15 Interesting Ways To Make Saving Money Fun

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Whether it's for an emergency fund, a vacation fund, or to put towards retirement, saving money is important. The problem is that some of us have trouble staying motivated. Fortunately, there are a few different ways you can use to make saving money fun. In this article, we'll discuss 15 fun ways to save money so that you can save more in your everyday life.

Let's jump right in.

1. Make a Goal to Save for Something You Really Want

One way to stay motivated and make saving money fun is to set goals. The key is to make the goal something specific and a specific amount of time to complete the goal so that it's easy for you or your family to remember how much money needs to be saved towards this goal each day, week, month, etc.

For example, if you were saving for a family vacation, how much would you need to save each day? Assuming the family vacation would cost $3,000 after airfare, hotel, entertainment, and food, and you wanted to go on this vacation in 10 months, you would make your goal to save $300 per month.

From there, you could develop a plan on how you would save that money and track your progress each month until you reached your goal. For example, one way you might choose to save money is to go out to eat one less time per week.

If you have a family of four, you might spend over $200 per week eating out. Cutting that in half would cause you to save $400 per month, which exceeds your savings goal and lets you reach your vacation savings target with time to spare.

You can make big goals like saving several hundred dollars a month, or you can simply make a smaller goal like saving $20 per week.

2. Gamify Your Savings

A fun way to save money and to keep you motivated is to gamify how you save. You can make savings games in several ways, and it's not as difficult as you might think.

One way is to set up a reward system where you get points for how much money you save. After achieving certain milestones, give yourself prizes like going out to eat, seeing a movie, or doing something else fun and enjoyable. This will motivate you because it makes saving seem more worthwhile while giving you an opportunity for some self-care.

Here is how you might set up your savings system:

• Every time you save $10, give yourself a point.
• When you reach 20 points ($200 saved), allow yourself to go out for the day and spend $40 on something that makes you happy.
  This sort of reward system will help keep saving money interesting while also allowing you to have fun. You can adjust how many points you need to earn to do something and how much you spend while rewarding yourself to your preferences. You could even start with small rewards when you have fewer points and lead up to larger rewards as you save more and more money.

3. Find Friends and Family Who Are Saving Money and Save Together

Saving money can feel more challenging when we're doing it alone. That's why you can make saving with others a priority as well.

Not only will having friends and family who are also trying to save for something help motivate you, but the support of these people can be immensely valuable. Having a group of people who are on the same page can help you stay motivated and make saving fun.

The key is finding friends and family members who are motivated to save like you are so you will all be as dedicated as possible. Then, by keeping each other accountable, you'll all be more likely to follow through.

For example, suppose you have family who all have a savings plan for a family vacation with the plan to maximize their savings by not spending money on things like shopping less and making food at home more.

In that case, they will hold each other accountable. And since they're also working towards something fun that they're going to do together in the future, it's likely much easier for everyone to keep everyone else motivated.

4. Compete With Your Previous Savings Records

Competing with yourself can be an enjoyable way to save money.

After you have been saving for some time, how about challenging yourself to beat your previous records? You could set this up by giving yourself points or keeping track of how much money has been saved in the past week, month, etc., as well as how many days it has been since you've spent any money outside of bills.

For example, if your goal is to save $50 in the past week and you end up saving $100 instead, how about rewarding yourself with something fun? This way, when you see how much progress you've made, how much you've saved, and how long it's been since your last purchase, you'll want to keep going.

Continue breaking your savings records, and you'll get the feeling that systematically saving money is both fun and rewarding.

5. Compete With Your Partner

Similar to how you can compete with your previous records, this is a really fun way to make saving money interesting.

Competitions are great because the competitive spirit will keep you motivated. Friendly competition between two partners can be a lot of fun, plus at the end of the competition, you both saved money together, which means you can spend a portion of the saved money on something fun for both of you.

This is how it would work:

• You and your partner each set a goal of what amount of money you both want to save.
• Whoever saves the most wins. If both people end up saving the same amount, then whoever saved their goal first gets credit for winning.
  The best part about this way of saving money is that it's a great motivation because you're both working towards something together.

6. Save for Fun Activities and Entertainment

Just like how you can save for things to do in the future, why not get creative and save money for entertainment and fun things in the present.

For example, if you want to save $100 for a concert that's two months away, then you could put money aside daily until you reach your goal.

You could also save for a night out in town with your spouse or significant other. Perhaps you'll get a couples massage followed by a nice dinner and a show afterward. A nice date night with your partner is the perfect thing to save money for.

7. Take Part in a Savings Challenge

A savings challenge can be anything from how much you save in the next month to how much you can save in the next year.

Some people might want to see how much they can save in the next year, while others may like competing against their friends. The key is finding a challenge that will keep you motivated and having fun saving money every day.

Some people might want to see how much they can save in the next year, while others may like competing against their friends. The key is finding a challenge that will keep you motivated and having fun saving money every day!

An example of a simple saving challenge is to save $5 a day, every day, for a year. You'll end up with $1,825 at the end of the year, which is a nice chunk of change. This article discusses how even saving $5 a day can help you build wealth.

8. Save Change and Dollar Bills in a Money Jar

Many people keep spare change in jars just because they're trying to save up for something, or they simply use it to store money that they find randomly in their pockets.

Creating a jar or jug for all of your loose change and one-dollar bills can be an excellent way to save money, plus it's fun watching the jar fill up over many days, weeks, and months.

To make it more interesting, use multiple jars: One for pennies, one for nickles, one for dimes, one for quarters, and one for dollar bills. Whenever you fill up a jar, bring it to a coin machine and deposit your saved money in your bank account. An online bank account, such as CIT's Savings Building account, is a secure place to store your money.

9. Gradually Increase How Much You Save

It takes some time to get used to saving money, so starting with a smaller amount saved per week may make sense. That said, once you've gotten used to saving money, challenging yourself to save a little more each week will give you a sense of accomplishment, as well as get you to your goals faster. Every little bit adds up.

You can do this by increasing how much you save per week by as little as $1. To find extra money to save each week, you can either spend less money or make more money. This article discusses how you can lower your living expenses so that you have more money to save. You can also check out this article for 40+ side hustle ideas to make more money.

Eventually, you'll have increased your weekly savings so much that you'll start reaching your savings goals faster and have the ability to make greater goals, such as paying off all of your credit card debt, student loans, and other debts that have piled up over the years.

10. Try a No-Spend Week Challenge

A no-spend week challenge is when you go for an entire week where you don't spend any money on things that you don't need. For example, paying bills, buying groceries, and filling up your gas tank would be fine during a no-spend week, however, doing things such as shopping on Amazon, getting takeout, or spending money on mobile apps would be avoided.

Doing regular no-spend weeks will help you get into the habit of spending less money overall. You'll also learn to be better about not spending your money on things you don't need.

12. Transfer Money to Savings That You Would Have Spent

Speaking of no-spend weeks, one way to save a lot of money is to transfer money to your savings account whenever you would have spent it. That means if you make your own lunch one day instead of spending $10 at work, you would then transfer that $10 from your checking account to your savings account.

This is a really simple way to save money, and it's one of the best ways to start building your savings account. Try putting aside $20 every day that you would have spent on food, coffee, or shopping in order to build up an emergency fund. Knowing that you'll have money saved for an emergency can be motivating in itself, plus it will help you in the long run.

13. Read Personal Finance Books and Blogs About Saving Money

Personal finance books and blogs are an excellent resource for learning how to save money and how to get creative and have fun when doing so.

Books and blogs will also teach you the importance of saving money and how your life can change simply by spending less and living below your means. When you go out of your way to curb impulse spending and not impulse buy, you'll have more money available at the end of the month, which is particularly useful if you're living paycheck to paycheck and trying to stop.

14. Use a Savings Printable to Visualize Your Savings

A fun way to saving money is by using a savings printable that will show how much you're saving each day. Etsy is the perfect place to find printables that can help you visualize your savings.

If printables aren't your thing, then you can use a savings journal to record how much you save daily. If you're looking to go the extra mile, draw a line graph that shows how much you've saved each day or each week over a period of time so that you can track if you're increasing your savings as much as you'd like.

15. Start a Side Hustle That You Enjoy

You can save money by starting a side hustle. Side hustles are how many people supplement their existing income or even end up replacing their full-time job.

Side hustles can be just an hour each day after work, your weekend, or longer. It's up to you how many hours you spend on your side hustle.

There are plenty of ways to make money with side hustles, including doing things such as pet sitting, freelance writing, or selling items online. The key to starting a side hustle is finding something you're passionate about so that you stick to it and so that it doesn't feel like another job.

Imagine if you make $4,000 per month and you're able to add $100 per week from a side hustle. That's approximately $400 per month added from your side gig, which is effectively a 10% raise on your overall income from working.

By having a side hustle you're passionate about and earning money from, you will be able to save money while still having fun in the process. You'll also be able to build wealth.

Wrapping It Up

In this article, we discussed how to make saving money fun, how to stay motivated, and some interesting ways to save. Getting into the habit of saving money will brighten your financial future, improving your life all around. In addition, you'll end up with a great feeling knowing that living a more frugal life has put you in a good place.

What interesting ways do you have fun saving money?