The 52-week saving challenge is a brilliantly simple way to hit your savings goals in just one year.
It’s great if you don’t have much spare income to put aside for savings or if you have one particular thing you need to save money for.
You could use the money to pay off debt, add to your emergency fund, pay for a holiday or pay for your family’s Christmas presents.
This is a brilliant challenge to do alongside efforts to save money. We are going to look at a few different versions of the 52-week saving challenge – and how you can use it to save $1,300, $5,000 or $10,000.
What is the 52-week money challenge?
The 52-week savings challenge is aimed at encouraging you to set aside money every single week.
You can approach the challenge in different ways depending on how ambitious you are feeling.
The easiest version of the 52-week savings challenge is to set aside small but gradually increasing amounts of money so that you can save a decent chunk of cash over the course of the year.
The amount you are saving increases by $1 (or £1, depending on where you live) every day.
It helps you get into good savings habits, as you need to stick with it for a full 52 weeks.
If you use the 52-week savings challenge then you can start really small and the amount snowballs over the course of the year.
We are starting by focusing on the $1 increments version, but if you want to save more than $1,300 then you could start at $5 or $10. Remember that the idea is that the amount you save increases by $1 every week.
How to do the 52-week savings challenge
The 52-week savings challenge is a great way to set aside small amounts of cash every week that add up to a big savings reward at the end. The typical way to do this is starting with $1 and then growing it every day.
By following the challenge you will save $1,378 (or £1,378). Enough to pay for a holiday, family gifts or that brand new sofa.
But as the amount of money you need to save so that you can hit your target grows then you will need to have more spare cash to meet that target.
Your 52-week savings plan means you need to increase the amount you save by $1 every week. So it goes like this:
- Week 1 – save $1
- Week 2 – save $2
- Week 3 – save $3
- Week 4 – save $4
- Continue adding $1 every week….
- Week 20 – save $20
- Week 40 – save $40
- Week 52 – save $52
Save $10,000 in a year
If you have a big savings goals then be more ambitious and go for the 52-week $10k challenge.
You could set aside the same amount every single week, which would be $193. Or you could mix up the amounts, so that some weeks are more challenging than others!
Save $5,000 in a year
Another version of this fun saving challenge would see you save $5k in a year. This could be a seriously useful amount for an emergency fund, or maybe towards your next house move.
You could approach this by saving $97 a week – or you could mix up the amounts and have some weeks be more challenging than others.
How to complete the 52-week savings challenge
So if you want to get started with the 52-week savings challenge here are some savings tips to help you get right through to the end!
You may also find some great tips for saving money to help fund the savings challenge over on my frugal living tips post.
Fix a start and finish date
If this is going to work you need to pick a date to get started and stick to that date.
It can help if you’re working towards a goal that is set on your calendar, such as Christmas or a holiday abroad.
Make sure you’ve written it down in your diary and phone calendar so that you can remember to keep on track with your savings goal.
Tell your loved ones
You will find motivation from your family and friends if you tell them what you’re doing. It can keep you accountable, as people may check in on how you’re getting on.
Telling people you live with is definitely a good idea, as your family can really push you to stick with it. This may be something you do together with your other half, which will be a huge help to get you to keep going.
Keep a record to motivate you
The best way to get through the saving plan and stick with it is to keep a record of what you have saved.
Once you get halfway through the challenge you will be able to look back and see how great your progress has been. It’s amazing that starting with $1 in the first week, you can hit $351 of savings by week 26, which is your halfway point.
You could create your own record to keep track of how you’re getting on – which would be a great option if you already love to bullet journal.
But I have my own printable record sheet that you can use! You can download it for free, with either £ or $, right here:
Earn extra cash with a side hustle
There are some really easy ways to make extra cash that will help you meet your 52-week savings challenge.
My favourite for the amount of money that we’re talking about in this challenge is to use paid surveys.
Some survey sites pay in shopping vouchers so you will need to choose one that pays cash to help you.
I personally am a big fan of Prolific as it’s quicker to get your cash paid out compared to other survey sites such as YouGov which can take months to make enough points to get a cash out.
Use cash back apps
If you shop online and don’t use cash back sites then you are missing out on money that is just sitting there for you to take!
You can install a cash back app on your phone if most of your shopping is done with your smartphone or shop via the cash back site from your web browser.
Cash back sites are simple. You go to the cash back website, set up a profile and pick the brand you want to buy from. Click the link from the cash back site and make your purchase.
You will then get cash back on that purchase to your account. Cash back sites can afford to this because they get a slice of the sale you make by purchasing through their link. They give some of that back to you.
Many people report raking back hundreds of pounds a year with cash back sites so it is well worth getting an account set up and making use of them.
Cut back on your takeout
Do you get a regular takeout coffee or takeaways at the weekend?
Why not try to cut back by a couple of coffees a week or stick to just the one takeaway a month.
This will save you some valuable pounds to help you hit your 52-week savings target, especially in the final weeks when the amount you need to save is a lot more than at the start of the year.
Be clear what your goal is
What do you need to save that money for? If you have a goal you can visualise for the finish line then that will motivate you to get through to the end of the challenge.
It’s a good idea to have a reminder of your goal somewhere you can see. If it’s a holiday then maybe stick a photo of your destination on the fridge.
How to do the reverse 52 week savings challenge
This is a brilliant way to save if you would rather get the toughest part of the savings challenge out of the way first.
In reverse you start with the largest payment on day one and then work your way down to the lowest payment in week 52 of your savings challenge.
So the reverse 52 week savings challenge works like this:
- Week 1 – save $52
- Week 2 – save $51
- Week 3 – save $50
- Week 4 – save $49
- Week 52 – Save $1
Other variations on the 52 week savings challenge
You may want to mix it up a little and try a different approach with the same goal of saving yourself a decent amount of money!
Here are some different ways to take on the 52 week savings challenge.
You call the shots
Instead of following the order of the challenge you choose exactly how much you put aside and on what week.
This works great if you have a variable income or your expenses fluctuate throughout the year (for example my expenses get higher around Christmas, for obvious reasons, and summer when I need to kit the kids out with new uniforms and entertain them over the holidays).
You decide how much you can put away each week and pick an amount from the list. You work from the same list of 52 amounts, but you just pick one each week based on whether you’re feeling flush or you want to save a little less.
The cons of this are you may be tempted to use up all of the low amounts early on. So try to spread out the high and low savings amounts to avoid a tougher challenge towards the end.
Pick at random
If you really want to mix it up with this challenge then try choosing the amounts at random. You could either use an online random number generator to choose or cut out all of the amounts from the 52 weeks and put them in a pot and pick one every week.
This makes the challenge a little more fun, and it can be a great feeling in the week when you pick a smaller number!
Final thoughts on the 52 week savings challenge
If you want to save more than £1,000 this year then the 52 week savings challenge is a great way to do it.
A savings challenge can be a really good way to motivate you to get saving, and if you have a particular goal in mind that should help you stick with it.
If you are worried you won’t be able to manage this, then you could switch it to a penny 365 day savings challenge. You start with a penny on day one and increase by a penny every day. By the final day you will save $3.66.
Your total saved with the 365 day savings challenge is $671.61. This may appeal to you if you’re worried about the increasing amounts for the 52 week challenge.
Best of luck with your savings challenge!
