Can you believe 2016 is over? I mean, seriously that year flew by! So many changes happened in our household that it’s hard to keep track of them all. Of course, I remember the big one – you know, having a baby. That was probably the most important part of 2016 for our family.

However, we had a lot going on. We had to remodel the house a bit to make room for the baby. I kept working towards my CFP designation and am one step closer to being a Certified Financial Planner (yay!) and I survived another #taxseason without killing anyone.

We traveled a lot and just had an amazing year. I can’t wait to see what 2017 has in store for us. With all of the surprises and planned expenses last year, we decided to kick off the new year with a bang! We’re setting an additional savings goal on top of our budgeted one.

What?!

Yep, that’s right!

We plan on starting a 52 Week Savings Challenge on top of what we’re already putting aside each month.

We looked at our budget and decided with all of the highs and lows of last year, it wouldn’t hurt to have an extra $1,300 in savings for those unexpected needs. So instead of increasing our savings goal, we chose to go a fun-route.

Yes, savings can be fun!

We created an easy-to-follow 52 Week Savings Challenge. It’s easy to follow and you can really tackle it any way you want.

Here’s the gist of the savings challenge:

Start off with saving $1 the first week, then add $1 every week to you new goal. Here’s what it looks like for the whole year:

week 1 – $1, total of $1
week 2 – $2, total of $3
week 3 – $3, total of $6
…
…
week 52 – $52, total of $1,378

I created an easy PDF for you to download to keep track. You can download this free printable here.

Here’s another way to tackle this new 52 week savings challenge:

You can start with week 52 and work your way backwards. That way you’re starting with savings $52, $51, $50 and so on now then when it’s closer to the holidays your savings would be less than $10 a week. It’s up to you.

Just decide which way is best for your family to follow and then get started. The biggest thing is to start now and keep going with it.

Don’t give up!

You can have an extra $1,378 saved by the end of this year. That’s quite a bit for only a few dollars each month. We plan on finding the extra money by cutting out our eating out. We’ve been watching what we’ve been spending for awhile now. By following our easier cash envelope system, we will be able to easily find the extra dollars each week to add up.

What are you going to do with this extra savings at the end of the year? It’s going to be good to use towards Christmas gifts or you can add it to your emergency fund or even debt! Whatever you want to do with it, it’s up to you!

Just think, $1,378 can be yours by saving a few dollars each month for the next 12 months. So easy!