Does the 100 Envelope Challenge That Claims to Help People Save up to $5K in 100 Days Work?

Personal finance has been a popular topic on TikTok and helped people become wise with money. A hack called the 100 envelope challenge is now going viral on the platform for helping people save up to $5000 in 100 days. In a video that has amassed over 6.7 million views, creator Budget Baddie (@createdbymardia) demonstrated how the challenge works. Baddie explains the step-by-step process to follow the challenge. The first step is to gather the supplies. To start the challenge, all that people need are envelopes, two different colored pens, and a notebook to track their savings. 

Then the creator numbers the savings from $1 to $100. She says that all people need to do is save up different amounts every day and put that money in the corresponding envelope. For instance, if someone saves $78 in a day, they will put the money in an envelope numbered 78. Thus by filling in each envelope over the course of 100 days, people will end up with savings over $5000. 

The 100-envelope challenge is pretty straightforward and appears easy on the surface. People who successfully and religiously complete the challenge will save $5,050 by the end of it. It is not easy but it isn't impossible either. Several of Budget Baddie’s viewers claimed to have done it already.  “I’m loving this challenge. On my 2nd round of this…almost done! Going for 10,000 next. Wish me well!” wrote one user @dreamwen2. Even the creator showed support for this. 

Meanwhile, the creator’s video seemed to have inspired a lot more people who expressed their commitment to savings. One viewer @moreniita_lov33 particularly showed great enthusiasm as they wrote, “Get a part-time serving so you can walk away with tips and the 100 days don’t eat up at your pocket so bad. I’m about to start this today.”

While kits for the challenge are available on Amazon, several of the creator’s viewers struggled to manage the challenge. Many viewers complained that they do not deal with cash every day. Thus, one user shared another hack that would help. “I’ll be making index cards and just transferring to my savings or another account,” user @acfira wrote.

Does the 100 envelope challenge work?

Since these aren’t magic envelopes, they will not fill up by themselves. Only with the discipline to allocate a predetermined amount every day toward savings, people can successfully complete the challenge. 

As per experts, the success of the challenge depends on the planning and commitment of people who take it. A USA Today report even compared the challenge to a diet plan as it works only if people don’t fall back to their old ways after succeeding or failing. This means, that if people are saving $5,000 only to increase their spending by the same amount in the future, they would be right back to where they started. However, creators like Budget Baddie have made the challenge quite popular and her example can be encouraging for her followers.

For more such finance tips and related content, follow Budget Baddie (@createdbymardia) on TikTok.