Some things transform our finances. The Penny-A-Day Savings Challenge is one of those.

Whether using a jar or a mobile banking App, we can still amass a stunning £668 in one year.

The premise is simple. We start saving one penny on day one, two pence on day two, and so on. We increase the amount day by day, so in the first week, that’s 1+2+3+4+5+6+7p… 28p. Sounds easy. The key to saving hundreds, though, is getting into a habit. After a couple of months, we’re looking at 50p plus per day but we’ll have eased into it so gently that we’ll be thinking about it from the start of the day. ‘Maybe I could read a free paper instead of buying one and then I’ll put that money into the jar’. And so it grows.

SkintDad has a ‘challenge chart’ for people taking the Penny a Day Challenge. It’s great because we can keep track of where we’re up to, ticking off the days as we go. (See SkintDad’s blog here.)

Digital banks, like Monzo, Chase and Starling, have no branches but offer current and savings accounts, supported by the latest App technology. They often feature easy-to-use savings accounts. Apps allow customers to put money aside into different pots. We can also round up payments to the nearest pound when we spend, and our change goes into a saving pot. Some have also automated the Penny-A-Day Savings Challenge process, although it’s a good idea not to let the bots take over. Quids in! cannot recommend a bank but use a comparison site to see which one might work best.

There are a couple of top tips with savings. Firstly, set a goal and imagine what you’ll do with the money. The Penny-A-Day Savings Challenge should ensure a debt free Christmas, for example. Experts say a rainy day fund of about a grand will protect us against most setbacks, so we’d be most of the way there. Secondly, we need to decide if it’s a stash we need access to in emergency or whether we want it out of reach. If it’s the latter, we might be able to find an account that pays more interest for making it harder to retrieve. (See the Quids in! guide to Savings.)

See also: The 5 Savings No-Nos