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Everyone needs to save money whether it’s for a rainy day, a vacation, a down payment on a house or something simple like a new washer. By now, most everyone who uses the internet has seen a money saving challenge online. You can find them by the thousands on Pinterest. But which money saving challenge should you attempt? Which one will actually work to get you the savings you need? Sometimes there are so many choices, it’s hard to know which one will work for your budget and your lifestyle. We want to help you, so we’ve created this list to narrow down the most effective money saving challenges out there.
FAQs about Money Saving Challenges

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1. What Is a Money Saving Challenge?
2. How Do You Know Which Money Saving Challenge to Do?
3. How Much Money Can the Average Person Save?
4. Where Can You Find Resources for a Money Saving Challenge?
How We Reviewed
We reviewed following money saving challenges based on a few factors. The first was how easy is the challenge is to complete? If we felt that a challenge seemed likely to be too difficult or too strict for us, then we didn’t include it here. We also looked for challenges that looked fun, made saving money an easy task and how simple it was.
We wanted to make sure these challenges are something you can quickly do every day/week/month. If it took up too much time, we knew you’d quickly lose interest or get too stressed.
Overall Savings of These Money Saving Challenges
Whether you save a couple hundred dollars or thousands depends on:
What We Reviewed
- 1Money Savings Chart
- 2Penny Jar Challenge
- 3Add on a Dollar Per Week Challenge
- 4Change Jar
- 552 Week Challenge
- 6Reverse Savings Plan
- 7The $5 Bill Challenge
- 8Cash Envelope System
- 9$1,000 in 30 Days Saving Challenge
- 10Bi-Weekly Savings Challenge
- 11A Spending Fast (The No-Spend Challenge)
- 12The Pantry Challenge
- 13Weather Savings Challenge
- 14Little Vices Savings Challenge
- 15The No Dining Out Challenge
Best Money-Saving Challenges
1. Money Savings Chart
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This money saving challenge is a fun and simple way to save $1,000 in a year. The way this one differs from others is that it’s made up bingo style! Instead of having to put an exact amount each week, this chart has 52 random dollar amounts that total $1,000. Put away what you can each week and then cross that amount off.
2. Penny Jar Challenge
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Very effective because the whole family gets involved. There really isn’t an easier challenge than this one.
3. Add On a Dollar Per Week Challenge
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This is an effective challenge if you can get through all the way to the end. Some people do this challenge backward to get the big deposits out of the way. You’ll definitely have to scrimp and save toward the end if you take on this challenge.
4. Change Jar
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Pros
Cons
5. 52 Week Challenge
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This challenge’s effectiveness hinges on your compliance. You can easily save $1,338 in a year with this challenge.
6. Reverse Savings Plan
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Again, it’s very effective as long as you stick to it. This challenge might be easier in that you get the hard deposits of money over with in the beginning of the year, instead of at the end during the holidays (assuming you start on Jan. 1).
7. $5 Bill Challenge
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This one is very effective, because we don’t realize how many $5 bills we get and you won’t miss them that much.
8. Cash Envelope System
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This can be effective. It’s known throughout the U.S. Many couples and young adults who are trying to get out of debt use the envelope system.
9. $1,000 in 30 Days Saving Challenge
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Pros
Cons
10. Bi-Weekly Savings Challenge
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This can be effective for those paid bi-weekly, rather than weekly.
11. A Spending Fast (The No-Spend Challenge)
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No spends are somewhat effective, but they’re not bullet-proof ways of saving a lot. It’s just putting away the money you would have spent in a day/week/month, etc. Unless you do no spend frequently, you won’t save as much as by doing one of the other challenges.
12. The Pantry Challenge
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Effectiveness depends on if you can use items you’ve already paid for. If you don’t have anything, you’re out of luck.
13. Weather Savings Challenge

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Pros
Cons
14. Little Vices Savings Challenge
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Pros
Cons
15. The No Dining Out Savings Challenge
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If you dine out frequently, this can be super effective. If you don’t eat out a lot, though, it won’t be a great challenge for you.
The Verdict

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After looking at all these different challenges, we feel that the easiest one to do would be the throwing the loose change in a jar. It’s easy, you don’t have to think about it and everyone usually has loose change — even those of us who use debit cards can do this through a simple free app.