Jess Hardiman
A woman has shared a ‘great’ twist on the viral ‘1p Challenge’, having dreamt up the idea while stuck in hospital this week.
Many people have heard of the 1p saving challenge, which has previously been backed by none other than Martin Lewis.
It’s a way of saving more than £600 in a way that feels more manageable than having to transfer the entire amount into your savings account.
You start with just 1p on the first day – with some opting to start the challenge at the beginning of the year – before the amount increases each day: 2p on the second day, 3p on the third day, and so on.
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Explaining the concept on his ITV show, Lewis said: "There’s a big savings community out there who do this, it’s called the 1p Challenge.
"Basically, you save a penny on the first day of the year in a jar or piggy bank, 2p on the second, 3p on the third and keep going throughout the year - by the last day of December you’re saving £3.65, so that would give you £667.95 in total.”
But one woman has come up with a slight twist on the system, having devised her ‘own version’ using bits and pieces she could find while in hospital.
She tore out paper from her diary and wrote the amount of money to save on a given day, before folding it up and placing each piece into... a cardboard sick bowl. If that’s not solid improvisation, then I don’t know what is.
Under her approach, rather than seeing the figure rise each day, the amount is selected at random as if in a ‘raffle’ – so one day, you might have to stash away £2.60, but on the next, it might be just 4p.
So she could keep track of her savings, she then marks down each amount on the day that it was drawn out of the hat (or sick bowl, in this case).
Posting to the Family Lowdown Tips and Tricks Facebook group, she wrote: “Poorly stuck in hospital so decided to come up with my own version of the 1p challenge.
“I wrote 1p-£3.65 on pieces of paper and folded them as you would in a raffle.
“I then took out one piece of paper at a time and wrote it in my diary. I did this for all 365 days.
“Now the money I have to save is all jumbled up and easier to save and I won't be stuck with huge amounts at the end of the year.”
Many people praised the ‘great idea’, saying they were going to give it a go.
“Such a good idea!” one commented.
Another added: “I love this idea!!!!! You’re b****y brilliant!!! Hope you feel better soon.”
A third wrote: “What a great idea!”
A fourth said: “Omg I’m going to do this!!”
Tagging their friend, someone else wrote excitedly: “A different way of doing it!”