Savings Challenges for Families: Fun Ways to Reach Financial Goals

Saving money and budgeting are essential to getting more control over your finances, but it isn’t always the most enjoyable task. There is an undeniable link between finances and our mental health – this is where money-saving challenges come in.

Making saving a family activity and making it a challenge for all helps to keep you motivated while boosting your credit score and feeling more financially stable. Here are some of the best ones you can try:

£1 Saving Challenge

Now, this might not sound like much but every little helps. Putting aside £1 every day for a whole year quickly adds up and is a great option to get the kids involved if you do it weekly or monthly.

Research shows that on average parents spend £5 a week on pocket money, a sharp drop from previous years. Getting the youngest in the family involved in this challenge puts them in charge of their pocket money and gives them some extra pennies to play with.

No Dining Out

When you’ve had a busy week, it can be tempting to order a takeaway or go out to a restaurant. However, you can save over £700 a year by swapping dining out with home-cooked meals. This challenge only has one rule, but it can be challenging if you find yourself eating out often.

Start small by dining at home for an entire week or weekend and try to make your way through the food in your fridge before doing a food shop. You can make this even easier on yourself by planning your food shop and doing some meal prep.

No-spend Challenge

This challenge is a bit more on the stricter side and involves setting tight restrictions on every area of spending. From housing bills to groceries and recreation, the aim is to spend as little as possible and see how frugal you can be.

It can be hard to jump straight into no-spending so don’t be too hard on yourself. Ease yourself into this challenge with a no-spend weekend before attempting an entire month and beyond.

30 Wear Challenge

The 30-wear challenge not only does great things for your wallet but for the environment too. As the name suggests, the aim of this one is to get at least 30 wears out of an item of clothing before buying something new.

This can help you save money and limit the amount of fast fashion you buy. Currently, Brits throw away around 72 items of clothing a year, which ultimately end up in landfills. It gives you the opportunity to upcycle your clothes or style them differently to come out with something entirely new.