The Twice a Month Chart for the 52 Week Money Challenge

It appears that there are a lot of people who get paid twice a month rather than every two weeks. That means that the 26 bi-weekly challenge chart is close, but not quite right for them since what they actually need is 24 entries throughout the year. I received a number of requests asking if I could create a twice-a-month, or bi-monthly, challenge chart to better help them with the challenge. The results can be found below.

Twice a Month Challenge (click on image to print)

This was actually a bit more difficult than it appears. Much like with the monthly money challenge, 24 amounts means that there are 4 extra weeks which need to be added to the challenge. The standard way to do this would be to add the extra week when it happened throughout the year, but this made for a strange challenge. Doing it this way meant that some of the earlier months required a higher payment than the month after them. I decided the best way to put it together was to add the extra 4 weeks at the beginning when the amount needed to place toward the challenge was small.

Even doing it this way caused an earlier month to be a larger amount than a later month, so I ended up switching it around to make the flow better. In other words, it was a mess, but I kept with the small to large flow intent of the original 52 week money challenge. I also made sure that when all the numbers are added up, it still come to the same amount of $1,378. While certainly not perfectly done on how it should have been created according to the bi-monthly calendar, I believe it fits more closely to the intent of the original challenge.

This, of course, is if you follow the standard version of the challenge. Personally I believe that the alternate version works much better for these challenges since it helps alleviate the issue of the largest amounts needing to be paid toward the end of the year when many people are strapped for money due to the holidays. In the alternate version, the amounts are all listed at the bottom, and you choose the most you can pay for that particular pay period. This gives you more flexibility, and allows you to pay the larger amounts when money isn’t quite so tight.

Twice a Month Alternative Challenge (click on image to print)

This is yet another option for those considering the 52 week challenge to evaluate to see if it best meets their needs. While it might seem like a small change from the bi-weekly challenge, it’s often little details which can determine whether a goal is ultimately met or not. If this can help someone being paid twice a month better make the needed payments to create an emergency fund, it’s an option that should be out there, and one which should be considered.

Explore Options To The 52 Week Challenge

Finally, there are a number of different options for those wanting to attempt a 52 week challenge. Looking through them all can help solidify which would best work for your personality and saving habits. Below you can find a number of different variation to consider.

52 Week Alternatives
More 52 Week Alternatives
52 Week Standard
52 Week Variation
52 Week Make Money
52 Week Kids
52 Week 2015 Edition

Balance The 52 Week Money Challenge With Passive Savings

Finally, if you want a more passive approach to saving money, consider using a savings application like acorns.com or digit.co. Digit.co in particular is a terrific application for passive savers. When you sign up online, the software analyzes your checking account balances. Then, over time, it deducts a small amount and adds it to your savings – don’t worry, you won’t bounce any checks. The idea is that you just passively let it run for a year or so, then check the balance. Its a great passive accompaniment or alternative to a money challenge. Click here to check out digit.co.

From Around The Web 

If you need some motivation, here are some excellent stories of people who saved tremendous amounts of money.  

Businessinsider’s article on 11 people who went to tremendous lengths to save money. 

Money Mozart has 17 stories of insanely smart people who saved a ton.

CNBC has a great article on nine effective strategies to save half your income. 

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