An Easy Way to Make $1,400 By the End of This Year

Have you heard of the 52-week Savings Challenge? It’s so simple that it seems practically fail-proof. In a nutshell, you deposit money to a savings account once a week for an entire year (52 weeks). On week one, you deposit $1. Week two, you deposit $2. Week three you deposit $3 and so on. By week 52, after you deposit $52 to your savings account, you will have saved $1,378. That doesn’t include interest, so you’ll actually have more in your account by the end of one year. Check out this chart to see how the savings add up.

What I really like about this idea, aside from the ease of it, is that you can change it up a little to fit your own schedule without getting off track. For example, you may not have an extra $52 the week after Christmas. If you start the plan by saving $52 the first week in January and end by saving $1 the last week in December, that might work better.

You might prefer to save money with direct deposit every payday. That equates to about $53 every two weeks or $25 a week. Have that deposited into a Prize Savings Account, and you’ll have 52 more entries toward the Prize Savings Account’s $25,000 grand prize at the end of the year.  You’ll also have all those chances to win quarterly prizes throughout the year. Another option it to set up weekly transfers from your checking account to your savings account, through online banking.

The important thing is that you do something. Financial experts used to recommend that people have three months of income in savings. That was before the economy went bad. Now, they are recommending we save a minimum of six months of income. As prices rise and jobs take longer to find, we all have to save more than we used to. The 52-week Savings Challenge won’t get you all the way there, but it’s really good start.

Think of it like working out. The first time you go to the gym, you’re not going to run a mile on the treadmill or lift the heaviest weights. You’re going to start small and work your way up to a comfortable level. Savings in moderation is the best way to save without missing your money. Before you know it, you’ll forget you’re saving money at all. But boy will you be happy when you see an extra $1,400 in your account at the end of the year.

Get started now. We are in week five of January. Deposit your $5, plus your $10 from the four previous weeks. You’ll be well on your way to a year full of savings.