You’ll have to forgive me. I’ve been busy with Christmas, New Year and hosting an American here in England which has meant that I’m a day late posting this.
Fear not though because playing catch up shouldn’t 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 I’d give it a go in 2019. Better yet, I’m inviting you to join me!
Yes, you’ve read that right. Travel is for everybody so I’m 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, you’ll have to appreciate this was written with the intention of posting it yesterday!
Anyway, between now and December 31st we’re going to put away money towards the next trip and do you want to know what the best part is? You’ve only got to start by saving a penny on January 1st (oops!). One cent! One shiny little copper! Easy, right?
“but how am I going to go away with only a penny?”
Ah, there had to be a catch didn’t there? “Curse you Jason!!!” I hear you say. I’m sorry!
Obviously a penny isn’t going to get you very far so tomorrow (actually today – Jan 2nd) you’re going to save £0.02 / $0.02. Then on January 3rd you’re going to save 3 pennies. Three whole pennies!
You’ve going to save for every single day of the year and day by day you’ll need to save an extra penny – a penny that you’re hopefully not even going to notice is missing. Come June 30th (day 181) you’ll put £1.81 away and come December 31st 2019 (day 365) you’ll put away £3.65 in to your little kitty.
Of course as the year goes on it’s going to get a little tougher as you’re having to save £3 upwards every day which at its highest means you’ll have to save £25.34 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 £667.95
Nearly £700!! How amazing is that? It’s not a life-changing amount of course but could you do without £3.65 on any given day? The yearly average is actually only £1.83 per day but from July 3rd onwards you’ll be paying more than that, for the first half of the year below that figure.
Obviously I’ve suggested you put it towards a holiday but ultimately it’s your money to do whatever you want with it. Buy yourself some new shoes or a new TV or whatever. It’s 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 here’s how much you’d have saved using this method at various points in the year.
January 7th: £0.28 – A selection of penny sweets!
January 31st: £4.96 – A bottle of wine to drown your sorrows in at having only made it a month!
March 31st: £40.95 – A fancy dinner or a night out!
June 30th: £164.71 – A shopping spree!
September 30th: £374.01 – A short getaway!
November 30th: £559.45 – Christmas shopping sorted!
December 31st: £667.95 – That holiday you’ve been longing for!
Some of you may feel you could actually put away more than a penny each day and that’s great! However hopefully this is feasible for most of you and as above, even if you don’t make it the whole year, you’ll 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 – Again, sorry this is late. If you’re starting today you’ll need to find a penny for yesterday too!
