The $20 Savings Challenge (2024)

FAQs

What is the $20 savings challenge? ›

The $20 Savings Challenge is a great way to easily save $1,040 this year without noticing! All you have to do is save $20 each week for a year, and then you'll easily have $1,040.

The 100-envelope challenge is pretty straightforward: You take 100 envelopes, number each of them and then save the corresponding dollar amount in each envelope. For instance, you put $1 in “Envelope 1,” $2 in “Envelope 2,” and so on. By the end of 100 days, you'll have saved $5,050.

Match each week's savings amount with the number of the week in your challenge. In other words, you'll save $1 the first week, $2 the second week, $3 the third week, and so on until you put away $52 in week 52.

But know that this savings plan is effective, and it can help you sock away more than a thousand dollars in a year — $1,378 to be exact. You could build up even more if you put the funds in a high-yield savings account. Doing the challenge takes commitment, but it's easy to start.

If you saved $1 a day for a year, do you know how much money you'd have? Roughly $30,000. This is totally 100% true.

But don't panic if saving 15% of your annual income is a bit out of reach right now. It's OK to start small. In fact, you could start by setting aside $20 a day, five days a week.

Setting realistic savings goals is essential to ensure that you don't set yourself up for failure. One way to do this is by breaking down your target amount into smaller milestones. For example, if you aim to save $10,000 in three months, you can divide it into monthly targets of $3,333.

The benefit of the 100 Envelopes Challenge is that it starts small and encourages constant, conscious saving that builds quickly. But the trend—and the internet's obsession with buying “aesthetic” envelopes for it—may not be the most effective way to put away money, according to financial experts.

What is the 365 day money challenge? ›

If you want to start smaller, consider the 365-day penny challenge. For this challenge, you'll need a big jar and a whole lot of pennies. You'll put one penny in the jar on Day 1, two pennies on Day 2, and so on until you're putting 365 pennies on the last day of the year.

The seven percent savings rule provides a simple yet powerful guideline—save seven percent of your gross income before any taxes or other deductions come out of your paycheck. Saving at this level can help you make continuous progress towards your financial goals through the inevitable ups and downs of life.

The goal of the Challenge is simple: save $100 in a 30-day time period through a series of gradually increasing deposits. November has 30 days so every day is a savings day. As shown in the picture below, daily savings deposits start at $1 a day for five days followed by $2, $3, and $4 each for five days.

Each day for 100 days, you'll set aside a predetermined dollar amount in different envelopes. After just over 3 months, you could have more than $5,000 saved.

For something as short-term as this, it may be easier to set smaller, daily goals in order to make saving a part of your daily routine. In order to save $500 in 30 days, you would roughly need to save $17 per day, and this can be a combination of cutting back on spending and making extra money.

Week 1, you save $1.00. Week 2 you save $2.00, and it continues through the year, adding one more dollar to each week's savings goal. By Week 52, you'll set aside $52.00, which will bring the year's total savings to $1,378!

For example: $20 Per Week invested in a Bank Account earning 3.5% after 30 years is estimated to be worth $55,169, or $20 Per Week invested in an Investment Portfolio earning 7.0% after 30 years is estimated to be worth $106,298. Use our Savings Calculator to project the impact of implementing a Savings Plan.