The start of 2024 is always filled with excitement as people begin to make plans for the new year.

However, there is also the worry of how they will be able to take care of their expenses, like food costs, bond repayments, electricity and petrol.

As consumers face tough financial times like high interest rates, it’s hard to imagine them saving money when they are all financially stretched to capacity, but there are ways that they can save money.

Here is a closer look at how people can save money in 2024:

Cash stuffing

The 100-envelope challenge is a new way of saving money and a spin on the cash stuffing trend.

This challenge has 100 envelopes that start at R10 and go up to R1,000. Each envelope will have its own value, such as R280 or R450, and the value of each envelope increases by R10. This means that the first envelope will be R10, the second envelope will be R20, the third envelope will be R30, and so on, all the way to R1,000.

People can then start cash stuffing each envelope with the amount of money on the front of the envelope. By the end of the challenge and after you filled all of your envelopes, you would have saved R50,500.

It’s important to note that you don’t have to cash-stuff your envelopes every day; instead, you can do your cash-stuffing whenever you have money.

A twist on a piggy bank or money jar

The other plan is to turn a normal 5-litre plastic bottle into a money jar or piggy bank. Not only are you ensuring that the plastic bottle does not end up as waste pollution, but you are also saving towards funding an important acquisition for yourself further down the line.

On TikTok, people are seen taping the outside of a clear 5-litre water bottle to stop prying eyes from looking into their savings and to prevent them from being tempted to cut it open before the year ends. People have also wrapped newspaper on the outside of the bottle, so the contents are not visible.

@chrissy_nyenya_ Am a bit late but yeah let's get started... #savings #savingschallenge #moneychallenge #fyp #tiktoksouthafrica ♬ Adiwele (feat. Kabza De Small & DJ Maphorisa) - Young Stunna

In these videos, some people add just coins, while others add money notes, while others still have both notes and coins in their bottle. One TikToker has R10 notes in a money bottle, but you can choose if you want to add coins or notes to your bottle.

@nwahobyane00 #2023savingschallenge #savings #moneybox #savingschallenge ♬ original sound - MR-Vee Sholo

The bottle is not limited to a 5-litre one. People are posting videos of them using 1-litre or 1.5-litre bottles if they don’t have a 5-litre one.

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