Money Saving Challenges: 23 Creative Ways To Boost Your Savings

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Need another way to save money that’s fun but also keeps you on track? Try a money-saving challenge. They’re an easy way to build better habits and better your financial wellness. You can try some of the tips in the list below, from keeping change in a jar to creating a long-term budgeting goal. Here are 23 creative savings challenges to try.

23 Money-Saving Challenges To Try

Sometimes it takes the structure of a challenge to stick to your goal of saving money. Here are some that can help build your financial stability. 

Easy Money-Saving Challenges

These are savings challenges that require minimal effort and you can start right now without having to do any planning.

1. Round Up Money-Saving Challenge

Every time you make a purchase, put the change aside for savings. In particular, save any amount of change that’s under $5. Round up to the nearest dollar when you pay for something and any extra change put into an emergency fund.

By collecting every penny, nickel or quarter you receive, you can build your savings over time. Sometimes it’s not the dollar amount but rather the smaller bits that make the difference.

2. The $5 Bill Challenge

Save every $5 bill you receive in change. You can choose to set aside other bills too, depending on your finances and how fast you want to build up your savings. Set aside any money you receive as gifts for birthdays or change from a vendor throughout the year with this denomination.

3. Trim 1% of Your Salary Challenge

Calculate 1% of your salary. If you earn $100,000 per year, 1% is $1,000. Now figure out ways to trim your expenses and invest 1% of your salary into your savings each year.

Habit-Changing Challenges That Save You More

It’s not just groceries that you can save on by changing your shopping habits. These challenges can not only save your budget but also help you form healthier habits and reduce waste.

4. Coffee Break Challenge

This is a monthly savings challenge where you put some sort of savings vessel, such as a piggy bank, jar or even an empty mug next to your coffee pot. You make your own coffee, and any money you would have spent at the cafe, you put in the makeshift bank. Replace buying coffee from cafes with homemade coffee for a month. Calculate your savings at the end of the challenge.

5. No Dining Out Challenge

A significant portion of people’s food budget often goes towards eating out. By choosing to eat at home for a month, you can quickly accumulate savings and give your savings account a healthy boost. Meal planning can help with eating at home so you can avoid the impulse to takeout.

6. Meatless Mondays Challenge

Every Monday, go meatless for your meals. This not only saves money but can also promote healthier eating habits.

7. Kick a Bad Habit Challenge

Pick an expensive habit you have to kick and put the money you save into your savings account. You can save a significant amount of money when you quit smoking, drinking sugary drinks or buying coffee every day. 

8. No-Spend Challenge

The no-spend challenge helps you save by guiding you to only spend money on essential items. The traditional challenge lasts for 30 days, but you can adjust this time frame to make it more comfortable to accomplish and less of a monthly challenge. 

Grocery Savings Challenges

By saving money on groceries, you may be surprised at how quickly these challenges can pile up your savings.

9. Restricted Shopping List Challenge

Restrict your shopping list so you’re only purchasing food in bulk. Moreover, if you can grow food, you can save on buying produce at the grocery store, shortening your shopping list and thus saving you money.

However, it’s important to be realistic with this challenge. Don’t buy more at a time than you can reasonably eat before it goes bad.

10. The Change Your Grocery Store Challenge

Stop shopping at high-priced grocery stores. Instead, take your shopping list to the nearest discount grocery store and apply your grocery savings to your savings account. Be sure to stick to your grocery list when you’re there as well to avoid impulse buying.

11. The Pantry Challenge

Instead of grocery shopping, look in your pantry and get creative to make meals out of what you already have. This helps you clear your pantry, stop wasting food and save money at the same time.

12. Generic Brands Only Challenge

For a month, buy only generic or store-brand items at the grocery store. Compare the savings to your usual brand-name purchases. The ingredients in the generic brands are often identical to their more expensive counterparts, so all you would be paying for is a better ad campaign.

Weekly and Monthly Timed Challenges

Having a deadline can help you keep saving in mind. These next challenges are paced over different periods.

13. Envelope Challenge

If you want to save $5,000 in 100 days, the envelope challenge is a great place to start. You simply get 100 empty envelopes and write the numbers 1 to 100 on them. Then each day, for 100 days, randomly choose an envelope and match the number on the front of the envelope with that amount of money in cash.

14. The 52-Week Savings Challenge

Start this annual savings challenge by saving $1 in your first week. Increase the amount of money you save each week by $1. In the second week, you’ll save $2, then $3 in the third week, and continue for a full year. By week 52, you’ll add $52 to your savings. You’ll save $1,378 per year when you stick to the 52-week money challenge.

