21 Money-Saving Challenges to Boost Your Budget (2024)

This is the year it’s going to happen: You’re going to start saving money — for your retirement, your kid’s college fund, or that European vacation you’ve always dreamed of. So you open a browser and search for ways to save money.

And that’s when you realize there’s a reason you didn’t start this sooner. It seems like you have to be made of money to save it. But there are ways to save money no matter your budget.

Money-saving challenges gamify your savings plan, making it fun along the way. Plus, some of them add up to real money at the end of the challenge, sometimes to the tune of several thousand dollars. And you can customize these money-saving challenges to suit your budget.

Money-Saving Challenges to Boost Your Budget

These challenges can help you save more for retirement, college, or becoming debt-free. Do one at a time or combine them to save more money.

1. Expense-Tracking Challenge

Best For: Anyone who needs to get a hold on their finances
Time Frame: One month
Total Savings: Not applicable
Level Up: Cancel subscriptions you don’t need immediately, and use the weekends to assess that week’s finances while it’s fresh in your head

The expense-tracking challenge doesn’t directly accumulate savings. Instead, it helps you get a handle on how you spend money, where it goes, and what it adds up to.

For one month, keep your receipts and sit down at the end of each day to log every dollar you spend in a spreadsheet. Go to your online bank accounts to look for automatic debits for bills and do the same. You can use an expense-tracking app like Mint or MoneyStrands if that makes it easier.

Don’t worry about how practical or necessary any of the transactions are for now. You’re just trying to get a clear picture of your financial situation. It’s a good idea to keep your receipts in an envelope so you can refer to the details later.

At the end of the month, go through everything to see where you can cut back. You can do it over a few weekends if that makes it easier.

For example, the first weekend, go through all your utilities. Can you negotiate a better rate on your electricity by switching companies? Do you need the unlimited data plan? Cut every service you don’t need or use.

The second weekend, go through your grocery receipts. How often did you splurge on something you could live without? Could you have made those cinnamon rolls yourself? Are there cheaper alternatives to the name brand? You can check your grocery store’s website if you need insight on how much a product costs versus the competitors.

Pay particular attention to any foods that went bad before you could consume them. Make a plan to avoid the unnecessary spending on future shopping trips. That may mean meal planning, buying fewer prepared foods or more frozen produce, or learning to make things yourself.

For all other expenses, decide whether you needed it and how you can resist the temptation later.

2. The Pantry Challenge

Best For: This challenge will be easier for experienced cooks, but anyone can do it
Time Frame: One week or more
Total Savings: Varies, but approximately $70 per adult household member and $45 per young child on average based on data from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
Level Up: Have a pantry-only day each week to clear out your pantry before shopping for the week

A weekly shopping trip for a family runs into the hundreds of dollars, even if you shop with a list and avoid impulse buys. Take a week off from that expense by using only the ingredients in your pantry, fridge, or freezer for meals.

This challenge saves you a week’s worth of grocery money (and eating-out money if you don’t cheat). It can also fundamentally change your relationship with food and cooking.

You’ll stretch your recipe skills, enjoy the challenge of eating what’s on hand, and identify ways to reduce food waste in your home.

As originally designed, the goal of this challenge is to clear out your pantry over a week. But you can go shorter or longer, depending on how much you have in stock.

3. The No-Eating-Out Pledge

Best For: Those who eat out several times per week
Time Frame: Varies
Total Savings: Varies, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics says the average American spends $3,365 annually on eating out
Level Up: Combine this challenge with meal planning and strategic grocery shopping to save money eating in too

Taking this pledge means you don’t go out to eat — at all. It’s easy to understand, but it can be a challenge because eating out can save so much time and stress when you’re busy. But there are ways to make it easier.

If going out to eat is what you’ll miss, schedule a cheat day once a week or month or on special occasions. This release valve prevents you from cheating at random and allowing the frequency to creep up over time.

