If you aim to save money in the new year, consider taking on these saving challenges for 2026. The challenges range from putting away just 1p on the first day to potentially accumulating nearly £7,000 by the end of the year.
The method of saving is up to you – whether you opt for a digital savings account online or the traditional approach of using a jar for coins and cash.
There are various saving challenges to choose from. For instance, the £1 saving challenge involves saving £1 every day, resulting in £365 by the year-end. If you prefer to save less, putting away 50p daily will yield £182.50 by the end of the year.
Another challenge entails increasing the saved amount by 1p each day starting from January 1, gradually growing to £3.65 by December 31, totaling £667.95 by the year’s end or £164.71 if stopped by June.
In a weekly challenge, you start by saving £1 on Monday and incrementally increase the amount by £1 each day until Friday. Skipping the weekends, you would save £15 weekly and accumulate £780 over the year, or £390 if done biweekly.
For a weekly increment challenge, you save an additional £1 each week, starting from £1 in the first week of January and reaching £52 in the final week of December, resulting in £1,378 by the end of the year or £351 if done biweekly.
A more demanding challenge involves saving £1 on Monday and incrementing by £1 each day, including weekends where you also save £6 on Saturday and £7 on Sunday. This challenge could potentially lead to £1,456 saved by the end of the year or £728 if halved.
The most challenging one consists of increasing the saved amount by £5 weekly, reaching a substantial savings of £6,890 by the end of the year or £1,755 if stopped halfway through the year.