Did you know the 365-day dime challenge can help you save more than $6,000 in a year?
Saving money daily can be difficult, but it isn’t impossible. As we plan for a new year, money goals should be at the top of our list. While we should always be striving to improve our financial situation, New Year’s resolutions are a great way to enforce this action. If you’re looking for a way to start saving, a money challenge can help.
What is the 365 Day Dime Challenge?
The 365-day dime challenge is a money challenge that prompts you to save money daily. Each day, you put aside .10 cents with the corresponding day of the challenge. For instance, on the first day, you save a dime, .20 cents on the second day, .30 cents on the third day, .40 cents on day four, and so on. Place a jar in a very visible area as a physical reminder to save every day.
In just the first 90 days, you will accumulate $409.50. Considering that 46% of Americans surveyed by the Federal Reserve cannot cover a $400 emergency without borrowing money, this is important.
Why the 365 Day Dime Challenge?
The 365-day money challenge has a few variations, from the penny challenge to adding an extra quarter a day. The penny challenge prompts you to save $668 in 365 days. The quarter challenge, on the other hand, adds up to $16,698.75 after a year. If the penny challenge does not match your goals enough, but the quarter challenge seems to be a little too hard to accomplish, the 365-day dime challenge may be just for you.
Here’s a break down of what to expect to contribute each day:
As you can see, you’ll be able to save a total of $6,679.50. If you break this down daily, you’re only setting aside $18 per day over the course of the year. This seems much less intimidating than the $44 daily average from the 365-day quarter challenge, especially if your finances are not as strong as you would like.
If you are up for the challenge, you can download the chart here.
Tips for Successful Saving
In order for such a challenge to work, you need to be diligent and consistent. The point is to save daily and create a habit that will benefit your finances for years to come. Plus, it’s a great way to build an emergency savings fund, which everyone should have.
If you don’t think you will be able to dedicate an average of $18 per day in 2023, try adjusting to a level that is comfortable. For instance, you could start with 30 days at a time, starting the challenge over at the end of every 30 days. This would come out to $46.50 per month in savings, $1.55 per day, and roughly $558 total for the year. However, you might be better off doing the penny challenge where you will save a little more.
Break down the numbers and see which challenge will work best for you. If a daily money challenge still seems unattainable, try the 52-week Money Challenge or the 12-week Money Challenge.
Improve Your Income
A major challenge a lot of people have is finding the money to save. There are endless ways to improve your income. Here are some tried and true ideas:
- Work Your Professional Options. Since most people’s income comes from their job, you could always improve your income by asking for a raise, taking on a second job or changing careers.
- Sell Your Extra Internet Bandwidth. If you have unlimited internet or you aren’t using all of your bandwidth, you can sell the bandwidth you aren’t using. Its not a huge money maker, but selling your spare bandwidth is a good way to make some extra money. There two apps companies that will help you: EarnApp and SavvyConnect. They both pay about $5 per month.
- Invest For Extra Money. A classic way to improve your income is to buy a bunch of investments. Stock and exchange traded funds are a good way to do this. A good place to start is to get an investing app, open an account and buy stock. Robinhood is good place to start – they have over 23 million users and give you free stock for signing up. Its also super easy to get started. Here is what you do:
Sign up with this link
Get approved
Link a bank, skip the deposit
Claim free stock
After that you just have to decide which securities you want to invest in.
Consider An Income Challenge
Another great idea is to think about an income challenge. Income challenges frankly aren’t as common as savings challenges. It would go something like this: for 30 days, block out an hour of time each day to build some passive income. This could include selling things on ebay, buying savings bonds, getting residual commission on something (such as through an NFT) or the like. For a great list of passive income ideas, consider reading Financial Wolves. The author there has several good lists of ways to make money. Or, you can read our list of ways to make money on the side.
Will you be trying a money challenge in the new year? Share your comments with us below.
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