One of the best ways I’ve found over the years to save money is to do mini-savings challenges. These are easier ways to save a bit of money but not feel like you’re going without to put money into your savings.
There are different types of savings challenges. But I really like doing small or focused ones. They make it so much easier to do.
So I’ll save for Christmas, Birthdays, or sometimes bigger items that we need for the house. Doing it this way also reduces credit card spending.
I will usually do one or two of these a year along with some other money-saving techniques.
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What are Mini Savings Challenges?
These savings challenges are usually done for a shorter amount of time. And the dollar amounts are smaller. Most can be adapted to your needs at the time.
If you have a lower income then these are a really good way to save for big purchases or times of the year when you have to spend more than you normally would.
Most of the time you save either your change or $1 or $5 at a time. So that it’s not an overwhelming process to save money.
How Doing Savings Challenges Can Help Save Money
Doing challenges helps you save money because you put the money aside. Either in a binder, envelope or straight into your savings account.
This creates the out-of-sight mind thing that you need to put money away and not spend it.
If you don’t always see the money in your bank account, you’re less likely to spend any of it, which makes it easier to save money.
Types of Mini-Savings Challenges
There are many different types of mini savings challenges and there are some cool printables out there that can help.
So let’s take a look at the different challenges out there
$1 Mini-Savings Challenge
There are different ways to do this. But there are two that I really like.
The first is to take one dollar each day and put it in an envelope or a savings binder. This is a simple way to save about $30 a month. But you can always do more than $1 a day to save more if you need/want to.
Another way to do this is to put $1 the first, $2 the next, and $3 the next. So by the last day of the month, you’re putting 30 dollars in there for a total of about $465.
A third way to do this is to do it per week. So for each day of the week, you put in $1, then $2 till you get to $7 at the end of the week and start over at $1. This one will get you to $28 for the month.
$5 Mini-Savings Challenge
This is similar to the $1 challenge. But you put $5 away instead of $1. So you would put $5 the first day, $10 the next, and $15 the next. This one I like to do per week because it’s a little easier. But by the end of the month, you will have about $560 saved up.
Another way to do this is to save all the $5 bills that you come across. It’s hard to say how much this will save but if you’re the type to use cash and not your debit card then it would probably be a good amount.
A third way to do this is to put $5 a day for the whole month. Each day just put $5 aside for a total of $150 for the month.
Each of these could be changed to a $10 or $20 challenge depending on your income and savings goals.
But these examples give you a pretty good idea of how to do them and can be adapted to fit your needs or goals.
Spare Change Mini-Savings Challenge
As a waitress, this is one of the ones I do all year. You’d be surprised at how often people leave change as a tip or part of one.
Basically, I save all the change that I come across throughout the year and cash it in at the bank near Christmas. It’s one of the easiest ways to save a good bit of money and helps with buying presents for the family each year.
It’s hard to say how much you can save but there have been years when I’ve saved over $500 in change.
You can also take it to a Coinstar and cash it in. Just be sure to opt for an e-gift card so you don’t lose out by paying the fee.
I usually just get empty change rolls from the bank and roll them myself. It’s more time-consuming this way, but I can deposit it right into the bank and have it either in my savings or checking account when I need it.
Cash Envelope Mini Challenge
There are different ways to complete this challenge. But the simple way is to number envelopes 1 to whatever number you want. You could do 30, 50 or 100. It’s totally up to you.
But each day you pull an envelope and put that amount into it. So if you’ve chosen to do a 30-day challenge when you pull the envelope with a 25 on it, you put $25 in the envelope.
The amount you can save is different depending on how many envelopes you go with and how long you do the challenge. But you can save up a good amount of money this way.
Tips on Doing Mini-Savings Challenges
As with anything, mini-savings challenges take commitment and it can be hard to keep yourself motivated to save each time.
But there are some things you can do that will help you.
Tip #1 Get Your Mindset Right
Getting and keeping the right mindset while doing any sort of challenge is one of the biggest keys to completing them.
Make sure to keep in mind your why behind saving money and that will help you focus on the goal, not the journey.
Tip #2 Be Consistent
Consistency is key to completing anything. The more you make it a habit, the more you’re likely to remember.
So make sure to add the saving challenge to part of your daily or weekly routine so that you don’t have to worry about forgetting.
Tip #3 Accountability Partner
Make sure that a friend or family member knows you’re doing a challenge and have them check your progress.
This helps keep you motivated and on track by having someone to keep up with you about your progress.
You don’t even have to tell them what type of challenge you’re doing. Though they will probably want to know.
Final Thoughts
Doing mini-savings challenges can be a lot of fun. The trick is to be consistent and to make sure that the challenge itself is doable on your income and budget.
But once you start doing them the easier they get. You may find that you like having an easy way to save money instead of trying to cut back on things you don’t want or need to.