Ready to start saving? Take the 52 weeks Money Challenge with the whole family

Have you heard of the 52 weeks money challenge? Here's a simple way to get the whole family started on saving. Read about it here.

What can you read in this article?

• How to do the 52 weeks money challenge
• The pros of taking on a money challenge
• Tips on saving money, and sticking to your goals

Do you find yourself pondering at the end of the year, wondering where all your money was spent?

At the start of the year, we always tell ourselves that we'll be more frugal and start saving. But as parents (and adults), it's so easy to fall into the endless cycle of working and getting our salary, paying for expenses and bills, and spending the rest on our wants, from the simplest things (like a cup of coffee) to the big purchases (like the latest gadget).

Before you know it, a whole year has passed and you're left poorer than you were last year (especially if you have debts you need to pay off), dumbfounded that you have not saved as much as you thought you would.

If you want to do better this coming year and stick to your goal of saving money, you can try the 52 weeks money challenge.

52 weeks Money Challenge

Money challenges make saving fun and exciting because it provides that extra boost of motivation if you've fallen behind your financial goals or even fallen off completely. What makes it more exciting is you can take on the challenge with other people such as your friends or even family members.

One of the most popular (and effective) money challenges around is the 52 weeks money challenge. After having gone viral on several social media sites and blogs in the United States, the challenge found its way to our shores.

The 52-week money challenge is strategically saving a certain amount of money each week over a period of 52 weeks which amounts to 1 year. If you stick to your weekly goals and do it religiously, at the end of the 52 weeks you will have saved a good chunk of money.

Benefits of taking on the 52 weeks money challenge

According to Clever Girl Finance, a popular finance blog in the US, aside from getting a huge amount of money by the end of the challenge, here are other positive things that can come out of it:

• You'll become a consistent saver

If you've never saved money, this challenge is the motivation you need to do it and stick to it this time. It's a great way of getting you into the habit of saving consistently, especially if you've struggled with it before.

• You'll be challenged to save even more money

Once you get the hang of things and feel that you can actually do this, you'll be more inspired to save more (even possibly doubling the amount of your savings).

• You'll get motivated to achieve even bigger financial goals

We get it, life is not all about money. But once you realized how important and how fulfilling saving is, you'll be motivated to think of ways to save your money, and in the process, become wiser financially. It will make you reflect on your financial goals and spending habits as well. You won't spend all the money you saved for some rash or impulsive purchase, right?

To add to that, taking on the money challenge can also help you influence others (specifically your family) on saving and the value of money. Teaching your kids to save is one of the best things you can instill in them because it will help them become more financially literate in the future.

When is the best time to start the 52 weeks money challenge?

Ideally, the best time to begin the challenge is on everyone's Week 1 or at the start of the year. You can make it one of your New Year's resolutions and make it easier for you to track your weekly progress.

However, there's no rule that tells you when you can start working on your financial goals. So whether it's the beginning, middle or towards the end of the year, you can start a money challenge at any time, given that you are ready to get started and have the motivation and the drive to stick to it. That said, the beginning of a new week or month would be a great time to start.

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How does the 52 weeks Ipon Challenge work?

Basically, it's saving in peso increments weekly. For example, you decide to save 50 pesos in your first week. The next week, you double that amount, putting away 100 pesos. By the third week, you triple the amount you originally started off with and put that in your money jar. So on and so forth. Sounds simple enough, right? Now, before you roll up your sleeves and dive into the 52 weeks money challenge, take note of the items that you'll be needing and tips to conquer the challenge, courtesy of Rhea of The Kuripot Pinay:

• A goal. This will keep you motivated to keep on saving. Think about something you'd like to splurge on which you normally don't. This can be the latest smartphone or a family trip to Europe. From there, break it down in terms of your weekly amount to save.
• Piggy bank. You can use a plastic container, a bottle, a jar or just about anything. This will be called a grownup piggy bank. Try using a covered one, so you won’t see the money stacked in there and count how much you already saved.
• Template. The challenge has an existing template that we can print out and tape in our piggy bank. However, since the amount is in dollars, Rhea took the liberty to edit the dollar part and translate it into Philippine Peso and altered the dollar equivalent to Php50. Here are the varied 52-Weeks ipon challenge templates to get you started.

Weekly Increment: 50 Pesos

What you can save after 52 weeks: Php68,900

Weekly Increment: 100 Pesos

What you can save after 52 weeks: Php137,800

What You Save After 52 Weeks

If you start with the 52 weeks money challenge on the first week of January and don't skip a week, then this is how much you should have saved by December:

Other ways to save money

To help you stay on track with your financial goals and motivate you to become a wiser person when it comes to spending and saving, here are some money-saving tips that you can apply to your day-to-day life:

• Keep track of your expenses

Monitoring and recording all of your daily expenses can make you more conscious of your spending habits and will give you an idea of some changes you need to make to reach your financial goals. Include everything - from electricity bills, online shopping purchases, and even that cup of milk tea you treated yourself with, and try to record them on an expenses tracker notebook or mobile app.

• Cut back on expenses

As you reflect on your spending habits, you will notice that there are indeed some things that you can do without and don't need to be part of your monthly or weekly expenses. Cancel subscriptions and memberships (gym, apps) you don’t use, and give yourself a cooling or waiting period before you check out the items in your cart when online shopping.

• Sell things you don't need

Admit it, you have things sitting around your home that you don't need. Whether it's that microwave oven that you won in a raffle, or clothes you think will go in-style again for in the next 10 years, let it go and use the money you got from it to amplify your savings.

Encourage the whole family to do the 52 weeks money Ipon challenge with you. Your little one can even start on the 1  to 5 pesos weekly increment. Trust us, he'll feel so proud of himself by the end of the 52nd week.

As you take on the money challenge and educate yourself financially, you develop lifelong skills that will help you and your family become more financially stable year after year. Best of luck to you!

If you have any insights, questions or comments regarding the topic, please share them in our Comment box below. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Google+ to stay up-to-date on the latest from theAsianparent.com Philippines!

Source:

Kuripotpinay.com, Clever Girl Finance