With the cost-of-living crisis eating up our wallets, finding ways to save money is important, but really hard. Lots of students are a little cash-strapped and looking for a little extra money. Who knew that TikTok, famous for its dances and memes, would suggest ways for us to keep our cash? If your student loan isn’t stretching as much as you’d like, then have a look at the 5p money-saving challenge and find out how much you’ll make.
Let’s be honest, we don’t think about how much our small change adds up to. People will keep their notes, and then pounds and 50ps, but it’s mostly our coppers and 5ps that get put into charity boxes in the supermarket. Whilst, donating to charity is important, those little bits of money can make all the difference. Every penny counts when you’re a student. It can mean the difference between having pasta for tea, again, or being able to treat yourself to dinner out.
What Is The 5p Money Saving Challenge?
As demonstrated by The Budgeting Mum on TikTok, the 5p money-saving challenge means saving 5p each day, adding an extra 5p for every day that you do it. So, if you started today you would save 5p, tomorrow you would save 10p, the day after would then be 15p and so on.
It means that on the last day of the year, you would save £18.25. Some have suggested that saving around £15 and more per day in the lead-up to Christmas isn’t realistic, so others suggested starting out the year with the biggest amount, and decreasing it by 5p each day. That way, in November and December you’re saving 60p and less a day.
Carrying cash is less common nowadays, particularly within the student demographic. But you can do it without cash too. The Budgeting Mum says to transfer it into a savings account each day, suggesting Monzo, as it lets you transfer smaller amounts.
5p each day can be a lot to ask. Even just 5p a day means that by the end of the year, you’ve got a chunk towards the train ride home, last-minute presents or uni books for the second term. Another method to save slightly less is to use 1p instead, which means that in December it will only be around £3 per day. Not to sound like the aunt that gives you unsolicited money advice, but that really is the price (or less!) than a Starbucks coffee.
How Much Will You Save With The 5p Money Saving Challenge?
If you save in the original way, by adding an extra 5p each day, then by doing it for a year would give you almost £3400. That’s a substantial sum towards your next year of university, learning to drive, or moving house. Or, a pretty good holiday or not. Either way, it would give you a lot of options.
If you choose just to do 5p a day, then that’s £18.25 at the end of the year. Whilst that’s not enough for a holiday, it could still be a day out or a decent amount towards something bigger.
If you were to save with the original method but with 1p, then that would be around £668 for a whole year.
Whatever way you’re able to do the 5p money-saving challenge, the end result will always be money that you wouldn’t have had at the end of the year!
It’s still before the middle of January, so there’s still time to make some New Year resolutions. If your goal is to save a bit of money, then the money-saving challenge is a great way to do it.