52 Week Money Challege

I was scrolling though a website I spend far too much time on, and came across something called the "52 Week Money Challenge."  It seemed simple enough - there's 52 weeks in a year, and the goal is to, each week, deposit one more dollar than the week before.  At the end of the first week of the year, put $1 into wherever you've decided to save your money (I'm using one of those jars that counts your coins for you), then at the end of the second week you'd put in $2, and so on and so forth until the end of the last week of the year, when you put in $52.  One of my goals for the year was to save money - I know it would be better to save it in the bank, but I like the idea of being able to physically see the money I'm saving - and at the end of the year, I can deposit all $1,378 that I should have in the jar into my bank account.  I am terrible at saving money and I think that come partially because I can't actually see the money I have saved in my bank account, so it doesn't feel real to me.  I feel like doing this, and seeing what I've saved will help me to save.

I have my jar where I can see it in my room, but how much is in it is hidden by the princess crown that came with the card that my lovely niece, Silvia, picked out for my for my 23rd birthday back in October.

 But move the crown, and you can see where I'm at.  I've decided to put money in the jar on Sundays.  One Sunday has passed so far this year, so I've put $1 in the jar.  I also put any change I have in the jar; I'm up to a little over $13 in change.  That idea (of keeping my change in a jar) also came from the same website; it started out as my "concert ticket" fund, and who knows, maybe that's what it will stay as.  I mean, the last time I bought concert tickets, I spent about $325 for two tickets...

The chart reminding me to put money in the jar (and how much money to put in) is taped up on my wall.  Actually, it's taped to the outside of the closet door... but my walls are covered with pictures of Taylor Swift and Frozen and things from Australia, so the free space on the closet door was the closest I had to free space on the wall.  You can see I've checked off the first week because I put my $1 in the jar.  On Sunday, I'll check off the second box down after I put in $2, bringing the total in the jar (not counting the change) up to $3.

It doesn't seem like much just yet, but it will add up at the end of the year!  Like I said at the beginning of this post, I feel like seeing the money add up in the jar will help me to stick to this challenge.  However, I also feel like having the chart printed out - and being able to check off each week as I add the correct amount of money to the jar - will help as well.  That, I think, will help me to stay organized about putting the right amount in each week, and it will also make it so I'm not tempted to take it all out to count it constantly (part of the reason I got a jar that counted the change - so I wouldn't be tempted to take it all out to count, only to get bored/distracted halfway through).

This is one of the first years that I actually set realistic (and measurable) goals for myself for the year, and if I can successfully do this 52 week money challenge, then I will be able to say that I definitely achieved at least one of my goals for the year - saving money!

If you want to do this challenge as well, here is a link to the chart so you can print it out: https://38.media.tumblr.com/e6117ddca26328bcc5045b1b4cb09f7b/tumblr_nhoqq7F6xp1rub751o5_r1_1280.png