To save $5,000 in 3 months, you'll need to set aside $1,667 per month. This is a great starting point for your savings goal since we often plan around monthly expenses, like rent or bills. By adding your savings goal to your monthly budget, it becomes easier to track and stick to.
I have tried it and yes it is working. I currently have over $700 saved with just a few envelopes which is not much but when you are bad at budgeting like me it helps. I did two sets one in increments of 1 and another in increments of 5.
The most common way to complete the challenge is to start by saving just $1 in week one and increasing what you save by $1 each week, saving $2 in week two and $3 in week three, all the way up to $52 in week 52. By starting small and gradually increasing what you save, you can save a total of $1,378 in a year.
There are no complicated rules to remember. Week 1, you save $1.00. Week 2 you save $2.00, and it continues through the year, adding one more dollar to each week's savings goal. By Week 52, you'll set aside $52.00, which will bring the year's total savings to $1,378!
All you need is 100 envelopes numbered 1 through 100. Each day, you pick an envelope and fill it with the amount of cash corresponding to its number. You put $1 into envelope #1, $2 into envelope #2, $3 into envelope #3, and so on. If you want to start small, you can fill up the envelopes in order from 1 to 100.
The 52-week money challenge is designed to help you build a savings habit over the course of a year. The gist: You put away an amount of money that corresponds to how many weeks it's been since you began the challenge. So you'd set aside $1 in week 1, $2 in week 2, and so on until you save $52 in week 52.
How it works: You gather 100 envelopes and number them from 1 to 100. Each day you fill up one envelope with the amount of cash to match the number on the envelope. You can fill up the envelopes in order or pick them at random. After you've filled up all the envelopes, you'll have a total of $5,050 saved.
Whether $5,000 is sufficient for your emergency savings fund depends on your unique personal circumstances. For instance, a fund of $5,000 may be plenty for a bachelor in their early career but completely inadequate for their neighbor who owns a home and has four kids.
If you want to save up $5,000 in a year, start by saving $4 in the first week, $8 in the second week, $12 in the third week, and so on. After 52 weeks, you'll have saved $5,512.
So, 7.84 years to save up your first $100,000. Many folks, upon hearing this number, think it might take them almost 80 years (10 times 7.84 years) to get to a million. But, that would be incorrect. And, that's why the first $100K is the hardest (and longest).
The 100-envelope challenge is a way to gamify saving money. Each day for 100 days, you'll set aside a predetermined dollar amount in different envelopes. After just over 3 months, you could have more than $5,000 saved.
Monthly savings: Saving $5,000 in three months equals a monthly savings of approximately $1,667. Weekly savings: Dividing $5,000 by 13 weeks gives a weekly savings goal of around $385. Daily savings: To reach this goal, you would need to save about $55 per day for the next three months.
To make the process less overwhelming, you can try one of the many money-saving challenges that are simple to follow and sometimes even fun. In a January post, the Australian TikToker Jenny Joo shared her plan to save $10,000 in 100 days by simply putting aside specific amounts of cash in a jar each day.
Small amounts will add up over time and compounding interest will help your money grow. $20 per week may not seem like much, but it's more than $1,000 per year. Saving this much year after year can make a substantial difference as it can help keep your financial goal on your mind and keep you motivated.
Match each week's savings amount with the number of the week in your challenge. In other words, you'll save $1 the first week, $2 the second week, $3 the third week, and so on until you put away $52 in week 52.