24 Money Challenge Ideas for Your 2024 Challenge

A money challenge is a fab way to gamify saving (or making) more money. And if you’re anything like me, that gamification is the key to keeping you motivated and more likely to actually succeed. Want to start a money challenge in 2024 but don’t have an idea? This is the post for you.

Here are 24 ideas for you to take inspiration from…

SAVE £2024 IN 2024

I saw a version of this money challenge on instagram (cannot for the life of me reminder what account but it was on my explore page) and absolutely love the idea! Set up a specific pot or account and aim to save £2024 in 2024. Just think what you could do with that extra pot of money at the end of the year – holiday? emergency fund? pay off a credit card?

MAKE £2024 IN 2024

Why not flip the challenge from saving to making? There are only so much you can cut but your income doesn’t have to have a limit. Test out of couple side hustles and challenge yourself to make £2024 extra in 2024. I’m attempting to complete a variation of this challenge over the next year.

PENNY CHALLENGE

The Penny Challenge is an absolute classic. It’s an easy way to save an extra £667.95 without noticing the money leaving your account. And it’s as simple as it sounds, on day 1 you save a penny, day 2 two pennies, day 3 three pennies… and you keep going each day till you save three hundred and sixty-five pennies on day 365. You can either do it in order or take a more wild approach and tick off your chosen amount each day. Either way if you complete all 365 days you will have £667.95 at the end of the challenge. That’s a decent holiday or a new phone or a good chunk of debt paid off. Plus seeing as 2024 is a leap year that total increases to £671.61. Or you get a free day.

TAX CHALLENGE

My personal favourite and one I’m low-key taking credit for because I can’t recall seeing it anywhere before I took on the challenge a few years ago. The Tax Challenge is exactly how it sounds, you save money by taxing something in your life. I have a slight crisp problem so one month I decided to impose a Crisp Tax over myself. Every time I had a bag of crisps I had to transfer £1 to a dedicated savings account. Want to know how much I put aside by imposing this tax? £30. THIRTY POUNDS! Imagine if I’d kept it up for a full year.

This is a great beginner challenge as it’s highly customisable and controllable. You decide what you are taxing, how much the tax is and how long you’re keeping the tax in place for.

52-WEEK POUND CHALLENGE

The 52-Week Pound Challenge is very similar to the Penny Challenge but instead of putting away the corresponding pennies to days you put away a pound for each week of the year. £1 in week 1, £2 in week 2… until you put £52 away on the last week of the year. If you complete the challenge you will have put £1378 away in the course of a year. Pretty decent!

NO SPEND CHALLENGE

Instead of focusing on putting money away this money challenge focuses on keeping more of your income. A No Spend Challenge is just like it sounds, a challenge to not spend. Now exactly how this looks is completely up to you. You decide how long to set the challenge for, a day, week, month or even a year. And you decide what you can and can’t spend money on. The typical No Spend Challenge is not spending money on anything outside the essentials. That means your phone plan is ok but an upgrade would be a no no. Your groceries are still in the budget but not those 10 extra snack runs you do a month. You can keep your Netflix subscription but you have to cancel the other 4 you don’t use. The rules are completely up to you and the things you deem essential in life.

You can personalise the challenge further by setting specific category no spends – like no buying clothes this month or no takeaway coffees or no books. Or do a control test where you want to have 3 days each week where you spend nothing! Not a penny on essentials or non-essentials. It’s a very customisable challenge.

$5 BILL CHALLENGE

The gist of this challenge is to pick a value (eg. $5 bills) and every time one comes into your possession you set it aside in a savings jar. This challenge works better if you are a cash person. It would be pointless for me to set this challenge as I never use cash. But if you do use cash, pick a value and commit to saving that type every time you get one. A good one for a Brit would be £2 coins as these are quiet rare but soon add up.

NEGOTIATION CHALLENGE

Challenge yourself to negotiate something, anything, everything. Whether it’s your salary, phone bill, car insurance… most things are negotiable. Take an inventory of your seemingly fixed expenses and see which can be negotiated and then challenge yourself to do just that. You might be surprised by how much you can save from a couple phone calls.

CASH WINDFALL CHALLENGE

If you’re expecting a cash windfall or a cash injection (eg. tax refund or bonus) this year then this is the challenge for you. Challenge yourself to save and/or invest the majority of the cash windfall.

DECLUTTER CHALLENGE

Taking on a Declutter Challenge is a great way to both clear some space and make a little bit of extra income. Challenge yourself to get rid of a bunch of stuff. Whether you just get rid of it, donate it or try to sell it, this challenge is a good one to take on.

