Can You Handle the 52 Week Savings Challenge?

52 week savings plan

The 52-week savings challenge is all the rage right now. It’s almost impossible to scroll through your social media newsfeeds or look for savings advice on Pinterest without seeing someone refer to this challenge. It’s a good one, too, and that’s why so many people are so excited about it.

What is the 52-week savings challenge?

Simple; it’s a way of saving so very little every single week of the year that you don’t even notice you are saving. It’s a challenge we think that anyone can rock if they really put their mind to it, and that’s what makes it work. It’s simple. You put away the same dollar amount each week as the month of the year.

For example, the first week of the New Year, you put one dollar into your savings account or into a jar in your master bedroom, or wherever you see fit. On the 26th week of the year, you’re putting $26 into that account. By the last week of the year, you are putting $52 into that account.

What makes this challenge so simple to follow is that it’s not expensive. You will save $1,378 by the last week of the year, and it doesn’t even make any effect on your regular spending. Let’s look at it like this:

For six months, you’re putting away less than $26 per week. Every week you add one dollar to what you’re already saving. That’s a dollar; it doesn’t seem like much to say, “I’ll just add a dollar to it next week,” when you’re already putting it away to begin with. You begin with $1, and then you save $2, then you save $3 and the next week it doesn’t seem at all painful to up that $3 to $4. That’s what makes it work. At the end of the year, you’re still only putting $52 away. But you’ve been putting money away all year, so it doesn’t cut into your budget anymore. It’s only an additional dollar, after all.

Can you handle this challenge? I don’t know you, but I think that you can do it. Right now we are in the midst of the second week of the year, so you are a little behind. However, you can catch up if you have a whopping $3.

Nest Monday, we challenge you to put $3 into your savings account. Look at that; it’s will only be the third week of the year and you’ve already doubled your savings for the year. Let’s break it down by month, too, to see how it affects your overall budget (assuming we pay into savings on Mondays)

January (weeks 1-4) – $10

February (5-9) – $35

March (10-13) – $46

April (14-17) – $62

May (18-22) – $100

June (23-26) – $98

July (27-30) – $114

August (31-35) – $165

September (36-39) – $150

October (40-44) – $210

November (45-48) – $186

December (49-52) – $202

I say you can do it, and I think we might all take the time to go ahead and try to do it together. Doesn’t that seem like a great way to start the year?

Photo by Getty Images

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