Question

Is anyone else not going to be doing a 5$ savings challenge ? Each pay I budget money for savings and debt and only put into envelopes what I’ll need. If I put 80$ into a pet envelope it’s because I know that’s exactly what I’ll need. The only way I can do a 5$ challenge is if I don’t save as much in my pay and bulk up my envelopes which seems not to make sense. I might be able to save a little bit if I don’t spend anything on myself out of my own envelope but even then I closely budget so I don’t give myself much extra as most is going to debt and savings via my pay check.  

Answer 1

The point of this challenge is to challenge yourself. I am tight with my envelopes as well, but I was able to manage to save $240 for the mo the of January.  

Comments

@bastard I agree. I’m extremely good at saving and budgeting, but I budget every penny if there is some left over it goes in savings plus the amount I have designated for efund. But the savings challenge makes no sense for me, bc I’ve already creatively cut everything I can and I don’t put extra in my envelopes. I will say I do use any extra $ I make on swagbucks, fetch or selling things into a savings category that’s my challenge bringing in extra. Lol I think the $5 works better for people who have more margin in their budget or have fun money/haven’t cut as much out. If that makes sense.  

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@bastard I totally get it we have envelopes and I only put $ in them if there’s extra by chance once I budget or if I bring in a lil extra. We get no spending money right now other than our Christmas $ we still are working on. I try to get us enough for one date a month, but I literally budget everything. If I spend $ on me or by chance I’m under budget on groceries it’s maybe $1 or change so I have a change jar. We don’t shop for fun or really spend on non necessities so yeah.  

Answer 2

That’s what I thought initially, but I ended up saving many $5 bills. You could do a $1 challenge instead? Do you have a gas envelope?  

Answer 3

I don’t. I budget every penny including my spends. Anything left I may put into savings or get a treat.  

Answer 4

I do it with my $1 just because I hate carrying around all those ones once the bills are broken up. But I just switched to cashless (each category has its own debit card) so I won’t have that cash anymore

Answer 5

I am not, not enough leftover. What I do is what I’ve been calling (I think because I read it somewhere on here) Sunday singles. I go through my envelopes at the end of the day on Sunday (because I shop for groceries and necessities over the weekend) and pull any $1 bills out and use that as my savings challenge. But if I already had those $1’s marked for something intentional (such as a planned $16 piano lesson) I would leave them in their envelope.  

Answer 6

So I fill envelopes weekly . at the end of each week instead of rolling all of it I take the 1 or 5s and toss that to the side. But I’ve lucked out - my Mom gave me a gc for the place I buy pet food from so I had all that money to work with. Otherwise if there’s a $5 in change it stays all week until I refill, if I need it fine and if I don’t awesome.  

Answer 7

We are doing a $77 a week savings challenge added onto our usual addition to the savings account each paycheck. We are saving $1, 000 in three months with the $77 a week.  

Answer 8

I'm not doing the $5 challenge. I'm saving all my change - I'm in Canada so my $1 and $2's are change. I just round up all my cash purchases. Even with that, I'm not super strict about it. I wait until the end of the week before dumping that change in the jar, just in case I need it.  

Answer 9

$5 is a lot of money in our budget right now. So we didn’t participate.  

Answer 10

I am a cashless spender. I do have a couple envelopes that i use cash for but the money i get back stays in there because i know i will be using the envelope again next month and the expense cost varies.  

Answer 11

I’m doing the $1 challenge. I’ve saved $70 since the first of the year.  

Answer 12

I agree with you! I absolutely LOVE the idea of these. But I never ever budget more into my envelopes than what I will absolutely need. I’m not going to take money from myself when I’ve already budgeted savings.  

Comments

@bastard I’m glad I’m not the only one.  

Answer 13

I'm not. I'm just not in the place to do it right now. Maybe next year!  

Answer 14

I'm not doing the $5 challenge until I am out of credit card debt, I just want everything I can to go towards that, so my envelopes are already a little light. but I am trying a version of the $1 challenge. If I have any $1 bills at the end of the week I save them. So far I've got about $33 for Jan and Feb.  

