7 Savings Challenges you Need to Grow your Emergency Fund - Adopting a Lifestyle (2024)

Guys, I love me a good savings challenge to bring the motivation. Because honestly, saving money can be boring.

Your savings account is sooooo slow at building and there’s so many other things you can think of to do with that money RIGHT NOW (not a very patient person here!)

A good savings challenge could be just what you need to kick your butt in gear and GO save that money!

What you’re going to learn:

The top 7 savings challenges to build your emergency fund

Why you need an emergency fund and how much you should have

What kind of emergencies you should use your fund for

7 Savings Challenges you Need to Grow your Emergency Fund - Adopting a Lifestyle (1)

Why you Need an Emergency Fund

Your emergency fund is quite possibly the most important savings account you can have. Nobody’s perfect, life happens (and trust me, it will always happen!)

After we started listening to Dave Ramsey and really following his advice we saved up our $1,000 emergency fund (this is the first step) we actually had a real emergency.

We were coming home late at night in the middle of winter and I just had this weird feeling that Myles needed to slow down. Usually I have that feeling because I’m an A+ passenger seat driver and panic at the smallest things. However, not even 5 minutes later we hit a giant pothole in the road. 30 seconds later the car made a lovely ding confirming our biggest fears; low tire pressure.

We were able to pull off a mile up the road and sure enough our cheap, plastic rim was bent. The next day we took our ONLY vehicle in to get the rim replaced.

Christmas had just eaten away all our money, we were poor newlyweds and the concept of budgeting was brand spanking new.

I learned 2 lessons in that experience:

Myles should listen to me more when I tell him to slow down

Emergency funds save lives (even if it’s your cars life)

Now that I’ve got you sold on starting an emergency fund, let’s talk about how much you need.

How much you Need in your Emergency Fund

I’ve loved Dave Ramsey’s rule of thumb and think it applies so well to every situation, whether you’re a broke newlywed or broke with kids. The first part of your emergency fund is saving up $1,000 dollars.

1. Save up $1,000 dollars

After you have your $1,000 dollars in place you’re going to focus on paying off debt. I won’t get into all the details of how to go about paying off the debt, because Dave Ramsey explains it pretty dang well here.

2. Pay off remaining debt (besides the house)

After your debt is paid off (not including the house) you’ll save 3-6 months of your expenses for your emergency fund.

3. Save 3-6 months of your expenses

This means that if you have absolutely no income coming in you’d be able to live off your emergency fund for 3-6 months.

How to Calculate your 3-6 Month Emergency Fund

You’ll start by adding up all expenses then times it by 3. That will equal your 3 month emergency fund. Take the previous total expenses number and times it by 6, this will be your 6 month emergency fund. Your goal is to be between those two totals.

7 Savings Challenges you Need to Grow your Emergency Fund - Adopting a Lifestyle (2)

Monthly expenses –

Mortgage/rent: $1,500

Utilities: $55

Insurance: $115

Groceries: $150

Fuel: $55

Misc: $250

= $2,500 in expenses

3 month savings – $7,500

6 month savings – $15,000

If those were your exact expenses up above, first I’d be pretty scared that I know exactly what you spend, second you’d shoot for the $7,500 dollar to $15,000 dollar range for an emergency fund.

Obviously your expenses are going to look different than the ones above (unless I’m just really good). If you’re doing your budget every single month you’ll know exactly how much you’re spending on expenses.

If you need help budgeting as a beginner you can find an entire guide here.

Where to Keep your Emergency Fund

Now that you know how much to save for your emergency fund, it’s the matter of where to keep it.

For us, we feel better keeping it in the bank in a simple savings account. You DO NOT want to use this as an investment and want to be able to get access to it at any time.

Motivating Savings Challenges

Now onto the fun part! There’s no better feeling of accomplishment and that’s exactly what these savings challenges are meant to do.

$1,000 Emergency Fund Savings Challenges

1. This first one is an awesome started for saving that first $500. Once you hit that milestone, the second half seems to add up so much faster.

I love that it’s a 31 day savings challenge and the daily amounts that you save are so minimal that you won’t even notice it happening!

31 Day Money Saving Challenge

2. If you’re opting for a longer time frame to save up, this one is for you. It’s a 10 month plan helping your money grow to that $1,000 dollar emergency fund savings. She even has an awesome printable guiding you through each week.

It starts in January but you could easily start it in any month and follow along.

https://www.amomstake.com/emergency-fund/

3. This is a really unique way of saving your money per paycheck. It’s for families who already have a very tight budget or are lower income. There is a printable that you can follow along with to help guide you each paycheck.

A Realistic Money Savings Challenge for Smaller Budgets

4. Saving money has a lot to do with habits – and that’s exactly what this money savings challenge does! It’ll help you get into the habit of saving by doing it for 52 weeks – that’s right people a full year.

52 Week/$1,000 Savings Challenge: Free Printable Tracker

5. If you’re looking for something not quite as short as 31 days and not quite as long as 1 year when saving up your emergency fund, you could try this 12 week savings challenge. You can do a lot in 12 months, and saving up a $1,000 emergency fund could be one of them!

https://livinglowkey.com/money-saving-chart/

6. Now that you’ve saved your $1,000 emergency fund, paid off debt (besides the house) you can now focus on saving even MORE! This 52 week money savings challenge will help you save $5,000.

You could easily double the weekly savings and make it $10,000 at the end of the year. And yes, there is a totally rad free printable for you to follow along for all 52 weeks.

