5 Best Savings Plan Challenges for the UAE (With PDFs For Each)
These 5 top savings plan challenges can help you achieve financial wellness by creating better money habits.
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With the UAE’s high cost of living, easy access to credit, and temptations to spend lurking in every shop corner and social media post, managing your personal finances can feel like navigating a minefield—dangerous and scary. But saving money doesn’t have to be an overwhelming and unattainable goal; with a sustainable and appropriate savings plan challenge—like the well-known 52-week money saving challenge—you can build better money habits and a healthier relationship with your money.
When it comes to saving money, we’ve all been there—we’ve earnestly made countless New Year’s resolutions to change our spending habits at the end of the year, promising to be a better saver in the next year. We mean well, and we try hard (we really do!), but without a proper money savings plan, it’s difficult to successfully transition into a lifestyle of saving money.
At MALY, we care about your financial wellness, and we acknowledge that there are many challenges to saving money. While implementing nifty saving tips (like visiting the best budget grocery stores in Dubai) does work to save on dirhams, following a solid savings plan challenge can boost your personal finances to the next level, making your money work for you, so that you can focus on what’s really important in life.
We’ve gathered details on five of the best savings plan challenges you can start today—they’re simple, effective, and will help you build smarter money habits while you save for your and your family’s future.
In this article, we’ll take a look at these saving plan challenges:
Money saving challenges can help you start a better relationship with money
[Build better money habits by rounding up and saving small amounts from daily purchases with the MALY app. MALY has the savings tools you need to become financially healthy—and to make your money work for you. Download MALY for FREE on Apple and Google Pay and start a better relationship with your money today.]
The 52-week savings challenge is one of the most popular savings plan challenges because it’s simple, doable, and effective at helping to form the good habit of consistently saving money.
You don’t have to wait for New Year’s Day to improve your financial wellbeing—with this challenge, you can start the habit of saving on any day and commit to a year of saving money every week.
You can place your weekly savings into a high-yield savings account or you can go old school and place them into individual money envelopes and keep them in a safe place. Choose a low starting amount, such as dh1, to save for week 1. You then increase the amount by dh1 every week. During week 2, you save dh2; in week 3, you save dh2. You continue saving an increasing amount of money every week until week 52, when you put dh52 into savings.
52-week savings plan challenge (example)
Graph example. Download PDF below.
If you started the 52-week money savings challenge with dh1, you would have saved a total of dh1,378 by the end of the challenge.
How much you want to save really depends on you. You can get creative with this challenge and adapt it based on how much you want to save up (and how much you’re willing to commit to saving every week). If you double your starting amount to dh2 and up it by dh2 every week (so you’d pay dh4 on the second week, and so forth), you would end up saving dh104 on week 52. Your total savings at the end of the challenge would amount to dh2,756!
You can also do this savings challenge in reverse—start with the largest amount during week 1 and work your way down weekly until you pay the lowest amount during week 52. You still save the same amount of money at the end of the challenge.
This back-to-front variation on the 52-week savings challenge could be better for you if you currently have some extra money and want to start saving right away.
52-week savings plan challenge in reverse (example)
Graph example. Download PDF below.
Keep track of your progress with our downloadable, printable, and customizable resources:
Another well-known money savings plan challenge that can bring you closer to your financial goals is the 26-week (bi-weekly) money savings challenge. If you find the idea of weekly savings to be a bit more intimidating and difficult to keep up with, this plan might be better for you. It’s also perfect for those who get paid twice a month—you can time your savings with your salary.
The 26-week (bi-weekly) money savings challenge is very similar to the 52-week version, except that it skips all odd-numbered weeks, meaning you only have to deposit savings every two weeks (on weeks 2, 4, 6, and so on, until you reach week 52).
In terms of how much you need to put aside, it works the same way—you can plan to save dh1 per week, for example, but only place the amounts (for weeks 1 and 2) in your savings account on week 2. You would be depositing a total of dh3—dh1 for week 1 plus dh2 for week 2—on week 2, and so on.
26-week (bi-weekly) savings plan challenge (example)
Graph example. Download PDF below.
If you started the 26-week money savings challenge with dh1 as your base (for the first week), you would have saved a total of dh1,378 by the end of the challenge.
As we mentioned, you can edit and change the amounts for this challenge, depending on how much you’re willing to save every two weeks.
This saving money challenge also works in reverse—start with the largest amount as a base for week 1 and pay both weeks 1 and 2 on week 2. Work your way down weekly until you pay the lowest amounts for weeks 51 and 52 during week 52. You still save the same amount of money at the end of the challenge.
This back-to-front variation on the 26-week savings challenge works well for those who would rather pay larger amounts earlier in the challenge.
26-week (bi-weekly) savings plan challenge in reverse (example)
Graph example. Download PDF below.
