I remember when my husband and I first got married….I was ALL about saving money and he was ALLLLLLLLLL about spending money.
I can’t tell you how many times I talked him off the “I’m gonna blow my money on (fill in the blank – big screen tv, iPad, Macbook, etc)” ledge.
But it was a lot.
A lot, a lot!
Finally, when he was deployed to Iraq {and had no way or means to spend money} we had the chance to boost our savings.
Our first goal was just to have $1,000 in our savings account which was inspired by Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps.
Our goal gradually increased where we eventually saved up to 12 months of our expenses in cash. You might think that sounds like a TON of cash on hand. And I agree…it’s a goal that took us over 5 years to reach. But it was what made me feel comfortable. It also allowed us to do things like build our dream home, adopt and plan for lots of unexpected expenses that have come up along the way.
You’re goal doesn’t have to be 12 months of expenses, but wouldn’t it be nice to boost your savings?
To get it to the point where you finally feel “comfortable” in case something comes up?
Starting Small – The 52 Week Money Saving Plan
We can’t take credit for this concept. In fact, we aren’t even sure who came up with it. All I know is that I’ve seen the 52 Week Savings chart everywhere and it’s blowing up Pinterest.
How does the 52 week money saving challenge work? It’s the easiest way to boost your savings that I’ve ever seen. Seriously.
The 1st week you deposit $1 into your savings account. The 2nd week you deposit $2 into your savings account. The 3rd week you deposit $3.
You get the picture?
By the 52th week after you deposit $52 you’ll have accumulated $1,378. And that’s not including interest!
But in case that isn’t much of an incentive to start saving, what if we offered you real cash?
Do we have your attention now?
If so, read on….
Double Your Savings Account
The hubby and I are excited about getting people to REALLY start saving. With him being a financial advisor and with me being the household money manager…we saw this challenge as a way to get a lot of people inspired to get their savings account back on track.
We are hoping that you see how SIMPLE it is for you to save money.
And because we wanted to do something that would REALLY make a difference in someone’s bank account we added another angle to this challenge.
You ready?
For those that make the entire 52 weeks we want to reward one lucky person with an awesome prize.
We want to double what you’ve saved and match your $1,378.
That’s right. One super lucky person that personally saves $1,378 will be awarded the same amount.
Now are you inspired to save? WE hope so! 🙂
Want to know how excited we are?
This excited:
So excited that we took a selfie holding a piggy bank minutes before we were rushing to get our kids off to school. 🙂
Rules of the Competition
First, you’re more than welcome to take on this challenge without following the below steps. BUT….if you want to be eligible for the “double your savings” cash reward, this is how it will go down:
- Step 1: Leave a comment below announcing you’ve joined the challenge.
- Step 2: Open a *FREE* brand new savings account with Capital One 360.
- Step 3: Coordinate with your current bank to facilitate the weekly transfers
- Step 4: Winners must provide confirmation email showing the new account opened and a screenshot of the balance in their account after the 52 weeks
That’s it! Taking on this challenge will finally get your savings account to a level it’s never been AND you have a chance to double it.
All for taking action right now.
A few questions you might have.
Why Capital One 360? There are several online savings account you can choose from. We just think they are one of the best. It’ s free to setup and super easy to open. Open an account today and see how easy it is.
Why does it have to be a new account? We want this account to be separate from any other savings account you have so your less tempted to touch it. How many times have you started a savings account only to raid it for some purchase? This will hopefully prevent that.
Can anyone sign up? Not quite. You have to be at least 18 years of age and a U.S. Resident.
When’s the deadline to sign up? You have until January 31, 2014 to get started. You have plenty of time BUT don’t procrastinate!!
Want This Free Download?
We created this PDF to keep you inspired for the 52 Week Challenge.
Download the Free Worksheet and you’ll also get access to a ton of other free resources that Jeff has created for y’all!
Share the love?
Inspire your friends and family members to join this challenge with you.
I’ve joined the 52 Week Savings Challenge at GoodFinancialCents via @jjeffrose & @houseofrose Click HERE to Tweet
Make this YOUR year that you get your savings on track!
**UPDATE: We have picked and verified a winner for the 52 Week Savings Challenge as of January 2, 2015. The winner is Heather Black. She has been contacted and sent the money!! A huge thanks to everyone who participated and we hope this helped you boost your savings!
