How realistic is this money challenge?

[amastewa93]

My fiancee and I stumbled across another money challenge on Pinterest this morning and can't stop talking about it. It helps you save $10,000 in a year on a bi-weekly basis. I'm thinking that if we buckled down after our wedding (cut down our spending on going out, etc), we can pull this off. We have a $1,000 emergency fund and have started focusing on our debt more but $1K isn't a ton of money if it really hits the fan.

We make about $70,000 a year together (with potential raises in the near future). The challenge looks like this...

Week 1 - $275
Week 2 - $475
Week 3 - $275
Week 4 - $475
Week 5 - $275
Week 6 - $475
Week 7 - $275
Week 8 - $475
Week 9 - $275
Week 10 - $475
Week 11- $275
Week 12 - $475
Week 13 - $275
Week 14 - $475
Week 15 - $275
Week 16 - $475
Week 17 - $275
Week 18 - $475
Week 19 - $275
Week 20 - $475
Week 21 - $275
Week 22 - $475
Week 23 - $275
Week 24 - $475
Week 25 - $275
Week 26 - $575

How realistic are those weekly goals, in your opinion?

[bjl584]

Impossible to say without knowing your budget. If you don't have a lot of other bills then it is definitely possible.

[Jluke]

Can you save $750/month? That’s 1k shy of $10,000.

[msomnipotent]

What is the reason for $275 one week and then $475 another? I would rather just have one set payment per week, especially since you would need to come up with $575 right around the holidays. But yeah, it really depends on your budget.

[disneysteve]

As others have said, it depends on your budget. Do you have $10,000/year surplus currently? If not, do you have expenditures that could be trimmed back to get there and still be satisfied with your quality of life?

Also, what would be your goal here? Just saying, "We're going to save 10K" isn't nearly as motivating as "We're going to save 10K so that we can do ...."

[amastewa93]

You guys are right. So... a little background... we have been working on paying down debt but REALLY want to start saving more after we get married. We do currently have a surplus and a few areas where we could/should cut down (mostly going out with friends recently, etc).

Right now, we have about $1,000 leftover at the end of the month, typically going to debt payments right now or items for the wedding.

[disneysteve]

Right now, we have about $1,000 leftover at the end of the month, typically going to debt payments right now or items for the wedding.

If you are putting $1,000 toward debt and wedding stuff, once those costs go away, you'll have an extra $1,000/month. The key will be not letting that money get sucked up into other things.

[veronak]

For me this challenge would be a challenge for sure. I’ve stuck with the 52 Week Challenge (e.g week one equals a dollar and so on).

I think it it depends on your budget, expenses and income.

[1claire]

It depends on your budget, but I try to do it last year and I can say I did save a couple of bucks.

[amastewa93]

Update on this for everyone - we looked at our budget and we actually WILL be able to do this challenge starting in June. I'll keep you all updated on our savings progress

[creditcardfree]

Update on this for everyone - we looked at our budget and we actually WILL be able to do this challenge starting in June. I'll keep you all updated on our savings progress

Will look forward to your progress! It does honestly depend on the surplus in your budget. We are able to do this...setting aside nearly $10K per year for the future, this is in addition to retirement.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Don't know if this adds anything to your understanding but $10K is 14.29% of $70K. Coincidentally, that is about the percentage my husband's pension system requires of employees. Self-managed savings would be outside of that, of course.