+21 Fun Money Saving Challenge To Try In 2024 (Ultimate Guide)

Saving money don’t need to be boring or hard. With some creativity you can make saving money fun and exciting.

If you are looking for money-saving challenges to help you save, here is the complete list of savings challenges to try to start putting away money for your emergency fund, boost your savings and help you meet your financial goals.

As a kid, I learn the best way to save money is to make it fun and adopt the right mindset to save. Here are 20+ challenges that will help you:

• Change your saving habits.
• Help you get started in saving as a beginner.
• Fun challenges that help you meet your money saving goals.
• Challenges that help you save more and build wealth.

Money Challenges To Improve Saving Habits

Money habits is probably the first thing you need to consider when you just learn to save. These challenges help you nurture better saving habits which can be beneficial to you in the future.

1. 7 Day Money Challenge

The 7-day money saving challenge is created by CNBC, it is a seven-day financial challenge that help you align your money choices with the things that you care the most.

To do the 7-day money challenge here are the 7 steps in 7 days:

1. Day One: Get the numbers of your own net worth.
2. Day Two: Understand what are the things you spend, so you will know where your money flows.
3. Day Three: Determine the amount you’ll need for your emergency fund and rainy day fund.
4. Day Four: Set your saving goal and savings plan to achieve your goal.
5. Day Five: Set up plans to start investing, and if you are current invested, review your investing portfolio and understand if it will help you towards your goal.
6. Day Six: Plan how you may contribute to the society through charity.
7. Day Seven: Plan a periodic review for your your next money challenge.

Most people don’t check their own financial health, but with the 7 day money challenge, you are able to understand and assess your own financial health.

2. Weather Friday Saving Challenge

The Weather Friday saving challenge is created by Income Buddies and is a great way to randomize your savings every week.

To do the weather Friday challenge there is only 1 step:

1. Each Friday simply put away the highest temperature of where you stay, and save that amount in dollars.

If it is 90 degrees fahrenheit out there, you’ll put aside $90 into your savings account that week. If it is hotter than that you’ll save even more.

Why Weather Friday and not Weather Wednesday or any other days of the week?

For a weekly pay schedule, Friday is usually the day where you will receive your paycheck.

Saving the set amount at the same moment you get your paycheck let you pay yourself first.

With Weather Friday Saving Challenge, this comes out to roughly 52 paychecks a year, meaning you’ll get 52 opportunities to pay yourself first before you go for any parties or buying anything you want!

3. 1% Saving Challenge

1% saving challenge is to save 1% more each month. Meaning you will be putting aside 1% more of your salary into your saving account each month.

To start this 1% saving challenge there is a few steps:

1. Calculate your 1% of your monthly salary or income
2. Save that 1% of your income as your savings for the first month that you start.
3. Save 1% more income the following month.
4. Repeat step 3 till you achieve in saving 12% of your income each month at the end of the 12-month challenge.
5. If your income allows, continue increase saving 1% of your income till you are unable to increase anymore.

With this challenge, you will minimally able to save at least 12% of your income at the end of the year which is quite good for beginner savers.

4. No Eating Out Challenge

Eating out is often expensive and can cost you quite a lot in the long term. It is reported that an average American household spend at least $3,000 a year dinning out.

No eating out challenge is sometimes also called the pantry challenge, because you will be making your own meal instead of eating out and spend money which you can save.

To start the no eating out challenge you’ll only need two steps:

• Set a time limit for your no eating out challenge, it can be 1 month, 3 months or even a year.
• Try this challenge for at least 1 month and see how it goes, if you are able to stop eating out continue with this challenge.

This is an alternate form of no-spend challenge, and by the end of the year, you’ll probably be at least $3,000 richer in your saving account!

5. No Coffee Challenge

14.4% of people surveyed reported that they spend at least $40 dollars a month just on coffee, and these people surveyed includes both coffee drinkers and non-coffee drinkers.

While $40 don’t seems a lot, another survey shows 49% of coffee drinker drink 3 to 5 cups of coffee a day. With a cup of coffee costing an average of $4, that is approx. $12 to $20 a day, calculating to at least $360 a month and $4,320 a year.

To start this challenge simply need to do one thing:

• Stop buying coffee, but instead make your own coffee.

