100 Envelope Challenge: How to Save $5,050 in Less Than a Year

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How does an extra $5,050 sound right now? Pretty amazing, right?

For many, that amount could be life-changing (I know it would be for me). Whether it’s paying off credit card debt, building an emergency fund, used to cash flow a vacation, or finally started your retirement savings, the possibilities are endless.

The good news? There’s a viral savings trend called The 100 Envelope Challenge that can help you save $5,050 in less than a year. Think you’re ready to take on the challenge?

an overhead view of a black envelope stuffed with cash to complete the 100 envelope challenge

Why You’ll Love This Savings Challenge

  • The 100 Envelope Challenge makes saving money fun and intentional.
  • Tips for easily adjusting the viral savings challenge to match your budget and monthly income.
  • By the end of the challenge, you’ll have saved an impressive $5,050!

What is the 100 Envelope Challenge?

The 100 Envelope Challenge is a money savings challenge that gained popularity on TikTok and other social media platforms where you fill different envelopes with cash over the course of 100 days to save $5,050.

How to Do The 100-Envelope Challenge

Label 100 individual envelopes with numbers 1 through 100 using a marker. You then pull an envelope each day and whatever number is written on the outside of the envelope, you stuff that amount of cash inside. You can either pull envelopes in order or pull random envelopes (the random envelope pulling seems to be more challenging and fun).

For example, if on the first day you pull the #35 envelope, you will put $35 into that envelope. If on day 2, if you pull #4, you will put $4 inside. You then continue this process for 100 days or until all of the envelopes are filled with cash. After 100 days, you will save a total of $5,050.

a collage of colorful envelopes labeled with numbers showing how to do the 100 envelope challenge
100 Envelope Challenge Envelopes Numbered

How to Store The Envelopes

If you are using physical envelopes and physical cash, you can store them in a small box or container. I like to use the photo boxes you can find at any craft store.

Once all of your envelopes are filled, you can then place your cash filled envelopes into a safety deposit box at your local credit union, put into a fire-proof safe at home or take the cash out of the envelopes and place into a high-yield savings account at your bank. You can even use the money to start sinking funds for your yearly expenses moving forward. As we move more into a cashless society, putting the money into a dedicated savings account is great for long-term goals.

an upclose view of a black enveloped filled with cash to complete the 100 envelope challenge

Keeping Track of Your Progress

I created a 100 Day Envelope Challenge Printable that you can color daily as you fill each envelope with cash to help you keep track of your progress! This especially works great if you are unable to complete an envelope each day and are completing the challenge as it fits your budget. You can also use spreadsheets or notebooks to keep track of how much cash you’ve saved.

100 envelope challenge printables on table

The Digital Version of The Challenge

You can do the 100 envelope challenge digitally by depositing money into a dedicated bank account. Since you won’t be using physical envelopes, you can use an online number generator such as random number generator to help you pull an envelope number for that day or week. You will then deposit the corresponding dollar amount into your savings or checking account until the challenge is completed. The pros to doing it this way is that it saves money by not buying physical supplies and is a sustainable savings practice.

Is the 100 envelope challenge realistic?

The 100 envelope challenge is not realistic for many especially with saving large amounts of cash in such a short time. The truth is, the high cost of household expenses, low wages and poor spending habits (I know I’ve had plenty of unnecessary purchases in the past) can keep people from reaching their savings goals.

If you are someone who is determined to make the envelope challenge work, you will need to find a way to free up some extra cash in order to complete it.

Some ways you can make this viral challenge work for you is by, getting a side hustle such as pizza delivery or Rover, canceling subscriptions, watching your daily purchases, starting a budget, having an accountability partner, getting rid of that girl math mindset, or setting aside a predetermined dollar amount each month to use specifically for this challenge. You will also want to avoid any temptations to use the money you do save.

Many also don’t like the idea of having to go to the atm each day to withdraw cash. You can avoid this by deciding how much cash you can afford to withdraw each week or bi-weekly, and then use that cash to fill envelopes.

The bottom line is, the 100 envelope challenge is doable with some motivation and personal accountability.

an overhead view of the 100 envelope challenge started with cash stuffed inside black envelope

Adjusting The Challenge to Fit Your Lifestyle

If saving this much money in such a short amount of time is not feasible for you, you can adjust the time frame and customize the 100-envelope challenge to fit your unique financial situation.

The reality is, most people have tight budgets and only have enough to pay for their monthly essential expenses and don’t have extra money lying around to fill an envelope every single day. This is honestly one of the biggest downsides to this challenge.

You can choose specific dollar amounts you know you can afford, adjust to filling an envelope or two bi-weekly to align with your pay periods or opt to filling an envelope when you have enough spare change. Getting into the double digits of the challenge can be rough. Just remember, it doesn’t matter how long it takes you to get the challenge done just as long as you cross that finish line and reach your end goal of saving $5,000!

woman stuffing envelope with cash for 100 envelope challenge

Tips for Staying Motivated

Just like with any social media fad, it’s easy to lose the motivation to keep going. We all love the idea of having a good chunk of money saved but the reality of actually getting there isn’t as easy as it sounds. Some of my favorite tips for great motivation are:

Set a Clear Path: Know exactly what you’re saving for to stay focused. This may be a great time to make that vision board so you can visually see what you’re saving for too!

