Saving Money…A Week At A Time in 2014

 

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I’m sure many of you are trying to figure out how to save money in 2014!  I know saving is always something that I feel I “should” be doing, even if I’m not.  I remembered pinning this 52 Week Money Challenge on Pinterest last year but completely forgot about it.

I like the concept of this a lot, except the last few months of the year seems to be when I have the least amount of money to save.  Between Christmas presents, getting ready for our annual vacation, and having several December birthdays in the family money is tight.  So I revamped this challenge to fit my needs better.  It’s just the reverse of what I found in Pinterest.

Another idea for this would be if January is a tough month, print out the table and put it somewhere you see it often.  Each week when you put the money in your savings put a check mark next to which week you completed.  If your money is tight in January because of leftover Christmas debt (which happens to many people) start in the middle of the year (such as week 20).  This would work fine, but you will need to make sure on a week when you can put in more money you go back and do Week One with the $52.  There’s not savings police who will be mad at you for starting in the middle!

 

I don’t know about many of you but almost $1,400 is a nice little savings amount to have ready at the end of the year.  You could use it in December to pay for your Christmas with cash, use it to fund your next vacation, a piece of furniture, taxes for the next year, or to start an emergency fund.

On Pinterest, the orignal pin showed a picture of the cash in a jar.  Personally I don’t want that  much cash in my house.  It’s way too easy to grab a $20 and order a pizza or the kids to help themselves or on a day when I feel the urge to go shopping grab $50 and be off.

I will be using online banking to transfer the amount to my savings account each Sunday when I do my set my weekly goals.  It would be very easy to put in a jar though if that’s your preference or tuck it away in shoe box in your closet.

Which idea do you like better, starting by adding more money or less?  How would you use this money if you were intentional with your saving and at the end of the year had an extra $1,378 to spend?  I’d love to know!