A New Year

I have decided to tackle a certain challenge for the first time ever. This challenge is important to me, and I am determined to complete it. It also seems to be a big thing on Tick Tok, and it is one of the reasons I have decided to take it on, but not the only reason. What is the challenge you wonder? It is the money saving challenge with a twist.

With so many challenges out there when it comes to saving money, I decided to start the 100-envelope challenge. One of my new year’s resolutions for the year 2022 was to focus on saving money. I spent way too much money in 2021 that I feel like with the amount of hard work I did, I now have nothing to show for it. This year is going to be different at least that is the goal.

This challenge starts with 100-envelops that are numbered 1-100. How you do this challenge is up to you and your budget. Some do an envelope a day and it becomes a 100-day challenge. Some do an envelope a week with makes it a two-year challenge. Personally, I am pulling 2 random envelopes every Friday which will make it a yearly challenge. By the end of it no matter which way you choose to do it, you should have saved up $5,050.

Now, I said I was doing this challenge, but with a twist and that is because I have added 4 more parts to this challenge for myself.

The first part is every month I am withdrawing $500 from my account to use for this challenge. By doing this I will be ultimately withdrawing $6,000 a year, but because you only need $5,050 it will leave me $950 extra to use how I see fit. I will explain how I will be using the $950 later.

The second part I added is I opened a savings account with a different bank. With this new savings account I have decided to make it another “100-envelope challenge” without the envelopes. By doing this I will be doubling what I am saving making it $10,100 with half in cash. For this part though I am waiting until the last Friday of every month to count what I have saved that month and then I will be transferring that amount from my checking account to my new savings account. I felt that having this in a separate account where I have less access to use it would help me focus on saving instead of spending.

The third added part is cash stuffing which is another big thing on Tick Tok. I bought some zipper bags and I plan to label them with different categories. Since this part doesn’t start until January 28, 2022, I have the time to change the names if I choose to. The first category I have is technology for a cellphone, laptop, TV, or anything else technology based I may need. The second is car which could be for car maintenance or even a new car just in case I need to replace mine; I can start saving for it now. For number three is vacation if I so choose to take one. Then there is dental, emergencies, holidays, spending and miscellaneous as the other categories. I picked 8 categories because I am pulling out 8 envelopes almost every month and one envelope can go towards each category. I also will be randomly picking an envelope for each so I will not have to choose which envelope goes to which category.

This last part is the $950 that is left over from part one that I said I would explain. I will have one more zipper bag labeled extra which is where the money will go into. This bag will serve as a final savings bag, so not only will the $950 go into it, but any money left in all the category bags mentioned above will also go into it. By putting all the money into this bag, I will not be using it at all and will be starting back over at the beginning of next year. I have not decided what to do with the money in the extra bag, whether I will deposit it into my savings account or just keep it in the bag. Any bills like for my credit card, gas, groceries, rent, all that will still be paid from my checking account.

I have heard that spending cash since it is visual is harder than just swiping a card and paying for something. By using cash, you begin to spend less and that is my real goal by doing this whole challenge with a twist.

I understand not everyone can do all that I am trying to accomplish and that is fine. This is how I have chosen to tackle this challenge and because I have a fair paying job, I can afford to do this, but for those who don’t, make it a 2-year challenge and do 1 envelope a week. This type of challenge is accomplished how you can do it and what is comfortable for you. Though, I have been making progress these past few years, one huge mistake I made and continue to make is spending and not saving much. If I had to replace my car today, I would be stuck in a huge debt I do not want to be stuck in. That is why I am starting this challenge this year and I am hoping I can continue it for years to come.