52 week money challenge

[jujubiee4]

Actually looking at it more i'm looking for more tweaks. Nov and Dec is the bulk and well that
is Holiday time for us the most expensive time of the year. The least is summer. The 26 dollars a
week is more logical but doesn't look as "fun" for my kids. lol

 

[TwoMisfits]

Actually looking at it more i'm looking for more tweaks. Nov and Dec is the bulk and well that
is Holiday time for us the most expensive time of the year. The least is summer. The 26 dollars a
week is more logical but doesn't look as "fun" for my kids. lol

If it's just to try and get the kids involved, add a decimal to any number above 10...so 11 becomes 1.1, 12 becomes 1.2, etc...you never put in more than $10, but you still get a 3 digit sum of money at the end...something close to $175 (although if you want to add it all up at the end or do the calculator function, you'd get the exact sum...

 

[TwoMisfits]

And another way to do it is to go up from 1-26 and then count down from 26-1...you only get 1/2 as much money, but you can see how the year is passing and see the money still go up (with lowest totals for around the holidays when you need it elsewhere)...

So, it's like 1st week of 2018, 2nd week of 2018...and then 25 weeks to 2019, 24 weeks to 2019, etc...

 

[kreckl]

We're trying it- backwards. I need it to be less as the holidays approach in the fall and want to be at the lower amounts then!

 

[NinaBella]

I don’t do this challenge because I would have to manually transfer money in different amounts. I have an auto transfer from my checking to my vacation savings that transfers a set amount ever Monday. I started this last year and don’t even miss that amount being transferred. I also have my adult sons payments for cell phone etc., on an auto transfer going directly into my savings.

 

[Jimsig]

If you do it backwards, starting at $52 and work down you see an immediate result. At the end of the first month you have just over $200 in there as compared to about $10 if you work up. Not only that, instead of having to come up with almost $50 a week in the last month, just over $200 total right before Christmas, you only have to come up with about $10 when money tends to get tight. Seeing that immediate result also tends to give you a positive feeling that it's working and you may not get discouraged when you only see $10 after the first month. It's psychological but think about what feels better, seeing about $350 at the end of Feb or $36 even though in the end you end up with the same amount? Also knowing that the money you are putting in every week goes down helps the psyche. Who knows, you might even find that an extra $20, $35, or $50 every week (or when you can) isn't too bad to come up with so you throw some extra in every week. At the end instead of having almost $1400 in there you could easily have $2500 or more.

 

[jujubiee4]

Ok i found the perfect tweak for us. I downloaded this chart https://cdn.thesimpledollar.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/52weekmoneychallenge.jpg. Printed out 4 copies for myself, hubby
and two kids. I told them to pick whatever week they want and i then highlighted it and put paid
on THEIR copy. Letting them choose which week works better for us. My husband already paid
the $52 and $51 dollar weeks. My younger daughter paid $29 and $21 weeks. My older daughter
seeing the others posted on the fridge picked and paid $18 and $15.

This is amazing as getting money from any of these people is like getting blood from a turnip.

 

[jonahsmommy]

I'm in. I do it a little different though. Since we are on a tight budget, 1 income family, the extra money that I get is by selling on craigslist or rebates and that determines the week that I cross off. For example, I made $15.00 yesterday by selling an extra chair, so I crossed off the $15.00 week. If I happen to sell something else that is $15.00, I can cross off $7.00 and $8.00 or $1.00 and $14.00 ect.
Have fun saving everyone!

 

[virge]

I'm going to try the challenge for the 1st time to jump start my savings for a 2019 trip

Since both December & January are very tight money-wise, I don't think the forward or backward challenge will work for me. I plan to use this chart https://www.savingadvice.com/images/52-week-savings-challenge.pdf. I can pick the amount that works for me each week, record it, & cross it off at the bottom.

One of my sons decided he wants to do the challenge also. He wants to do it in order and only gets $5/week for allowance. I found an excel template for the challenge and modified it to 10 cent increments so the only time it will be more than his allowance is immediately after next Christmas. He is very strong-willed and we can hold each other accountable.

What I haven't worked out, is where to put my money. I have a Disney cup to put it in temporarily, but I want some sort of savings account. I normally use a variable rate CD for things like this (easy to put money in but can only come out at a set time) but I'd love to hear suggestions for other accounts.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

I just pulled $42 for my first week. Let's hope I'm just as enthused come July lol.

 

[mommy2mrb]

I’m going to join in.
Will probably be doing the random amounts since my paycheck varies each time.

So far marked off $5.00 and $10. Get paid tomorrow so will do $52.00.

We are going to WDW for thanksgiving so about half of this will round out our food/shopping $. Other half will go towards Christmas

 

[Happiest mommy]

WOOHOO!! welcome all!! Sounds great guys I'm starting in reverse and probably add some random amounts in between, first week down yay!! lets do this!!

 

[Happiest mommy]

Bumping

 

[Happiest mommy]

Second week done $51.00 anyone else?

 

[virge]

Week 1 - $24
Week 2 - $32
Week 3 - $20
$76 total

I haven’t been able to do any of the larger amounts but I’m glad I’m doing something. My hope is that I can keep making steady progress and get the larger amounts next month. One of my sons lost his phone privileges & we cancelled the service today. I think I may apply the $40.50 as a bonus to my vacation fund each month

 

[Happiest mommy]

Week 1 - $24
Week 2 - $32
Week 3 - $20
$76 total

I haven’t been able to do any of the larger amounts but I’m glad I’m doing something. My hope is that I can keep making steady progress and get the larger amounts next month. One of my sons lost his phone privileges & we cancelled the service today. I think I may apply the $40.50 as a bonus to my vacation fund each month

You are doing great!! Any amount is great as long as you do it yay!!

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

I pulled $21 on Friday!

 

[Emixon]

I’m currently doing this myself. Instead of putting cash in a jar(it’s too tempting). I use an app called Qapital. I set up the challenge and it link to my bank account. qapital always let me know when they are taking it out, if I don’t have a certain amount in my bank account they won’t touch it and resume back when I do.

 

[disny_luvr]

Yes, I’m doing this. Like some others, I put all the amounts into a container and pull random amounts each week. So far I’ve pulled $26, $19, $12.

 

[DisneyLiz20]

I need to start doing this again, I tried last year but the larger amounts towards the end really were hard.