Looking for the next money challenge to get you through 2026? It can be hard trying to save up especially after the expensive festive period, but here’s one trick to try now…
There’s nothing more soul-crushing than looking at your bank account after the Christmas period is done and dusted. It’s an expensive period with presents, food, alcohol and the New Year’s Eve celebrations to get through.
Now if you want to get ahead and start saving, here’s a challenge which will get you all the way through to next Christmas. One person on Reddit recently praised a popular money-saving trick for helping them afford a new phone after their previous one broke right before the festive period. The person said they managed to buy a new device within a £562 budget.
In a recent upload, they said: “Thank God for Monzo 1p challenge. Phone broke within a day of withdrawing the money as I initially needed to break into it by £40 for Christmas.
“Phone arrived today. No more potato phone and all within budget £562. I didn’t complete the whole challenge but got to £540 needed some for Christmas but pretty much covered the cost of the phone.”
The Monzo 1p challenge is exactly what it says on the tin – you start by saving 1p on day 1, then 2p on day 2, on day 3 it’s 3p and so on. In the end, if you manage to get to 365 days, you will have saved £667.95.
And the good news is, this doesn’t even include interest so you should be able to save a little more.
Monzo also runs prize draws for participants who complete the challenge and opt-in, with chances to win large cash prizes like £10,000.
If you’re worried you can’t keep up the challenge, you can pause and then catch up on missed days later, or even take money out and put it back in.
To get involved, you’ll need to have a Monzo personal account to join.
Your challenge will last for 365 days from the day you start saving, but you must begin before the end of January.
How to be in a chance of winning £10,000:
- Have a Monzo personal current account or one of Monzo’s paid plans: Extra, Perks or Max (T&Cs apply)
- Be over the age of 18
- Be a UK resident
- Start the Saving Challenge by 11:59pm (GMT) on 31 January 2026
- Have at least £667.95 (excluding interest) in your Challenge Pot at 11:59pm on the 365th day of your challenge
