A SAVVY mum squirreled away more than £2,200 last year thanks to two simple savings challenges – anyone can do them.
Sarah Dunkley lives in Dartford, Kent, with her husband and two young children.
The 37-year-old decided to give the challenges a try as she wanted to see if she could save without it feeling like hard work.
Last year, she used the savings as spending money on a family trip to Butlins.
She plans to do this again with the next pot of savings – use it as spending money on another family holiday.
She told The Sun: “I embarked on the two savings methods to see if I could tuck money away without really noticing it leaving my account.
Rather than try and save big chunks every month, I wanted to have a go at saving smaller amounts.”
The hard-working mum’s aim was to see how the cash would accumulate over a 12-month period.
She said: “I first decided to give the 52-week savings challenge a go – and then added in a round-up savings challenge, too.”
Traditionally, the 52-week savings hack involves participants slotting away £1 for the first week, £2 for the second, £3 for the third, and so on throughout the year.
The problem is, this usually means you need to find the largest sums as you get close to Christmas – which can already be a very expensive time of year.
To get around this, Sarah decided to ‘flip’ things and start off with the biggest amount instead.
She said: “I opted to do this challenge in reverse. This meant I put aside £52 in the first week, £51 in week two, and then decreased this amount each week, winding down to just £1 after Christmas 2024.”
For Sarah, hard work and consistency paid off.
She said: “If – as I did – you are disciplined and keep going for the full 52 weeks, you finish the year with an impressive £1,378.”
The good thing about this challenge, according to Sarah, is the fact you don’t need anything special to do it.
“Simply decide if you want to place the cash in a jam jar, or whether you’d prefer to transfer it into a savings account. I chose to move the money into my instant access saver with NatWest.”
In addition to this savings method, the financially savvy mum was able to tuck away a tidy sum thanks to a second hack: a round-up savings challenge.
This involves participants saving their spare change from the everyday things they purchase – and moving that extra cash to one side.
Say, for example, you buy something costing £19.40, that spend would become £20, and you’d move 60p into savings. While it may not sound like much, if you do this with every transaction, your pot will soon mount up.
“Last year, I made use of the ‘round-ups’ feature offered by my bank, NatWest,” said Sarah. “This tool starts working as soon as you turn it on and includes any debit card or contactless payments.
Any spare change is sent to my NatWest savings account.”
Sarah found that by using this method, she was able to tuck money away without really realising it.
She said: “Over 12 months, I stashed away just over £850.”
Combined with the £1,378 she saved via the 52-week challenge, this gave her a total pot of more than £2,200 last year.
Sarah said: “This was a very helpful amount that I was grateful to have. I used it as spending money on a family trip to Butlins.”
Aside from NatWest, there are a handful of other banks which will also round up your purchases to the nearest pound for you and save the change.
These include Monzo, Starling and Chase. Elsewhere, other tools which offer ‘round-ups’ include the likes of Emma and Plum.
Sarah said: “The beauty of strategies such as the 52-week challenge and the round-up challenge is the fact they are so easy to do.
Once you have set things up, the money essentially ticks over by itself. I’m so pleased with how the two hacks went in 2024, that I’m doing them both again this year.”
Top tips for anyone thinking of trying a savings challenge
If you’re contemplating a savings hack, Kevin Mountford, savings expert and co-founder at Raisin UK, has some guidance to help you on your way:
- Embarking on a savings strategy may be easy, but sticking to it can be where the challenge lies. You need to be disciplined
- Seek out a savings method that suits you – this can make squirrelling cash away a lot easier. If it helps, think of a savings challenge as a game you want to win
- Start small. Set a manageable monthly savings goal, even if it’s just £10-£20 to begin with. The important thing is to get started
- Automate your savings. Setting up automatic transfers to a savings account can ensure you save consistently, without the temptation to spend
How to max returns on money you’ve put aside
Once your savings are starting to mount up, it’s important not to just leave that money in a jar or envelope as it won’t earn interest.
You need to take steps to make that hard-earned cash work hard for you.
Kevin said: “Be sure to seek out accounts with competitive rates, as this will help your money grow faster.”
To do this, you’ll need to shop around.
Kevin added: “Right now, there are still some decent rates up for grabs on easy-access accounts. But if you are comfortable with the idea of locking your money away, you’ll get even more bang for your buck in a fixed-rate savings account.”
Where can I compare savings rates?
When shopping around to track down the best rates, check out sites such as Moneyfactscompare.co.uk, Money.supermarket.com and Money.co.uk.
Also make use of Raisin, a platform which helps you to find, open and manage savings accounts across multiple banks easily – and for free.
