12 Money Saving Challenges to Kickoff 2023 (2024)

If you’re looking for some great money-saving challenges for 2023, you’ve come to the right place! Some of you may do this every year — set a financial goal as a resolution but somehow fall off the wagon by second week in March.

Fortunately, these different types of money challenges will take the headache out of the equation and provide you with a plan that’s simple and easy to follow. You can actually find a fun challenge you’ll actually follow through with during 2023.

Before we jump into these savings challenges, I want to share with you why it’s so awesome you’ve decided to save a little extra money by the end of the year.

First, challenges like these will help you get into the habit of saving money. Second, saving money means you’ll be prepared for any unexpected expenses that will come your way this year. Third, saving more money means you can put away the credit cards because again, you’ll be reaching your savings goals versus using credit to satisfy your needs.

With that said, think about what you want to do this year. What are some things you would like to do? Are there any places you want to go? Whatever you decide to put on your bucket list, I’m sure some of it will cost you some money, right? Well, if they do these money saving challenges are a perfect way to help you save up the money you create a sinking fund for all of your plans.

12 Money Saving Challenges to Kickoff 2023

Here’s a quick rundown of the different money saving challenges to try in 2023:

1. 52-Week Money Saving Challenge
2. The Small (But Mighty) 52-Week Savings Challenge
3. 26-Week Money Saving Challenge
4. 3 Month Money Saving Challenge – Save $1,000
5. Automatic Savings Challenge (or Monthly Savings Challenge)
6. The Penny Savings Challenge
7. The $5 Savings Challenge
8. No-Spend Savings Challenge
9. Weather Wednesday Savings Challenge
10. Sell It Saturday Savings Challenge
11. Spare Change Challenge
12. Breaking Bad Habit Savings Challenge

I know you’re dying to know what some of these challenges even mean, so let’s break it down…

52-Week Money Saving Challenge

So,what is the 52-week savings challenge? Well, it’s a year-long challenge that can help you build your weekly savings over the course of 2023.

If you have a big savings goal, like $5,000 for example, this is a perfect savings challenge for you to complete.

I’ve created a coloring printable template that can help you save $5,000, $1,000, and there’s even a blank printable for creating your own 52-week challenge.

Check out our 52-week money challenge templates here.

The Small (But Mighty) 52-Week Savings Challenge

This version is better known as the 52-week challenge, but it’s a little less intimidating. Nevertheless, it works just as well too. This is perfect for beginners who are just getting their feet wet with savings.

You start by saving $1 in week 1, $2 in week 2, $3 in week 3, and so on until you reach $52 in week 52.

If you remain committed to this small, but mighty challenge, you’ll have accumulated $1,378 over the course of the year. It’s a perfect amount for a baby emergency fund.

Related Reading: Savings Tips For Beginners – How to Start Saving Money

What is the 26-week savings challenge?

So, what if you get paid bi-weekly? Well, the 26-week money challenge is perfect for you. This is based on the premise that you will save a certain amount every two weeks when you’re paid.

You can save any amount you want with this challenge. I’ve created a set of printables for the 26-week challenge that can help you save $5,000 or $1,000. There’s also a blank printable if you prefer to write in your own amount.

Check out the 26-week money challenge printable here.

What is the 3-Month Money Saving Challenge

Well, if you don’t have all year to wait for $1,000 to hit your bank account, the 3-month money-saving challenge great spin on a monthly money challenge that will beef up your piggy bank in no time.

Give yourself just 12 weeks and at the end of the challenge, you’ll have your baby emergency fund fully funded. This challenge is also perfect when you’re saving up for holidays or vacations too.

Check out the Grab your 3-month money challenge worksheets here to get started.

The Automatic Savings Challenge

This savingschallenge is an oldie here at LAAB, but it works so well that it will never go out of style. This challenge is simple — automate the amount you want to save.

That’s the only challenge. Seriously! It’s one of the easiest ways to save money – you simply set it and forget it. Figure out the number you need, divide it up by month, week, day, or however, you want to handle it.

Put your savings on auto-pilot in one of the many amazing online high-yield savings accounts that are available and create an automatic savings deposit. Read more about my automatic savings challenge here.

