How to save £1,500 in 12 months with the 365 day challenge

FOR those thinking about what New Year’s resolutions to make for 2021, saving a bit of cash might be near the top of your list.

We explain how to put away as much as £1,500 in 12 months with the 365 day money-saving challenge.

You could save nearly £1,500 by the end of 2021Credit: Alamy

Putting aside cash could well be a priority if you were one of the bargain hunters that made the most of the Boxing Day sales.

Barclaycard, which sees nearly half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, said 68% of customers shopped online and spent an average of £162 each.

But thankfully, there’s a simple trick that could make it much easier to achieve your saving goals.

Website Apartment Therapy has inked out a plan which will see you put aside small sums of money each day.

The 365 day challenge

HERE’s how to walk away with almost £1,500 at the end of this year.

Save the following amounts each day:

Sunday – £1
Monday – £2
Tuesday – £3
Wednesday – £4
Thursday – £5
Friday – £6
Saturday – £7
Weekly total – £28
Yearly total – £1,456

The idea is that you should put aside £1 on Sunday, £2 on Monday, £3 on Tuesday and so on, all the way up to saving £7 on Saturday (the largest daily amount of the week).

This should give you a weekly total of £28, and a yearly total of £1,456.

You can always mix up which days you want to save the most or least amount of money.

You can put your money into a jar, although bear in mind that you won’t get this back if it’s lost or stolen.

Or you can pop the cash into a savings account, which could mean your savings could go even further.

Other ways to save cash

SAVING money can seem like a slog, but it doesn’t have to be with our simple tips below:

Cut down on your spending:An obvious way to save money is by cutting down on how much you spend each month. Go through your transaction history and set yourself a budget. Are there any bills that you don’t need or use that you can cancel?
Haggle down your bills: You should also try and see if you can get a better deal on any regular bills you’re paying. Do your research, see if there are better deals available for new customers. Then call up customer services and explain you want to leave because you’ve found a better deal but is there anything they can do for you?
Open a savings account: The first steps to actually saving is then opening an account that will give you the most benefits – you can find the best options here.
Download apps: There are loads of apps you can download to your smartphone, which can help you budget properly and save a fortune over the next 12 months. You can find a round-up of the best apps to help you save money here.
Plan your meals in advance:By making a list before you go grocery shopping and then sticking to it, you’ll avoid picking up products you don’t really need.
Pay off debts: The interests on your debts is always higher than the interest earned on your savings, so you should consider paying off any debts with your savings to be better off.

We’ve rounded up a list of the best paying savings accounts on the market this year you can take a look at.

This savings plan could be a little more achievable than other popular alternatives, such as the 52 Week Challenge.

This works by getting participants to put aside £1 for the first week, £2 for the second, £3 for the third and so forth, until the end of the year.

It may seem easier at first, but it means you’ll have to put away the largest sums around Christmas, with a whopping £202 in total required in the final four weeks of the year.

This could be too much of a stretch for many around an already expensive time of year.

But if both plans are too hard to stick to, you could always try the penny challenge.

Start off by putting in 1p on the first day and increasing it by another penny every day. So day one will see you put in 1p, day two will be 2p, day three 3p and so on.

When you reach 100 days, keep doing the same but you’ll need to switch to a £1 coin. So day 100 will see you save £1, day 102 will be £1.01 and so on.

This will help you save £668 by this time next year.

If you’re wanting to use an app instead to help you save, we drew up a list of the eight best ones we’ve spotted that are free to use and are available on IOS and Andriod devices.

We’ve also put together a six step plan to help you sort out your finances before the New Year – and it could save you thousands.

If you’re looking for some more saving inspiration, one mum saved £25,000 by committing to a “no buy year” in 2019, only spending money on essential purchases.

Shopper reveals Amazon discount hacks to help save cash

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk