Saving money can be hard, but all hope isn’t lost if one of your 2025 goals is to build up a rainy-day fund.
With monthly outgoings, it can be hard to focus on putting some money away. But, having an emergency fund can help you feel better about your financial situation.
You might want to save for something in particular such as a holiday, an upcoming special occasion or a new car.
Or, you might just be keen to have some spare money sitting on the side to use should you have to make any unexpected payouts.
One woman went viral for her tips after suggesting you could save as much as £5000 in six months with her extreme savings advice.
While this may not be achievable for many, if you’re hoping for a challenge, it could work for you.
The woman shared a genius way to help you put the pounds away with ‘the envelope challenge’ on Facebook which went viral online.
The idea works by using 100 envelopes and labelling them from £1 to £100.
Over a total of 25 weeks, you should take four envelopes at random each week and fill them with the amount of cash listed on the envelope.
If you’d rather do this with online banking so you’re not storing lots of cash in your house, you can simply transfer the money into a separate savings account.
If you picked up an envelope that said £10, you’d need to put £10 into your account or into the envelope.
At the end of six months, if you repeat this four times a week, you would save a total of £5050.
To balance out the payments, you should ensure the envelopes are mixed up meaning you’ll have a range of smaller amounts and larger amounts to open in any one week.
While this challenge may be tricky with the outgoings you have each week or month, you could give it a try if you’re feeling committed to saving this year.
Alternatively, you could think of another amount you’d like to save in six months which suits you and adjust the envelopes accordingly.