If it seems like a lot of work, you can divide cooking, shopping, and cleaning tasks among household members so no one person is stuck with the lion’s share of the work.

If it’s just that life gets in the way, look to the Internet. Recipes that take less time than waiting for takeout make it hard to argue you had to. Look for “quick and easy” recipes.

And with make-ahead recipes, it’s as easy as popping your dinner into the oven. Try once-a-month (or week) cooking. That’s when you cook every dish you plan to eat for the month on one day. It’s a lot of work, so that day should be one of your cheat days.

If you don’t opt for a cheat day, reward yourself with a meal out after a certain number of days of success, starting the number over if you cheat. Extend the number of days required for a treat as it becomes easier.

You can also target a single meal. For example, you might vow to pack your lunch each day instead of buying lunch at work or target dinners but still buy some lunches out.

4. Randomized Weekly Savings Challenge

Best For: Spontaneous people who enjoy games of chance
Time Frame: As long as you like
Total Savings: Varies based on how long you do the challenge and how much you draw each week
Level Up: Use the money to open an investment account with a low-initial-deposit, no- or low-commission broker like Robinhood or Betterment (ensure you understand the tax implications of this level-up before investing)

Pick a day of the week. On that day each week, use something to generate a random number. Draw a card from a deck, roll dice, or count how many coins are in the console of your car. You choose the method. Whatever the number is, you put that many dollars in your savings account.

You can adjust this challenge to fit your budget by choosing a number-generating method that won’t go over your weekly limit. For example, if you use a deck of cards:

5. The Spare Change Challenge

Best For: Anyone who isn’t a tipped employee or card-only shopper
Time Frame: Ongoing
Total Savings: Varies, but probably not much in the short term
Level Up: Combine it with the dollar bill challenge to exponentially increase your savings

Piggy banks aren’t just for kids.

At the end of each day, take all the change out of your pocket or purse and drop it in some kind of container. If you don’t have a piggy bank, don’t spend money on one. You can use a coffee mug, bucket, or jar.

Take it to the bank or one of those grocery store coin-counting machines to turn it into bills periodically.

You’re not going to save thousands with this challenge. But at the end of the year, it could easily net you enough to take the sting out of holiday shopping.

6. The Dollar Bill Challenge

Best For: Anyone who isn’t a tipped employee or card-only shopper
Time Frame: Indefinite
Total Savings: Varies
Level Up: Do the challenge with a higher-denomination bill, like a five or 20 — note that saving $2 bills will land you an interesting conversation piece but not much in the way of savings

There’s only one rule for this challenge. If you find yourself in possession of a $1 bill, put it aside for savings. Do what you want with every other denomination, but those Washingtons go toward your financial future, no exceptions.

This challenge may be unworkable in some cases.

Servers, who often receive most of their income in small bills, can’t save every dollar unless management can cash out the small bills each night. (Just don’t forget to save enough for your bank tomorrow.)

And people who get paid electronically and do most of their shopping with credit or debit cards might not encounter enough dollar bills for this to make much difference. But that’s when you can switch to fives or 20s.

7. The Nickel-a-Day Challenge

Best For: Those who have enough room in their budget for a several-hundred-dollar savings deposit during Christmastime (though some variations make it more accessible)
Time Frame: Monthly, quarterly, or yearly
Total Savings: Up to $3,379.75 — depends on the time frame
Level Up: Save a dime a day to double your money

A nickel a day doesn’t seem like much, but it can add up to big bucks over the year.

Start by putting a nickel in your piggy bank or savings account. The next day, put two nickels aside. Make it three nickels the next, adding just one nickel each day. If you do it for just one month, that’s over $20.

You can start over each month to save almost $300 for the year. Do it per quarter, and you save over $200 every three months, for a total of over $800 per year. But if you keep adding a nickel each day for a year, you’ve saved real money: over $3,000.

