SavingSteve's 52 Week Challenge Thread

[SavingSteve]

It's the last week of the year and I saved $1

That completes the 52 week challenge for 2016! I didn't miss a single week and counted down from 52. One thing I noticed is that using the challenge sheet encourages an active approach and forming a savings habit. After a while I started to just schedule the transfers into my savings account and I kind of forgot about the sheet. Then I would go back and cross off the boxes. While the finance guru's recommend automating your savings, I think the manual way is better for developing a habit of saving. That IS kind of the point of the sheet right?

Next year I've decided to do the challenge again, but instead of automating it like I did this year, I am going to automate a new Roth IRA to supplement my employer 401K. I will max it out and dollar cost average the deposits throughout the year. This is a better type of thing to automate since all of the deposits will be the same dollar amount. I can set it and forget it.

To continue nurturing my habitual savings mind set I am going to do the challenge again with the same dollar amounts, but manually make the deposits.

Happy New Year!

[SavingSteve]

Hi everyone. I thought about abandoning this thread but why not keep it going?

For the 1st week of 2017 the paycheck was small so I only saved $3. Looking forward to a bigger number next week.

[SavingSteve]

It's week 2 and I only saved $4. But work will pick up now and I'm looking forward to bigger numbers.

[SavingSteve]

For week 3 I only saved $2.
Still getting caught up with holiday expenses and work is gaining momentum.
It always feels like it takes the entire month of January for things to get going.

[SavingSteve]

It's week 4 and I saved $5.

[rennigade]

So how much did you save in 2016? Is this everything including roth/401k, other investments, etc etc...or is this just savings period?

[SavingSteve]

In 2016 I saved $8675 into my 401k from payroll deductions. and $1378 into my EF through this challenge thread.

I know I should do more but at the same time I paid off a $12K CC balance which made it harder.

The challenge amount is small compared to the 401k but the point is to get me into the habit of saving. That's why this year Im doing the challenge manually and not scheduling all the transactions. It forces me to think and I look forward to making the largest deposit possible each week.

This year I increased the 401k by 1% as well and there is no huge CC balance.

[james.hendrickson]

In 2016 I saved $8675 into my 401k from payroll deductions. and $1378 into my EF through this challenge thread.

I know I should do more but at the same time I paid off a $12K CC balance which made it harder.

The challenge amount is small compared to the 401k but the point is to get me into the habit of saving. That's why this year Im doing the challenge manually and not scheduling all the transactions. It forces me to think and I look forward to making the largest deposit possible each week.

This year I increased the 401k by 1% as well and there is no huge CC balance.

Steve, dumping the credit card debt is a good move, so is funding your retirement accounts. This stuff isn't sexy or exciting, but doing the basics consistently for several years will really help your bottom line.

[SavingSteve]

For week 5 I only saved $1. This is because I am making sure to pay my holiday CC bill in full before the due date. No way am I going to pay any finance charges.

[SavingSteve]

Today ends week 6 and I saved $6

[SavingSteve]

For week 7 I saved $7

[SavingSteve]

Today it's week 8 and I saved $8

[SavingSteve]

For week 9 I saved $9 last thursday.

[SavingSteve]

Today for week 10 I saved $10

[SavingSteve]

This week I'm going to pay myself first.
For week 11 I saved $52