Get ready for the new year: 5 saving challenges

Who said that saving has to be boring?

Maybe you're among those who have decided to start the new year with a useful and necessary purpose, like saving.

The good news is that after 21 days you'll be doing a lot less effort, because saving will have become a comforting habit, even if now it may seem impossible. Thanks to the 5 challenges that we propose today, you will not struggle even at the beginning: let's discover them together!

52 Weeks Money Challenge

This challenge is a huge hit on Instagram and Pinterest, why not try it?

This is how it works, in its simplest version: you will have to save an increasing amount of money every week, starting with the first of the year and ending with the last one, week 52. Thus, the first week you will set aside one euro, the second two, and so on, with a degree of difficulty increasing as the weeks go by: by week 52 you will have saved 52 euros. The bill is quickly done: by the end of the year you will have saved a total of 1,378 euros aside!

That's the basic version: if you're bored and want to liven things up a bit, you could follow the example of those who started the challenge from the end. That's right: the first week, thanks to the boost of new beginnings, you start from the hard one, setting aside 52 euros and decreasing the amount from week to week.

It's for you if: you feel reassured by the idea of ​​a simple mechanism, you love predictability and small certainties.

On Oval: make a manual deposit each week of the corresponding amount and track your progress.

No-spend Challenge

Some clarification is needed here: we certainly cannot decide not to pay the rent or the bills or not to eat and this is not the point of the challenge.

Rather, it consists in establishing a given time period, or a list of non-essential goods, and carry out the challenge forward accordingly. You might, for example, decide not to spend anything in certain categories every other month during the year, eliminating for a while those treats that didn't allow you to put money aside.

It's for you if: you usually do better at something, when the rules are clear-cut and with few loopholes. If you go on a diet, you prefer to eliminate any snacks than keep some to cheer yourself up.

On Oval: monitor transactions in the spending categories that are the subject of the challenge, and pour everything you don't spend into your savings Goals!

Weather Savings Challenge

If you fancy a bit of a crazy challenge, this is the one for you.

In some versions it is also called the Weather Wednesday savings challenge, since Wednesday is the temperature recording day for the Arizona blogger who created this challenge, which must clearly be adapted to the Italian context.

In the original version, every Wednesday was a temperature recording day: the amount of the number was converted into euros and set aside. But starting in January, you could for example think of adapting this challenge to you by adding, in the coldest months of the year, a + tot: from one euro upwards, see how keen you are to save!

It's for you if: the idea of ​​a random saving amuses you and you think it could be the element of surprise that will push you to want to continue the challenge.

On Oval: once you've found out how much you want to set aside, put it straight into Oval and keep it safe from second thoughts.

Bi-Weekly Savings Challenge

This challenge also needs to be adapted to you: basically, it consisted in saving more, maybe twice as much, each paycheck on a bi-weekly basis.

It's not so common as payment timing here: if you are a freelancer you could for example do it for the week / weeks of the month in which you fulfill your invoices. This is basically a featuring with the 52 Weeks Money Challenge: you save every week, but a few more.

It's for you if: if you are, for example, a freelancer who weighs being cut off from regular employee payout schedules, this challenge may suit you!

On Oval: set the Smart Rule on Earnings and automate the challenge!

Find extra money challenge

This is the challenge that tests your creativity.

It consists of finding extra ways to save money: it could be, for example, by selling those items of your wardrobe or those furniture that you always tell yourself you should get rid of.

Or you could collect all the loose change in your wallet, or even try to sell the products of that hobby that you think you should try to make a living from it.

It's for you if: you are a creative person who brings out the best when faced with a challenge in which you need to do a bit of imagination.

On Oval: collect the extra income and make an instant top-up into your Reserve Fund!

Choose the challenge that best suits you and your character, and mark "January 1st" in your diary: a new challenge awaits you!