SavingSteve's 52 Week Challenge Thread

[deedee421]

Congratulations!!!
You did a great job with the challenge, and I'll look forward to watching your progress in 2015. Happy New Year Steve, and please know you were an encouragement to me as well.

[SavingSteve]

Thanks deedee!

Happy 2015 Everyone!!!

So last year my plan for dividing the challenge sheet amounts into two groups worked well. Im going to continue with that. So this year I'm making deposits in descending order:

Weeks with extra overtime at work = deposit $52-$27
Weeks with no overtime at work = deposit $26-$1

So let's GO!

Starting balance = $1500

So far on Jan 1st I saved $26 for week one of the challenge.

[SavingSteve]

Today I saved $25 for week two of the challenge.

Just started a busy week so should be able to do more next week.

[SavingSteve]

Okay it's a decent pay day. Saved $52 for the challenge today and crossed off the biggest box on my sheet. I like the way the challenge gets easier as you go!

[SavingSteve]

This week was pretty dull. Not much to report and work was slow.
But the good news is today I saved $51 for week 4 of the challenge!

[SavingSteve]

There was no OT at work this week, but I still saved $24 for week 5 of the challenge.

I've also started some saving accounts for those things I never seem to have enough money for, with automatic deposits each week. A Holiday Savings for Christmas presents, A Vacation savings and a Auto savings so I can start paying cash for cars down the road instead of financing or leasing them!

Great thing is it's all on autopilot.

[deedee421]

Hi Steve,

Great job on your 2015 challenge! How do you determine the amount you deposit to each savings account? I'm in a similar situation where I'm trying to get my 8 month emergency fund, save for a new to me car, boost my retirement, etc. My sister gave me an excellent idea of doing a savings snowball similar to the debt snowball I did when I had credit card debt, but I have yet to implement that so I was wondering what method you use.

[creditcardfree]

Hi Steve,

Great job on your 2015 challenge! How do you determine the amount you deposit to each savings account? I'm in a similar situation where I'm trying to get my 8 month emergency fund, save for a new to me car, boost my retirement, etc. My sister gave me an excellent idea of doing a savings snowball similar to the debt snowball I did when I had credit card debt, but I have yet to implement that so I was wondering what method you use.

Just a thought deedee, start with an end goal for each item (amount and date), figure how much that is per month. Add up the amounts per month needed, then figure the percentage each is of the total goal. All extra funds or savings deposits could then be divided as a percentage they are of your goal. I hope and think that makes sense.

[SavingSteve]

For weeks 6 of the challenge I saved $50.

Just a thought deedee, start with an end goal for each item (amount and date), figure how much that is per month. Add up the amounts per month needed, then figure the percentage each is of the total goal. All extra funds or savings deposits could then be divided as a percentage they are of your goal. I hope and think that makes sense.

This is exactly right. But in the case of the car it would be easy for me to be a flake and not save regularly, so I am using the automatic weekly transfer feature of my online banking. Also, I am trying to break my habit of leasing cars. It's easy to get hooked on leasing. You just go in, pay very little money and get a brand new car for a payment that you can fit in your budget. The problem is when I add up the money I've spent over the past 10 years on lease payments it makes my stomach turn! If anyone reading this is leasing their car do the math on this it's really shocking! Its much cheaper over 10-20 years when you have some years with no car payments. Even if you finance the car for 3-5 years but keep it for 10-15 you will save a fortune.

So now my wife and I have returned our second leased car and instead of paying the finance company the payment I'm paying MYSELF into a savings account, the payment amount divided by 4 weekly payments. It's a bit less comfortable with 1 car but I feel so much more free paying myself instead of a finance company. Down the road I will just buy a car!

[creditcardfree]

The problem is when I add up the money I've spent over the past 10 years on lease payments it makes my stomach turn! If anyone reading this is leasing their car do the math on this it's really shocking! Its much cheaper over 10-20 years when you have some years with no car payments. Even if you finance the car for 3-5 years but keep it for 10-15 you will save a fortune.

This is so true! I wish I could convince one of my friends of this. I know right now one of their lease payments is nearly $450...doing some quick math in my head I figure our paid for van will cost us around $200 a month if we will have owned it for 10 years (we are almost at 8 right now). It could more if I figured in maintenance, but not too much.

So now my wife and I have returned our second leased car and instead of paying the finance company the payment I'm paying MYSELF into a savings account, the payment amount divided by 4 weekly payments. It's a bit less comfortable with 1 car but I feel so much more free paying myself instead of a finance company. Down the road I will just buy a car!

I'm impressed you returned the car and are working with one vehicle now! It will be worth it the sacrifice.

[deedee421]

Just a thought deedee, start with an end goal for each item (amount and date), figure how much that is per month. Add up the amounts per month needed, then figure the percentage each is of the total goal. All extra funds or savings deposits could then be divided as a percentage they are of your goal. I hope and think that makes sense.

Thanks creditcardfree for the idea! I'll try that and as I meet each goal I'll roll it into the next for the savings snowball my sister suggested.

For weeks 6 of the challenge I saved $50.

This is exactly right. But in the case of the car it would be easy for me to be a flake and not save regularly, so I am using the automatic weekly transfer feature of my online banking. Also, I am trying to break my habit of leasing cars. It's easy to get hooked on leasing. You just go in, pay very little money and get a brand new car for a payment that you can fit in your budget. The problem is when I add up the money I've spent over the past 10 years on lease payments it makes my stomach turn! If anyone reading this is leasing their car do the math on this it's really shocking! Its much cheaper over 10-20 years when you have some years with no car payments. Even if you finance the car for 3-5 years but keep it for 10-15 you will save a fortune.

So now my wife and I have returned our second leased car and instead of paying the finance company the payment I'm paying MYSELF into a savings account, the payment amount divided by 4 weekly payments. It's a bit less comfortable with 1 car but I feel so much more free paying myself instead of a finance company. Down the road I will just buy a car!

Steve, another big deposit week for you - congrats! I've been following Suze Orman for so many years that I've never leased a car, but it sounds like you made a smart money decision returning one of the vehicles. With the money you'll save from that, you'll have your goals met in no time.

[SavingSteve]

Steve, another big deposit week for you - congrats! I've been following Suze Orman for so many years that I've never leased a car, but it sounds like you made a smart money decision returning one of the vehicles. With the money you'll save from that, you'll have your goals met in no time.

Thanks deedee good to hear from you. I've read what Suze Orman writes about leasing cars and how it was her biggest mistake ever. I don't necessarily agree that leasing a car is that bad in all cases. I mean it really depends on your financial situation. If the amount is a teeny tiny bit of someone's upper six figure income it may not really matter, or if your company is going to pay it and it doesn't affect your personal finances at all, fine. But in my case $300-$500 per month DOES mean something and adds up to a very significant amount of my income over the long run.

A $500 lease payment over 20 years is $120,000 and that I would rather save and invest than spend on lease payments. But if it was only 1-2% of my income I might not care that much.

[ginene]

Good luck! I think I'm doing some random amounts in March and check off some of my weeks off that way.

Thanks deedee!

Happy 2015 Everyone!!!

So last year my plan for dividing the challenge sheet amounts into two groups worked well. Im going to continue with that. So this year I'm making deposits in descending order:

Weeks with extra overtime at work = deposit $52-$27
Weeks with no overtime at work = deposit $26-$1

So let's GO!

Starting balance = $1500

So far on Jan 1st I saved $26 for week one of the challenge.

[SavingSteve]

Week 7 of the challenge I saved $49

[SavingSteve]

For week 8 of the challenge I saved $48