What would you do with some spare cash? Splurge on a new phone? Build an emergency fund? Save for retirement? It’s tough to save money when it seems like there’s already little to go around, especially in Singapore where the cost of living increases every year.
Did you know that even on a tight budget, there are practical ways to save money easily?
All it takes is a simple money saving challenge to build the habit of saving through a little financial motivation.
You don’t have to rely solely on investment options like Stock trading, Forex trading or Fixed Deposit accounts to grow your wealth.
In this article, we’ve shortlisted our top 6 Money Saving Challenge Ideas that are fun, easy to accomplish and ACTUALLY brings you closer to your financial goals.
Challenge 1: The 52-Week Savings Challenge
This challenge is one of our favorites as it’s easy to achieve and as you might have guessed, helps you save money over the course of the year.
How it works
In the first week, you can start small by saving $5. Then for each subsequent week, you increase your savings amount by $5 until you’re eventually setting aside $260 on the last week of the year. So if you do your sums right, by the end of challenge, you would have saved $6,890!
This challenge is easy to start, easy to track and if you’re feeling confident, try upping the increments to $10 or even $20.
Challenge 2: Weather Wednesdays
A fun challenge especially in Singapore when the weather can soar to scorching temperatures – on Wednesdays, we save money.
How it works
It’s simple. If the temperature reads 33 degrees that day, you’ll have to save $33 that day.
Every Wednesday for an entire year, you’ll have to put away the amount of money equal to the temperature at 3:00PM that day. Why 3PM? That’s when the sun is at its highest and don’t cheat on rainy days as well, substitute Wednesday for another sunny day if it pours.
The fun part about this challenge comes with not knowing what the temperature will be and how much you’ll need to save. One day not enough for you? Make it a real test by using 2 or 3 days of the week instead!
Challenge 3: The Coffee Break Challenge
We had a tough time completing this one. We figured that if we wanted to change our saving habits, our lifestyle had to change as well.
How it works
Instead of ordering your favorite Starbucks drink, try making your own coffee whenever possible. And as a reward, put whatever you would’ve spent on that latte into a jar or savings account. If you’re a coffee addict, you’ll see that this challenge helps you save $4-5 everyday!
You can try it for bubble tea as well. Give your favorite milk tea with pearls a break and your waistline may end up thank you too!
Challenge 4: The $5 Savings Challenge
Five dollars: the cost of a Happy Meal, the price of a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream or the price of 3 meats & 2 vegetables at your favorite ‘cai fan’ stall. Before you use your next $5 bill, there’s a better way to use that money.
How it works
For an entire year, stash away EVERY single $5 note you come across in a jar or piggy bank and crack it open at the end to count your savings. We challenged our colleagues to this and were surprised when we found more than $300 inside!
$5 no kick? Shake it up with $10 notes instead!
Challenge 5: Bad Habit Money Jar Challenge
Skipped the gym for the third time this month? Swore in front of your kid? Smoked one too many sticks?
How it works
Everytime you give in to your bad habits, put $2 into a money jar. This challenge not only encourages you to save money, it’ll help you kick some of those vices.
Turn this into a family activity by roping your spouse or kids in to do the same!
Challenge 6: Expense Tracking Challenge
This one isn’t exactly a challenge, but it definitely helps keep your spending in check! All you have to do is to commit to tracking every single dollar you spend for a period of time – usually a month. That way, you’ll see exactly where your salary is going and whether there’s anything you can do to change it.
How it works
There’s no set way to do the tracking. You could use Google Sheets, pen and paper or download an expense tracking app like Fortune City or Monefy. The goal is to observe where you’re spending money, especially if you use credit cards and you’re not sure where the money goes every month.
Time To Get Started
We’ve specially chosen these 6 money saving challenges as they are not as scary as investing and can be weaved into your everyday lifestyle. Once you start fostering good saving habits, you will have an emergency fund for unexpected events and treat yourself that dream vacation.
Share this article with your friend and rope them in as well so that you have someone else to give you an extra push to complete the challenge!
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