Darknessra's Personal Finance Blog

So many of you of probably seen the popular 30 day quarter challenge which nets you $116.25 in 30 days OR the 365 day quarter challenge that nets you well over $16,600 in 1 year! However back at the end of December 2016 when I was looking for new challenge to post for my friends and family to try, I was looking at the 2017 calendar and realized something, I realized that from January 1 to February 28, that equals exactly 59 days! (Although this equals 60 days during a leap year), I also realized people enjoy starting a NEW goal on January 1 of every year. So I designed this 59 day quarter challenge that if you started it on January 1, that by February 28, you would have $442.50 saved up!

So although it's early April, it doesn't mean you can't do this. It works the same way that the 30 day quarter challenge or 365 day challenge works. On Day 1 you save 1 quarter ($0.25), Day 2 you save 2 quarters ($0.50), Day 3 you sock away 3 quarters ($0.75) all the way until Day 59 when you save 59 quarters OR $14.75!

By doing this in about 2 months you'll have just over $440 socked away! The reason I liked this one and why I designed it, was for 2 reasons.

1) It's long enough that you should be able to repeat it, in fact you could repeat it 6 times in a year and you'll have $2,655 saved up!
2) It's a good start to an emergency fund since they say 46% of Canadians & Americans couldn't cover a $400 emergency fund if one came up.

Give it a try and just think in 2 months you'll have $442.50 stashed away!

Now that we're only days away from turning our calendars to August, what a great way to think about saving some money in a new month! Now as July ends you've probably spent a majority of the month enjoying the sun and nice weather, and although you can still do the same thing in August.

I bet you want to get on track with any goals you may still have. They say based on happiness levels that we're mostly happy from June to August, and that setting a goal in any of these months is much more smarter then setting a goal in January when u most likely will fail it by mid to end January or even early February.

So why not do the August $100 Challenge? How it works is very simple. August has 31 days (in case you didn't know that LOL) so if you save just $3.25 a day for all 31 days you will net $100.75 on August 31st! Although $100 won't break the bank, it is a good way to start stashing away some money mostly with the fact that before you know it, Christmas will be here so saving money now is still going to count! Or maybe you want to save some money to go towards your Labor Day weekend camping? or money towards school? Or just getting into the habit of saving then doing this challenge will be a good start to any saving goals you may have!

So what are some tips to saving $3.25 a day for 31 days?
1) Put an item back on the shelf when your shopping for your weekly food (odds are there's something in your cart that you really DON'T need)
2) Skip the daily coffee and make your coffee from home! This will easily save you $3.25 a day or close to it!
3) Drink water instead of the daily sodas, not only will this save you money but it's healthier for your body too!
4) Avoid ATM fees, some machines can charge you up to $3 just to withdraw your own money! My laundry machine charges me $0.85 fee if I use my credit card to load my laundry card! (Skip these fees by using your own bank to withdraw your money)

Whatever you may do it's very easy to save $3.25 a day in order to have a nice $100 by the end of August! Good luck and try this challenge out starting Monday (August 1st, 2016!) GOOD LUCK!

So many of you probably have heard of the 30 day quarter challenge which can net you $116.25 in 30 days! And for some people living paycheck to paycheck this is a good ideal challenge to start! It gets you the first $100+ saved up in just 30 days and more important you could repeat it month after month!

While I had a friend who recently got into some major debt. After becoming a savings coach I felt really bad that I couldn't help him out the way I would like too. Then I remember a challenge I posted on my private savings challenge group on FB back in May 2015! After posting the 30 day quarter challenge in April 2015 I was getting some people telling me that saving even $116.25 in 30 days can be hard for some people, b/c the days when u had to save $5 or more would be hard for people who barely could come up with $5 or more in a day to save!

So I posted the 31 Day Dime Challenge for May 2015, I made it for 31 days only b/c May had 31 days and it was the next month right after April, so of course u could do this in a month with 30 days just you'll save a bit less!

So it'll only net you $49.60 in 31 days (just shy of $50) but it's a good start for people who are looking to save money even if it's only their first $50 in a month!

How this challenge works? So on Day 1 you save 1 dime ($0.10), on Day 2 u save 2 dimes ($0.20), Day 3 u save 3 dimes ($0.30) all the way until Day 31 when you save 31 dimes or $3.10! By doing this you'll net EXACTLY $49.60 in 31 Days OR $46.50 in 30 days (if u do this in a month with 30 days)! Seeing that I'm posting this in mid July 2016, start this challenge up in August 2016... Since August has 31 days, pass this on too anyone who says saving even $100 in a month is hard!

Just think in the first 9 days your saving amounts all less than $1... What costs less then $1 now of days? Not many things and if something does cost under $1 do you really need it? Odds are probably not! The most someone will have to save is $3.10 in 1 day... in Canada (where I'm from) $3.10 won't get you far... A lotto 6/49 ticket costs $3 (without the extra) but the odds of winning the lottery are way lower to the odds of you actually saving $50 in a month! Try this out or pass this on too someone who u know is in debt, get them into the habit of saving even if it's only $50 to start off! It's $50 more they'll have if they didn't do this challenge!

So January is coming up and most of you probably need or want a way to save some cash in 2016? How this challenge works is you will be saving any amounts from as low as $0.25 to as high as $10 and you will net $70 in 31 Days!

This challenge is for people who have a hard time with money challenges that go all year long and seem to fail half way through I will admit I am even one of those people, I came across this challenge back in the summer and saved the idea away for months, I pulled it out just a day ago yesterday and got my jar together and everything. So your probably asking how can I save $70 in 31 days??

This challenge also have LOTS of flexibility and therefore you don't have to do this challenge in order if you wish, the goal is however to make sure you save all 31 amounts in 31 days!

So here's how it works out....

WEEK ONE - January 1-7, 2016:
January 1 = Save $0.25
January 2 = Save $0.50
January 3 = Save $0.75
January 4 = Save $1
January 5 = Save $2
January 6 = Save $5
January 7 = Save $10

WEEK TWO - January 8-14, 2016:
January 8 = Save $0.25
January 9 = Save $0.50
January 10 = Save $0.75
January 11 = Save $1
January 12 = Save $2
January 13 = Save $5
January 14 = Save $10

WEEK THREE - January 15-21, 2016:
January 15 = Save $0.25
January 16 = Save $0.50
January 17 = Save $0.75
January 18 = Save $1
January 19 = Save $2
January 20 = Save $5
January 21 = Save $0.25

WEEK FOUR - January 22-28, 2016:
January 22 = Save $0.50
January 23 = Save $0.75
January 24 = Save $1
January 25 = Save $2
January 26 = Save $5
January 27 = Save $0.50
January 28 = Save $0.75

MINI WEEK - January 29-31, 2016:
January 29 = Save $5
January 30 = Save $0.75
January 31 = Save $5

Now that is the amounts following a chart format, however what I did was I wrote all 31 amounts on small pieces of paper then taped it to a big sheet then I taped that sheet onto a money jar and each day I will save ANY of the amounts and cross them off each day until all 31 amounts are crossed off, by doing this you will net $70 exactly in 31 days AND on top of that you will get into the habit of saving since it takes the average person about 21 days to get used of a new habit. Sure $70 won't break the bank but won't it feel nice to have some money put aside and best of all you can keep saving money in future months! Good Luck!