Game of Bone$: 8 Game-Changing Money-Saving Challenges: Turn Savings Into a Fun Game!
Listen, there is no other way to put this: saving is not fun.
It’s not sexy. It’s not enticing. It’s not really adrenaline-inducing.
Is this news to anyone? Didn’t think so.
Nonetheless, I’ve taken it upon myself to draft up a short article on 8 ways you can try to make saving money fun.
Spoiler alert: the secret is to gamify it.
Gamify the whole f*cking experience.
Do it.
1. The 100 envelope challenge.
End result: $5,050 in 100 days.
This is one of my favorite challenges because it requires little effort once you have things set up. Now, there are two ways to do this: the “real envelope” experience or the “digital” experience. They are almost the same, with the only difference being that the digital one uses an app.
This is how I do it:
I downloaded an app (there are a couple of them but I use “Savelope” for iOS). You can create the challenge in the Savelope app and it will ask you how much money you want to save in the end and how many days you want the challenge to last. If you want to do it like I do, choose $5,050 and 100 days.
The app will then create 100 envelopes with numbers inside between $1 and $100, with no duplicates. The app will then remind you every day to open an envelope. When you open that envelope, whatever amount between $1 and $100 pops up, is the amount of money you have to put into savings (or into a real envelope) for that day (since I have unlimited transfers between my accounts, I simply do a quick transfer).
And that’s it. Just do this once every day for the next 100 days and in a bit over 3 months you will have saved $5,050.
2. Alternative to the 100 envelope challenge.
End result: varies from as little as $560 to as much as ~$4,000 in a year.
If putting aside $5,050 in 100 days for the envelope game is a bit out of your comfort zone at the moment, you can try these alternatives (for which you can also use the Savelope app). These alternatives still “gamify” the experience while allowing you to save as much or as little as you are comfortable with.
Option 1: $562.00 in 1 year.
Put aside a “big pot” of $52 on Week 1 to get you started. Then every week you put aside at least $10. This sets a reasonably attainable weekly goal. After a year, even if you were only able to put aside $10, you’ll have a nice rainy day fund of $562.00. It may not sound like much, but wouldn’t you be happy to have an extra $500 whenever things get a bit tight?
Option 2: $1,378 in 1 year.
Put aside $1 every week for 52 weeks. But the twist is that every week you save one more dollar than you did the week before. For example:
Week 1: $1.
Week 2: $2.
Week 3: $3
and so on and so forth. By the time you get to Week 52 (where you should put aside $52), you will have saved $1,378.00.
Option 3: $1,000 in 90 days.
If you’re feeling particularly intrepid, you can try the 12;1K challenge.
You have a goal: $1,000. And you have a deadline: 12 weeks.
Your mission, if you decide to accept it, is to save $1,000 in those 12 weeks. You will have enough flexibility to save in whichever way you want, but if you procrastinate, you’ll find yourself having to cough up a ton more money towards the end. If you want to keep it doable, all you need to do is save $84 per week, which is a bit more attainable.
3. There’s an app for that.
End result: varies depending on how and how long you use the app.
If you don’t want to have to manually make transfers every day, you can use an app like Acorns that automatically rounds up to the nearest dollar every time you use your debit card. The app also gives you an option to set small amounts of recurring transfers to boost your saving a bit more.
This is a very “out of sight, out of mind” way of doing things, but the app gets the job done 🤷🏻♂️
I have the normal rounding up + a $10 recurring deposit per month and, just by rounding up, I’ve put aside $31.36 in the last 30 days.
Since I started using the app, I’ve put aside almost $500.
If you don’t have the app, you can use my referral link to sign up and get $5.00 for free to get you started.
NOTE: if you do use my link, both you and I will get $5.00, so I do benefit from you using the link but it does not cost you a thing — just, full disclosure.
4. Arbitrary numbers are arbitrary.
End result: however much you decide to save.
This one is a more random way to save, but I’ve tried it before and it works. The idea is that you set aside a random number, say $300. Then you take a container and label it with the amount. The goal is for you to put money into the container every now and then (don’t just take $300 and put it there at once — unless you want to) and see how long it takes you to reach the goal.
This method works because it takes advantage of the small jolt of dopamine you get when you accomplish a goal.
Once you accomplish a goal, even if it’s an arbitrary one, your brain wants to accomplish it again (or an even harder goal) which you can then leverage to start over and keep the savings coming.
5. Put a pin in it.
End result: enough to buy something and then decide not to buy it.
This is one that I heard from a friend when I was talking to her about my idea for this article. The first thing you need to do is think of something you really want to buy, but that you can’t afford right now — other than a Lambo…let’s be reasonable here.
Let’s say a pair of PRADA sunglasses, which are around $500.
What you do is then you “pin” the pair of sunglasses you want on a Pinterest board (you can keep it private) and you start putting money aside specifically to buy those sunglasses. Once you have finally saved up enough to buy them, you can go back to your board and see if you still really, really want them.
If you do, then you buy them. If you don’t, you already saved the money, so it should be easy for you to put it aside and find something else to pin as motivation for your next goal.
6. One for you, one for me.
I know saving for the sake of saving is boring. So another way to make things a bit more fun is to tie your saving goal to a spending goal too.
For example, if you want to save for a weekend road trip that will cost $500, you can match dollar for dollar for the trip and for your savings. Any time you save $1 for the trip, save $1 as well for your nest egg. By the time you are able to afford your trip, you’ll already have saved another $500, so you can go on your trip guilt-free.
7. The Mindfreak — ahem, I mean Mind-hack method.
This one involves a little psychological trick that I used when developing the products I’m working on with Rode & Ankor. Whenever you are faced with a choice that requires you to spend money, you ask if buying the item will get you closer to your savings goal. If it does, then buy it. If it does not, then you don’t buy it and move on. This way of making a decision takes the temptation off your mind.
If you have a savings account, a nice twist is to take the money you would have used to buy the item and put it in your savings. So, the money will still leave your account, but not to go into someone else’s pocket. Instead, you just paid yourself.
Cha-ching!
8. Don’t try this at home. I mean, do if you can, but at your own risk.
Last but not least, we have one of the most drastic ones. I have personally never tried this one, but like I always say: you do you.
This one is the…
*drumroll*
50% challenge!
The challenge is to try to spend only 50% of your income for 1 month (or whatever length of time you want to try) and save the rest.
Like I said, I have not tried this one, but I am definitely interested. Needless to say, however, this one is not for the faint of heart.
Anyhoo… I hope you found some inspiration to up your savings game (pun very much intended) and get to crushing your goals.
Let’s do this.
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