How to save up to £500 by Christmas with the Go Fund Yourself savings challenge

IT might not be time to dust off the Christmas decorations just yet – but with December 25 just two months away, it is worth sorting out your finances.

If you’re worried about how you’ll afford this festive season there’s still plenty of time to set yourself a money saving challenge.

We explain how it works below so you can stash away extra for Xmas

These challenges are a good way to get in the habit of saving if you’re finding it hard to stash away cash, especially as budgets are extra tight at the moment.

We explain how to save either £100, £250 or £500 by Xmas using the Go Fund Yourself Christmas savings challenge 2020.

Go Fund Yourself was set up by financial campaigner and writer, Alice Tapper and her Instagram now has almost 40,000 followers.

She shares tips on how to stop shopping habits, earn extra cash and explains complex finance issues.

She told The Sun: “Normally Christmas consumerism kicks off from the drop of the John Lewis Xmas ad to the New year sales.

“We’re pushed into planning a ‘perfect Christmas’ as opposed to one we can actually afford.

“Inevitably this can lead to a pretty rough financial hangover come New Year, usually in the shape of credit card debt.

“This year will have to be different for many of us. I started the Go Fund Yourself Christmas challenge as a nudge to think ahead about the kind of Christmas you want.

“If it’s going to cost then it’s best to get saving early and to set realistic goals.”

How does the money saving challenge work?

Firstly, you work out how much you want to save. Alice suggests £100, £250 or £500 – but you can tweak this to how much you need to budget for.

Then work out how much you need to save each week. You need to save each Monday for nine weeks, starting on Monday 26 October and ending on Dec 21.

To save £100 you’d need to save £11.20, adding up to £100.80.

For £250 you’d £28, adding up to £252. While for £500, its £56 adding up to £504.

Alice also suggests picking a challenge to help you reach your target.

Her ideas include selling at least £35 worth of unwanted stuff on Depop, eBay or Faceboook.

As well as doing a subscription audit where you go through all your outgoings and see what you could cancel.

Six challenges you could take to help save money

HERE are six suggestions Alice has come up with to help you save cash.

Sell £35 of your unwanted stuff on eBay, Depop or Facebook
Switch a takeaway for a fakeaway
Make Nov 29 – Black Friday – a no-spend day
Book your flights/train home for Christmas asap
Make a meal plan and stick to a weekly budget
Do a subscription audit. Is there anything you can cancel?

What else can you do?

Cut down on your spending:An obvious way to save money is by cutting down on how much you spend each month. Go through your transaction history and set yourself a budget. Are there any bills that you don’t need or use that you can cancel?
Haggle down your bills: You should also try and see if you can get a better deal on any regular bills you’re paying. Do your research, see if there are better deals available for new customers. Then call up customer services and explain you want to leave because you’ve found a better deal but is there anything they can do for you?
Download apps: There are loads of apps you can download to your smartphone, which can help you budget properly and save a fortune over the next 12 months. You can find a round-up of the best apps to help you save money here.
Pay off debts: The interests on your debts is always higher than the interest earned on your savings, so you should consider paying off any debts with your savings to be better off

Money saving challenges are just one way of getting into the habit of saving money.

We previously wrote about auto-saving apps that help you save thousands of pounds without noticing.

But many of these don’t pay interest so you may want to stick with a best-buy savings account where you set up a direct debit to save money on payday.

We reveal our top savings accounts in our guide.

The best 8 apps to save you money, including Chip, ATM finder, Vouchercodes and TopCashback

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk