I’ve finally reached the halfway mark of the 52-Week Money Saving Challenge! Beginning this past April, I consistently added to my savings on a weekly basis ($1 during week one, $2 during week two, and so on…) in addition to what I’ve been saving towards my emergency fund. I’ve collected a total of $351! It amazes me that in six more months, that number will grow to just under $1,400 when the challenge is complete at the end of March. It seems so far away, but that also makes me realize that I’ve come so far. I made it a point to abide by the planned amounts each week, re-arranging as needed – sometimes I gave myself less spending money or cut back on my fueling costs if I was in a pinch for cash to save. It almost became a game of sorts. I made this goal a priority, and I’m proud of myself for sticking to it, week after week.
What have I learned so far? The biggest lesson I’ve learned by doing this challenge is how important it is to prioritize. I started it because I wanted a plan to help me save towards a long-term goal – furnishing our future house – whether that meant buying actual furniture or little touches to make it feel more like a home. Since the majority of my paycheck goes towards paying bills and building an emergency fund, I wanted a simple and affordable savings plan that would work within my budget. I’ve learned that saving for something that’s important for your future sometimes means that you have to make a few sacrifices in the here and now, and monitoring your budget from month to month (or even weekly) can help you prioritize where your money is going.
What’s next? It’s time to re-evaluate. I think the first half of the challenge is fairly easy – you’re mostly only saving a few bucks for the first couple of weeks or so, and then you gradually work up to savings in the $20s. The real challenge starts when I need to start saving $30, $40, or even $50 per week. Where will this money come from? Where can I make changes in my budget? Will it take away from my emergency savings? Will this plan still work for me? These are the questions that I’ll begin to tackle in the next few weeks. Since the end goal is something that’s important to me, I want to stick to the plan for as long as I possibly can. This might mean that I have to cut back on the “free money” I grant myself every month. This might mean that I have to adjust how much I contribute to other savings goals. Maybe I can even take on extra work occasionally to help reduce what I take from my paycheck. I still feel comfortable with making the suggested contributions each week, but maybe I need to take more time to collect the suggested amount throughout the month and move it to my savings during the last week. I’m eager to update everyone at the end of the next quarter and let you know how everything works out.
How have your plans for saving been going? Are you staying on track?
