If you aim to save money as part of your New Year’s resolutions, consider taking on one of these challenges for the year 2026. Some challenges involve starting with as little as 1p on the first day, while more ambitious ones could see you accumulate nearly £7,000 by the end of the year.
How you choose to save is up to you – whether you opt for a digital savings account or stick to the traditional method of collecting coins and cash in a jar.
The £1 saving challenge entails putting aside £1 each day, resulting in a total of £365 saved by the end of the year. If you prefer to save less, setting aside 50p daily would amass to £182.50 by the year’s end.
In this challenge, you incrementally increase the amount saved by 1p each day. For instance, you start with 1p on January 1, 2p on January 2, 3p on January 3, and so forth, culminating in saving £3.65 on December 31, totaling £667.95 saved by the end of the year or £164.71 by mid-year.
For the weekly saving challenge, you start by saving £1 on Monday and add £1 to the amount saved every subsequent day until Friday, leading to savings of £15 per week, equating to £780 annually or £390 for alternate weeks.
In the weekly incrementing challenge, you begin by saving £1 in the first week of January, increasing the saved amount by £1 each week until reaching £52 in the final week of December, resulting in a total of £1,378 saved by the end of the year or £351 for biweekly savings.
A more challenging version of the Monday to Friday challenge includes weekends, where you save £1 on Monday and increment the saved amount by £1 daily, adding £6 on Saturday and £7 on Sunday. This yields a weekly saving of £28, totaling £1,456 annually or £728 for half the challenge.
The most demanding challenge involves saving an additional £5 per week, starting with £5 in the first week of January, £10 in the second week, £15 in the third week, and so on. Completing this challenge would amass savings of £6,890 for the year or £1,755 by mid-year.