365 Day Saving Challenge

Do you have trouble setting aside a portion of your income regularly? Do you often start feeling all giddy and excited but after a few days or months, fall off the track and end up saving not a single penny? Do you feel like saving is too hard and it’s just not meant for you?

Wait! Don’t fret because we might just have what you need! It’s called the 365-Day Savings Challenge. This challenge is designed to create a habit of saving for beginners or those who want to save without giving up too much of the budget.

Basically, the concept is to save consistently and incrementally every single day for a year. Now that may sound too much and too long. But, we make this doable by starting with a very small amount and saving in increments of that amount every next day.

The illustration above begins with 1 cent. This means on Day 1, you save 1¢. You then increment by the same amount for the next day. So on Day 2, you set aside 2¢. On Day 3, that’s 3¢. And so on and so forth. To help you monitor your progress, crush out the box if you have finished saving its corresponding amount. On the 365th day, you set aside $3.65, which is the maximum amount required that you save in this challenge. Now that’s probably just equivalent to a Fun Size Skittles. Not challenging enough, eh? But, at the end of the year, you add up these few cents and you get… drum roll please… $667.95! Who would have thought that something so little could in fact, with discipline, go a long way?

There are also varied gameplays for this challenge. You may want to finish in 6 months (instead of a year) so you can cross out 2 boxes in a day. If you prefer a little excitement, you can save in random — pick an amount in the table regardless of the day that you are currently in. If you think you could afford bigger amounts, you may want to start off with greater than 1¢, say $1. Your maximum amount to save is $365. If you do the math, that’s $6,679.50 in a year.

The key here is forming the habit. Well, of course, the money you save is a big deal. But in this case, the habit that you build and the discipline that allowed you to achieve it is much more valuable. And you’ll come to realize that $667.95 is just a bonus.

Then again, your capacity to save is not necessarily proportional to your income. A bigger income does not guarantee bigger savings (how many six-to-seven-figures-a-month earners have we known who went bankrupt?). I would say the capacity to save is proportional to one’s self-discipline. So instead of asking yourself “How much income do I have?” better ask, “How much discipline do I have?”

Ready to take this challenge? If you can give up spending on Skittles, then of course you are!

With February approaching its end you can still catch up :)