52 Week Savings Challenge

HippieChickadee

Mouseketeer
Joined
Oct 24, 2012
You may have seen this going around social media today, but this is as social media as I get so I wanted to share and see who wants to try it?

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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.
 
It is sad that if you put money in an interest bearing account you're probably losing money in real terms, because inflation is higher than the interest rates on savings in most savings accounts now. You may be able to do more for your savings by looking at where you put your savings rather than adding to it. There are places that pay 0.1%, places that pay 0.4%, places that pay 0.9%, and even some places that pay 4% up to a certain amount of money. But I agree with DVCLiz that these kind of challenges don't work as much as we want them to. I think it is because it doesn't force you to decide where the extra money you're going to save comes from. I think it would be better to think about what you're spending money on regularly, pick out a few things that you can live without each week, and then give yourself points for each time you do without one of those things for a week.
 


. There are places that pay 0.1%, places that pay 0.4%, places that pay 0.9%, and even some places that pay 4% up to a certain amount of money. But I agree with DVCLiz that these kind of challenges don't work as much as we want them to. I think it is because it doesn't force you to decide where the extra money you're going to save comes from. I think it would be better to think about what you're spending money on regularly, pick out a few things that you can live without each week, and then give yourself points for each time you do without one of those things for a week.

Oh I disagree a bit (depending on how long you last).

First if you look at the sad statistic (and I know it's hard to get a true grip on statistics) but overall many Americans cannot get their hands on 1000 bucks cash. Many americans have less than 1 months living expenses in the bank and according to the NYT 75% of us nearing retirement age have less than 40K in their retirement savings. Where to put our money is not the problem.

Also if we look at human nature, we don't do well when we are told to "restrict" some thing. That's why diets that force people to stop eating some thing althogether don't work well. Usually if people have to give some thing up it's going to be some thing they like to do. Let's say you tell folks to give up that morning starbucks and pocket the 5 bucks. generally by week 10 they drop it, can't stick with it BUT if you tell folks to switch from starbucks latte to say dunkin donughts or wawa (1/2) the price and pocket the difference they last much longer.

So even if they stick this money in a cookie jar at the end of the year if they can stick with it, they'll have 1000 bucks. I know it works well in my family because this is how my kids use to save up for their disney spending money.
Every day they'd drop 2 bucks in an empty water jug (and loose change) usually by trip time they have a few hundred bucks saved.
 
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.
ooh i like the reverse idea
 
Love it - thanks for sharing. We are heading to Hong Kong Disneyland on the 20th December 2013 and an extra $1378 will be fantastic. I am going to do it in reverse as well :)
 


Wish I could do that. My wife's paycheck more often than not, doesn't cover the expenses for her pay week. Perhaps I could do a modified of both ideas of starting with $1 and starting at $52. I can start at $52 of my first pay and $1 of her first pay and increment the paychecks alternately up and down.
 
Hmmm, if you were to double the amounts on the chart, you'd have enough for a budget Disney trip at the end :)

I also like the reverse idea :)
 
I think this is a really cute gimmicky way for people to save that may not save otherwise. Let's face it, if people were going to look seriously at their budget and see where they could cut a set amount regularly - they already would have. This gives people a way to have kind of a contest with themselves, convincing themselves they won't miss another dollar, and ending up with a significant amount (or what will quickly become signicant if they've convinced themselves they can spare the $52 a week)saved.
 
I think the four of us in my family might do it together.... This is such a fun idea! :)
 
Very neat idea. I'm in i think though i will start at the higher end and work backwards. It might be intresting from time to time throughout the 52 weeks to come back and see who is still on track.
 
I think it would be easier to have your bank pull $27 out of your checking acct every week & put it into savings - actually maybe do 30 so it is easier to figure your acct - then you don't have to think about it & it is done
 
I'll try but I honestly don't know if I'll have an extra $200 lying around next December.

I can easily handle the January part so for now I'm in.
 
My co-worker and i were talking about it this morning. For both of us starting at the lower end works better.

We get paid once a month, at the end of the month normally but in December we get paid around mid month and then not again until the end of January--it can be a loooonnnnnggg stretch between paydays. She is single so this would hinder her commitment to more than starting with $1.

For me, dh just had two small weeks at work. With no where accepting loads for two days out of each holiday week, it puts a huge damper on the first two checks of the year. So, for us, it would be easier to stick to it the way it is written.

So, both of us are in--but doing it from $1 to $52.
 
This is a great idea - can anyone share the method they use to do the savings, i.e. cookie jar, online savings account, and how you plan to "set aside" the money? I ask because we

(a) don't often use physical cash (to put in a jar)
(b) don't have a bank branch near us, and use online banking a lot

Thanks for sharing.
 
Thank you for posting, this, OP!

I think we'll start at the higher end. We're getting ready to open up a savings account for our 2014 WDW trip, and I found a local bank with a "goal setter" savings that will pay us double the effective interest rate once we reach our goal. :goodvibes
 
This is a great idea - can anyone share the method they use to do the savings, i.e. cookie jar, online savings account, and how you plan to "set aside" the money? I ask because we

(a) don't often use physical cash (to put in a jar)
(b) don't have a bank branch near us, and use online banking a lot

Thanks for sharing.

Does your bank allow automatic, recurring transfers? We have them set up through our 2 different banks. :)
 
Thanks for posting. I showed it to my 17 y/o and she would like to give it a try. I think this is the perfect thing for someone her age who tries to save but isn't always successful. She is going to do it in reverse since she has tons of Christmas money. Unfortunately, her work hours were cut back so we will see how far she gets.
 

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