Savings challenge - save $1378 in 12 months + open a new ING account and score $25!

It's a new year and if you are like many Americans, you are may be looking for an easy way to start saving money. Yesterday I was told about a savings system where you deposit a certain amount of money based on what week it is. At the end of this year, you would have set aside $1378.00! So for example, we are in the first week of January, so I would deposit $1 into our savings account. Next week would be $2 and so on. To help keep track of how much you should put in each week, there is a spreadsheet available here.

For us, it will be hard to set aside $202 in December ($49, $50, $51 and $52). So, I have decided to tweet the savings plan a little. I will use all the amounts on the spreadsheet, but I will do it in the order we can afford. Since we will have the most money around tax time, I will do the higher amounts then and save the $1.00, $2.00, $3.00 and $4.00 amounts for December. There is really no set way to do it, but the goal is to save $1378+ interest!

We used to have a savings account with US Bank, but the interest rate was terrible. I recently signed up for an ING Direct online saving account to replace our US Bank one. Currently, ING is giving all new members who sign up for an Orange Savings Account a $25 bonus deposit (Sorry, but deposit $250 to receive the $25 bonus)! ING Direct also has an awesome interest rate of .75% (average savings account with a bank is .09%). You can easily link your current checking account to your ING Direct account to do all your transfers for free. 

The Orange Savings Account

• High Interest, No Fees, No Minimums - All your money goes to work for you.
• No Changing Banks - It electronically links to your current checking account. Transfers are free and easy.
• FDIC Insured - Your deposits are FDIC–insured up to $250,000 per depositor.
• Quick Application - Start saving in less than 5 minutes. Giddyup.

If you do the saving plan and count in the free $25.00 ING Direct is giving you, you will have saved $1403+ interest on December 31st 2013! 

Have you heard of this savings plan or taken part in previous years? Feel free to share your experience!

Posted in: saving results