Well, I understand that you want to have some caffeine boost in the morning, and not having coffee seems too cruel, thus it is ok to make your own coffee.

Compared to a café coffee, you home made coffee only cost between $0.16 to $0.18 a cup, which is approx. $172.80 a year.

Homemade coffee is 25 times cheaper than café coffee. This challenge is a great way to increase your savings especially for coffee lovers 

6. Cancellation Challenge (Subscription service cancellation)

Cancellation challenge is to stop the outflow of money due to your subscription service.

The subscription industry is growing every year, and by 2026, it is going to become a $115 billion industry, and you are one of the subscribers that is contributing to the growth.

To get started in the cancellation challenge here are a few steps:

1. List out the subscription services you are currently subscribed to.
2. Categories each service according to your use frequency.
3. Identify those which you rarely use and if possible cancel the subscription service.

The average consumers pays $219 per month on subscriptions and many of those the consumer don’t use it anymore. This challenge will save you your monthly expenses and let you have extra money for other uses.

7. Think Before You Click Challenge

Like what the name suggest, Income Buddies just need to create this challenge, because we are buying too much unused stuff at home!

The name of the challenge may not feel as cool as some others, but this can be a great challenge to start, especially if you love to buy stuff online.

Today more people are buying stuff online, and with mega eCommerce giant like Amazon that basically sells everything online, it is easy for us to fall into the trap of impulse buy.

To get started in the Think Before You Click Challenge, here is how:

1. Stop browsing online endlessly if you are not intending to buy anything.
2. Before you click the buy button stop and count from 0 to 60, by counting numbers it give you time to stop and think if you really need to buy it.
3. Ask yourself why you want to buy the item, is there something similar that does the same thing?

By giving yourself time to think and asking the right questions, oftentimes you will find that it is an impulse buy. By not buying unnecessary stuff, it help you save more money.

Saving Challenges For Beginners With Small Budgets

Having a small budget and low income does not mean you have any excuses not to save. These list of challenges can helps families of any budget to start saving without any stress, while making the process fun.

8. Penny Saving Challenge

Penny saving challenge is also known as the 1p challenge (1 penny challenge) or 1c challenge (1 cent challenge). Created by the team at play pennies, it is a popular 365 day saving challenge that last the entire year.

This challenge is super popular amount younger generations and it teaches the concept of the power of compounding growth.

This challenge is suitable for beginner savers and individuals with low income or having low budget to start saving money.

To start the penny saving challenge here are the steps:

1. Start by saving a penny into your saving jar.
2. For 365 days, each day you increase the amount of money you save by 1 penny.
3. On day 100, you will be saving $1 on that day and on day 200, you will be saving $2 on that day.
4. Add a penny to the previous day’s amount you need to save and repeat this process for 365 days. Eg. $1.00, $1.01, $1.02…
5. By the end of 365 days you’ve saved $667.95

9. Spare Change Challenge

Spare change challenge is just as the name suggest, it is saving the space change you’ll get from buying anything.

No, I am not suggesting you to spend more money so you can have some spare change, what I am suggesting is that you can keep your spare change into a saving jar every time you need to buy anything.

To start this spare change challenge here are a few steps:

1. Get a nice jar and label it as spare change.
2. Determine your definition of spare change, personally, I will think since we are saving money, anything that is less than $10 should be considered a spare change.
3. Every time you get spare change, it can be $0.10 or $5, it doesn’t matter, as long as it is a spare change it should be saved.

This is a great way to save money regardless where you are in your financial journey. Try to save as much as possible by changing your definition of “spare change”, higher the number more you will save.

Just put all the extra money into savings and see your saving account grow.

10. Round Up Money Challenge (Round up your purchase and save the difference)

Simply put, with this challenge you’ll round up your purchase price and save the difference.

To start the round up money challenge you’ll need to follow these steps:

1. Define the number you intent round up, the most common number will be rounding up to a whole number such as a dollar. 
2. After each purchase round up the numbers to the nearest whole number and save the difference.

While this may seems troublesome to round up to a dollar for each of your purchase, there are financial Apps available that helps you automates this process.  

Examples of App available:

• Acorns
• Chime
• Greenlight
• Qapital
• Qoins

11. $1 Saving Challenge

1 dollar saving challenge is probably one of the simplest progressive form of weekly saving challenge that let matches each week’s saving amount with the week of the year, and at the course of a year you’ll save $1,378.

