Martin Lewis 1p challenge can see you save £600 before next Christmas

If you’re looking for an easy way to save a bit of extra cash for next Christmas, then look no further because the 1p Challenge will net you more than £600 and is super easy to follow.

I know, we’ve only just had Christmas and the decorations are still up, but with money being tight for most of us this little money challenge can make sure you’ve got a few quid stashed away for next year.

The 1p Challenge is backed by Mr Money Saving Expert himself Martin Lewis, who said on his ITV show last year: "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.”

As outlined above, the saving challenge is incredibly simple to follow and starts with just 1p.

So, if you wanted to start it on 1 January, you’d put 1p aside that day; then on 2 January, you’d put 2p away; on the 3 January, set 3p aside; and… well you get the idea, you add an extra penny each day so by the end of the month you’d have saved £4.96 in total.

PURPLE MARBLES / Alamy Stock Photo

Continue on, adding an extra penny to the amount each day, and by 31 December 2023 you'll have saved £667.95. Seems easy enough, right?

If you don’t tend to have the pennies then you could set up a savings account with your bank and transfer the cash over directly.

And if the idea of transferring teeny amounts every day seems a bit too much effort, then the Money Saving Expert has worked out how much you’d need to put away each month in total, meaning you could simply transfer these amounts across on pay day each month - or whatever works for you:

January - £4.96

February - £12.74

March - £23.25

April - £31.65

May - £42.16

June - £49.95

Martyn Williams / Alamy Stock Photo

July - £61.07

August - £70.68

September - £77.55

October - £89.59

November - £95.85

December - £108.50

You could even do the challenge in reverse, starting by putting £3.65 away on 1 January and working your way backwards to 31 December when you’d only need to put 1p aside.

Happy saving!

Topics: Life, Money, Martin Lewis

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at Tyla who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats.