52 Week Savings Challenge

[Becky2005]

Originally Posted by Goof-abulous

I absolutely love this idea. I like the thought of one of the posters who said if there wasn't enough money to cross off a different day then when you have the extra put back to the day you substituted. ��

That's a good idea too!! I work retail and there are some weeks I can take shifts/get really good $$$ but other weeks where even though I'm scheduled, they call and tell me they are cutting hours so I may be lucky to work 10 hours that week (which is what is going to happen right now until spring time -- it is our very slow time).

[WDWBarb]

I got serious (finally, but better late than never) about saving about 7 years ago. I did the Dave Ramsey thing and got out of debt and then shoved whatever I could into savings. What really worked for me was using money-management software (Quicken in my case) to understand my typical expenses and build a budget. I put paychecks in and can tell months in advance how much money I will have to put into savings (barring any emergency situations). So I then set up a weekly transfer into savings (through my bank's website) and treat it as a bill.

My goal is to have 95% of unused money in my savings account. This has worked very well for me and it makes saving a necessary part of my budget. I have different savings accounts for different goals (emergency fund, car, etc). I also don't see a bunch of extra cash in my easily-accessible checking account so I never assume I have extra money to spend.

Saving is easier when you pay yourself as you would any other debtor. It's an obligation you have to yourself. You don't have to have software to do it, but it makes money management much less of a chore (especially when it syncs with your bank to download transaction) and it's motivating to see your net worth grow every week.

I don't know what I just typed all that but I can say I'm passionate about it because it made such a huge, lasting and important impact on my life. Dave Ramsey got me started and Suze Orman keeps me going.

[bookgirl]

This looks really neat. Think I'll get an envelope and do this. I've got tentative plans for next Feb at WDW. Think this will be my savings for that trip.

Thanks for posting!

[BearcatsFan]

My husband went to the bank today and made our first withdraw. I ended up not being able to start at the high end because he didn't get full hours last week, but I did check off a week on the chart so I'm pleased that we at least got started! We put the money in an envelope until we have enough to open the savings account.

I hung a copy on the fridge and wrote real big on the bottom "Paying Ourselves FIRST!" in black marker.

[carrie1626]

Originally Posted by DVCLiz

I saw this on FaceBook today and I thought it would be even better if people started with the higher amount first. It's easier to save $52 the first week of the year when you are highly motivated to do a savings program. Then each week the amount you need to save goes down by a dollar - by the time you are kind of sick of the idea it's 38 bucks a week, then 37, then 36, etc. It seems it would be easier to keep it going for a whole year if you reversed the process.

Also, if you put it in any kind of interest bearing account the amount would grow a little bit more because the interest was being accrued on a larger amount from the beginning.

You are very very intuitive. THANK YOU!!
That is exactly what I am going to do!!!

[House_of_Mouse Fan]

Originally Posted by DVCLiz

I saw this on FaceBook today and I thought it would be even better if people started with the higher amount first. It's easier to save $52 the first week of the year when you are highly motivated to do a savings program. Then each week the amount you need to save goes down by a dollar - by the time you are kind of sick of the idea it's 38 bucks a week, then 37, then 36, etc. It seems it would be easier to keep it going for a whole year if you reversed the process.

Also, if you put it in any kind of interest bearing account the amount would grow a little bit more because the interest was being accrued on a larger amount from the beginning.

Thanks for sharing! I like the reverse idea, too. Count me in!

[eisforpants]

I like the idea of marking off what you can afford that week. I get paid every two weeks so I can see me putting in a larger amount at payday and a smaller amount the next week.

I'll start after we come back from Disney and try to catch up.

[VeganCupcake]

I am in! Sounds like a good way to save for a Disney trip!

[dreamin_disney]

Thanks for this thread. I printed out 3 copies. 2 for me and 1 for dh. Hopefully he does it too.

I printed out 2 copies for me
1. to write down the dates of each week. That way I can see my paydays, holidays and months i dont get paid. Makes it easier to figure out what week I can pay into savings
2. Incase I decide to do what another poster posted. Jump around the page and highlight the amounts I saved.
example
july I dont get income so that month will be my $1, $2 etc.
March we get taxes so I'd pay the higher amount $52, $52 etc

and just highlight as I go

I also plan on having a christmas fund so if I follow this and xmas fund I hope to save up $2378

[snykymom]

Originally Posted by dreamin_disney

T
March we get taxes so I'd pay the higher amount $52, $52 etc

One of the easiest ways to save is to reduce the amount you pay to Uncle Sam. There's no valid reason to give the government an interest-free loan, which is exactly what you're doing when you set things up so that you know that you're going to get a refund.

Reduce your withholding and use the extra take-home pay as your savings.

[luvsmickeymouse]

Originally Posted by HippieChickadee

I love the reverse idea!! I might do that!

Or I thought I could hang up the chart on the fridge and maybe skip around amounts, crossing out the weeks/amounts as I "use" them. That way if I could only come up with- say- $40 dollars one week, I could cross out the $40 week, leaving the smaller amounts for harder weeks and using the higher amounts for easier weeks.

I am going to use a cookie jar

This is a good idea! I am thinking that when the month has 5 paychecks, make one of the bigger deposits and cross it off.

I am in!

[jetskigrl]

I'm in

I set up my spreadsheet tonight and I am going to use the "put in whatever I have that week and cross it off" method.

I already put $20 a week away for spending money for our vacations but I am going to do this also for extra money next Christmas.

[newMrs.Robinson]

We are doing this x7 for each member of our family. The result will be our vacation fund for next year. We are doing it to include the kids in saving money it seems like the smaller ones will understand it more the. Just saying we are saving money......

[dreamin_disney]

How is everyone doing with keeping up with this challenge???

I have about $91 saved so far. I'm skipping around and highlighting the amounts as I go. I know theres another thread on this but I cant find it tonight

[dadddio]

I really like this little savings plan, but I feel that many people don't understand it's true benefit.

Doing the plan as presented is about budgeting your money and continually tightening the budget by one dollar per week. On the first week, you live your life spending one less dollar than you normally would. The second week, you make week one's budget one dollar tighter, and so on throughout the year.

For the last weeks, you are not having to find an extra $50 in the budget. You only need to tighten the previous week's budget by one dollar.