9 money-saving challenges to try in 2023

Looking for ways to save more money in 2023? Here are nine pain-free challenges that can boost your savings by thousands.

Saving money is not all about sacrificing everything you love. There are some pain-free – and dare I say fun – challenges to give you a kick-start. I have found nine that I think are worth a shot. You could do one at a time or, if you want to give your savings a real boost, try doing a few of them together.

1. 52-week challenge

This is probably one of the more well-known money-saving challenges. It’s a popular one to start at the beginning of the year but you can start any time you like. Essentially you save $1 in week one and increase it by $1 each week – so $5 in week five, $20 in week 20, $35 in week 35 and so on. At the end of 52 weeks you’ll have $1,378 stashed away.

You can also put a spin on this and do it in reverse – that is, put away $52 in week one and reduce it by $1 as the weeks go by. You might find it easier to save bigger amounts when you first start the challenge.

You can find free printables online that you can use to track your progress. Alternatively, you can create your own template, in Excel for example, and use that.

2. The envelope challenge

How do you like the idea of saving $5,050 in 100 days? The envelope challenge can help you achieve that goal. Basically, you get 100 envelopes and label them from one to 100. Shuffle them and then each day pull one out at random. Whatever number is written on the envelope is what you have to save that day. Simply pop that amount of cash into the envelope. If you prefer, you can set up a savings account for the challenge and transfer the amount into that account rather than saving it as cash.

If you like the idea but feel like it might be too hard then you could opt to pull out an envelope every second day rather than every day. You’ll still hit that $5,050 target but it will take you 200 days instead of 100.

Another option is to start with fewer envelopes. For example, if you do the challenge with 50 envelopes instead of 100, the most you’ll have to save in a single day is $50 as opposed to $100. The savings are still pretty impressive – you’ll have $1,275 stashed away in 50 days.

3. Coke bottle challenge

If you enjoy drinking Coke (or any soft drink) then this one could be for you. Each time you get a $2 coin you pop it into an empty soft drink bottle. Apparently, a 600ml bottle will hold about $880 when full, while a 1.25-litre bottle is meant to hold roughly $1,900. If you don’t use cash very often though this one could take some time.

4. Roll the dice challenge

This one is a bit of fun. You roll a six-sided die each day and then save whatever number it lands on. If you roll a three, for example, you pop $3 into your savings. You can mix this one up. You might choose to roll two dice each day or if you really want to supercharge your savings, add a 0 to whatever number you roll. So rolling a three means you need to save $30.

5. Weather Wednesday challenge

Who would have thought you could use the weather to help you give your savings a boost? The idea is that each Wednesday you find the highest temperature in your city or state and then save that amount. So, when the mercury hits 40 degrees you add $40 to your savings. You can opt for the lowest temperature if you prefer.

6. Money savings chart

I quite like this bingo-style game from the Medium Sized Family website. Basically, it’s a chart with a whole lot of numbers in boxes. Each week you pick a dollar amount from the chart that you can afford to save. As you use a number, cross it off so you don’t repeat it. By the end of the year you’ll have saved $1,000! Not enough? Add a zero to the end of each number and you’ll have a whopping $10,000.

7. Round-up challenge

This is quite easy to do. Each week you check your account balance, round it up and then transfer the money into your savings account. You can round up to the nearest $1, $5 or even $10. Let’s say you have $121.25; you would then transfer 75c, $3.75 or $8.75 into your savings. You could do this daily instead of weekly to save more.

8. No spend challenge

Don’t worry, despite the name this doesn’t mean you have to go without food or shelter! A no-spend challenge means you don’t spend money on ‘wants’ such as takeaway food, clothes, a trip to the movies or a bottle of wine. You could aim to do this for a weekend, a week or even a month.

You’ll save money by not buying anything but there is also a way to ‘double’ the savings. If you see something that you would have bought if you weren’t doing the challenge then pop the amount you would have spent into your savings account. So if you were tempted to buy a $20 bottle of wine on a Friday night you’d resist the temptation and then pop $20 into your savings.

→ Related: Tips for doing a successful no-spend challenge

9. Pantry challenge

You’ll need to get creative with this one. The pantry challenge involves only using ingredients you already have in your pantry, fridge or freezer to make meals. So the idea is you make the most of what you have at home instead of heading to the supermarket. Not only will you save money but you’ll reduce your food waste.

If you want some inspiration consider downloading an app such as SuperCook. You enter what ingredients you have at home and the app will find recipes that match your ingredients.

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