To start your $1 saving challenge here are the steps:

1. Start saving $1 on your first week.
2. On the next week save $1 more than the previous week.
3. At week 52, you will be saving $52 for that week.

Savings Goal Challenge To Try

These are some saving challenges where you have a certain goal to complete. It can be to make a purchase such as a vacation or a simple gift for your loved ones.

Alternatively, you can use these challenges to help you build your emergency fund or rainy day fund.

Designed for small to mid size savings, it is the perfect challenges for kids, teens, families and beginner savers to start.

12. Vacation Saving Challenge

With the vacation saving challenge, you will be saving with the goal of funding your vacation without taking out money from your current saving account.

To start your vacation saving challenge here are the steps:

1. Find the vacation spot you are intending to go.
2. Calculate the expenses you’ll need for your upcoming vacation.
3. Calculate the amount you’ll need to use for saving, investing and paying for your essential living expenses.
4. Calculate the spare cash you have each month after putting aside your money for the essentials in step 3.
5. Divide the total expense required against your spare cash, the number you get is the number of months you’ll need to save for your vacation. 

Vacations are expensive,  but with the vacation saving challenge you can start saving up for a vacation in no time.

13. Valentine’s Saving Challenge

Valentines is an important day for couples, this is especially true if you want to do something special and spice up the romance and celebrate your love for your significant others.

Valentines saving challenge is not about not celebrating valentine, but on contrast, it is about preparing yourself to make your valentine extra special.

To start your valentine saving challenge here are the steps:

1. Decide on what are the plan you want to do on the valentine day.
2. Calculate the expense for the day.
3. Divide the amount by the number of weeks you have before valentine.
4. The number you get is the amount you need to save every week.

Keep to your goals on the amount you need to save, and by valentine, you’ll be well prepared to surprise your significant other!

14. Biweekly Savings Challenge

Biweekly saving challenge is to progressively increase the amount your save every two weeks. This challenge give you more flexibility and time to save within the 14 days to meet your biweekly saving goals.

It is best suited for people with a tight budget or paid bi-weekly.

To start this biweekly savings challenge, here are the steps:

1. Start with a relatively smaller amount of saving on the first 2 weeks. Depending on your capability, you can start with $10 for the first amount.
2. Every 2 weeks add an extra $5 to the last amount you’ve put away.
3. By the end of a year you’ll have saved $1,040.

15. 30 Days Money Challenge

Designed for simplicity, the 30 day saving challenge is probably the best money savings challenge that any beginner savers should try.

It is a fun way to put your money into your savings without much calculations.

To start your 30-days money challenge, here are the steps:

1. Prepare a saving jar and label it 30 days money challenge.
2. Look at the calendar and know which day of the money you are today.
3. Save the dollar amount of the day of the month into the jar.
4. Repeat this for the next 30 days.

While this works regardless of which day you start your challenge, it is good to start this challenge on the first day of the month.

By the end of the 30 days, you’ll have saved approx. $465.

16. 1K 3-Month Saving Challenge

The 1K 3-month saving challenge is designed to help you save $1,000 in 3 months which is approx. 12 weeks of saving. Unlike the other challenge, this challenge offers you the flexibility to choose the amount you save every week.

To start this 1K 3-month saving challenge, here are the steps:

1. Draw 12 boxes on a piece of paper.
2. Write $60 on 2 of the boxes.
3. Write $70 on 2 of the boxes.
4. Write $80 on 2 of the boxes.
5. Write $90 on 2 of the boxes.
6. Write $100 on 4 of the boxes.
7. These amount on each of the boxes represents the weekly savings goals.
8.  Each week after you reach your saving goal cross out the amount that you’ve saved.
9. When you’ve completed the challenge, you’ll have saved $1,000.

17. 26-Week Challenge

26-week challenge is the same as 6-months saving challenge. It is a challenge where the saving amount increase every week, making the challenge slightly more difficult than the last.

This is more suitable for people with low income or low budget.

