Mum shares simple envelope hack for saving £5,050 in six months

A woman has gone viral after sharing an ‘envelope challenge’ money tip that shows how to save more than £5,000 in under six months.

To do the saving challenge, which originally went viral back in 2020, you’ll need to grab 100 envelopes and then write an amount between £1 and £100 on the front - it also works if you want to do it in dollars or any other denomination of your choosing.

And then over the next 25 weeks, which is less than half a year, you pull out two envelopes at random twice per week (or four per week) and deposit cash to the value on the front inside.

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So, for example, if you pull out the 24 envelope you’ll need to put £24 inside the envelope, if you grab 6, you put in £6, and so on.

Obviously, this whole thing requires you to have the kind of disposable income to put away a sum of anywhere between £10 and £394 a week, but if you're the kind of person who has that, and is maybe guilty of splashing the cash rather than sticking it away for a rainy day, this could be the trick for you to save some dough.

That's because, by the time you reach week 25 - provided you've not cheated or cut any corners - there will be £5,050 - or whatever denomination, remember - sitting in those envelopes ready for you to collect.

Realimage/Alamy Stock Photo

Of course, you probably don't have to do this over 25 weeks, unless you need to save a load of money really quickly, that's just a suggestion.

Equally, you could do it in 25 days by choosing four envelopes per day if you're feeling really flush.

The mum who shared the trick on Facebook said: "If you have a three-year plan to buy a house, you could have a little over $30,000 for a down payment by doing this."

The post went viral with loads of people praising the idea and keen to give it a go themselves.

One told a friend: "We should do this! It would help me save."

Another commented: "I love this idea. It would be a fun way for us to save up for something special."

However, a third person pointed out that you’d need a decent chunk of cash each week, writing: "Okay but you gotta have that extra money first."

Topics: Money, Viral

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]