Five Ways to Turn Savings into a Game

When you think about your savings account, what comes to mind? For many of us, it feels just like another chore: Putting away money towards a nebulous future goal which could get derailed by an emergency expense at any time. But what if you could turn something mundane into something much more fun?

Savings isn’t just about squirreling away money – it’s about building a secure financial future for yourself and your family. By turning it into a mini contest, you can turn the script around and make achieving your goals a lot easier. Here are five ways to turn savings into a game.

Set a Monthly Savings Goal with a Reward

Participating in any sort of challenge often results in a reward. For instance: If you run a marathon, you get a medal at the end. While saving money should feel rewarding by itself, there’s equally nothing wrong with treating yourself for reaching your goals.

One way to motivate yourself to save money is to create a reward when you hit milestones. Start by setting a monthly savings goal for each month. Tools like those in SESLOC’s online banking platform can help you track your results. If you reach or exceed it your goal by the end of the month, give yourself a well-deserved treat, such as dinner at your favorite restaurant or a new video game. No matter what you choose, you deserve a small reward for taking a big step towards financial freedom.

Set up a Challenge with Friends or Family

There’s nothing wrong with a friendly competition – especially if it motivates you to save money. Creating a challenge among a group of friends or your family to see who puts the most to their savings account in a month, or who reaches a savings goal fastest, can help everyone improve their financial standing.

Creating a savings challenge is a good way to teach kids financial health habits or fostering honest financial literacy conversations with friends. To add a little intrigue, everyone can contribute a small amount of money towards a prize for the winner. Whoever reaches their goal first in the specified amount of time wins not only a bigger bank account, but the small prize and bragging rights until the next challenge.

Create “No Spending” Challenges at Home

It’s always tempting to pick up the phone for Uber Eats at dinner time. But spending an extra $20 just twice per week results in over $150 of unbudgeted spending per month, or $2,080 across the whole year. It’s important to know not only how much you are spending, but where the leaks are in your budget. 

Plug the leaks by creating your own challenge with “No Spending” weeks in your home. During the week, avoid all unnecessary spending – including extra grocery runs and Amazon browsing – and use the food and resources you already have for meals and entertainment. At the end of the week, tally up your total savings to see just how much you saved during “No Spending” week, and use that as motivation to beat your “high score” for the next challenge week.

“Change it Up” with Automatic Transfers

Despite our best efforts, it’s sometimes difficult remembering to make our savings transfers. There are a couple of ways to “set it and forget it” to meet your challenges.

First, you can set up a recurring transfer to your savings account each paycheck week in online banking. This way, you are always paying yourself before paying anyone else, making the challenges easier. The downside is that if you don’t stick to a disciplined budget, you could end up with an overdraft on your account – meaning you must take that savings right back to cover spending.

Next, you can continually contribute to your goals through online savings apps and programs like SESLOC’s “Change it Up.¹” Rounding up your change from every debit card purchase into a savings account makes it easier to reach your goals.

You can also combine your challenges by making Change it Up deposits to a SESLOC Save to Win² account with as little as $25. As you make deposits adding up to $25, you’ll earn entries into monthly and quarterly drawings for cash prizes.

It may not feel like much when you start, but those extra cents from rounding up your purchases to the next dollar – or even winning an extra $25 deposit – can add up when you’re adding it to your other savings challenges.

Do the “Dollar Step-Up” Challenge

Challenging yourself to walk so many steps in a day is a great way to get into shape. What if you could do something similar with money?

The “Dollar Step-Up” challenge is simple: Make a savings deposit based on how many weeks we’re into the year. For example: The first week you will drop in $1 to savings, then $2 in the second week, all the way up to dropping in $52 for the last week of the year. If you see the challenge all the way through, you’ll have put away $1,378. How long can use last in the “Dollar Step-Up” challenge?

When it comes to smart and thoughtful saving, turning it into a game can make it fun while building a better financial future at the same time. Make a resolution today to bring savings to the forefront by playing a savings game.

1: When you enroll in SESLOC’s Change It Up program, you understand that the amount of any SESLOC debit card purchase made by a cardholder issued a debit card associated with your checking account will round up to the next whole dollar and the excess of the purchase amount transferred into your selected savings account. If a debit card purchase is refunded or cancelled, the corresponding Change it Up transfer remains in your savings account. SESLOC may cancel or modify the SESLOC Change It Up service at any time without prior notice. Change it Up service is not available for business debit cards, and you may not transfer to a Consumer Money Market or Consumer Building Block Share Certificate Account.

2: Limit one Save to Win 12-month Share Certificate per consumer member. The account is not available to businesses, including sole proprietors, trusts and organizations. Consumer member must be 18 years or older and a resident of California to participate in the Save to Win Savings Promotion. No purchase necessary. 12-month Share Certificate account will automatically renew upon maturity. Early withdrawal incurs a penalty fee, with a limit of one withdrawal per 12-month term. Must maintain an average daily balance of $25.00 for the account to remain open. Winners agree to permit SESLOC CU to use their likeness in promotional or their materials. Membership in good standing required for all Credit Union benefits. See the Member Account Agreement and Disclosure and Fee Schedule for additional terms, conditions and fees that apply to your account. Refer to SESLOC CU Save to Win Savings Promotion Official Account and Prize Entry Rules for additional terms, conditions, eligibility and restrictions that may apply.