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How to Do the 365 Day Nickel Challenge
The 365 Day Nickel Challenge is a popular way to save up cash over the year. In short, the Nickel Challenge works by putting aside one nickel on day 1, two nickels on day 2, three nickels on day 3, and so forth throughout the year.
If you begin the 365 Day Nickel Challenge on January 1, then you should deposit $0.05, or one nickel, into a jar or your savings account. Then, on January 2 you deposit two nickels.
For example, on day 100 of the nickel challenge, you will be depositing $5.00. After 365 days of this challenge, you would be depositing $18.40 in a day. You can choose to do physical nickels or simply deposit the amount of money that the specific day calls for.
By the end of the year, you will have saved up approximately $3,300!
In this article you will get a free 365 Day Nickel Challenge printable, and learn all about how to successfully earn over three thousand dollars using this fun money challenge!
Why You Should Do the Nickel Challenge
The nickel challenge is an easy way to save up cash throughout the year, and to build diligence.
It’s a good idea if you want to slowly set aside money and want to continually create a drive to save money. It could be great for you to create a habit of regularly saving cash throughout the year. As the year goes on, you’ll need to figure out how to find $5, $10, $15 or so day – this requires you to always be thinking about how to find extra cash.
There are other challenges out there like the penny challenge or the dollar challenge. The penny challenge does not accumulate much money at all, making it very difficult to stay motivated. The dollar challenge can be difficult because not many people have tens or hundreds of dollars simply sitting around.
The nickel challenge is a great “healthy medium” when it comes to money challenges!
3 Tips to Stay Motivated During the Nickel Challenge
One of the most difficult aspects of yearly money challenges is not necessarily finding enough nickels to set aside, but staying motivated throughout the year!
The money expectation is low in the first few weeks. This makes it easy to keep setting aside money. However, it gets much more difficult when you have to set aside more money that you don’t have readily available!
Here are 3 quick tips to stay motivated during the nickel challenge!
1. Use a Tracker Printable
Using a tracker is a great way that I encourage many people to keep track of anything from daily habits, to fitness, to savings accounts!
To use this 365 Day Nickel Challenge printable tracker, write down how much you deposited into your savings jar or savings account each day!
Below you will find a FREE printable to track your nickel challenge! Click the image to download!
2. Use Visual Reminders
To stay motivated, it is important to always have daily reminders.
Vision boards, iPhone wallpapers, and written notes to yourself are all great ways to have reminders throughout your day.
For example, below you will find multiple iPhone wallpapers that you can save and use for FREE to keep yourself motivated!
3. Have a Goal for Your Savings
This is the most important part to staying motivated!
By having an end goal for your “WHY” for doing your nickel challenge, you’ll be able to remind yourself when it gets difficult to keep setting aside your nickels!
For example, you could be saving your nickels for a vacation. Or, maybe you want to buy a new dining table or get a new computer!
Be sure to check out this in-depth article about how to save money into individual sinking funds!
Should I Use Cash or a Savings Account for the Nickel Challenge?
It can be really difficult (or, annoying!) to have to hunt down so many spare nickels!
What you could do is buy ahead the rolls of nickels for the week or for the month. You can still set aside nickels daily, but this requires you to plan ahead and make sure you are making and saving enough money to set aside the amount you are going to need to set aside!
Thing is, for the 365 Day Nickel Challenge as mentioned above, you will need a total of 66,795 nickels. That is a lot of nickels.
Where will you get the nickels? Do you have a jar or container large enough for this many nickels?
Instead, you could consider using a savings account! I personally use an app called Acorns to set aside small amounts of money. You can learn more about the Acorns app here!
This is a good option if you cannot fathom buying or trying to find so many nickels!
Common Questions About the 365 Day Nickel Challenge:
Do I need to use an app or real money for the nickel challenge?
Answer: For these money challenges, it is best to use physical money, but using an app is an easier option!
How much is 5 cents a day for a year?
Answer: By saving exactly 5 cents a day for a year, you will save up $18.25 by the end of the year.
How much is a nickel a day for 20 years?
Answer: Saving a nickel a day for 20 years would total to $365 by the end of the 20 years.
Should I save a nickel a day or a nickel based on how many days I have been saving?
Answer: The debate with this question revolves around the concept of Day 10=1 nickel versus Day 10=10 nickels. To save more money, it would be best to deposit the amount of nickels based on the amount of days you have been saving. As in, if this is day 100, you’d deposit 100 nickels’ worth of money, which would be $5. This nickel challenge formula will sum up to over $3,300 a year! Otherwise, with the alternate “nickel challenge”, you’d only accumulate $18.25 in total.
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