10 saving challenges to try

Clearing out old direct debits or unused subscriptions can be surprisingly effective for getting some extra cash. You’d be surprised how many people are paying for apps they don’t know about or have free trials that have lapsed. It’s worth having a detailed look at everything you’re paying for, and clearing out subscriptions you’re no longer using.

Simple but so effective, in this challenge you put aside an amount of money per day starting with 5p. This goes up by 5p per day, so the second day it’s 10p, the third day 15p and so on. You can choose to do this in reverse starting with £18.25 per day and if you manage a whole year, you’ll rack up £3,400 towards your saving goal.

If you’re someone who loves a supermarket bargain, save all your receipts and at the end of the month add up how much you’ve saved. Whatever the figure is, transfer the money into your savings account.

Using exactly the same principles as the 5p money saving challenge, the penny saving challenge starts with 1p per day and goes up by 1p each day until the last day when you’ll bank £3.65. If you keep up with this for a whole year, you save £667.95 in total. But, 2024 is a leap year, so this time around savers can bank a total of £671.61 thanks to that extra day where they’ll add £3.66 to the pot!

For this challenge, you set aside an amount for each day of the week, increasing by £1 each day. On Monday you save £1, on Tuesday you save £2 and you keep increasing the amount until you reach Sunday when you save £7. You reset each Monday and repeat throughout the year until you reach £1,456.

In this challenge you save an amount per week that corresponds to the month. So for January, you save £12 a week, in February it’s £11 a week and so on until you get to £1 a week in December. This is a helpful option for people without a large amount of extra cash and will result in a total saving of £340.

Start by labelling envelopes with the numbers 1 to 100 and each week choose two envelopes at random. Put the corresponding amount of money inside your chosen envelopes, and by the end of the 50 week period, you’ll have £5,050 for your piggy bank. If a yearly target feels hefty, number the envelopes 1 to 25 for a more manageable pace.

Putting loose change to one side is easily done when it’s in your pocket, but less easy to do with online or digital payments. The round up challenge essentially means rounding up each of your purchases and setting aside the difference.

Whether you’re putting the spare change in a jar or transferring it in small amounts to a savings account, this challenge is an easy way to set money aside without making a big dent to your bank balance.

This money saving tip is an oldie but a goodie. Take a look at your household bills, and research any potential tariff changes or negotiations with your providers. In the cost of living crisis, this isn’t always possible but there are savings to be made if you look in the right places. Then you can simply pop the difference into your savings account.