Tools and Rules for My 52-Week Money Challenge

Posted on by theageofthediary

So on Facebook, I saw this photo of the 52-Week Money Challenge (100 peso weekly increment) by Peso Sense. It says that if I follow this, I will save P137,800 by the end of the year. That seems impossible, but I decided to give it a go. If I save that money, I’ll be able to pay all my utang. To make this work, I decided to prepare for it by creating rules and tools.

  1. Giant piggy bank

I bought this from Daiso Japan for P88. Since it’s almost up to my hip, it will be a huge physical presence reminding me of my goal. To make the piggy bank better, I customized it by pasting two papers. One is the printed copy of the savings schedule of the 52-Week Money Challenge (100 peso weekly increment) by Peso Sense. Every time I put money in the piggy bank, I will put a check mark beside the weeks that have been completed. If the money that I’m putting in is not exact to the money stated in the weekly schedule, I will write the excess amount on the other paper. I will use pencil so that I can add to that amount when I put in more money. When the amount is substantial enough so that I can check off a week in the money schedule, I will erase the amount in the extra paper, and then simply check the week that I completed.

2. Rules

  • I will place my normal monthly savings in the piggy bank plus more
  • Every time I earn something extra, I will put it in the piggy bank
  • No shopping?

3. No Shopping Year

So as I said in my New Year’s Resolutions 2018, I’m going to try to not buy any books and decrease my spending on eating out. Yep, decrease, so it’s not a strict no shopping year. I’ve also recently decided that I will not buy other things as well that isn’t related to creating my crafts business, so no clothes, accessories, bags, shoes, etc. I am torn about whether I should also not spend money on things like yoga and stuff. Doing yoga once a month is one of my resolutions, so I’m kind of conflicted about that.

4. Tracker for No Shopping Year

Using a tracker was so helpful during my Facebook detox. Writing about the moments where I got tempted, thinking about things to do to replace the thing that I am not allowed to do, not wanting to add anything to the list of failures, writing about the things I’m confused about regarding the rules of the challenge, writing about the decisions I made, all of these helped me stop checking Facebook for a week. So I will use it again but I will tweak it a little so that it fits my no shopping. So the legend is this (I put the words shopping/buying in parenthesis so you can use this legend to kick any other habit:

🙂 Things I did instead of (shopping/buying stuff)

:-0 cravings, reasons why I need to (shop/buy) and what I need to (buy)

@:-) Things to do instead of (buying)

😦 Fails (times when I actually bought something)

:-s Things I’m confused about regarding the rules of this challenge

<!!>Decisions made regarding the rules of this challenge

By the end of the year, I will write some realizations and stuff.

5. Reward

  • If I complete the challenge, by the end of the year, I will reward myself with P20,000, which I will use for
    • P4825–Passion planner: dated classic and shipping to New York $37=P1850, + Johnny Air ship to SM Megamall (specs: 8.27 inches x 11.69 inches x 0.59 inches, 1.52 lbs, value $30), + don’t know how much Customs fee P2000
    • P850–I found this blog, and I want to try his photography class. I’ll let you know if the class is good
    • P4,000–Fernando Sena art workshop. This link is from 2016, but the details are probably the same. Many people recommend this class for beginners.
    • P6500–Printmaking workshop by Philippine Association of Printmakers. Again an old link. I’ve gone to one class when I was working as an art reporter. I enjoyed it, but the venue is non-aircon. The teacher though is a practicing printmaker, so I think it’s worth it.
    • P1845–Abbey Sy stuff and other art materials
    • P2000–massage
    • (P2000–in case there’s no customs fee, books and food or an improv show or a play)
  • I will use the rest of my money to pay my utang and invest.

More Resolutions:

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