Imagine having $5,000 at your disposal! How awesome would that be? You could use this money to build up your savings, fund your next vacation, or pay down some debt. Sounds too good to be true? Well, you can make it happen if you embark on TikTok’s viral 100 Envelope Challenge, which can help you save $5,000 in just 100 days. It’s essentially a straightforward yet highly efficient way to gamify your savings.
How Does This Challenge Work?
It’s all very straightforward: All you need to do is label 100 separate envelopes and pick an envelope each day to put money in it. For example, on Day 1, you would put in $1 inside the envelope labeled as “1” and on Day 25, you would put in $25 in the envelope labeled as “25” and so on. At the end of 100 days, you would have saved $5050 if you followed the challenge properly.
How To Get Started On This Challenge
- Buy a stack of 100 envelopes and a marker to number each envelope. Remember, you need to have a competitive spirit and strong willpower to start and continue the challenge.
- Find a drawer or a box to store the envelopes. While the envelopes may be empty now, they’re going to have cash inside them pretty soon, so make sure you store your envelope stash carefully.
- Pick one envelope each day. You could either go in numerical order or shuffle all the numbered envelopes and grab them at random to put the corresponding sum of money inside them. Here’s a pro tip: starting a challenge is easy, but being consistent with it is the tricky part. So, to make the challenge easier as the days and months go by, you can start with 100 and work backward.
Tips To Complete The Challenge
On the surface, this challenge seems easy, but it can be a lot of hard work. You need to be very intentional with your savings and have a lot of self-control during these 100 days. Many people who take on this challenge tend to give up, so here are some tips to help you stick with it.
- Create a budget to understand your income and expenses. It can help you identify areas where you could reduce spending.
- Find ways to increase your income. You could pick up a side hustle, work overtime, or sell something. It’s extra work, but remember, this is only for 100 days, and it will be worth it at the end!
- Challenge yourself to cut down on your spending for 100 days. Consider giving up on eating out for a few months, skipping those fancy cappuccinos, or pausing on some subscriptions.
- Use a chart to track your progress and help you stay motivated. Print it all out and hang it somewhere you will see it regularly. Highlight each number as you go. When you make your goals visual, it can serve as a fantastic motivator!
- Have an accountability partner or make it a healthy competition against a friend to boost your motivation and help you cross the finish line. You can even enter the challenge as a team and plan a group reward when you make it through!
Pros & Cons Of This Challenge
Naturally, the biggest pro of this challenge is that you will have saved $5,050 at the end of it. Embarking on and completing the challenge will serve as a motivator, enabling you to set a goal and achieve it. It allows you to take control of your money, learn how to budget, cut back on spending, and even make saving money more fun.
When it comes to the difficulties of this challenge, 100 days can feel like a very long time to keep saving. If you’re short on money or are faced with an unexpected expense in the middle of the 100 days, you might feel like giving up on the challenge. But don’t forget that you’re the one in control. The goal is to save money, and it’s fine if it takes you a bit longer to reach it!
Plus, this is the digital age, so not everyone will have access to physical cash. If you’re not comfortable with having cash in hand, you can opt for the digital version of the challenge. Transfer the money into your savings once a week and mark it on your 100 Envelope Challenge Chart so you’re on track with your progress.
Final Thoughts
When you have your $5,000 at the end of the challenge, this money can disappear very quickly if you don’t have a plan for how you want to spend it. Before you start spending, decide where you want that money to go.
You deserve to celebrate your hard work, but remember, it’s far more vital that you progress in your finances. If you have any debt to pay off, this money could be used for that. Or you could use it to build your emergency fund or save up for your education, down payment, or an upcoming expense. Remember, if you are not careful, you could deplete your 100 days of savings in just one day. So have a strong plan beforehand.
Finally, remember that 100 days will go by, no matter what. You have the choice to let these days fly by or do something productive with them. If you’re up for the challenge, then the results are very much worth it!