Answer 15

I’m not. I’ve been on a shoestring budget for years and know exactly what I need to get through. Also, any extra is going to remolding our house(we don’t have a mortgage and are paying cash to remodel the house). We budget for savings to get us through the leaner months, and emergencies. I do have extra built into my grocery budget so I can buy more items when they are on sale and purchase 3+ months of meat at one time.  

Answer 16

I budget for exactly what I need. I'm not doing the 5$ challenge. I pay the bills, remove my cash for the 2 weeks and the remaining $ goes in my savings until I decide what debt to pay with it. Buffer remains in checking of course. I don't get my nails done or any other beauty stuff. We don't eat outside the home or stop for coffee. we don't have anywhere else to cut spending so all challenges are out.  

Comments

@bastard I put all my savings in the same place. I also don't do sinking funds. I believe we all have different needs and our budgeting reflects it. We are cutting spending next month by quitting Netflix. We cut out what we can, if I cut anymore I may as well follow DR ways and not have a life.  

Answer 17

I’m doing the 52 week chalkenge so I put that amount as one of my sinking funds.  

Answer 18

I do cashless. Instead I set up a savings account where every time I swipe my debt card, $1 is transferred from my checking into the savings account ‍♀️

Answer 19

I’m doing it. It’s making me smarter with things lol. I have a $50/ paycheck fun and personal budget. So the other morning I wanted coffee. I use a $20 and got $5x3 lmao I was so mad. Then I wanted sonic breakfast burritos so I used a $20 and again got $5x3. Needless to stay I’ve stopped spending my fun money on eating out  

Answer 20

I’m modifying it a bit. I’m not saving every $5 bill I receive. I’m waiting until the end of the pay period and if I have any $5 bills left at that point, before I refill from the next check, then I pull them out. I couldn’t afford to save every one but I’m doing ok pulling out the $10 or $15 that’s left.  

Answer 21

I just add to my jar I was already saving for vacation. Not even tracking it. If I get $9 change from a 20, I just add it. Plus every payday I add to my cushion, savings and EF. It can be overwhelming to track every penny but I do keep up with everything else I am tracking weekly.  

Answer 22

To anyone wanting to do this but not with the envelope system— you can ask your bank to transfer a few dollars to savings any time you use your debit card for a purchase other than a bill.  

Answer 23

I'm doing it. I do her program mixed with YNAB so cash isn't used much and when it is, I take out exactly what I need :)

Answer 24

I'm the same way. I need every dollar I put in my envelopes, and usually more! I am doing the monthly challenges, but not the $5 challenge

Answer 25

I couldn't afford to do the $5 one so I opted to do $1 instead - I have a really tight budget currently but I've still been surprised at how much I've been able to save.  

Answer 26

We don’t do it. We are cashless and are in intense debt repayment mode. Our minimal sinking funds are being funded and we only buy necessities, every extra penny goes to debt. I challenge myself to come in under budget in categories but our budgeted amounts are pretty spot on for our needs. Every pay day anything that is left in our account goes to debt.  

Answer 27

The only thing I have saved has been change. once a month I take it in and put it in our savings account. Like you I budget for what I know we need and IF there is extra I am throwing it at CC payment. The change though is adding to our EF which isn't fully funded. So every cent helps in my book.  

Answer 28

I’m not necessarily doing the $5 challenge, but I have an auto savings rule set up with my bank. Every deposit that is over $100, $5 is automatically transferred to our savings account!  

Answer 29

I’m doing a modified version. I live in Canada so our smallest bill is $5. I have decided to save all my change I get which adds up fast with all the $1 and $2!  

Answer 30

I am not doing the $5 challenge. I keep my envelope money to just what I need, so taking out all the 5's I get won't work for me. Instead, I'm re-doing the January word challenge using a new word this month. AND, I'm tossing all my change into a jar. The $5 challenge will likely be for me when I've been on the program a little longer.  

Answer 31

Instead of the $5 challenge I'm starting with the $1. I'm keeping the singles that have a 5 on them.