This challenge is perfect for people who get paid in cash daily, such as servers. Just adjust the challenge’s length to suit your income.

One warning: Although the last day of a yearly challenge asks for a deposit of just $18.25, the 31 days of December total nearly $550. If you’re on a tight budget, keep the challenge to a monthly or quarterly timeline or opt for a penny challenge instead.

8. The Roundup Challenge

Best For: People who make most transactions electronically or with credit or debit cards
Time Frame: Ongoing
Total Savings: Varies, but probably not much in the short term
Level Up: At the end of the month, total the roundups on your bank statement and double it by transferring that amount from checking to savings

It’s rare for the average transaction to land on an even dollar amount. And you can leverage that by saving that spare change.

For example, say you spend $114.74 on an electric bill, $37.88 on pizza, and $44.23 on gasoline in one day. That would net you $1.15 in savings in one day.

This challenge is the noncash equivalent of the spare change challenge, except you can automate it. You can attach apps like Acorns and Stash to your bank accounts, and they make the microtransactions for you.

But many banks have these types of savings accounts. For example, relative newcomer Chime and the venerable Bank of America both have accounts that allow you to round up to save.

9. No-Spend Challenge

Best For: Those who tend to make multiple nonessential purchases each day or week
Time Frame: One week to one month
Total Savings: Varies based on spending habits and length of the challenge
Level Up: Do a no-spend challenge for one week each month to coincide with the pantry challenge

There are two varieties of the no-spend challenge. Both help promote frugal living as a one-time challenge and a continuing habit.

The first kind is a short-term challenge. Pick a week when none of your regular bills are due, and spend nothing at all. Eat what’s in the fridge and pantry. Watch what’s on TV. Make repairs using the tools and materials on hand. If you can, avoid driving since gas represents spending money.

The longer-term version allows you to spend money on necessities like food (at the grocery store), housing and utilities, and transportation but nothing else. This one works better for longer periods, such as a month.

You can even establish cheat days or conditions that make it more doable so you don’t skip it altogether. For example, you could allow yourself to get takeout on Fridays when your schedule is packed with after-school activities.

10. The 52-Week Savings Challenge

Best For: Almost anyone can customize this challenge to suit their income and needs
Time Frame: One year
Total Savings: $1,378
Level Up: Double the weekly contributions, starting at $2 and ending at $104, for a total savings of $2,756

The 52-week money challenge is one of the easiest to understand. And there are many variations on the theme, meaning you can easily find one that suits your budget.

The concept is simple. Save $1 the first week of the year. Then save $2 the second week, $3 the third, and keep adding a dollar each week for the rest of the year. The week of Dec. 31, your final deposit will be $52 (because there are 52 weeks in the year).

But you can assign the amounts in different orders or increase or decrease the amount you’re saving with a couple of riffs on the original.

11. The Weather Savings Challenge

Best For: Families looking to teach children important money lessons
Time Frame: Ongoing
Total Savings: $2,000 to $3,000 per year, depending on where you live
Level Up: Establish bonus savings amounts of $1 to $10 for weather events like rainbows, thunderstorms, and school snow days

The weather challenge is a fun way to get the whole family involved in saving and teach your kids good money habits at an early age.

Once per week on the same day each week, look up the high temperature for that week using your weather app. Deposit that amount of money in your savings account. For example, if the highest temperature last week was 64 degrees F, you put $64 in the bank.

Repeat weekly for a year. This challenge has the added benefit of requiring lower deposits around the holidays if you live in the Northern Hemisphere.

You’ll save more if you use the Fahrenheit scale instead of Celsius. But if you live in the American South or Southwest, where you could easily be taking around $400 per month out of your monthly budget, you can switch to Celsius in the summer.

You can also go with the average temperature across the U.S. for the week. That tempers the summer weekly savings requirement in hot areas and raises it in cold ones.

