A SAVVY mum has revealed how to stash away near to £2,000 now that the New Year has kicked off.

Donna Tully who runs Official Families on a Budget on Facebook has given her wise words of savings advice to those looking to save a bit more cash as a resolution at the beginning of the year.

The 37-year-old mum of two has shared two different methods that she's encouraging her 41.7K followers to take up – and she's had a crack at them herself in the past.

The challenges force you to stash away small amounts of cash throughout the year that end in thousands by the time you've finished.

Donna said: "I've found putting small amounts away often, soon builds up.

"And it works. I completed the 1p challenge just last year. 

“I printed off the the sheet I’d made and stuck it round a tin I was stashing the money in, so it was always there when I was adding to the fund. 

“The only problem is it’s easy to forget to follow through with it or give up half way through.”

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One challenge takes all 365 days of the year to complete, but the other means you only stash away cash once a week.

The daily challenge means you could pocket almost £670 by this time next year, and the one that takes 52 weeks to complete could see your account grow by £1,378.

If you tried the two together, or you and a partner combined your efforts, you could be pocketing over £2,000 in a year – "without even feeling a dent in the wallet," as Donna puts.

"Saving money is my passion," Donna said, "and it's why I started my Facebook group in the first place."

How does the daily challenge work?

Starting with 1p, you add extra cash into a savings account every day of the year and what you save increases by 1p with each new day.

So as you put 1p into the account on day one, day two means you stash away 2p, and the next day it's 3p and so on.

By the end of the year, or day number 365, you'd be adding £3.65 into the account.

If you don't miss a day of the challenge you'll save exactly £667.95 in total.

You can imagine that this time next January, when many are feeling the pinch anyway, the saved money will be a welcome boost.

It's no new challenge though, and it's been tried by other aspiring money moguls before.

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One family saved up well over £600 for Christmas last year by sticking to the exact same task.

They then managed to use the extra pot of cash they had built towards a visit to see Santa and a viewing of a festive play, among other things.

How does the 52-week challenge work?

The weekly challenge works in a similar way but it does mean you have to stash away a bigger amounts, though the end reward is obviously bigger too.

Each week you work your way up from £1.

So you could pick a day like this Saturday for example (which would be the first of the year) and add £1, then next Saturday it's £2, and so on.

The final week of the year you'd have to part with £52, but you'd also have a healthy pot of £1,378 at the end too.

Donna said: “I find the £1 challenge harder as it gets harder to keep going towards the end –  I’ve got to save more when money is tighter.

“So if I stagger the amounts it’s more interesting and I’m more likely to complete it."

So Donna explains that you can do the challenge in reverse as well.

You start from the highest number (£52) and work your way down.

That way you won't be forking out so much in the weeks leading up to next Christmas when your purse strings might typically already be tight.

Or she said: "You can do it in any order you like.

"Just remember to tick off the box next to the ones you've completed already."

Both of the tasks that she shared come with her very own home-made table that has the breakdown of every single payment you have to make in the year – and you can tick each one off as you go along.

But they're not the only way she'll earn a little extra to help out her budget this year.

"I’ll combine it with other ways of saving money too though," she said.

"This year I will also be earning money through surveys, Topcashback, Receipt collecting, mystery shopping, Ebay selling and much more – and I always share the different challenges and methods I try on my blog so others know how to too."

There's a plethora of other savings challenges out there to try too.

One saver tried stashing aways £2 every time it rained, and living in England meant the cash stacked up quickly.

Meanwhile, others have tried the 100 envelope challenge which can tot up to £5,000 before a third of the year is through, and more.

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