Martin Lewis and his MoneySavingExpert team have shared a ‘clever, fun and relatively painless way’ people can boost their bank balance by almost £668 in 2025. The ‘simple’ 1p Savings Challenge could result in a ‘surprising sum’ being amassed over the course of the year – even if it’s not followed to the letter.
The latest MSE newsletter invited savvy savers to get involved in the activity to ‘kick off the New Year’. It explained that if people put away 1p on January 1, then increased it to 2p by January 2, and 3p on January 3 – basically saving what they saved the day before, plus a penny more each day – they’d have saved £667.95 by December 31, 2025.
People were told not to fret if they were late to join the challenge as they could just ‘catch up’. For example, the MSE team said those starting on January 20 could put aside £2.10 on their first day, then go back to adding a penny each day from January 21.
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The MSE team said people could put the challenge cash into a jar or piggybank, or take a ‘more realistic approach’ and transfer the cash into a savings account each day using online banking. Those opting for the latter could even put away the month’s total in one go if preferred.
Martin previously championed the challenge during an episode of the ITV Martin Lewis Money Show. He 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.”
More information about the challenge can be found on the Money Saving Expert website, which also has a handy tracker to download or print to keep track of progress. Are you planning to take part in the challenge? Let us know in the comments section below.