Simple 1p money-saving challenge will see you put away £667.95 this year

Marie-Claire Dorking
·Contributor
·5-min read
The 1p money-saving challenge offers a painless way to stash away some cash. (Getty Images)
The 1p money-saving challenge offers a painless way to stash away some cash. (Getty Images)

If your New Year's resolution was to try to save more money, this simple challenge is for you.

The method, which is widely recommended on the forums of MoneySavingExpert, involves saving 1p on January 1, then 2p on January 2, and so on, reaching £3.65 on December 31.

By the end of the year, the savings will have reached a total of £667.95, which should partially or entirely cover the 2025 festive period.

You start by saving 1p on 1 January, then 2p on 2 January, then 3p on 3 January and so on – saving what you saved the day before, plus a penny more each day – right the way up to £3.65 saved on the last day of December.

If you started on 1 January 2025, then by 31 December 2025, you'll have saved a grand total of £667.95, but don't panic if you haven't already started saving, you can simply catch up by adding together the totals of each day you missed – so if you begin on Wednesday 20 January you could add £2.10 on your first day, and then resume the challenge as normal on 21 January, when you'd save 21p.

If you can't be bothered to log into online banking every day to transfer cash, the team at MoneySavingExperts has suggested other ways you can still save up the same amount – these include working out how much you'd need to transfer weekly or monthly in order to save the same yearly total.

If you split it equally over 12 months and set up a standing order for it, you'll need to set aside £55.67 a month. That is a rounded-up figure for 12 equal instalments, meaning you get an extra 9p during the challenge, if you use this method.

Of course, you could also take the old-fashioned approach and put actual cash into a piggybank or savings jar.

Monzo bank is also offering its customers a simple way to save for the challenge, with those who sign up seeing small amounts automatically moved from their account to a 'challenge pot' daily. New and existing Monzo customers can opt into the challenge before January 31, 2025, then track the progress of their savings and also have the option to take a break at any time and catch up on missed days.

Other fans of the challenge do so via the free web service If This Then That (IFTTT). The app triggers an automated action, such as depositing cash from your bank account to your savings account and offers various money-saving incentives, including the 1p challenge.

Alternatively, you could reverse the order of your savings, so you start by saving £3.65 on 1 January, meaning you'll only have to put aside 1p on 31 December.

If you start the 1p challenge today you could have over £650 by the end of the year. (Getty Images)
If you start the 1p challenge today you could have over £650 by the end of the year. (Getty Images)

A fifth of Brits are making saving money a priority in 2025, according to new research from Haypp, with 40% feeling 'extremely stressed' over the cost of Christmas this year.

But the 1p challenge isn't the only way to save some cash during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

With cashback websites and apps, you can earn money back on everything you buy. "These schemes work by tracking your online purchases and rewarding you with a percentage of your spending as cashback," Liz Hunter, director at Money Expert previously told Yahoo Life.

"For example, if you buy something for £100 and the provider offers 5% cashback, you’ll pocket £5 credit. Once you’ve earned enough, you can withdraw it as cash, gift cards or vouchers." The two biggest platforms in the UK are Topcashback and Quidco.

This useful hack will often save you 5-20% on all online purchases. With a simple online search, you’ll be able to find a working discount/promo code for most online retailers. "The easiest way to make the most of discount codes is to install a browser extension, such as Honey or Pouch, which will automatically apply working discount codes to your purchases at checkout," Hunter advises.

We all think of spring as the time to declutter, but it's worth doing now. "Take a look around your house for clothing, old mobile phones, books and other things you don’t use anymore to sell online," suggests Amelia Murray, money expert at Be Clever With Your Cash.

Think about where you may have built up little pots of cash, such as in cashback or points. "Do you have loyalty points built up with Nectar, Tesco or Boots? You may also have some gift cards left in the back of your wallet or your inbox, and it is better to spend them soon rather than wait until they expire."

Read more about saving money:

Latest stories