The Penny Savings Challenge

Thissavings challengeseems pretty juvenile at first glance, but it’s a perfect challenge for a minor savings goal. Let’s just say you’re wanting a new pair of very expensive shoes — a savings challenge like this is perfect because it’s truly a fun challenge and those shoes will be very rewarding.

The premise is that you save a penny the first day, two pennies the second day, and you continue until the last day of the year where you’ll add 365 pennies to your savings. The only problem with this challenge is who has all of these pennies laying around?

Here is a modified version of the Penny Savings Challengethat will help you save $2,500. And at the very least, this is a savings challenge you can encourage your kids to participate in.

The $5 Savings Challenge

If you use a cash-based budgeting system, the $5 Savings Challenge should be a rather easy savings challenge to save small amounts of money. The premise here is that anytime you receive a five-dollar bill back in change, you save it.

I’ve tried this challenge before and was able to save a couple of hundred bucks. So, if you use cash for the majority of your purchases, put those $5 bills away in a jar or deposit them into a separate savings account for 2023.

No-Spend Savings Challenge

A no-spend savings challenge is where you don’t spend any money outside of certain categories for a specified period of time. This is a great way to cut back on spending in categories like entertainment, food, clothes, or at the grocery store.

If you want to do this savings challenge for 2023, you will need to choose a category you don’t want to spend money on and do it for 365 days. For instance, if you want to cut back on the money you spend on clothing, you can do a no-spend challenge for nothing other than necessities such as underwear or work clothes.

Here is a great articleon how to successfully complete a no-spend challenge. It has a lot of helpful tips on making this sort of savings challenge work for you, plus they have pretty cute printable too.

Weather Wednesday Savings Challenge

I absolutely love the idea of this money savings challenge. The way it works is that whatever amount you save is determined by the temperature on Wednesday each week.

For more details, check out Sunburnt Saver’s articleon completing a Weather Wednesday Savings Challenge. It’s definitely a challenge, but if you stick with it, you will be potentially saving A LOT of money every week.

Sell-it Saturday Savings Challenge

To complete this savings challenge, you will need to search for one or two things to sell every Saturday and commit to saving the amount you sell. Check out this article on 11 things you can sell to make extra cash.

You can sell these items on Decluttr, Amazon, eBay, FB Marketplace, or Craigslist. If you stick with this challenge, you will possibly get rid of 52 or more things you don’t need in your house and save a considerable amount of money.

Spare Change Money Savings Challenge

Another easy challenge is the spare change money savings challenge. This is a rather old school method of saving money. I remember when we used to keep those huge Coca-Cola piggy banks and fill them up over the years with coins.

If you have young kids, this is a great way to teach them about money. Keep it simple and throw all your loose change in a jar to get started. At the end of the year, take it to the bank and make a deposit.

This challenge will help you build your savings muscles if you’re not used to saving.

You might not have a lot of money, but regardless, the amount you save is a great start to take you into another year.

Breaking Bad Habits Savings Challenge

Finally, here is a challenge that actually helped my daughter purchase her computer at the age of six. See, I had a rather bad habit a couple of years back when I was completely addicted to eating Reese’s cups.

To help beat my addiction, I agreed to pay my daughter $5 every time I ate Reese’s cups. Let’s just say that my daughter was on the right end of that little deal.

My little impulse purchases cost me so much money that I eventually kicked the habit and my daughter had enough money for her first big purchase, a laptop computer.

So, if you have an addiction or bad habit you need to break, put yourself on the wrong end of the deal. Promise to pay yourself or someone else for your indulgent behavior.

I promise, by the time you break your habit, you will definitely know how to save a little money. And if you create the challenge in your favor, you might have more than enough fun money to afford a vacation or pay down a big debt.

Related Reading: Teaching Kids About Savings – How My Kid Brought Her Own Laptop!

Make 2023 Count With One of These Different Money Saving Challenges

All of these different money saving challenges will definitely set you up for financial success in 2023. Pick one of these savings challenges you think you can stick to for an entire year. If you have a partner, family, or friend, share your goal and have them to hold you accountable. Make this year one to remember and start your savings challenge today!