15. The 26-Week Savings Challenge

Start by saving $3 in week one. Then, add $3 per week to your savings goal. That’s $6 in week two, $9 in week three and so on. At the end of 26 weeks, you will have saved $1,053.

16. The $2,025 in 2025 Challenge

A huge plus of this challenge is that the saving amounts fluctuate, so you can decide what you put away and when, as long as you get to the total. If you’re having a week that’s hard on your budget, you can save a little less and make it up next week without feeling like you’re missing your goal. You can also change the number you save based on the year.

17. Bowl-Grab Challenge

Write denominations of money such as $1, $5 and $10 on slips of paper and place the slips in the bowl. Grab a slip of paper out of the bowl every day, and save the amount of money on the slip for a predetermined number of days. If the challenge works well for you, it’s easy to fill the bowl back up and keep going. 

18. The 30-Day Savings Sprint

For 30 days, save a set amount daily. This could be as little as $1 a day or more, depending on your financial goal. Another 30-day challenge is when you see something you want to buy, you wait a month before doing so to see if you still want it or if the desire has faded. 

Mindful Spending Challenges

Mindful spending is all about being more intentional with your finances. Rethink how and where you spend and cultivate more conscious spending habits.

19. Online Shopping Freeze Challenge

For a set period, such as a month, avoid all non-essential online shopping. Track how much you save by not giving in to impulse buys. Just because it’s easy to get something delivered doesn’t mean you have to waste that money.

20. Switching Services Challenge

Each month, call at least one utility service provider that you’re currently not using to find out if they can offer a better deal than your current utility service provider. If so, switch your services and transfer the savings to your savings account each time you pay the bill.

If you don’t find savings with another provider, or there’s only one provider for the service in your area, you can also call your existing utility provider to see if they have any deals or discounts to offer to negotiate your bills down.

21. Utility Usage Reduction Challenge

Aim to reduce your utility bills by a certain percentage through mindful usage of electricity, water and gas. Conserving your energy not only cuts back on your monthly bills but also is great for the environment. New habits to form could include unplugging the electronics you are using, setting the washing machine to cold water cycles and turning off all lights except the ones you need.

22. Public Transportation Challenge

Use public transportation instead of personal vehicles or rideshare services for a set period, like a month, to save on travel costs. This challenge also saves you at the pump, especially with ever-rising gas prices. 

23. Entertainment Budget Challenge

Set a strict budget for entertainment each month. This includes movies, outings and other leisure activities. You could also cut back on how many streaming services you pay for each month. 

How To Choose the Right Money-Saving Challenge for You

If you’re not sure where to start, you might want to go with one of the easy, low-to-no-effort money-saving challenges, such as the Round Up or $5 Challenge.

Easy, Low-Effort Challenges

These challenges don’t require a lot of planning. You can start small.

• Round Up Challenge: You’ll save your spare change.
• $5 Bill Challenge: Every time you receive a $5 bill, you save it.

Challenges for Tight Budgets

If you’re working with a tight budget, there’s the No-Spend and the Pantry challenge, which will force you to restrict how often you open your wallet.

• No-Spend Challenge: Only buy what’s necessary.
• Pantry Challenge: Eat and prepare only the food you have and avoid shopping.

For Those Who Like Structure

For those who thrive on structure and like the accomplished feeling of checking off a box each day, the 52-Week Savings Challenge or Envelope Challenge may fit the bill.

• 52-Week Savings Challenge: Every week, you save a little bit more to add up a year’s worth of savings.
• Envelope Challenge: You save daily a random number, with a large payoff at the end of the saving period.

Challenges for Breaking Bad Money Habits

If you know you’ve got some bad money habits, you can try not dining out or cutting subscriptions to give yourself a break from added expenses.

• No Dining Out Challenge: No takeout and no restaurants during the challenge — all home-cooked meals.
• Switching Services or Cutting Subscriptions: You’ll reduce recurring expenses.

Here’s a chart to help you see the details of each challenge, so you can see at a glance.

Final Take

Saving money can be fun when you challenge yourself to do so. Take part in the money-saving challenges above to bolster your savings account.

There’s no better time to start than now. Choose one challenge that feels doable, and commit to it this week. Print out a tracker or set up a savings jar–just start. Small wins can add up fast, and these challenges make saving feel achievable.

Caitlyn Moorhead contributed to the reporting for this article.

The article above was refined via automated technology and then fine-tuned and verified for accuracy by a member of our editorial team.

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