Keep track of your progress with our downloadable, printable, and customizable resources:
While there are many other versions of money savings plan challenges that you can try, such as the monthly savings challenge (you save a set amount of money monthly), some people find such challenges overwhelming and difficult to follow.
Another approach is to take the no-spend money savings plan challenge, which is not about setting money aside—it’s about not spending on non-essential items. This challenge is great for those who also want to get a handle on their spending habits and personal finances.
The no-spend money savings plan challenge is a savings challenge that you can easily customize. It is a commitment to not spending on certain things and activities (such as eating out and getting food delivered) for a certain period of time. It’s important to be specific about what you’re going to save money on, for how long, and when you will start.
Your no spend savings plan should start with a sentence that expresses your goal. It might look something like this: I commit to not spending on outside food (eating out, getting food to go, and having food delivered) for 6 months, starting Monday, (insert date).
Besides stating your intention (what you will save on, for how long, and when you will start), you can also make a list of categories that you are allowed to spend on and a list of no-spend categories. The more specific you are with the rules of your no-spend challenge, the more successful you will be.
No-spend savings plan challenge example
This challenge isn’t about saving a specific amount of money, it’s about saving on certain items, curbing spending habits, and cutting down on your monthly expenses by committing to only spending on necessary and essential items and bills.
If you’d like to know exactly how much you’re saving, you can calculate how much you usually spend in a month on those items or activities. You’ll be surprised at how much you can save with the no-spend challenge!
The no-spend challenge is a great money savings plan challenge because it’s so customizable. You can choose different categories of expenses that you want to save money on and for how long. This savings plan challenge can help make you aware of what you’re spending your money on and can help you greatly improve your saving habits.
Keep track of your progress with our downloadable, printable, and customizable resource:
Another great hack for saving a good amount of money and meeting your savings goals is the cancellation money saving challenge. Just like the no-spend challenge, the cancellation challenge involves looking at non-essential expenses that can be scrapped and saved—specifically, your monthly subscriptions.
The cancellation savings plan challenge is simple. Make a complete list of all your subscriptions (and non-essential payments). They can include debit and credit cards (if you have too many cards, some of them might not be essential), memberships to entertainment platforms (Netflix, Spotify, etc.), e-commerce sites (Amazon, Dubizzle), news subscriptions (Bloomberg, CNN), apps (check on those sneaky in-app payments!), video games (Xbox, PlayStation), and more.
In the next column, write down how much each of those subscriptions costs you per month. And then, go through your list and mark items that you are willing to cancel and unsubscribe from. Remember that the whole point of the challenge is to not spend on things that aren’t absolutely essential.
Cancellation savings plan challenge table (example)
Graph example. Download PDF below.
This cancellation savings plan challenge does not have a specific money savings goal. How much you save will depend on how many subscriptions you are willing to cancel and let go off. Individually, they might seem like small amounts, but they sure do add up.
Don’t forget to check on any automatic payments that are set up on your credit card—these can sneak past you, and it can be a pain to get refunds!
If you’re not ready to be that cutthroat with your subscriptions, here’s a pro tip: start by canceling at least one subscription per category and go from there! Or you can allow yourself one or two non-essential subscriptions and cancel the rest.
The cancellation savings plan challenge requires a lot of discipline, but it’s a great way to assess whether or not you’re spending too much money every month on things you don’t really need.
Keep track of your progress with our downloadable, printable, and customizable resource:
One of the most effective savings plan challenges out there, the round-up money savings challenge is a great way to automate your money savings.
With cash becoming less useful in our mostly-digital world, there’s not a lot of spare change lying around anymore to stuff into a piggy bank. That’s where the round-up money savings method comes in.
The round-up savings method automatically rounds up your daily debit card purchases to the nearest dirham (or the nearest dollar) and moves the difference into a savings account or envelope. Think of it as an automated, digital way of picking up your spare change—small savings add up, too!
Here at MALY, we offer you a stress-free way of letting your money work for you by micro-saving on spare change from your purchases using the round-up savings method.
Since you work hard to make money for yourself, why not let MALY do the hard work for you? Our financial wellness platform easily links to your UAE bank account and allows you to manage, save, and invest your money without hassle or worry.
Round-up savings plan challenge
While the round-up savings plan challenge does not have a specific money goal to meet, it is a great way to put away some extra savings on a regular basis.
In essence, how much you save depends on how much you use your card. Every time you buy something, MALY puts your change aside for you.
With MALY, you don’t need to worry about where your change is going—your money will be working for you to create micro-savings that will grow into bigger savings. All so that you can have a financially healthy life with fewer worries and a better relationship with your money.
Keep track of your round-up savings with our easy-to-use and robust MALY app:
[Invest in yourself with smart savings app MALY, which automates savings from daily purchases, sets up easy saving plans, links to your UAE bank, and helps you achieve financial wellness. Download MALY for FREE on Apple and Google Pay. Your future self will thank you!]
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