52 Week Money Challenge

Who wants $1,378 by the end of the year?  I DO!!!

I'm the first to admit that I'm no money guru.  BUT, I really am committing 2017 as the year I become more financially focused and work on getting my finances in a better place.

So I thought, why don't I challenge myself and set a financial goal.  I'm going to SAVE $1,378 this year by doing a 52 Week Money Challenge.  It's simple...each week of the year you save that number in dollars.  So since it's the first week of the year, you save or put away $1.  During week 2, you save $2.  Week 3, you save $3.  You get where I'm going with this?  Go all the way to the last week of the year (week 52), and you will end up with $1,378.  Pretty cool.

For you visual people, like me, here's a chart I created:

I, myself, get paid once a month, so I made a chart for that:

I know some of you may get paid Bi-Weekly, so here's a chart for that:

Now, you need to decide how and where you're going to save your money:

1)  Open up a separate share account.

This is the route I'm choosing this year.  I'm actually calling the account "Money Challenge."  If you open up a separate share account, you can make transfers from your own Checkings.  You can even set up automatic transfers.

2)  Transfer the money to a whole other separate bank account.

This idea is great if you don't want to see the money, so you're not tempted to remove it.

3)  Put cash in a jar (or container/box).

This may be old fashioned, but it works.  Take out cash each week and place it in your container.  Put it somewhere so you can watch it grow, or hide it so you won't take from it.

Pick a day of the week to make your "deposits" to yourself.  The above charts show Fridays as deposit day, but you can pick any day that works for you.

Helpful Tip:

I highlighted certain weeks on the charts to check your progress.  The whole point is to stay on the schedule but reality is we may not.  Life happens.  Use the highlighted weeks as "catch up" weeks or even put a little extra so in case you fall short later or even just end up with more money.

One last thing to keep you motivated:

Set a PURPOSE for your money that you will be getting.  Are you going to buy a special item?  Are you going to go on a trip?  Will you pay down debt?  Will you be donating it?  For me, I'm going to donate a portion to my church and a portion to a charity that my daughters and I will decide on.  The rest of the money will go to a special trip or adventure for me and my girls.  

I will check in with you throughout the year to keep ME on track.  Wish me luck!

Your Street Cred Mama,

Arlyn