[Experiment] Saving $100 Per Week for 5 Weeks
Over the past 5 weeks, I decided to embark on an experimental project: saving money. Saving money can often be a difficult task. There are so many things that cost money like food, rent, mortgages, school, bills, and so much more. With all of those expenses at the forefront of your mind, saving money can seem impossible.
Luckily, I’ll be testing this method to see how effective it is, how doable it is, and how it impacts my current lifestyle. You can check out how each week goes for me in the following blog. If you like this experiment, and want to see more posts like this, let us know! There are many money saving techniques that we’d love to try and give you honest feedback.
Please keep in mind, everyone has different expenses each week and saving $100 per week may not benefit everyone. When saving money, make sure you’re doing so without compromising any of the necessities from in your life, like food and water.
How Does This Work
To do this experiment, I’ll be taking $100 out of my bank account at the beginning of each week (Monday’s for the sake of this experiment). I’ll be storing it in a locked box for the duration of the experiment. By the end of this experiment, I should have $500 saved.
Each week, I’ll write an update about how this method of saving money has impacted my lifestyle and how. At the end, I’ll let you all know if I recommend this method of money saving or not and why.
Week 1
Taking out the first $100 was a little more intimidating than I had anticipated. While I know I still have the money to use if I need it, not seeing it in the bank anymore felt weird. Nevertheless, week 1 is underway, and I am really excited to see how this experiment turns out.
During the week, my spending habits didn’t change much. I was more conscious of the purchases I was making, but never felt like I was running low on money. If anything, this experiment has already begun helping me make smarter money management decisions. Hopefully, that will help me save more to do some of the activities that I’ve been dreaming about.
Week one has been a success so far. Let’s see how week 2 goes!
Week 2
This week, it still felt weird to remove $100 from my bank account on day 1. As I moved through the week, I slowly began to forget about it. It’s like ripping a band-aid off, once it’s removed you don’t really think about it anymore.
During the week, I didn’t feel restricted in my spending, but I’ve found myself being more cautious in what I’m buying. I’ve made less “impulsive” purchases this week than I normally would which has only benefitted me and my wallet. I’ve also found this experiment works a lot better when I leave the money I’m saving at my house – out of sight out of mind. That helps remove the temptation to spend more knowing the savings are easily accessible.
As this week comes to a close, I think this experiment has been successful so far. Week 3, here I come!
Week 3
This week, I initially forgot to remove the $100 for this week so I was off to a slow start. Unfortunately, this week began on Tuesday for me for that reason. From this, I’ve learned that a weekly trip to the bank is much more difficult to fit into my schedule than I had anticipated.
This week, I had a lot of larger purchases to make which made that $100 feel bigger than in previous weeks. But, as I’ve said before, once it was taken out of my bank account and stored safely it’s easier to continue about my day-to-day life.
This week, I found that I was spending more than I usually do, but they were all necessary items. I have found that my “impulse” purchases have decreased to almost 0 per week now. This is definitely a great change of pace. I’ve started to realize what I do and don’t need to buy. As an added bonus, I’ve gotten even better at looking for and taking advantage of sales. Luckily, Amazon Prime Day and Target’s Deal Days fell during this week!
Now I’m ready to dive into next week. See you there!
Week 4
Week 4 was a great week for this experiment. As I’ve gone through the weeks it gets less and less difficult to remove the $100. As I’ve seen the savings start to pile up, I’ve also started to see the benefits of saving money in this way. While carving out time to head to the bank can be difficult, I think the benefits definitely outweigh that difficulty.
This week, I’ve continued to be more careful with what I spend my money on, but I’d say that’s a positive impact of this experiment. I’ve spent a lot less money on things I don’t need yet still don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. There’s only one week left in this experiment, but so far, I’d say it’s been a success.
Week 5
We’ve reached the final week! This week, just like the weeks prior, it was initially difficult to remove the $100. Knowing I now have $500 saved up made it a little bit easier, though. As this experiment comes to an end, I’ve found that saving money in this way has been really beneficial for me. This week, I continued to spend money only on the things that I needed.
It almost feels weird that this is the end of the challenge, I may keep it going for another 5 weeks to continue to watch my savings grow.
Overall Findings
Overall, I think this experiment was successful for me. Saving money in this way forced me to be more cautious about what I’m spending money on which has been a great benefit for me. It always feels weird removing the money initially but after that first day, the remainder of the week was always business as usual.
I think that this method of saving money could be beneficial for anybody looking to try a new money-saving method. I’ve found the “out of sight out of mind” mantra was exactly what I needed to begin saving and growing my money. The best thing about this method is it’s fully customizable to anybody. You can change the amount you save per week, you can change how often you take money out to save, you can change where you store the savings, and more. It’s one of my current favorite money-saving techniques to date. Let me know what you think if you’ve tried it before or plan on trying it in the future!
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