Track Your Progress: Watch your savings grow with a simple chart or app. It can be as basic as a printable savings chart or a fun money-saving app on your phone.

Celebrate Small Wins: Reward yourself when you hit milestones along the way even if they seem small.

Make It Fun: Turn it into a game or involve others for added sense of fun. Accountability buddies can make all the difference! Even host an envelope stuffing party every once in a while!

Automate or Schedule It: Set reminders to make saving effortless.

Stay Flexible: Adjust your savings plan if life gets in the way. Realize that there will be low moments and unexpected expenses will arise. Give yourself grace and get back to things the next day. Remember you are building healthier habits when it comes to money and a budget-oriented mindset doesn’t happen overnight!

Focus on the End Reward: Keep the $5,050 goal in mind for extra motivation. Always remember why you wanted to do this challenge in the first place.

Don’t let the large amount of cash required to complete this 100-day envelope challenge scare you away from reaching your financial goals and completing the entire challenge. If this method of saving doesn’t work for you, there are many other money-saving hacks you can choose from.

The point with any money savings challenge is to make saving money fun and easy.

Alternatives to The 100 Envelope Challenge

49 Comments

  1. JC in S.D. says:

    32 envelope challenge: just put 1 penny into the first, 2 into the 2nd, 4 into the 3rd, 8 into the 4th, and so on. In just over a month, congrats – you have $43 million!

  2. Or you can just not spend $35 a day on coffee and eating out and BOOM you saved $12,775 in a year.

  3. If you have to run to the bank to get the money, you already have it..lol

    1. Suzanne Spicer says:

      @Tony,that’s the same thing my daughter and I said.

  4. You should mention the 365 day penny challenge. Where on day 1 you put 1 penny in the jar, on day 2 you put 2 pennies in the jar, on day 100 you put $1 in the jar, on day 365 you put $3.65 in the jar and by the end of the year you will have $667.95 which isn’t even close to 5000 dollars and takes much longer but it doesn’t even seem like a lot of money throughout the year, and the $667.95 could come in handy

    1. @Katie, oh my gosh thank you! Not only did you give me the best idea ever, you did the math for me! I can’t afford NOT to do this one!♥️

  5. Christina Fecci says:

    This is a great idea that I just started, however, I’m doing it every paycheck so it will be much longer than 3 months. More like 2 years. But the end result will be worth the wait!

  6. Something else to try is save money every week doing this: week 1 save $1, week 2 save $2, and so on. If you start the first week in January you will have a little over $1000 saved by the end of the year. Start a savings account where you have your checking and then just transfer it over, and you won’t miss it.

  7. On average, this comes out to quite a chunk each week/month. A privilege if you have it. A privilege to even talk about. (A car, if i had it.)

    It may be more doable for some to envision a goal, divide it by weeks toward that goal, and see if the result is a hearty stretch, but possible. Adjust, if not. Next…

    Decide that you are the most valuable person on your payroll, if the result will benefit you, your goal or savings, or if benefiting someone else or some cause, decide this person or cause is your most valued beneficiary.

    Then, give (not pay) towards the “value.”

    1. The beauty with these money savings challenges is that you can customize it to find your budget and lifestyle. It doesn’t matter if you do it 100 days straight or 100 days throughout the year, it just matters that you get into the habit of saving. For some, physical money challenges like this, works best. For others, it’s digitally.

  8. Second envelope stuffed an sealed I’m on a role watch out now $2!!! Lol!!!

  9. What me and my wife have been doing is we take $20 each week in envelopes and we race to see who can finish before Christmas every year…basically a challenge of who can save more…we have an extra $2080 every year around the holidays

  10. My income would not work for this. It’s good if you have extra money.

    1. Foodtravellife88 says:

      @Billie, right who has that much extra money to set aside each day let alone each week or monthblol

    2. @Billie, try just saving $1.00 a day. At the end of the year you would have $365.00. That’s better than nothing at the end of the year. Even $2.00 a day and you’d have $730.00 at the end of the year. I don’t know anyone that can’t put away $1.00 or $2.00 a day if they really want to.

  11. For people with less money…save it in change! Nothing greater than $20…. Some people just pay cash and whatever change is left they save in a jar no matter what it is just pay each time with $10s or 20s

  12. Those of you who are worried about the daily aspect of it another way to go about it is this. Still do 100 envelopes or write on 100 little pieces of paper (like if you were to draw from a hat or a bowl). If you get paid weekly, then on your pay day draw 7 envelopes or 7 slips of paper. If you’re paid monthly pull 30 envelopes or papers, paid bi-monthly, pull 14. Easy, same principle, same process just do it all at once on your payday. P.S. whoever mentioned the piggy bank, brilliant! I don’t trust myself with envelopes either 🙂

    1. @Nancy, So..I get paid 2x a month. DO I do 100 envelopes or 14 and number it 1-14. I’m so confused 😄, but this sounds so fun!