INCOME STREAM CHALLENGE

Why don’t you challenge yourself in 2024 to create or take on another income stream? It’s said that the average millionaire has seven different income streams. Now I’m not saying take on 6 new income streams in one year but maybe challenge yourself to take on one more. Especially if you only have the one currently.

TRACK YOUR DAILY EXPENSES CHALLENGE

Still early on in your personal finance journey or feel your money has gotten a little out of control lately? Challenge yourself to track your daily expenses. Write down every single penny you spend in a day and reflect back on it.

MEAL PLANNING CHALLENGE

Can’t seem to get your food budget under control? This challenge might be for you. Challenge yourself to meal plan for an entire week or fortnight or month. Meal planning is a great way to keep your food budget in check and save time when it comes to deciding what to eat each day. It saves you money as you’ll only be buying the things you actually need and will eat. Saving on waste to!

GROCERY SHOPPING CHALLENGE

Meal planning not for you? This is another good challenge to try and keep your food budget in check. Set a number a challenge yourself to only spending that amount. I used to do this in uni where each week I challenged myself to only spend £10 on food. I would shop my cupboards, bulk cook, take advantage of offers to try and stick to this crazy low amount.

FINANCIAL LITERACY CHALLENGE

Want to be more financially literate? 2024 is your year. Challenge yourself to learn one thing each week or month and you’ll be shocked how you educated and confident you feel by the end of the year.

CASHBACK CHALLENGE

Been sleeping on cashback? Well that stops this year. Take on a Cashback Challenge where you challenge yourself to set up automatic cashback on each of your cards – the easiest way to get cashback. Or install a web browser plugin that alerts you to cashback deals when you’re shopping online. Or both! Another take on this challenge would be to set a rule where you can’t purchase something unless you get cashback on it. A fun combo of a cashback and no spend challenge to take on.

BUILD A HUSTLE CHALLENGE

Similar to the Income Stream Challenge, the Build A Hustle Challenge would be a great one to take on in 2024. Especially if you are looking to build a business or side thing, spend 2024 putting in the work because it might just pay off for years to come. This is one of the challenges I’m taking on this year, as after 4 years I think it’s about time I take it seriously or let it go.

THE COFFEE SHOP CHALLENGE

Calculate how much you spend on coffee or snacks from coffee shops each week. Challenge yourself to make coffee at home and pack snacks, redirecting the saved money toward a specific financial goal. This would be a great challenge if hitting up the local coffee shop has become just another step in your daily routine, like brushing your teeth. Taking a more intentional approach to parting with this money each month will automatically make you appreciate that coffee that little bit more.

NO TAKEAWAY CHALLENGE

Similar to a No Spend Challenge but more specific. This one is the one to take on if you have gotten too familiar with that Deliveroo app. Challenge yourself for a week, month or maybe even a year to go without any takeaways. And then to make it a money challenge, transfer what you would have spent on a takeaway to a dedicated savings pot. See just how fast that pot adds up.

UNSUBSCRIBE CHALLENGE

Is your inbox cluttered with spammy marketing emails? Do you subscribe to all the streaming services available? Get tonnes of letters through the post? Maybe it’s time to embark on an Unsubscribe Challenge. Do an audit of all the random things you’ve subscribed to and start clicking that unsubscribe button.

TRANSPORTATION COST-CUTTING CHALLENGE

Transportation is one of the big three expenses and often gets overlooked in terms of cutting costs as it’s seen as essential. And whilst I agree it is an essential expense, the level of that expense can be reduced. For example; if you are a two car household could you look into becoming a one car household? Could you walk more? Get a bike? Take the bus daily, do you have a bus pass? Buy train tickets all the time, do you have a railcard? You get the gist. Take the challenge to cut your transportation costs in whatever way makes sense for your lifestyle.

ONE-IN ONE-OUT CHALLENGE

One of my best friends did a version of this challenge last year and I’m obsessed with it. She did it in regards to clothing. If she wanted to buy new clothes she could only use money she’d made selling the clothes she already owns. Essentially one-in, one-out. You can personalise this challenge to any area of your life that you feel needs a little control.

FREE ENTERTAINMENT CHALLENGE

Explore free entertainment options in your community, such as parks, community events, or free museum days. Challenge yourself to spend a week, month or even a year without paying for entertainment. Bookworm like me? Libraries are your new best friend.

SECONDHAND CHALLENGE

Challenge yourself to only buy secondhand for the next year. You could specify which area you want to focus on (eg. you can only buy secondhand clothes) or take a more rounded approach (eg. you can only shop in charity shops or on sites like Vinted and Depop). Make it your own.

So there you, 24 challenge ideas for you to take inspiration from in 2024!

Have you already started a challenge? Or will be adapt one of these? I’d love to hear all about it!