Top savings challenges taking TikTok by storm including turning £200 into £10,000

Over at MoneyMagpie we have really started to quite like TikTok. It had a slightly overwhelming introduction – it moves really fast and is awash with sometimes dreadful advice (absolutely anyone can be a so called “expert”). However, we have garnered quite a following and found that we can have some really fun and open conversations with people there. Out of all of our social media channels, it is the one we are most likely to go viral on (and have on a number of occasions), and it is the one we can interact with other money makers and savers.

Did you know, there is a community of TikTok influencers teaching millions of people about personal finance?

There is a booming system of people teaching others about finance, and an excited audience, finally understanding parts of their money and financial lives previously not understood. This has come to be known as ‘FinanceTok’ or ‘MoneyTok’.

We round up some of the most prolific “hacks” on MoneyTok at the moment. I should add that none of these ideas are unique to TikTok, some of them are just a rebranded version of what we have all done for years. It is however great to see that the conversations around saving money are so prevalent and that future generations are equipping themselves to get rich.

Cash Stuffing 

Cash Stuffing is essentially a method of saving money by physically withdrawing it from your bank account and organising it in a folder system. Yes, actually taking money out and physically stashing it in different folders may sound old-fashioned but people on TikTok are going mad for it.

How to do it –

Work out how much you spend each month on treats, food, days out and so forth, and think carefully before spending it. Don’t go over your budget: thinking of the money as finite means it’ll really sink in that once it’s gone, it’s gone.

At the end of each month, add a little money aside for special treats like a holiday, a car or something you normally wouldn’t be able to get: having a money goal for a treat or two both allocates your money into savings, and encourages you to keep adding to it.

You might consider keeping a spreadsheet of your spending to make sure you’re on top of it, and also work out exactly what you do and don’t spend money on. For example, if you regularly get takeaway food, maybe start putting less money into that envelope to encourage better habits, or conversely if you’re not spending as much money on, say, books and games, you can adjust so that you’re not putting as much money into areas you’re not using.

£200 into £10k Challenge

The £200 into £10k Challenge seems to have been started by Dez from goodbyepoor_hellorich and gone on to garner a lot of followers. Dez uses a method or retail arbitrage to get rich, specifically Amazon arbitrage, a selling method where you source products from different market places to sell on the site. For example, finding a t-shirt for £10 in a local store that sells for £20 on Amazon. You buy the product, sell it on Amazon and keep the difference as profit, this is known as retail arbitrage.

The other method is online arbitrage, sourcing products from sites like marketplace, ebay and Facebook.

50 Envelopes saving challenge

Start by getting yourself 50 envelopes – we opted for small, dinner money sized envelopes. Get a lockable box or safe. Label your envelopes from £1 – £50. The corresponding amount of money will go in each envelope. Then, place the envelopes in the box.

Each week pick out an envelope to fill up – you don’t have to go in order, some weeks you might have more money left over than others. The spontaneity of it may make it easier – instead of having to point away £47, £48, £49 and £50 away on consecutive weeks, which may be a challenge, you could end up putting away some higher amounts and some lower amounts, to make it manageable.

It is a good idea to spread out the larger amounts over the weeks. This is easier than leaving them all until the end. If you were to do them in order, you would have to save £194 in the final 4 weeks of the challenge. You might want to shuffle the envelopes to choose at random or keep them in order and pick an envelope you know you can fill that week.

Also, if you have a little more left at the end of the month than you expected, you might opt to fill an extra envelope. This would shorten the challenge, but you could always add more envelopes at the end if you choose to. Many people do 52 envelopes, resulting in savings of £1,378 in total.

Bank Switching for Cash

This one is by no means a TikTok fad and has been very much toted by lots of “money experts”. The act is of changing your current account over to get the fee offered by the bank. Several accounts offer you £175 simply by switching over. This, however, is never as straight forward as people imply.

Money Expert and MoneyMagpie CEO Jasmine Birtles reminds us that “The government made it a lot easier and safer to switch bank accounts a few years ago, so if you want to do it, and you have found an account that is genuinely better than the one you have now, then go ahead with confidence. However, do remember that just switching banks every few months in order to get some cash back or other goodies is not a profitable use of your time. You need to fill in forms, make sure that your standing orders and direct debits really have been moved (they should be according to government guidelines) and make sure that your employer or other organisations that pay you are aware of your new bank details.

“The problem with switching every few months is that you end up nickle-and-diming yourself to death, as the Americans say. It’s better to put that time and effort into genuine side-earners such as selling things you don’t need, doing regular babysitting or driving or dog-walking work or even baking cakes or making things to sell. Frankly those money-makers are more fun and rewarding than playing the banks at their own tiresome game!”