By Cyril Razon
SAVING money was never a “thing” for me to do. I always thought that money should be spent and not kept. I am a certified spendthrift, a big spender, a self-confessed shopaholic. I have this thing where all these items sparkles from the rest, and they attract and whisper into my ears to “buy me.” It usually happens when I’m in a department store: all the shirts winking at me, the shoes talking to me— nonstop.
I mostly spend my dough on “happy little pills,” the things that makes me happy, regardless how expensive and worthless they are after paying for them. I think every part of me rants that I need something new, that I have to force myself to slide down through the trending vent so people could see how big spender I could be.
But another part of me blurts out that I need to start saving money, really start.
One night I was scrolling down through my news feed then I saw this thing that already has a thousand “Likes.” It says “52 Week Money Challenge.” I clicked it and saw these tables that has different increments and results. It has tons of variations on it. Still, the math behind it is really simple.
All one has to do is save P10, for example, and add such amount as the weeks progress. Hence, for week one, one would save P10 and add another P10 for week two and so on and so forth. So for 52 weeks, one would have saved P13,780 ($304.63) by the end of the year. See how huge figures we’re going to save up from small increments?
It’s a pretty big amount of money for, let’s say, students. They could buy another gadget for their studies or spend it for a vacation with their family. The 52-week money saving challenge is certainly a great way to save this year. After all, you are compounding the money in different intervals, making it simple and cost effective.
Some people would find this difficult at first because of the variations of increments and the math that goes with it. Some would definitely find this idea challenging and fun. I, for one, find it hard to save money because I spend most of it on things that are unnecessary. But trying this great idea would definitely help me save a boat of load of money and help me course my own will.
I have my hopes up on saving a huge amount of money at the end of the year and hopefully to open my own bank account.
This challenge may be a temporary solution for all of us out there that’s starting on saving. But it can help us to spend money wisely and hold onto our goals that motivate us to save money. I believe that this challenge is a good idea for starters to save up money for their own use, for whatever purpose they want to spend it.
Think of it as a start of something good, learning to save is hard enough, it already teaches responsibility. This is a good set up point in starting a habit of saving. Once the habit is there, investing would be a breeze.
In order to start this challenge, you only need one thing: a goal. This will keep you motivated to save money. We all save up for something, right?
The goal could be something that would be worth the wait. But always remind yourself the goal is to build savings in a realistic way, through the ups and downs of your life.
Every week should involve some forward progress even if some weeks become better than others.
Even if you don’t find the 52 Week Money Challenge” to be particularly useful, there’s still a great deal of value in keeping that principle of realistic savings in mind.
Most important, invest time. Time is our greatest ally. The earlier you start, the more money you grow.
You don’t have to set a new savings record every week. You just need to move forward all the time.
It’s better than not trying, right?