How to pocket an extra $5,050 by the end of 2021: Why you need to try the 100 envelope challenge NOW to save thousands of dollars
- Mum has taken on the 100 envelope challenge that will help her save thousands
- Michelle, a mother of-three, labelled 100 envelopes with sums from $1 to $100
- The challenge allows you to randomly choose any two envelopes from your pile
- Filling envelopes twice a week will leave her with an extra $5,050 by end of year
A thrifty mother-of-three has taken on the 100 envelope challenge that will help her pocket more than $5,000 by the end of year.
Michelle, from Western Australia, shared the money-saving method which involves labelling 100 envelopes with sums from $1 to $100.
The challenge allows you to randomly choose any two envelopes or more from your pile every week and then place the cash into them. For example, if you pick $12 and $76, you will need to place $12 in the ‘$12’ envelope and $76 in the ‘$76’ envelope.
Filling the envelopes over any length of time will leave her with an extra $5,050 within 12 months – and it’s perfect for those who are looking to save money for holidays, Christmas presents or even paying off credit card debt.
Scroll down for video
A thrifty mother-of-three has taken on the 100 envelope challenge that will help her pocket more than $5,000 by the end of year. The challenge allows you to randomly choose any two envelopes or more from your pile every week and then place the cash into them
‘I’m a mum of three kids and money can get a bit tight, especially now school is going back,’ Michelle wrote in her now-viral TikTok video.
‘The point of the challenge is to put the money in the envelopes. I will be depositing the cash once we complete the challenge.’
The mother said two envelopes are usually drawn at random every week.
‘I don’t do this every day. I change it to suit myself and my circumstances. I do it twice a week. Whatever my situation allows,’ she explained.
Once she deposits the cash into the selected envelope, Michelle then crosses off the number from her DIY chart.
Filling the envelopes over any length of time will leave her with an extra $5,050 in 12 months. In one of the videos, the mother picked out envelope labelled $46 (right) so she needed to deposit that amount in
Her video has since been viewed more than 140,000 times, with dozens saying they were keen to try out the money-saving method themselves.
Others suggested transferring the funds into a bank account instead of using envelopes – but many pointed out that saving money was ‘hard for some people’.
‘I am terrible at saving money so this might be smart for me to do,’ one wrote.
The challenge is based on a formula discovered by 18th century German mathematician, Carl Friedrich Gauss.
Gauss noticed if he split the numbers 1 to 50 and 51 to 100 into two groups, he could add them together vertically to get 101.
For example 1 plus 100 equals 101, as does 2 plus 99, 3 plus 98 and so on until 50 plus 51.
The total of the two groups is therefore 50 multiplied by 101 – 5,050 – which is the amount you can save by completing the envelope challenge.