11 Things You’re Spending Too Much Money On: A Saving Money Challenge

7. Last, but not least – the $15,000 dollar savings challenge. We saved up $15,000 dollars in only 4 months. And while that sounds like a big chunk, we made some big moves to make that happen. A lot of hard work for 4 month paid off (literally). There’s even a savings tracker printable to color in as you reach your goals.

How we Made an Extra $15,000 Cash for a New Car in 4 Months

7 Savings Challenges you Need to Grow your Emergency Fund - Adopting a Lifestyle (2024)

FAQs

What is the 52 envelope challenge? ›

There are no complicated rules to remember. Week 1, you save $1.00. Week 2 you save $2.00, and it continues through the year, adding one more dollar to each week's savings goal. By Week 52, you'll set aside $52.00, which will bring the year's total savings to $1,378!

What is the 50 20 30 rule? ›

The 50-30-20 rule recommends putting 50% of your money toward needs, 30% toward wants, and 20% toward savings. The savings category also includes money you will need to realize your future goals.

What is the 5 savings challenge? ›

The fiver challenge - save £7,000

This challenge works the same as the 52 week challenge, but you go up in multiples of £5 rather than £1. So week one = £5, week two = £10, all the way up to week 52 at £260. Alternatively, if you're not in the position to save these larger amounts, you could save £5 every week instead.

How can I save $5000 with the 52 week money challenge? ›

Here are a few more ways to save $5,000 by the end of 2023:
  1. Save $96.16 every week.
  2. Save $192.31 every two weeks.
  3. Save $416.67 every month.
  4. Save $1,250 every quarter.
  5. Save $2,500 every six months.
Jan 5, 2023

How to save $5000 in 3 months with 100 envelopes? ›

The 100-envelope challenge is pretty straightforward: You take 100 envelopes, number each of them and then save the corresponding dollar amount in each envelope. For instance, you put $1 in “Envelope 1,” $2 in “Envelope 2,” and so on. By the end of 100 days, you'll have saved $5,050.

How to save $10,000 in 6 months? ›

How I Saved $10,000 in Six Months
  1. Set goals & practice visualization. ...
  2. Have an abundance mindset. ...
  3. Stop lying to yourself & making excuses. ...
  4. Cut out the excess. ...
  5. Make automatic deposits. ...
  6. Use Mint. ...
  7. Invest in long-term happiness. ...
  8. Use extra money as extra savings, not extra spending.

What is the 40 40 20 budget rule? ›

The 40/40/20 rule comes in during the saving phase of his wealth creation formula. Cardone says that from your gross income, 40% should be set aside for taxes, 40% should be saved, and you should live off of the remaining 20%.

How to budget $4000 a month? ›

How To Budget Using the 50/30/20 Rule
  1. 50% for mandatory expenses = $2,000 (0.50 X 4,000 = $2,000)
  2. 30% for wants and discretionary spending = $1,200 (0.30 X 4,000 = $1,200)
  3. 20% for savings and debt repayment = $800 (0.20 X 4,000 = $800)
Oct 26, 2023

How to budget $5000 a month? ›

Consider an individual who takes home $5,000 a month. Applying the 50/30/20 rule would give them a monthly budget of: 50% for mandatory expenses = $2,500. 20% to savings and debt repayment = $1,000.

What is the $20 savings challenge? ›

The $20 Savings Challenge is a great way to easily save $1,040 this year without noticing! All you have to do is save $20 each week for a year, and then you'll easily have $1,040.

What is the 1p saving challenge? ›

What is the 1p challenge? The well-known 1p challenge is a money saving method that lasts 365 days. It works by increasing the amount you save by 1p each day of the year. On the first day of the challenge, you start by saving one penny.

What is the 1000 savings challenge? ›

Saving over $1,000 in a month may sound really hard, especially if you aren't used to saving money. The 30-Day Savings Challenge helps you to gradually save up the money to reach your goal of $1,000. On the first day, you are only saving $5! Yep, that's right, only $5! I know you can hit that goal!

What is the $1 challenge? ›

Match each week's savings amount with the number of the week in your challenge. In other words, you'll save $1 the first week, $2 the second week, $3 the third week, and so on until you put away $52 in week 52.

How much is $1 dollar a day for a year? ›

The answer to that question depends on interest rates or rates of return. With no interest involved, putting one dollar a day into a bank account (or a jar at home) will see you end up with $365 in a year. Multiply that amount by 30 years and you'll end up with $10,950.

How do you save $1 a week then $2? ›

You can complete the 52-week money challenge in three simple steps: Start by depositing $1 in week one, $2 in week two, $3 in week three and so on. Stash your cash in a high-yield savings account. Keep up the momentum by automating future savings.

How does the money envelope challenge work? ›

It works like this: Gather 100 envelopes and number them from 1 to 100. Each day, fill up one envelope with the amount of cash corresponding to the number on the envelope. You can fill up the envelopes in order or pick them at random. After you've filled up all the envelopes, you'll have a total savings of $5,050.

Is the 100 envelope challenge worth it? ›

The benefit of the 100 Envelopes Challenge is that it starts small and encourages constant, conscious saving that builds quickly. But the trend—and the internet's obsession with buying “aesthetic” envelopes for it—may not be the most effective way to put away money, according to financial experts.

What is the $5 10 15 dollar challenge? ›

The challenge is simple: Save $5 the first week, $10 the second week, $15 the third week, and so on until you reach $260 in the final week. You can start the challenge at any time, but it's easiest to start at the beginning of the year. You can save the money in a jar, envelope, or savings account.

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