12. The Savings Throwdown

Best For: People with a competitive streak
Time Frame: One month
Total Savings: Varies
Level Up: Make the bet with a different person each month for a year of high-octane, competitive savings

Dare a friend or relative to save the most possible money in a specific savings account. Whoever saves the most at the end of the month wins. The prize is bragging rights.

This challenge can motivate you to examine your daily money management in ways that carry beyond the terms of the contest. The throwdown is a fun option for people with a competitive drive, but it has a drawback.

If you get too competitive, it’s tempting to put off important but flexible expenses until the end of the contest. For example, you might pay the minimum on a credit card instead of paying the full balance each month as usual.

It’s best to forbid such bad money moves under the rules you agree to, or one of you risks having one good month followed by several bad ones as you struggle to recover from short-term thinking.

It’s also best to challenge a friend with a similar financial situation. Challenging your lawyer pal who charges $500 per hour just guarantees you’re going to lose, which makes it less fun. And if you don’t have a shot at winning, you’re more likely to give up.

13. 3-Month Savings Challenge

Best For: Anyone who doesn’t have at least $1,000 in emergency savings
Time Frame: Three months
Total Savings: $1,000
Level Up: If you can do it for a full year, you’ll have $4,000 in emergency savings

Something as simple as having a $1,000 emergency fund puts you in the top 40% of Americans in terms of financial wellness. And you can put it together in three short months if you buckle down.

You just put $84 per week into a savings account. That’s it. How you get that money is up to you. Cut back spending, take extra shifts at work, sell your stuff online, or pick up a side hustle as a food delivery driver. If it’s legal, it’s fair game.

14. Holiday Helper Fund

Best For: Anyone who’s tired of paying off holiday debt each January
Time Frame: 11 months
Total Savings: Based on average holiday spending
Level Up: Do several other easy challenges throughout the year to make your monthly savings goal even easier

Many families begin the new year in debt after overspending on holiday expenses like gifts, entertainment, and travel. You don’t have to be a Grinch and cancel Christmas spending. Instead, try the holiday helper fund challenge. It’s just four relatively easy steps.

Use bank statements from the past few years to figure out how much you spend during the holidays on average.
Divide that number by 11.
Save that much money each month from January to November.
Spend the saved money during the holidays so you don’t have to use credit cards.

Resist the temptation to go overboard on spending at the end of the year. You did this challenge so you wouldn’t have to go into debt for the holidays. So make and stick to a holiday budget just like every year.

15. Cancellation a Week Challenge

Best For: Anyone who has more than three subscriptions (which is probably everyone)
Time Frame: Varies, but at least several weeks for most people
Total Savings: Depends on how many subscriptions you have and how much you can cut
Level Up: Make this a regular part of spring-cleaning your finances, and do it at least once annually

This challenge cuts to the heart of one of the most significant preventable expenses of the 21st century: subscriptions. A 2018 study by national business consulting firm West Monroe suggests the average American spends over $200 per month on subscription services, many of which they no longer use.

So every week, cut one subscription from your household budget. Most people don’t realize just how many services they subscribe to. For example, you could have:

Media streaming services like Hulu, ESPN+, or Apple Music
Subscription boxes
Magazines and newspapers (digital or paper)
Dating sites
Gaming services like PlayStation Now or Xbox Game Pass
Cloud storage
Personal help apps like MyFitnessPal, Headspace, and Quicken
Tools like Grammarly and Office 365
Home security systems
Retail membership programs like Amazon Prime or Walmart+
Identity protection services
Web domain or email hosting (especially for accounts or domains you don’t use)
Meal prep and meal-delivery services like HelloFresh, Blue Apron, DoorDash, and Seamless
TV and Wi-Fi service
Mobile phone service (including calling and data)

If you do it for three months, you’ve eliminated 13 expenses from your monthly spending. Even if each one costs only $10 per month, that’s $130 per month you’ve saved. Keep going until you’ve evaluated every subscription you have.

