I am sure that you all have seen the 52 week money challenge going around. This challenge is where every week you save an amount equal to the week of the year that you are in. This means in week 1 you will save $1 and in week 7 you will save $7. By the end of the year, your final savings deposit should be $52 and you would have saved $1,378 plus any interest earned.

This challenge has been around for some time but every year it begins to pop up on blogs as people make their new years resolutions. Everyone is challenging everyone else to take the 52 week money challenge in an effort to encourage more saving.

52weekchallenge

I already have a method of saving where I automatically transfer a small savings amount to my savings account. I will not be joining the 52 week money challenge because I already have a system that works for me. I think the challenge is great for those who do not have a reliable savings plan already, but for someone like me it just won’t work.

The biggest issue with the 52 week money challenge is that you have to manually make the transfer to savings because the point of the challenge is to make you think about saving. The actual amount does not really matter, even though they set it as deposit equals week.  You are supposed to print off a schedule like the one shown above and mark off your deposit and then check to see the amount for your next deposit.

I think this fluctuating savings amount would wreak havoc on my zero based budget because I would have to change the monthly amount for savings twelve times!!! I prefer the system that I use, which is to deposit a set amount of money every month and not have to worry about changing the amount every month.

Again, I have nothing against the 52 week money challenge and I think it is a great tool for those who do not have any other method of saving. I will not join the challenge because I think that my system works for me!

Are you joining the 52 week money challenge? Let me know how it affects your budget!