52 Week Money Challenge

[jenbelles]

Has anyone heard of this before. I saw a chart on FB. DH and I are going to try it.
Of course I can't figure out how to post the picture! Ugh!
Basically for each week if the year you save the corresponding sum of money. Week one = $1. Week 52 = $52. If you can do it every week then you will have @ $1378 at the end of the year. Nice little Disney fund!

 

[kristinradico]

Were going to try it for 2014! I already promised DH that whatever we save in that jar will be our ONLY Christmas present money!

 

[zoo2tycoon]

Were going to try it for 2014! I already promised DH that whatever we save in that jar will be our ONLY Christmas present money!

This sounds cool OP...will try and start doing this

 

[mommyburns]

We did this in 2013. For as many weeks as possible we both put in the week amount. At the end of the year, we finished it early, we put over $2200 in the bank. It felt really good. Almost all the money comes from my weekly cash budget so I feel like I really saved it by not spending that money.

 

[DawnM]

No, if I want to save $1,378, I would much rather make it equal amounts to save.

$114.83 per month (or roughly $26.5/week.)

 

[ilovemk76]

No, if I want to save $1,378, I would much rather make it equal amounts to save.

$114.83 per month (or roughly $26.5/week.)

 

[LJSquishy]

I agree that it's easier to just save an equal amount each week (or paycheck). You'll be able to plan for it better.

Otherwise, in Month 1 (weeks 1-4) you will be setting aside $10...but Month 12 (weeks 49-52) you will need to set aside $202. For a lot of people that is too big of a chunk out of their paycheck.

 

[Zhoen]

I "know" some folks on another site who have been doing this for 2013. They set up a "challenge" thread and cheer each other on. One thing I've seen them do that seems to make sense is that they aren't doing the weeks in order. If they can afford $43 this week, they do that and cross off week 43.

Others chose to do it backwards (I don't play this particular game, but I thought that was clever.) That way they are saving the biggest in January, when their new-year's resolve is strongest, and by the time the holidays roll around, it's just a buck or two...

My two cents. I save what I can, when I can, a scheduled just makes me feel bad if something goes wrong. ;D

 

[iluvjus]

I like the starting it backwards plan! I'm going to try that

 

[Marionnette]

Has anyone heard of this before. I saw a chart on FB. DH and I are going to try it.
Of course I can't figure out how to post the picture! Ugh!
Basically for each week if the year you save the corresponding sum of money. Week one = $1. Week 52 = $52. If you can do it every week then you will have @ $1378 at the end of the year. Nice little Disney fund!

Here's last year's thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3041165

It looks like people did pretty good for the first few months and then it became more and more difficult to put away increasing amounts every week. Ask yourself if you would have had an extra $50 to put into savings last week, knowing that the previous week, you would have had to put aside $49 and that you would need to add another $51 next week.

It sounds easy in the beginning. Who can't find an extra $1, $2, $5 or maybe even $10 to toss into savings each week? It's a lot harder to find that extra $48, $49, $50.

I'm with the others who prefer a steady, fixed amount. If I have a savings goal of $1378, then I'd rather put $26/week aside than try to figure out how I'm going to come up with twice that amount come Christmas time.

 

[figment3258]

we are in that sounds great!

 

[crisi]

I'm with the others who prefer a steady, fixed amount. If I have a savings goal of $1378, then I'd rather put $26/week aside than try to figure out how I'm going to come up with twice that amount come Christmas time.

I like steady, with bonus contributions. If you have a month where you get an extra paycheck, overtime hours, or a bonus, its easy to set aside extra that month. If you have a month where your expenses are light, its easy to set aside extra. If you have a month with a lot of expenses, its hard to even meet a small savings goal that month and some months (like the holidays on a diet) the best you can do is hold steady.

I think the $1 escalating a week would be horrible for anyone who doesn't top out their social security payments. For me, November and December are always expensive months with property taxes due, Christmas and all the extra food for the holidays. Back to school in September isn't good either - the easiest months to save are late Winter into Spring - when we don't do much or need much.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

I "know" some folks on another site who have been doing this for 2013. They set up a "challenge" thread and cheer each other on. One thing I've seen them do that seems to make sense is that they aren't doing the weeks in order. If they can afford $43 this week, they do that and cross off week 43.

Others chose to do it backwards (I don't play this particular game, but I thought that was clever.) That way they are saving the biggest in January, when their new-year's resolve is strongest, and by the time the holidays roll around, it's just a buck or two...

My two cents. I save what I can, when I can, a scheduled just makes me feel bad if something goes wrong. ;D

I love this idea. Since we don't charge our trips or Christmas or back to school the fall/winter season can be particularly tight budget wise. I am going to try this so I can take a bit to WDW for Christmas gifts and the rest for so I have a nice backup when we get back. So I wrote down all the weeks for the next year in my planner. Whenever I can save more I will cross that week off. Today I just took whatever was in my wallet and crossed off week #27.

 

[lady9]

We did this for 2013. We started backward where in week 1 we saved $52, week 2 $51, etc. We were faithful about it and completed the challenge. We also save a set amount each month so this was extra. Our emergency fund is lacking so this was to boost it. We plan to do it again this year.

 

[jenbelles]

I really like the idea of doing it backwards!

 

[lady9]

I really like the idea of doing it backwards!

It was good for us to do it backward because we were so motivated to do it early in the year we cut back on other things to save the biggest amounts. Toward late summer when we were getting the kids ready for back to school, then Thanksgiving and Christmas, it became tougher to save. We were really glad to not have to save the greater amounts then. It felt really good to put that last $1 in the savings account and know we had done it!

 

[gracie1]

No, if I want to save $1,378, I would much rather make it equal amounts to save. $114.83 per month (or roughly $26.5/week.)

I think this would be the easiest way to do it too!

 

[sifko36]

This is cool.

 

[MickeyManiac]

I did this faithfully this year. I chose to do it backwards because I have more extra money in January than in December. I just transferred the savings to my credit card and paid for Christmas. I made it a game with myself and couldn't wait to make that transfer every week. I printed off the chart and would highlight each week. I loved watching the chart turn yellow. Everyone in my office is doing it with me this year.

 

[Mom2apirate&princess]

Very cool! I remember seeing this around FB last year. I like the idea of doing it backwards. Gonna try it this year!