Youâll have to forgive me. Iâve been busy with Christmas, New Year and hosting an American here in England which has meant that Iâm a day late posting this.
Fear not though because playing catch up shouldnât prove to be too daunting for any of you. A fellow travel blogger (Charlie) introduced me to this concept last year and I loved the idea so much I thought Iâd give it a go in 2019. Better yet, Iâm inviting you to join me!
Yes, youâve read that right. Travel is for everybody so Iâm going to share with you an extra New Years Resolution which will hopefully inspire you towards your own piece of adventure! Excited? Sceptical? Let me tell you more!
Firstly, youâll have to appreciate this was written with the intention of posting it yesterday!
Anyway, between now and December 31st weâre going to put away money towards the next trip and do you want to know what the best part is? Youâve only got to start by saving a penny on January 1st (oops!). One cent! One shiny little copper! Easy, right?
âbut how am I going to go away with only a penny?â
Ah, there had to be a catch didnât there? âCurse you Jason!!!â I hear you say. Iâm sorry!
Obviously a penny isnât going to get you very far so tomorrow (actually today â Jan 2nd) youâre going to save ÂŁ0.02 / $0.02. Then on January 3rd youâre going to save 3 pennies. Three whole pennies!
Youâve going to save for every single day of the year and day by day youâll need to save an extra penny – a penny that youâre hopefully not even going to notice is missing. Come June 30th (day 181) youâll put ÂŁ1.81 away and come December 31st 2019 (day 365) youâll put away ÂŁ3.65 in to your little kitty.
Of course as the year goes on itâs going to get a little tougher as youâre having to save ÂŁ3 upwards every day which at its highest means youâll have to save ÂŁ25.34 in the final week of the year but then at the end of it you have this pot of gold (alright, bronze and silvers mostly) accumulating a total of ÂŁ667.95
Nearly ÂŁ700!! How amazing is that? Itâs not a life-changing amount of course but could you do without ÂŁ3.65 on any given day? The yearly average is actually only ÂŁ1.83 per day but from July 3rd onwards youâll be paying more than that, for the first half of the year below that figure.
Obviously Iâve suggested you put it towards a holiday but ultimately itâs your money to do whatever you want with it. Buy yourself some new shoes or a new TV or whatever. Itâs a nice little sum of money to do what you want with and without feeling the financial pinch throughout the year.
Like any New Years Resolution, people struggle committing for a whole year so as a little insight hereâs how much youâd have saved using this method at various points in the year.
January 7th: ÂŁ0.28 â A selection of penny sweets!
January 31st: ÂŁ4.96 â A bottle of wine to drown your sorrows in at having only made it a month!
March 31st: ÂŁ40.95 â A fancy dinner or a night out!
June 30th: ÂŁ164.71 â A shopping spree!
September 30th: ÂŁ374.01 â A short getaway!
November 30th: ÂŁ559.45 â Christmas shopping sorted!
December 31st: ÂŁ667.95 â That holiday youâve been longing for!
Some of you may feel you could actually put away more than a penny each day and thatâs great! However hopefully this is feasible for most of you and as above, even if you donât make it the whole year, youâll have a little sum of money wherever you stop which makes it better than most failed resolutions.
What do you reckon? Anyone else fancy joining me in giving this a go? Let me know!
P.S – Happy New Year! I hope 2019 is wonderful for all of you!
P.P.S â Again, sorry this is late. If youâre starting today youâll need to find a penny for yesterday too!