Sunday, February 02, 2014

52-Week Money Challenge...

Finally! A Financial Post! =)

Has anyone ever heard of the 52-Week Money Challenge? Neither had I until my sister told me she and my brother-in-law were going to try it for fun. We were at Winter Wonderland at Navy Pier just chatting away while my nephew got on every slide and ride he could find. 

Anyway, she text me the 52-Week Challenge Table and it looked simple enough to give it a try. You start with $1 on the first week and increase by $1 each week until you're putting in $52 the final week for a grand total of $1,378 to spend on whatever. There is even a table for if you'd rather do the challenge based on your bi-weekly pay schedule. 

Some people use a jar but I decided this could be fun and I'm using one of my ING/Capital One 360 Savings Accounts and just gave the account a new nickname for the challenge. Every Friday, I make a transfer into the account and it's  done.   

You can start the challenge whenever. As one blog pointed out, it may not be the best challenge to start at the beginning of the year because the higher deposit weeks of $49/$50/$51/$52 will come around Christmas time but that's perfect for me since that's also bonus time. 

The concept flows with the whole slow and steady wins the race. The whole premise is that what you deposit into your challenge jar or account will accumulate. Perhaps one week you don't have the entire amount the challenge calls for and that's just fine. Don't beat yourself up. Simply put the amount you can deposit into the jar/account, cross off the week and keep it moving. It's supposed to be fun and you get a nice surprise in the end. Money to spend on you, a loved one, make a charitable contribution, give it to a stranger in need or a combination of things. It's your choice so have fun with the challenge and start whenever you please. 

I decided to start at the beginning of January and I have $15 saved already. I'll keep you guys posted on how it goes throughout the year. =)



1 comment:

ShellyShell said...

I do this but I start in reverse. So at Christmas time I'm just depositing a $1.