This is a fantastic idea!! Won’t my husband be surprised next January when I tell him I saved to go on a fantastic trip!! 🙂 I signed up…
Challenge accepted and account opened!!
I just signed up! Saw your link on Charming Lucy’s blog. What a great idea. 🙂
I just signed up for this challenge! Like another poster, I am doubling it each week to help build it up a little more 🙂
Thank you for doing this!!
Challenge accepted!!!!
I have joined! I already have a Capital One 360 account, but I am going to open a new one just for this!! I am recently divorced and need to save all the money I can 🙂 Thanks for posting the challenge, I am so excited to see the account grow weekly, and will be even mor excited to see it come the 52nd week 🙂
Happy Saving!
Just joined!! Thanks!
I’ve joined the challenge! So excited to save!
Started the account, downloaded the pdf, a little late, but ready to go!!!
I joined the challenge! Excited to start saving!
Good morning! Ijust confirmed my Capital One 360 savings and now I’m ready to take on the challenge! Happy saving everyone!
Good morning! I just confirmed my Capital One 360 savings account and I’m ready to take on the challenge! Good luck everyone!
I have joined!!! Best wishes everyone
I’ve confirmed my new account and got it started! I’m starting big though with my first deposit $52 so that I have more at the end with my interest building quicker.
We’ve joined and are excited to start saving!
We joined the challenge and are excited it start saving!
Sorry, I posted twice!
Joined the challenge! Happy savings everyone!
I joined the challenge…good luck to evrryone. Let the savings begin!
I’ve joined the challenge! Here’s to more money in everyone’s accounts!
I am joining the challenge! Can’t wait to see the money adding up 🙂
I joined the challenge!
I’ve joined the challenge! Woohoo!
I signed up…just in the nick of time…to begin saving for our international adoption! (You can read our story at littleredthread.wordpress.com ) My husband and I are about 5 months into the process of adopting a child from China’s special needs program. I just discovered (from snooping around your blog)…. you are also adopting! Congratulations! What a coincidence! As you know, adoption is quite costly, and to compound this fact, our fundraising is TWO fold…one part for the actual adoption fees, and one part “savings” for time off of work. My employer does not offer any paid time off or adoption credit, so I must get creative in saving for that special time when we help our new child adjust to family life. We have a “crowd funding site” open at https://www.adopttogether.org/hanlonfamilyadoption which we hope will cover some of the adoption fees, but I know the “savings” is up to us! I’m so glad I found this option on Pinterest to add to our list of methods for saving for “little sister”….as my son has begun to call her! We are also quite certain she is born…and although she has been overlooked by many… the minute we see her….we’ll know she’s been waiting for us, just as much as we’ve been waiting for her!
I signed up! Pretty easy to open the account.
Joined the challenge and so excited to finally see a light at the end of the savings account tunnel! It’s overwhelming, sometimes, trying to find ways to build that balance and this is a great way to accomplish that! Thanks so much for all you do to help people achieve financial stability.
Very blessed to have joined the challenge with my better half as we have big plans for the start of our life this year. Looking forward to the seeing the change in our financial health!
I’ve joined the challenge! (Even if it is the last day to join the contest.)
I’ve joined the challenge ????
I’m doing the Savings Challenge.
But I opened my account, slightly late (two days, 2/2/14), still eligible?
I opened my account in Dec.. just went back to double check I met all the criteria and couldn’t find my comment saying I joined- even though I could have sworn I left one! Please don’t leave me out, I can totally prove that my account was opened in time (12/17 in fact!) I’m on week 6!
Wow, already headed to week 11, this is so exciting. I love this challenge.
I can’t remember if I commented or not, but I did join the challenge!!! 🙂 Way before the deadline 🙂
Still loving this! Plan to continue next year and the year after. Both my daughter are doing this, hopefully one of us will win your challenge but if not we’re both already winners by putting $ into our savings every week! Thanks for giving us the push!!
So when we have finished doing the 52 week challenge where are we going to send the snapshot of our account to? I have finished and I just wanted to be entered into the contest. Thank you
I’m excited! Did the 52 week savings and trying to find out who the winner is? Anyone know? Thanks!!
Is there a certain email we need to send the screen shot too?
Hello, how do we send you a screenshot to choose a winner? So glad I was able to save so much!
We chose a random winner and then asked them to verify by sending us a screenshot. You were entered just by commenting! We had to go through 3 different people (all at random) but found someone who gave proof of completion. Heather Black was the winner!