5 Money-Saving Challenges You Can Use to Grow Your Funds in 2018

New year. New start. It’s the same every year, and while quitting smoking or joining the gym are good ideas for resolutions, why not put your money where your mouth is? Last year, we gave you 5 money saving challenges to boost your savings, but now that the new year is here, it’s the perfect time to try 5 more. Here are 5 money-saving challenges you can use to grow your funds in 2018.

It really doesn’t matter that it’s already a few days after Jan 1 – you can make smart changes to your life at any time!

1. No-Spend Challenge

The no-spend challenge started on Pinterest, and it’s basically about not spending money for a certain period of time. You can change it to suit you, for example, you can eliminate spending money on Wednesdays. Or you can go full steam ahead and try a no-spend week.

The main goal of this challenge is to really strip back your spending. It’s not like you can stop paying your water bill for example, but this challenge is set up to stop you eating out for lunch every day. It’s a great idea to stock up your fridge and pantry before embarking on this challenge and getting frugal and creative instead. This challenge can really shake up your spending, and hopefully, you’ll learn money-saving habits that you can use throughout 2018.

2. Weather Savings Challenge

Randomizing your savings can be an interesting and fun way to save more money. The weather savings challenge was created by SunBurntSaver, an Arizona blogger who saves the same amount as the highest temperature every Wednesday. If you don’t live in a very hot place, this challenge might not save you much money. Instead, you can get creative and choose to save the number of points your favorite basketballs team scores at their weekly matches.

3. Expense Tracking Challenge

This one isn’t exactly a challenge, but it’ll help you save more money in the long run. If you’re one of those people who has no idea where their money disappears to, you need to do this. In order to start saving, you need to get a good idea of how much you actually spend and how much money you can save instead.

There’s no set way to track your dollars, but you’ve got the choice of traditional or digital. You can write down or type every purchase and income onto a spreadsheet and track everything for a month. Or, you can let apps and websites do the hard work for you. Mint.com will not only track your spending habits but also figure out a budget that fits your salary and lifestyle. This is a great place to start if you don’t know where your money goes every month.

4. Little Vices Savings Challenge

A Starbucks a day keeps retirement at bay. Just joking, but cutting out tiny but naughty spending habits can be a great savings challenge. This challenge is all about replacing our vices with good habits instead – for example, switch up your daily lunch trip to Wendy’s for a homemade lunch.

To begin this challenge, you’ll need to figure out exactly what your vices are. Aside from $4 coffees, adding extra items to shopping carts when online shopping is a bad habit for many. These things aren’t necessarily that bad for you, but this challenge is all about implementing good habits and getting your finances under control. You can try cutting out your vices for a certain time period whether that’s a week or month. Then, figure out how much you’ve saved by not indulging yourself and transfer that amount to your savings account.

5. Bi-Weekly Savings Challenge

If you get paid twice monthly, save a little more of each paycheck that you receive every month. Figure out how much you can realistically save every two weeks and set up automated payments to your savings account. You can also combine this with the 52-Week Challenge, or switch it to a 26-week challenge as you get paid every other week.

This is so easy to do, as you don’t have to remember to do anything. After a while, you’ll get used to living on less money. You’ll start to love watching your savings account grow.