Christmas Savings Challenge – How To Save $1,000 By Christmas!

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.

This Christmas Savings Challenge is designed to help you save enough money to cover your entire Christmas budget. This includes everything from gift wrap to presents to put under the tree.

christmas saving challenge

Did you know that the average American household spends about $1,048 every year on Christmas?

Did you also know that many of those households put it on a credit card which means they ultimately end up paying even more due to interest?

Well, that is where this Christmas Savings Challenge comes into play.

It’s an easy and fun way to start saving for Christmas as early as June. Yes, I said June.

In case you didn’t realize, June 25 is exactly 6 months or 26 weeks away from Christmas.

While it may seem a long time, you know how quickly the holidays seem to creep up on us every year.

So, start saving NOW and be prepared when Christmas comes around giving you more control of your money and less stress and worry about paying for the holidays.

How to Do The Christmas Savings Challenge

Since the average household spends just over $1,000 each year on Christmas, we are going to make our savings goal $1,000. You can save more or less but that will be the end goal of this challenge.

Now, let’s assume you start this right on June 25th, you will have exactly 26 weeks until Christmas.

However, the majority of people begin shopping weeks ahead of time (including on Black Friday) so, we are going to cut that 26 week timeframe down to 20 weeks to give you enough time to save and shop long before Christmas.

So, our goal is now $1,000 in 20 weeks and this is exactly how we will do it.

Once a week you will choose an amount to save and put it away. My favorite way is to use the envelope challenge method where you put cash inside envelopes.

I personally like the physical feel of the money but you can also do this digitally too and just stick it into your savings account (just don’t touch it before Christmas).

You just want to ensure you are putting the money in a place you won’t be tempted to touch it.

If you are using the envelope method, grab 20 envelopes (1 for each week) and number them with the amounts you need. I picked some up for a few dollars at my local Hobby Lobby.

To Save $1,000 in 20 weeks you need the following increments:

WEEKDEPOSIT AMOUNT
1$20
2$20
3$30
4$30
5$30
6$40
7$40
8$40
9$40
10$40
11$50
12$50
13$50
14$60
15$60
16$80
17$80
18$80
19$80
20$80

Then once a week, pull an envelope and fill it with that amount of money. So, if you pull $60 on week 2, put $60 into that envelope.

Now, you can do these in order or you can mix the envelopes up and do them randomly. Either way, by the end of 20 weeks, you’ll have saved $1,000!

I’ve made it even easier for you because you can purchase and download my Christmas Savings Challenge Printable to help you keep track of your progress.

Simply color in one present for every envelope you fill with money!

You can get the Christmas Savings Challenge Printable here. You can also see my TikTok video doing this Christmas Savings Challenge Below.

I sure hope this is a helpful way for you to jumpstart your holiday savings early and avoid going into debt over Christmas!

Happy Holidays and Cheers to a Debt Free Christmas!

More You'll Love!