I saved £2,600 for my two children using the ‘penny-a-day’ challenge
A SAVVY mum squirreled away £1,300 each for her two children using the ‘penny a day’ challenge - and another £5,050 simply by stuffing envelopes.
Camelah Hulse, is a nurse, who lives in Greater Manchester, with her husband and two children, aged 12 and eight.
“I like trying out different ways to save and when I read an article from Martin Lewis on The MoneySavingExpert website about the ‘penny a day’ challenge, I loved the sound of it,” she says.
Carmelah hasn’t looked back since.
“This challenge starts on January 1 each year and runs until December 31,” she explains. “It involves putting away 1p on day one, 2p on day two and so on. By the last day of the year, you have to squirrel away £3.65.”
If you are disciplined, after 12 months, you will have amassed an impressive £667.95. Camelah uses the trick for both children so in 2024 to save just over £1,330.
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“Once I’d got the hang of this trick – and was doing well with it – I decided to try out an extra challenge to put money aside for the family more generally,” she adds.
Her next hack meant buying 100 envelopes ahead of January 1 and then writing a number from one to 100 on each one.
Each week she gets her children to pick one at random and she has to put the cash equivalent inside. So if one is marked with 10, she puts £10 inside.
The challenge helped Camelah save a whopping £5,050 in 2024. Adding this to the £1,300 she saved for her children, this gives an overall total of £6,350.
Moreover, as the money-saving pro has been using these two savings hacks to squirrel money away for several years now, she reckons she’s amassed a total of more than £31,000 - and she used it for a trip to Disney in February 2022.
“I’ve used a portion of the cash to pay for a family trip to Disney World in Florida,” said Carmelah. “Some went towards funding renovations at a 150-year-old house we bought in 2023. It needs a lot of work.”
She also bought a Renault Scenic Grand,costing £18,000 in cash with a part exchange.
“Having money in savings meant I’ve avoided having to take out any credit. I’m happy to say we as a family have no debts – apart from the mortgage,” she says.
The money-saving pro is also diligent about saving cash for her children and regularly adds to the Junior ISA’s they have with Nationwide. She also adds cash to her own First Direct savings account.
“I’m now an old hand at the ‘penny-a-day’ challenge and ‘100 envelope’ challenge and am finding these a breeze,” she said. “It’s great going into each new year knowing that I have a decent pot of money tucked away. It also gives me peace of mind knowing that I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to afford the next family holiday.”
Carmelah’s top tips
*Get into the savings mindset – for me, the key to making a success of any savings challenge is being in the right frame of mind to do it. Then, once you’ve started, you have to be willing to persevere.
*Open your eyes up to the benefits of saving – I used to be a spender but doing these challenges has changed my perspective and I’m now a saver. I love watching the pennies pile up.
*Find a savings method that suits you – this can make slotting away cash a lot easier.
*Use a smashable money box – initially, I found these methods challenging as I was using a standard piggy bank – so there was a temptation to dip into the savings. Once I started using a smashable money box I found it a lot easier to build funds.
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CHALLENGES TO TRY
WITH the cost-of-living crisis showing little sign of letting up, more and more people are taking part in challenges that encourage frugality and saving.
While certain methods won’t work for everyone as they can require you having spare cash to put away, there are challenges to suit all budgets. The idea is to make saving money more manageable.
Kevin Mountford, savings expert and co-founder of Raisin UK, said: “If you’re looking to take control of your finances, there are lots of smart saving strategies to help you stay on track throughout the year.”
*The ‘no buy month’ – this involves you refraining from buying anything non-essential for a month. Some individuals have taken this further still – and attempted a ‘no buy year.’
Kevin said: “This can be a great way to help reduce debts and build an emergency fund.”
*52-week challenge – this involves you saving an amount which corresponds to the week number.
Kevin said: “For example, in week one, you save £1 and in week two, you save £2. Stick at it, and by the end of the year, you’ll have saved £1,378.”
*Move your money into a high-paying account – once you’ve started to amass funds from any challenge, don’t just let your money sit idle as you won’t earn any interest on savings stored as cash.
Kevin said: “Easy access accounts still offer top rates – and you can always withdraw your money if you’re in a pinch. However, if you can lock your money away, you’ll earn the most in a fixed-rate savings account. That way, you can grow your money over time.”
To compare savings rates, make use of sites such as Moneyfactscompare.co.uk, Moneysupermarket.com and Money.co.uk. Raisin is a platform which allows you to find, open and manage savings accounts across multiple banks easily – and for free.
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