10 EASY money saving challenges

Stop struggling to save money – make things more fun, and achieve your goal, with a savings challenge. Ideas for different budgets and targets.

When you make things a bit more fun, it makes everything so much easier – and that’s exactly the same with saving money.

These money challenges won’t have you struggling to save huge amounts but will help you get into a habit.

Plus, following a plan will help to get you saving for your goal far quicker.

Look at some fun and easy savings challenges.

Why not try doing a few money-saving challenges at the same time to really test yourself?

52 week saving challenge

Save £1,378 in a year

With the 52 week saving challenge, you start saving with just £1 in the first week.

By the second week, you’re saving £2, week three you’ll save £3 and so on.

When you reach the last months of the year, you are saving higher amounts – the 52nd week means you put away £52.

The 52 week saving challenge can get a lot harder in the final weeks, as in this savings challenge you are putting aside £202 in the final month.

If you don’t think you can do that much in one month, try to bingo the challenge and save the higher weeks randomly.

Reverse 52 week savings challenge

Save £1,378 in a year

This is a reverse of the 52 week savings challenge. Instead of starting with £1, you start with £52 added to your savings account.

So, you’ll be saving:

• £52 in week one
• £51 in week two
• £50 in week three
• £49 in week four
• … etc …
• £2 in week 51
• £1 in week 52

You get the harder amounts at the beginning of the challenge, making it easier to complete it towards the end.

With most people starting a savings challenge in the new year, this one won’t leave you skint in December when you might want spare cash for presents.

£1 a day money saving challenge

Save £365 in a year

Every single day of the week, for a year, you need to save £1.

If you don’t have the spare change to save in a piggy bank, look to move money over into a separate savings account.

1p saving challenge

Save £667.90 in a year

Over the course of 365 days, you start saving with just 1p and increase the amounts daily.

This might be the easiest money challenge, but you can save a decent amount.

Grab a free 1p saving challenge printable here. By the end of the year, you’ll have saved £667.90.

Envelope challenge

Save £5,050 in 50 weeks

Take 100 envelopes and write 1 – 100 on them.

Then, twice a week, pick two and add the money shown on the front.

You can get a free 100 Envelope Challenge printable tracker sheet.

Spare change challenge

Savings depend on how much you spend

Although we’re not using cash as much as we used to, instead of letting it sit in your purse/wallet or pocket, pop it into a piggy bank with the spare change challenge.

With this savings challenge, you won’t know how much you save as you go.

So, you need to decide if you want to wait until your piggy bank is full, if you have a savings goal, or if you are aiming for a specific date to spend the money.

£5 money saving challenge

Save £7,000 in a year

This is likely the hardest of the savings challenges, but you will get a very good amount of money in the end.

In a similar way as the 52 week challenge, this one sees you save in multiples of £5.

The first week you save £5, then in the second, you save £10, then £15. By the time you reach the last week of the year, you will have saved £260.

This challenge might be best if you’re saving for something big like a house deposit or a wedding.

I think this challenge is a real stretch, particularly towards the end of the year. But, if you can get started, you might be able to build up a habit and meet your savings goal.

Even if you can’t get all the way through, get started, save as much as you can, then why not start over.

£1,500 savings challenge

Save £1,500 in a year

With this money challenge, you can get yourself nearly £1,500 (£1,456) saved by the end of the year.

You save money at an increasing amount each day for a week:

• Monday put aside £1
• Tuesday save £2
• Wednesday save £3
• Thursday save £4
• Friday save £5
• Saturday save £6
• Sunday save £7

When the week restarts, so does the challenge.

Essentially you’ll put aside £28 a week just on a daily basis.

26 week saving challenge

Save £1,378

You save money in the same way as the 52 week saving challenge, but you’re skipping a week.

This challenge can help you save if you get paid every fortnight.

• 1st week – put £4 into savings
• 3rd week – put £8 into savings
• 5th week – put £12 into savings
• 7th week – put £16 into savings

Then, just increase the amount you save every other week by £4.

It’s best to keep track of this one, so you don’t lose which week you’re on. By the end of the year you’ll have saved £1,378.

No spend challenge

Savings are down to you

How much do you spend if you pop to the shop to grab a loaf of bread and a pint of milk? What about when the kids want some sweets after a week at school? Or a coffee with friends?

Those small amounts add up fast over the days, weeks and months. Spending money willy-nilly is one way to throw your budget, so an easy way to save is simply to stop spending.

Set yourself a challenge of how many days you won’t spend money for. Do you think you could go 3 days or a week?

At the end of every week, transfer spare cash over to a savings account. You’ll build great habits and will really start to question your spending.

Use an app

These are all very manual savings challenges. Think it’s too much to handle?

Good news!

There are a number of digital savings apps that can take the pain of having to save away, and still give you a bit of a challenge.

For instance, you can add an IFTTT (If This Then That) applet with Monzo to automate saving £5 each time it rains (jeez, we’d be skint with this British weather), 1p Saving Challenge or £1 Weekly Saving Challenge without lifting a finger.

Read next: How to stop spending money you don’t have

Why not just save a set amount?

If you know you can save £20 per week or £100 every month into a savings account then perhaps you just want to do that.

The idea of a money challenge is to get into a mindset that when you save money, it’s fun.

It also gets you to really think about setting savings goals.

But, there is nothing stopping you from starting a monthly savings challenge instead, if you find it easier to budget.

When should you start a savings challenge?

A lot of people prefer to start a monthly saving challenge in the new year.

However, there’s no reason start a challenge on any day of the week, and at any point in the year.

Getting on track with your personal finances isn’t limited by time.

What happens if you fail the challenge part way through?

You may worry you won’t be able to complete a money savings challenge, so don’t bother starting, but I think it’s an even better reason to start.

It’s happened to me. I was saving with the 1p challenge a few years ago, and an emergency meant we needed cash quickly.

We dipped into our emergency fund but needed a little more. So, partway through the year, we changed our coins up and used a few hundred.

Not put off, we just started again. Yeah, it was a bit disheartening to have not completed the money challenge, but if it wasn’t for starting to save in the first place, we’d have been in a massive hole!

Where should you put your savings challenge your money?

If you’re saving spare change or doing a cash 365 day challenge, it’s worth filling a piggy bank or large container. If it’s see-through, you can watch your money grow.

Otherwise, it’s worth getting separate savings account for the challenge. This way, you might be able to earn a small amount of interest too.

Benefits of starting a savings challenge

Making sure you have some extra savings is obviously one big bonus, but there are other benefits to all this.

Builds a habit

Saving money on a regular basis helps you get into a great habit.

You could do it once a month on payday, but small amounts here and there add up and help you to save money.

It also makes you want to save more as you can see it building.

Reduced stress

Knowing you have a bit of money to fall back on can relieve stress and tension in your household.

Even if you haven’t decided what you’re saving for – fun/emergency/mortgage – a pocket of savings building up gives you more headspace to get on with other stuff, and you don’t need to worry as much.

Puts you off spending

If you’re putting your money into savings, you’ve got less chance of actually spending it.

These challenges help you save on the high street, on a coffee, or those random online spends.

Achieve your goal

Saving money on a regular basis into a savings pot will get you to your goal.

Whether you are saving for an emergency fund, bills, a big purchase, or a rainy day, make sure to

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Money saving challenges

These are some of the easier money saving challenges to help you have fun while saving, keep you on track and help you reach your savings goal.

What is it you’re saving for?

And how many of these savings challenges have you tried before?