You may not need to cancel them all. In some cases, you can cut costs by eliminating add-ons you don’t need. For example, a company might take $5 per month off your bill if you opt for electronic billing.

16. The 1% Challenge

Best For: Anyone who’s not living paycheck to paycheck
Time Frame: Ongoing
Total Savings: Based on income
Level Up: If you have one, do this challenge using your employer-sponsored retirement account, especially if your employer matches all or a portion of the funds you save

Everyone should save 20% of their income. But for saving newbies, that amount sounds daunting.

Start slowly by taking 1% of your next paycheck and putting it directly into savings. If you make $2,000 per month, that’s just $20. You can make room for that by cutting two restaurant meals per month.

Next month, bump that up to 2%. That’s just one restaurant meal per week you have to cut. Keep increasing your savings by 1% each month until you reach 20%, which will happen in less than two years.

If that seems like more than you can handle, make your increases quarterly. That is, do 1% for the first three months, 2% for the next, and so on. It will take five years to get up to the 20% mark, but you can cut out extra expenses more gradually that way. You’ll barely notice the pinch.

17. Monthly Climb to $1,000

Best For: Those who struggle to keep saving as the holidays approach
Time Frame: One year
Total Savings: Just over $1,000
Level Up: Each month, do a pantry challenge the week before you usually transfer your money, which should free up some cash for your savings to boot

This monthly version of the 52-week challenge scales your savings amount up to $150 and then down again in time for the holidays.

Save $25 the first month, $50 the second month, and $75 the third, adding another $25 per month to the previous month’s savings. On month six, you’ll be up to $150, but rather than keep going up, start the challenge over in reverse.

Start at $150 in the seventh month (July if you started in January). After that, reduce your savings by $25 each month until you’re back to $25 for December.

18. The 14-Day Saving Challenge

Verdict: Anyone who just needs a little direction to get their finances in order
Time Frame: Two weeks
Total Savings: Varies
Level Up: As you finish Day 14, set up a new 14-day challenge based on what you learned from the first two weeks

Personal finance journalist Megan Wells created a two-week journey to set yourself up for financial success by accomplishing one task each day for two weeks:

Day 1: Learn about the concept of paying yourself first. Contributions to savings and your financial health are the first thing you do each time you get paid.
Day 2: Start a new savings account with online access to separate your savings from your checking account.
Day 3: Set up a browser extension like Honey or Capital One Shopping, which automatically saves you money on every Internet purchase.
Day 4: Research your credit card rewards programs so you can leverage them all each month.
Day 5: Run the math on some of your habitual spending. Compare the costs to your hourly wage. That helps you think of the cost of a daily Starbucks run in terms of the hours of your life it costs you.
Day 6: Research balance transfer credit cards so you’re paying down debt at the lowest possible rate.
Day 7: Say no to an expense you really want.
Day 8: Eliminate any subscriptions that aren’t worth it. That could include subscription boxes, magazines or newspapers, streaming services like Hulu and Netflix, or tools like Grammarly.
Day 9: Set a financial goal you can work toward, such as buying a new gaming system or a down payment on a house.
Day 10: Go the entire day without spending anything.
Day 11: Find a way to get around without a car.
Day 12: Audit your insurance policies and find ways to save.
Day 13: Use coupons on your regular shopping.
Day 14: Commit to a savings plan moving forward.

It’s a short-term, high-involvement plan that can supercharge your financial well-being. For detailed instructions, visit Money Done Right.

19. 8-Week Vacation Savings Challenge

Best For: Anyone planning a vacation
Time Frame: Eight weeks
Total Savings: Around $1,000
Level Up: Follow this challenge with another expense-cutting, money-saving challenge to save even more over two months

You can apply this Soccer Mom Blog savings challenge toward a modest vacation fund. You just take two months approaching your finances from two fronts.

The first front is setting money aside: a total of $420 over eight weeks. The blog suggests specific weekly contributions to your vacation savings, stepping from $10 the first week up to $150 by the fourth and then back down again, but you can use any amount that works with the realities of your finances.

