Use a new twist on the penny challenge for one of the best savings challenges around and grow a small amount to thousands
I love savings challenges and there are few as popular as the penny challenge.
It sounds so easy. Just saving your pennies every day can add up to hundreds of dollars a year in savings.
I tried the original penny challenge but quickly found a couple of problems that were derailing my progress. To stay on track and meet my goal, I needed to put a new twist on this old challenge.
What I came up with was a way to make saving even easier and to turn it into thousands of dollars.
What is the Penny Challenge?
The basic idea for the penny challenge is pretty easy. You save one penny your first day, two pennies the second day, three on the third and so on for 365 days. That means you’re saving the same amount you did the day before but adding another penny to it.
You can meet your savings goals from change you find around the house or from the change on purchases. By the time you are done, you are saving 365 pennies on the final day.
The idea is to make saving gradual. By starting small, saving just pennies a day, you make saving easier and don’t have to sacrifice. I’ve built a chart of how much you end up saving per week to follow along on your own penny challenge and put together my own savings challenge after the graphic.
Two Problems with the Penny Challenge
The first problem with the penny challenge isn’t obvious at first. Saving less than a dollar over the first weeks is an easy start. You might not be able to find $0.77 laying around the house but you can usually put it together with the change from purchases.
Try making it to the final weeks of the challenge though and you’re trying to find almost $30 a week…that’s a lot of pennies. You’re not talking about saving your change anymore and that throws a lot of people off.
The second problem with the penny challenge is that even making it through the entire year, you’re only saving $667 total. That’s good for a nice shopping trip and maybe take care of some bills but it’s nothing you’re going to get that excited about and might not even get motivated enough to start the challenge.
I love the idea of savings challenges though so I thought I would take a shot at improving the penny challenge, getting to the biggest problems to help you save more money.
Improving the Penny Challenge
To make it easier to save, especially those big weeks towards the end of the year, try finding places in your budget to cut. Instead of just making the challenge about spare change you find around the house or the leftover from purchases, try cutting expenses and budgeting to meet your savings goal.
When I did my own penny challenge, I cut back on drinks when I went out with friends. You’d be amazed at how much you can save cutting back to one drink instead of two or three just one time a week. I ended up saving almost double my goal over the last few weeks.
Even if you only manage to save the $667 from the penny challenge idea, you can still turn it into thousands of dollars. Not too many get worked up over $700 but I don’t know anyone that would turn down $2,500!
There’s no trick here, just invest the money along with the rest of your retirement money. At a return of 7% annually, $667 turns into $2,584 over 20 years.
Yeah, I know it doesn’t seem like a new twist on the penny challenge. You’d be surprised though how many people just blow their money saved each year. If you’re going to just spend it at the end of the year, why even go to the bother of saving it in the first place?
The penny challenge and other savings challenges aren’t just ways to save up a couple hundred dollars. Use them as ways to change your spending habits, to gradually work into saving more on a regular basis and make saving easier. It’s not about saving more money for a few months or a year but about learning how to get the most out of your money.
Original article and pictures take peerfinance101.com site
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