the urge subsides. If it’s something important, you can look for cheaper alternatives later.
3. Double Down: Got windfalls or raises? Count them as your savings. Or maybe you can double the amount of your daily or weekly savings to boost your overall progress.
4. Entertainment at Home: Plan your entertainment at home for the week. Instead of going for drinks, clubbing, or movies, plan game nights, movie marathons, craft meet-ups at home with your beloved ones.
If you wish to save money on a weekly basis, here’s a blueprint you can follow:
The total savings depend on your consistency and how much you are able to save. Moreover, you can save $5000-$7000 if you keep up with this challenge.
Can’t stop spending? Turn your spare change into investments with Acorns’ Round-Ups.
- Link your credit or debit cards with Round-Ups.
- Any spare changes from purchases or bill payments will be automatically rounded-up to the next dollar.
- Once the total reaches $5 it’ll be invested.
Make It Till The End
Saving a few dollars everyday is definitely easier than showing up for workouts every morning. We want you to finish off this challenge with your desired savings. While you may be determined as well, here are a few tips to make sure you keep going.
(1) Know Your Goal: Having an end goal in mind before you start saving, helps you stick to the challenge till the end. Remember how as a child, our parents promised us rewards for excellent academic performances? The excitement for that one reward kept us motivated to achieve the best possible grades. Let your aspirations be your motivation this time as well. It can be a downpayment, paying off debt, saving for a dream holiday, or preparing for your kids’ admission.
(2) Set Reminders: Once you take up this 100 days money saving challenge, there should be no excuses. Setting reminders on your phone (daily or weekly) will ensure that your money saving goals always stay in the back of your mind. This makes meeting daily savings goals easier.
(3) Reward Yourself: While completing the saving challenge would be your ultimate reward, little appreciation for yourself along the way will keep you going. You can choose a few reasonable weekly or bi-weekly rewards for yourself (your favorite treats, hangout with friends, etc).
(4) Do It With A Friend: Taking up this money saving challenge with a friend or family member will keep your spirits high. Start together and track whether you’re both making enough progress on the saving journey. Share this challenge on your Pinterest board now!
Go Easy On Yourself Yet Stay Focused
If you keep waiting on the perfect time to start saving, it may probably never arrive. It’s better to start now with whatever income you have. Start small, but make sure to save at least something.
For the ones who think they can build lump sum savings overnight – set realistic goals based on your income and expenses and follow a plan consistently.
We hope this 100 days money saving challenge helps you meet your savings goals or at least start your savings journey. Stay motivated and focused to improve your financial well-being!
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FAQs
Does the 100 days money challenge work?
Absolutely. If you can keep up with your daily savings goals (no matter how much you save), you will be able to save a significant amount by the end of 100 days.
What if I miss a day?
No need to beat yourself up. There are several ways to deal with this:-
- Add the missed amount to next day’s savings.
- Double up your savings on any other day that feels suitable to meet the gap.
- Start from where you left without counting a missed day.
Is it necessary to have cash for this challenge?
You can do this even without cash in hand – by automating savings (or manually) within your account. You can turn to various budgeting apps to track your savings goals and progress.
