Jan52013
Give this super-easy 52-Week savings plan a try, and have an extra $1378 by the end of the year!
Print 
PDFI spotted this ingenious and simple savings plan* on Facebook, posted it on my wall, and it went viral with 3,074 likes and 4,230 shares as of this writing. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Obviously, this plan hit a nerve with a large number of people who know they need to save, want to save, but are dealing with the reality of tight budgets.
On many calendars, each week is numbered, beginning with Week #1: January 1-7. On this 52-week plan, you save the amount of dollars that corresponds to that week’s number. If one week you find yourself with extra cash, add it to the pot. You’ll end up with more than the $1378 total by the end of December or you’ll have created a bit of a padding for weeks that don’t have any extra cash left over.
Print out this chart or make your own and check off each week as you save. If there are other members in the family with an income, encourage them to do the same. A family with 2 breadwinners could end up with a grand total of $2756, and
that’s no small-potatoes!
*I have no idea who originally created this chart, but I thank them!
© 2013, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.
(29) Readers Comments
Leave a Reply
ACTION STEP: Get thee to the dollar store!
Make sure the rubbing alcohol is at least 60%--anything less than that
Advice for new Survival Moms from those who have been around a while
about storing toilet paper in the garage: i read on another website t
Advice for new Survival Moms from those who have been around a while
I smiled so big with the D&D thing. My husband and I are avid game
RightWingMom
This could also be an excellent source for a cash kitty. Many preppers believe in having cash on hand in the event you can’t access your checking account: a bank holiday, grid down event, societal chaos, etc. You could place the different denominations in an envelop and store it in a fire proof safe, your freezer or your BOB.
Just a thought….
TheScarletPhantom
I like this. This is a slow and steady rate to build a emergency cash reserve, This could be great if in week 13 or so you get a flat tire. With this you have the cash on hand to go and take care of it. You will not have to charge it and it will feel good knowing you were able to take care of it now.
Misty
Love it! Anything simple, do-able, and helpful is great in my book. This is all three!
Chandra
Nice idea, but I get paid monthly. Setting aside $202 to $250 in December is a stretch. Setting aside $104 every month would be more doable.
Jean
LOVE THIS!!!!!!! LOVE IT!!!!!
TexasMama (Peg)
I’ve seen this several times on facebook but the problem that most people aren’t realizing is that by the middle of the year – you’re having to put aside $100 per month and by the end of the year it is $200 per month. If they can’t afford to do that now – how will they afford that a year from now?
Sorry – the idea is nice – don’t get me wrong….but many people will get discouraged a few months in because they are unable to put aside what is on the chart.
DJL
Well, mostly we spend more than we need to. I think the great thing about this plan is it uses such small amounts in the beginning to form the habit of savings, while slowly increasing the amounts. If you took $200 a month out of my budget today I don’t know what would happen, but I am willing to bet that if it disappeared slowly I would adjust to it. I think a plan like this can really help a lot of people, even if it doesn’t work for everyone.
MikeM
Yeah I agree about December. I think I have a painless solution for that. Start with 5$ on week one, go through as planned and then only put in 4, 3, 2, 1 in the four weeks of december and you have your full amount of $1378. You just pay that big month in November.
Midnight
This is wonderful. Maybe at the beginning you could double up at the lower amounts if you couldn’t do the larger amounts at the end. Just emptying out the change in the bottom of your purse would help. My son never spends his change. He throws it into a large jar everyday and treats himself to a ski vacation every other year on his change. That is a painless way to save.
Andrea A
I was looking at this not too long ago and I thought it might be better to do this BACKWARDS. That way by the time the holidays roll around, you will be putting the finishing touches on your savings rather than the bulk payments.
Domonic
That idea is GENIUS!
ForeverAutumn
My plan is to put aside $20 out of every paycheck (every other week, in other words) into my cash reserve, and $200/month into my savings account. at the end of the year I’ll only have $520 instead of the $1,378 you’ve mentioned, but in my case it’s much more achievable. I don’t count my savings in that figure because I’ve got some major specific expenses that I’m saving up for.
But that cash reserve has saved my financial bacon more than a couple of times, so that I didn’t have to whip out the plastic every time some emergency came up. I’m now out of credit card debt, and now just have my student loan to pay off, and (God willing and the river don’t rise) I’ll have that paid off by the end of this year.
Modern Wife
Today I got a dollar back that I overpaid for my daughter’s school spirit shirt last year. Perfect to start this savings plan with. Thank you for sharing.
