Penny Challenge by Month -

SAVE FOR LATER

The Penny Challenge will change your life when it comes to saving the spare change you find on your couch and under your car seats!

Find a penny, pick it up…

if you pick it up and save it all year long, you’ll have $667 by the end of the 52 weeks!

What is the Penny Challenge?

It might sound a little dramatic that saving a few pennies every day could actually change your life. You’ve probably seen savings challenges like the Save $1,000 Challenge and felt overwhelmed by the idea of saving that much money, especially if you’re living paycheck to paycheck. The idea of saving a big chunk of money each day can make you feel defeated before you even start, so you never start.

The Penny Challenge (sometimes called the 1p Savings Challenge) is a great way to overcome roadblocks and save money when you have little to put into savings.

If you are trying to change your money mindset, starting with a small financial goal to save money can help propel you to more savings in the future! An easy saving challenge will help you win at saving money.

How the Penny Challenge Works

On DAY 1 of the Penny Challenge you will save $0.01 (a penny), DAY 2 you will save $0.02, DAY 3 save $0.03, and you continue to add a penny for each day of the year. The last day of the year DAY 365 you will save $3.65!

This savings challenge won’t break your budget. It’s a small savings goal that is doable for anyone, so no extreme couponing or eating only rice and beans for every meal!

I’ve broken the penny challenge down into daily, weekly, and monthly savings goals. Sometimes, it’s easier to keep track of how much you need to save for the entire month or on a weekly basis.

The most you will save daily is $3.65.

The most you will save weekly is $28.92.

The most you will save monthly is $108.50

Choose the free penny challenge printable chart below that works for you! (Just click on the Image or Title to grab your free copy!)

Extreme Penny Challenge

How can you make more out of the penny challenge? Try creating a competition between you and your spouse, friends, or co-workers. Finding people to do the penny challenge with will help you stay motivated and be accountable to stay on track. If your spouse (and other family members) take on their own penny challenge, then you could at least double your savings.

Start a Side Hustle

Starting a side hustle can be a great way to make money for your penny challenge. Try a few low-stress side hustles like doing surveys, get paid to watch videos, or earn cash back on groceries!

Survey Junkie is a great place to start making money with surveys. It’s a reputable company that offers legit surveys for big companies around the world. One of the things I love about Survey Junkie is that they don’t waste your time. You can still earn points even if you don’t qualify for a survey after the initial demographic questions.

Also, I love that they pay on time and you can cash out with 1000 points to Paypal.

Read more: Survey Junkie Review

Swagbucks is an easy way to make extra cash by taking surveys, searching online, shopping online, and watching videos. You earn swagbucks (points) that you can trade for cash through Paypal.

Read more: Swagbucks Tips and Tricks

Ibotta is an app that lets you earn cash back at the grocery store! Easily one of the best ways to make extra cash doing what you already do. It’s so easy to use…just scan your items, upload a picture of your receipt, and you can earn between $0.25 – $4.00+ every time you head out to the grocery store. That could easily cover your first month of the Penny Challenge!

No Spend Day, Week, or Month

Plan for a day, week, or month that you won’t spend any extra money. It probably sounds crazy, especially if you think that you are already frugal and don’t spend that much money. You will probably realize that there are more ways that you can cut back on your spending.

When I was doing my last no spend week recently, I had forgotten my kids drink cups for their preschool class. It was such an inconvenience, and I almost ran through the McDonald’s drive thru to grab juice boxes. Since it was a no spend week for me I asked my mom friend if she had any extra drink cups in her car. She did! I ran inside, washed them out, and ended up saving about $5.

A no spend day, week, or month makes you do the inconvenient extra work and it saves you money!

Improving the Penny Challenge

What are you going to do with that $667.95 that you’ve saved up? If you spend it all, then your savings from the whole year are gone! Maybe you are planning to pay off debt, save for your Christmas budget, or take a mini vacation.

Whatever your plans are for your penny challenge savings, I recommend putting that money to work for you. Check with your bank to see the best options for earning interest with your savings account. You may also want to compare online savings accounts that offer high interest rates. Just in case you’re not sure how savings interest rates work, banks will give you a small percentage to keep your money in their bank.

How to Actually Complete the Penny Challenge

Any time you create a new goal that forces you to change your habits, whether it’s how you spend money or losing weight (and anything in between), there comes a point where it’s really hard to keep persevering to reach your goal. We love our comfort zones and starting a new habit is hard because we are also breaking an old habit.

Make sure you have a really good reason WHY you want to save money. Think about your future. What do you really want? Financial freedom, to buy house, start a family. Your WHY is what will keep you motivated through the times that you want to give up on a money saving challenge.

Journal your goals everyday to keep them at the forefront of your mind. Then throughout the day you will remember your WHY and take action to reach that goal.