To start the 26-week challenge, here are the steps:

1. Create a checklist with 26 rows, each row represents 1 week.
2. Start your first amount according to the different level of difficulty $5 (Easy), $25 (Average) and $100 (Hard).
3. Week two save $5 more than the previous week.
4. Week three save $5 more than the previous week.
5. Repeat the process for 26 weeks, and at the 26 week, you will be saving $130 per week, $150, or $225 per week depending on how much you start with your first amount.

With this challenge you can save from the range of $1,755 to $4,225 after 26 weeks.

18. 100 Envelop Challenge

100 envelop saving challenge is also called the 100-day saving challenge. The concept is simple, it is to save a certain amount in each of the 100 envelop, and once you’ve left with no envelop, you’ve completed the challenge.

To start the 100 envelop challenge, here are the steps:

1. Prepare 100 envelop and label them “Day 1” to “Day 100”.
2. On day 1, put $1 in the envelop labeled “Day 1” and on day 2, put $2 in the envelop labeled “Day 2” and continue this till you have no more envelop.
3. Continue your savings according to the number of days till you’ve reach the last envelop where you deposit $100 into your savings.

Once you’ve completed the challenge you’ll have a grand total of $5,050 saved using this method.

19. 12 Month Saving Challenge

12 month saving challenge is to focus on small amount saved each month while increasing in the difficulty where you will feel comfortable.

Monthly savings challenge is a beginner saving challenge where it is most suited for low income earners and people with low budget.

To start the 12 month saving challenge, here are the steps:

1. Save $30 on your first month.
2. Increase the amount you save by $10 the next month.
3. Continue this process to 12 months.

With this challenge, you will get to save $1020 by the end of 12 months period.

20. 52-Week Saving Challenge

The 52-week saving challenge is also called the 52-week money challenge. It is a weekly challenge where it uses the weeks of the year as the amount you’ll need to save for the week.

To start the 52-week saving challenge, here are the steps:

1. Get a calendar where it shows the week of the year.
2. Preferably start this challenge on week number 1, otherwise it can be slightly more confusing.
3. Put aside the same amount of money as the week of the year each week.
4. Repeat the savings each week for 52 weeks.

By the end of the challenge you’ll have saved $1,378.

21. Reverse 52-Week Saving Challenge

Similar to the 52-week saving challenge, the reverse version simply means to save the bigger amount first, and save the smaller amount on the last week of the challenge.

To start the reverse 52-week saving challenge, here are the steps:

1. Get chart or create a chart with 52 weeks.
2. Label week 1 as $52, week 2 as $51 and so on, ending with week 52 as $1.
3. Start your challenge by saving $52 on your first week, and continue till you reach the end of the chart where you save $1 on the 52 week. 

Similar to the non-reverse version, by the end of the challenge you’ll have saved $1,378.

Wealth Building Challenge To Try

Building wealth means to have a goal in the amount of money you want to save a year. Unlike the previous challenges mentioned, these wealth building challenges are more serious and slightly more difficult to complete.

With this, I’ve separated them into four different levels according to your income level and ability to complete this challenge.

1. Save $5,000 In A Year Challenge

Saving $5,000 a year is the easiest to complete, not only it is achievable for most average households, it takes little to no effort to complete this challenge and make you $5,000 richer by the end of a year.

It is a weekly challenge where it becomes progressively harder each week.

To start the save $5,000 a year challenge, here are the steps:

1. Save $5 for the first week.
2. Increase the amount you need to save by $5 ever week till the end of 52 week.
3. You will be saving $260 on your last week.

At the end of the year you’ll have saved $6,890 which is $1,890 more than you $5K saving goal.

Saving $5,000 a year is absolutely doable for anyone with an income of more than $35,000 annual salary. You will be saving $260 which is 38.62% of your salary on the 52th weeks of your challenge.

You’ll have at least $413.07 to spend on your 52th week, making this challenge doable in most cases.

2. Save $10,000 In A Year Challenge

Saving $10,000 a year is probably the most popular ask by most of my readers. Getting a 5-figure sum saved in your saving account is a great feeling, This is a 52-week challenge where you get to see a significant increase of the amount of money that goes into your savings.

Simply challenge a friend and see if both of you can hit your saving goals together.

To start the save $10,000 a year challenge, here are the steps:

1. Save $65 for the first week.
2. Increase the amount you need to save by $5 ever week till the end of 52 week.
3. You will be saving $320 on your last week.