    2. @TRISH, you would do 100 envelops. And you take out 14 envelops each pay period if u get paid twice a month

  13. For the 100 envelope challenge I would number my envelopes 1-100 and just start saving from #1 to me that seems more easier than just randomly picking an envelope…

    1. You can totally do that! It doesn’t matter how you save, it just matters that you save 🙂

    2. It’s a good idea but saving anything above $50 every day becomes tedious I have divided the 100 envelopes in 5 different sections like 1-20,21-40, 41-60,61-80,81-100 in different colors. I pickup 7 envelopes every week from 5 different colors and 2 from any color to balance my contribution. Cos anything above $50 daily would be difficult for me. Sometimes I have extra money.

    3. @Sneha, thanks for that idea, that makes it more doable for me!!genius!

    4. @Derek, if you went in order, that last week would be kinda brutal… The last seven days being
      $94
      +$95
      +$96
      +$97
      +$98
      +$99
      +$100
      (Plus paying any regular bills due at that time)

      Most people that can swing that type of thing probably don’t have problems with lack of cash to put down.

    5. @Nick, I’m doing it 1-100 I’m at $50 today 💰

    6. @Nick, Maybe try it backwards making the large amounts during summer when heating bills are non existent and maybe you would have a little extra to save instead of the large amounts being right before Christmas

    7. @Sneha, I love this idea! It spreads the pain out a bit more!

  14. I get paid monthly how do I go about filling envelopes?

    1. If I were you, I’d start with a budget and then look at how much extra money you have after all the bills and then take that amount and fill as many envelopes as you can. You don’t have to complete the challenge in 100 days. You can customize it to fit your pay/budget. That is what I did since I am paid monthly as well. 🙂

    2. Yaffah Freet says:

      @Shanique,
      You can pull 30 envelopes on pay day.

  15. I think maybe an envelope every (weekly)pay check, not every day would be good. With the exception of adding a little more on weeks
    1-10.

    1. You can do it however it works for you. The goal is just to complete the challenge 🙂

    2. @Arleen,
      How would you accomplish this? I would rather do weekly or bi weekly amounts other than daily.

      1. Hi Aundrea, you can certainly adjust this to what fits your paychecks or needs. If you get paid bi-weekly, you could pull several envelopes for those 2 weeks and fill them. The same works for weekly.

    3. @Brittanie, The amount doesn’t have to be $5,000.00 although that’s a great amount if you can do it, but whatever amount you save should be comfortable for you. You just need to dedicate yourself to that amount and not give up.

  16. Griselda Ceballos says:

    Can you please give me more info about this challenge

    1. @Brittanie,

      How you get the cash is my biggest one? Is this only meant for people who have additional cash income like waitresses or baristas? Or do you just pull a chunk of money out of the bank account in a variety of bills and go from there?

      1. Anyone can do this! I get paid once a month being self-employed and I was able to do it. When I started, I made sure I had a budget in place and took any extra money we had and put it away for the challenge. You don’t have to complete it daily either, the goal is just to complete the challenge so you can save the $5,050. You can also sell items around your home, pick up a side-hustle, babysit, host a Yard Sale, etc. I always tell people that a strict budget is key. And one way to make money without additional cost is to sell things around your home you no longer need.

    2. Nubian Lloyd says:

      @Brittanie, What if I do not want to buy 100 eveolpes what can I do

      1. You really need envelopes to do the 100 Envelope Challenge. If you’d rather do it digitally or on a piece of paper, you can do that as well. Just keep track of the days/amounts you are putting away each day.

    3. @Nubian Lloyd, You can do a piggy bank. where you have your calendar to mark what you deposit in the piggy bank. I did not trust myself with the envelopes because I can easily tear it up to get the money. Lol.

    4. @Razz, everybody shouldn’t think too much about it. Just get the envelopes, get the cash and every single day just randomly choose an envelope. It’ll be easier then u think

    5. @Aj,
      I’m going to do this starting my next pay I get paid biweekly so I figure when I pull a envelope I’ll just double up the number for example if I pull 50 then I’ll add 100 so on and so forth. I’m horrible at saving but I’m on this self love journey and my end goal at the moment is to complete this goal and if I can then I’ll keep it going

    6. Dona Patterson says:

      @Nubian Lloyd, Go to any Dollar Tree store. You can buy a box of 80 6″ envelopes for $1.25, perfect size for bills. If you buy the 2nd box, when you’re done with the 1st challenge, start over. Then you’ll have $10,000!

    7. @Nubian Lloyd, sandwich baggies

    8. Polly Trevino says:

      @Dona Patterson, I love everyone’s idea. I just may change one thing. On my envelopes I will put removable #’s on the envelopes. I don’t want to know how much I’ve saved til the last few envelopes. make it fun!

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