As we spend the final week of this year, I bet most of us are starting to write our new year's resolutions. Unfortunately, only a few items on the list will be followed to the letter.

 

"cash-coins-money-pattern" by Pixabay is licensed under CC0

 

Aside from the new year's resolution, there is one list that is also hard to achieve. And that is the famed Ipon Challenge.

 

 

What is Ipon Challenge?

 

This is a challenge catered to individuals who want save money for the whole year. Ipon challenge, I believe (feel free to comment your thoughts below), takes its roots from the Cold Water challenge way back 2014, which later became the Ice Bucket challenge. Whatever form it takes, its main goal is to oblige the participants to clear a set of goals.

 

Ipon challenge is no different. However, as there are many variants of this challenge. It is not easy to select what to follow. The standard 52 week challenge is a bit difficult, because not all of us can easily increment the amount that we need to save as the year progresses.

 

In this article, I will list the top 3 easy to follow Ipon Challenges for the coming year.

 

 

 

The Loose Change Ipon Challenge

 

I could say, this is the easiest challenge to do. For the reason that you will always encounter loose change (coins) almost daily. It really depends on you of what specific change you need to save.

 

You can save 1 or 5 or 10 peso or even 25 cents. If you are up with the challenge, you can save all the coins you encounter.

 

In order for this challenge to be successful, do not set a target amount to save. Just put aside any change you have and just count it when the year ends.

 

 

The 12% Ipon Challenge

 

Obviously, there are 12 months in a year. Each month will have its corresponding percentage. For example, January is 1%, February is 2%, and December is 12%.

 

The mechanics is simple, you will multiply your monthly salary with the percentage of the corresponding month, then the resulting amount will be your savings for that month. If you have a monthly salary of 30,000 and the month is January, the calculation will be 30,000 x 1% = 300.

 

Because you know your monthly salary and the monthly percentage. You will have clear projection of how much you will be saving by the end of the year.

 

Depending on your monthly salary, your savings by the end of the year might not be much. However, the goal of this challenge is to train your persistence and consistency. If you are not able to save a small amount, then it will be the same even if you earn big monthly.

 

 

The 50 Peso Ipon Challenge

 

This challenge is similar to the loose change challenge. But instead of saving coins, you will save 50-peso bills.

 

Why 50?

 

In terms of frequency, you are most likely to encounter 20-peso and 100-peso bills often than a 50-peso bill. So this is a good currency bill to save.

 

The same with the above challenges, you must save every 50-peso bill you encounter during the course of the year. But since you will not be meeting this bill on a daily basis, your savings might end up either big or small.

 

 

Before I end this article, let me bump the difficulty of the challenge by adding this one.

 

 

Extra Ipon Challenge

 

13th Month

 

The challenge's concept is simple, you just need to save your 13th month pay when you receive it. It may sound simple because you will just do this once a year but this is the most difficult to implement. However, this will also test your resolve if you are truly dedicated in saving.

 

 

 

Before you post in social media the words "Challenge Accepted!", make sure that you already have a crystal clear goal in mind of why you are saving. This can really help you to be disciplined during the course of the challenge.

 

 

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