The second front is cutting expenses. The blog recommends eating in rather than out once per week, saving you around $50 each week, depending on the size of your household, for a total of $500. Add to that missing your daily Starbucks run twice per week to save $10 each week for another $80.

It won’t take you to Disneyland, but you can go on a road trip, invest in some decent camping gear, or even visit Mexico if you’re within driving distance or can find cheap airfare.

20. The Vice Challenge

Best For: People who regularly waste money on the same nonessential purchase or those with pricey addictions
Time Frame: You set the time frame
Total Savings: Varies, but potentially thousands of dollars per year
Level Up: Tackle this from the other side by identifying a habit you could begin that either saves or earns money, such as carpooling, brown-bagging your lunch, or waiting 48 hours instead of making impulse buys

“The Automatic Millionaire” author David Bach calls it the “latte factor.” It refers to a small but consistent expense, such as a daily latte. The idea is to cut it in half (or entirely) and bank the money you save.

Most people have several of these minor expenses. If it’s not a coffee run, perhaps it’s a daily energy drink, weekly restaurant delivery service, or in-app purchases for your favorite game. Set a time frame, such as a month, and limit your purchase of that vice.

You can cut it out entirely, set a spending limit, or replace it with something else. For example, instead of getting restaurant delivery once per week, go get it yourself — or better yet, make your own food.

After your month is up, give yourself a cheat day. But after that, you know you can do it, so keep going. Either cut the same vice even further or find another one to give up.

You can combine the concept with your physical health by specifically targeting a vice: sugary treats, fast food, alcohol, and soda are good examples. Or you could target something you’d just rather not do as often, like retail therapy or going to the movies.

Each of these costs only a small to moderate amount at a time, but they can add up to hundreds of dollars per month and thousands over a year.

If you’re a smoker or frequent drinker, you can save even more by giving up those pricey vices. But you may need assistance from a doctor, therapist, or support group. Some of those options may cost money, but if you’re addicted, it will save you money and improve your health in the long run.

If you have a drug or alcohol addiction, call the free U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration hotline at 800-662-HELP (4357). For help with smoking cessation, call 800-QUIT-NOW (784-8669).

21. 31 Days to Improve Your Financial Life

Best For: People with established financial means and the time to complete some of the more labor-intensive tasks
Time Frame: 31 days
Total Savings: Varies
Level Up: After you complete this challenge, do another one from this list each month

Money blogger Phillip Taylor lays out a monthlong series of daily challenges to improve your financial life. But this challenge isn’t for those running on super-tight margins in terms of money or time.

For example, Day 1 requires you to start a $1,000 emergency fund. You only deposit $100 the first month, but you need $100 per month in extra income to achieve the goal.

On Day 19, you make a will. If you’re single with uncomplicated assets, you can probably use an online will-maker like or LegalZoom and have one that day, though it may take a few hours.

But if you’re married (especially if you have kids) or have a complex estate, you probably only have time to start the process. It could easily take days or weeks, especially if you decide to hire an attorney.

That said, everyone can do at least a few of the challenges listed. So do the ones you can, and skip or substitute the ones you can’t. For example, if you don’t have a 401(k) to adjust, open a high-yield savings account and set up a monthly automatic transfer from your regular bank account.

View the full challenge on the Part-Time Money blog.

Final Word

Use different challenges to save for different goals. For example, use the 1% challenge to save for retirement, the holiday helper fund to save for the holidays, and the 52-week challenge to save for your annual vacation.

That means each challenge requires its own bank account. Put the money into a high-yield savings account so it can grow even more. Depending on the amount you have and your spending goals, you can also invest the money with a taxable brokerage account.

If you’re not sure of the best way to handle the savings from each challenge, contact a financial advisor. Before you know it, you’ll be well on your way to meeting all your financial goals.