With a higher initial savings amount, you get to save $10 within a year even if you are just increasing the amount you save each week by $5.

Saving $10,000 a year is absolutely doable for anyone with an income of more than $45,000 annual salary. You will be saving $320 which is 36.97% of your salary on the 52th weeks of your challenge.

You’ll have at least $545.38 to spend on your 52th week which is enough for most people.

3. Save $20,000 In A Year Challenge

$20,000 saved per year is not easy for those who are low income earners or have low-budget, this is more suitable for middle income families with a certain level of earning power.

If you want to save $20,000 a year, simply saving money on groceries and saving money on eating out might not be enough.

Nonetheless, savers who are aiming to save $20,000 a year can follow this saving challenge to help them push their saving to the next level.

To start the save $20,000 a year challenge, here are the steps:

1. Save $260 for the first week.
2. Increase the amount you save by $5 every week for the next 52 weeks.
3. You will be saving $515 on your last week.

Saving $260 is not a lot for high income earners, in fact if you are earning at least $70,000 per annual, saving $260 on your first week should be easy.

The save $20,000 a year challenge is perfect for anyone who earn more than $70,000 per annual. Even on the 52th week, you are only saving $515 which on that week, which is only 38.25% of your week’s income

You’ll have at least $831.15 to spend on your 52th week which quite a lot of room for you to play around with.

4. Save $50,000 In A Year Challenge

Saving $50,000 a year is not for everyone, only those who are considered high income earners are able to save such a sum per year.

But since you are a reader of Income Buddies, if you want to save $50,000 per year, there is a little hack where you may able to achieve it over a period of time. It can be made possible by these few ways:

• Increase your income through investing.
• Increase your income through income earn from side-hustles.
• Have an high income job where you are able to put aside a large portion of your income into savings.

To start the save $50,000 a year challenge, here are the steps:

1. Save $710 on your first week.
2. Increase the amount you save by $10 every week for the next 52 weeks.
3. You will be saving $1,220 on your last week.

Saving $710 a week sounds like a lot, but if you are a high income earner earning at least $120,000 a year, $710 is just 30% of your salary, giving you $1597.69 to spend for the rest of the week.

Even on the 52th week of the saving challenge, you are only saving $1220 which is around 52.87% of your income, giving you $1,087.69 to spend for the rest of the week.

Stay Motivated And Pick The Right Money-Saving Challenges To Try

Challenge works by keeping you engaged and motivated to complete the challenge. Learning the right money habits and keep saving a little extra money over a long period of time can help you reach your savings goal.

When picking the right money-saving challenges to try, here are a few questions you may want to ask:

• Do you want some money challenges that can help you adopt a better money mindset? If so, check out the money challenges that can help you improve your saving habits.
• Do you want to pick a challenge that help you save money by doing the thing you do everyday? If so, try out the list of saving challenges for beginners with small budgets.
• Do you have a saving goal where you want to reach over a period of time? If so, try out the list of saving goal challenges that are great for beginners.
• Do you want to challenge yourself further and see more money going into your saving account every week? If so, you may want to take the wealth building challenge.

Regardless which saving challenge you choose to start, challenge helps you get motivated to start save the money for your future use.

My Final Thoughts

Challenge is a fun way to start growing your bank account. Just get creative and enjoy the process of saving for your future.

What makes it effective is you get to see what your money goes after each day, week, month or year, you get to experience the progress towards your final goal. 

After you’ve completed one challenge, just pick another challenge and start saving again!

Read Also:

• Cash Management Account vs Brokerage Account: What is the Difference?
• Key Features of Cash Management Account
• Benefits of Cash Management Account: Unlocking Financial Efficiency and Flexibility
• 7 Streams of Income to Build Wealth Now! (Powerful Income Ideas)
• How to Create Passive Income With Your Expertise Today (5-Easy Steps)

Antony C.

Founder & Financial Writer at Income Buddies | Website | Posts by Author

Antony C. is a dividend investor with over 15+ years of investing experience. He’s also the book author of “Start Small, Dream Big“, certified PMP® holder and founder of IncomeBuddies.com (IB). At IB, he share his personal journey and expertise on growing passive income through dividend investing and building online business. Antony has been featured in global news outlet including Yahoo Finance, Nasdaq and Non Fiction Author Association (NFAA).

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