Kathryn Weeks
Maybe if people were having trouble with the larger amounts at the end they could instead just do a three or six month challenge and keep starting from the beginning after that time was up. So only the smaller amounts were put in, but there was still some savings going on and the habit would be formed and there would be even a little money for an emergency or Christmas.
Even if you did to say Week 5 then had to start again you would still have Approx $150 at the end of the year, would still get some gifts for the kids at Christmas, for cash.
I really like this idea and not sure if I will be able to do the larger amounts but will certainly do it until I can’t find $25 per week or more and then just start from the beginning again with $1 per week until again I can no longer find the larger amount.
I have printed off the sheet and have put it in my finance stuff so it will be seen all the time and remind me to do it.
Mma800
We are going to try it with a twist.
First off we are starting at week 20 ($20). Once we get to week 52, we will continue up to 72. Still one full year of savings, but we will end up at $2438.
Second, we are making it a CONTEST! Nothing like competition to make it fun. I will get one envelope and my husband another. We shall see next year who has the most cash in their envelope. If we get it right, we will have $4876 in cash savings on hand! I just have to be sure my dear husband does not cheat by writing a big check on the last week!
We need to have a prize for the winner. I’m thinking a special dinner or a weekend in the city. Then a big purchase for our preps. Any suggestions for prizes? Keep it clean, folks. This is a family website! LOL
Ashley
If the plan gets to be too much towards the end…even if you did weeks 1-26 and then went back to week 1 and did up to 26 again you’d still end up with $ 702 by the end of the year. Thats a decent amount and you’ve only had to set aside $26 a week max. Me personally, I have $25 taken out of my checking account and transferred to my savings automatically every week. I’ll have $1300 by the end of the year saved!
Katie
You could also print it out and say one week you have an extra $50. Deposit it then and mark it out. Maybe start out with middle numbers or high and work your way around. It’s easier to do it in order just for remembering purposes, but you could do it anyway you want.
Natalie
Our twist is this – we are making “chips” numbering 1-52 and putting them in a box. Every Monday, we pull a chip and the number, and that amount enters in the pot. Then we color out the corresponding block on the grid. For amounts lower than $10, we automatically enter in $10, which give us $78! For kids – we use dimes instead of dollars….still adds up!
thorax232
Brilliant idea, I don’t have a lot of put away right now but this is definitely doable, and I get to level up every week! lol
Linda
Hmmm…. I like the plan but I get paid monthly. What I think is doable for me is to combine the first two weeks with the last two weeks for the first month and mark them off. Next month save the next two lowest and the next two highest. That way the amount would remain rather constant. Sure, there may be a better way, but I love patterns. Thanks for sharing this!
Josh
While looking at this I got another idea that may help those that aren’t able to put as much away in one chunk. If you took a standard deck of playing cards and drew a card every week and discard that card, the number value of that card would be what you put away into a savings. Having the values of the Jack, Queen, King and Ace being 11, 12, 13, and 1 respectively. this would put you at saving $364 over a year through a whole deck of cards with the highest amount having to be put away each week being $13. If that is too low you could also look at drawing 2 cards a week and going through the deck twice through the year. You would end up with $728. Just popped in my head, and thought I would share.
Saundra
I am doing this, but I split the $50 weeks into two weeks, so it’s easier for us. With this plan, I think we can actually do this.
Debi
It would be much easier to put aside the $25/week all along, since I know I would never be able to put aside $50 a week needed at the end. Of course, if you have cush in your budget, maybe easing into less pocket money week by week works.
DCD
Usually people get money back for taxes in feb and spend lots of money in december to make it easier flip the chart save the highest amount in jan and the lowest in december. That should make it easier for the big christmas spenders.
Pingback: Single Parenthood on a Budget | Too Thrifty Chicks
Cindy Lu
My boyfriend and I are doing this- this year. I am doing increments of $2/per week number, instead of $1, and my boyfriend is doing $3/per week number. We’re planning a trip to Disney for our daughters’ birthday next year, and this is what’s going to cover it! Great idea person-who-wrote-this-up!
Fabiola
I am doing this on a monthly basis, and will end up saving the same amount. I get paid monthly so could not save on a weekly basis. This is a great habit forming exercise.
carol
DH and I are doing this on top of our usual savings – bank, change jar. Next year, I think we’ll go backwards like someone else suggested.
cindy
What a great savings plan. Wehave 3 in our family and doing times 3. Wow, it is really growing! Thanks for the idea!