- Households are encouraged to spend 16 minutes reviewing their finances on 16 September, exactly 100 days before Christmas
- A 100-day savings challenge offers targets of £500, £1,000 or £2,000, with daily deposits increasing throughout the countdown
- Tara Evans, personal finance expert at Confused.com, shares simple steps to help free up money for the festive season
Households could build a £2,000 Christmas fund with a 100-day savings challenge, starting with just 20p. That’s as Confused.com names 16 September “Money Reset Day”, the perfect day to reset your finances before the festive season.
Confused.com personal finance expert, Tara Evans, encourages people to spend 16 minutes on 16 September reviewing their finances and making a start on their Christmas budget, with exactly 100 days to go until the big day.
With the summer holidays over and children back at school, the campaign aims to help households spot unnecessary spending, check their bills, and work out what they can realistically afford to put aside.
How the 100-day Christmas savings challenge works
Starting on 16 September, savers put aside as much as 20p on day one, 60p on day two and £1 on day three. This can increase their daily deposit by 40p. Completing all 100 deposits builds a £2,000 pot by Christmas Eve1.
The challenge can also be scaled down to £500 or £1,000. Deposits rise as Christmas gets closer, so checking the later amounts is just as important as choosing a starting figure.
| Christmas Pot | First deposit | Daily increase | Final deposit | Flat daily alternative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
£500
|
5p
|
10p
|
£9.95
|
£5
|
|
£1,000
|
10p
|
20p
|
£19.90
|
£10
|
|
£2,000
|
20p
|
40p
|
£39.80
|
£20
|
Totals exclude interest and assume all 100 deposits are made, with no withdrawals.
The £2,000 option reaches £39.80 on the final day and requires £270.20 in the last 7 days. And saving a flat £20 a day reaches the same total without increasing payments.
However, it’s important to make sure you choose an amount that works for you and fits around your lifestyle, essential bills, and repayments.
To help keep track of savings, Confused.com has created a 100 day Christmas Savings Challenge tracker. You can download a tracker for whichever budget target you choose, £500, £1,000, or £2,000.
5 ways to give your Christmas finances a reset
As the new school year starts, it’s the perfect time to give your finances a makeover. Money Reset Day is about reviewing your current finances and making a plan from now until Christmas to make spending more manageable.
Using the 16 minutes can help to identify a few useful changes, then set aside more time for tasks such as comparing deals or selling items to free up spare cash.
-
Set a Christmas spending limit - Save up to £100
Make a list of presents, food, travel and celebrations before choosing a savings target. Reducing a planned gift budget by £10 for each of 10 people would cut the total by £100,so it's worth agreeing limits with family now to help manage expectations.
-
Cancel a subscription you no longer use - Save up to £168
Check bank and card statements for forgotten memberships, paid apps and streaming services. Government estimates put the average cost of an unwanted subscription at £14 a month, equivalent to £168 a year.2 Check cancellation terms before ending a contract.
-
Use money you have already built up - Find £100s
Check loyalty accounts, gift cards and vouchers before paying for Christmas shopping. Look at expiry dates and use rewards for purchases you had already planned, rather than buying something extra simply to use an offer.
-
Trim the weekly shop - Save up to £140
Try own-brand alternatives and plan meals around food you already have. Cutting a weekly grocery bill by £10 would free up £140 over 14 weeks, or £520 over a full year.³ Savings will vary based on how much you normally spend.
-
Have a pre-Christmas clear-out - Make £100s
Identify clothes, toys or household items you no longer need and could sell. Put any proceeds towards your Christmas budget, allowing for selling costs. There is no guaranteed amount: what you raise depends on the items and demand.
Tara Evans, personal finance expert at Confused.com, said:
“Once the kids are back to school and summer is over, it’s the perfect time to give your finances a reset. Christmas can feel a long way off in September, but starting now gives you more time to spread the cost.
“Take 16 minutes to check your finances and choose one or two things you can change.
“That could mean cancelling a forgotten subscription or agreeing to a gift budget. You don’t have to overhaul your finances in one sitting.
“Make a plan for how much you want to spend at Christmas and set aside the cash in small chunks to make it more affordable. You could start with just 20p and save a total of £2,000.
“Make sure you choose a savings plan that works for you. The aim is a more manageable Christmas, not extra pressure on your budget.”
“Confused.com have created downloadable trackers for whichever budget target you choose, to help people keep up with savings in the lead up to Christmas.”
-ENDS-
Money Reset Day is a Confused.com campaign for 16 September 2026, encouraging households to spend 16 minutes reviewing their finances ahead of Christmas.
1. Savings challenge calculations
16 September to 24 December 2026 inclusive provides 100 daily deposits.
Total saved = 100 ÷ 2 × [2 × first deposit + 99 × daily increase].
Starting with 5p and adding 10p daily gives £500; starting with 10p and adding 20p gives £1,000; starting with 20p and adding 40p gives £2,000. Figures assume every deposit is made and no money is withdrawn. Interest is excluded.
The £2,000 option’s final seven deposits, from 18 to 24 December inclusive, total £270.20. Flat deposits of £5, £10 or £20 over 100 days reach the same respective targets. These are savings commitments, not investment returns or guaranteed reductions in household costs.
2. Subscription estimate
Department for Business and Trade, 18 November 2024. £14 per month per unwanted subscription × 12 = £168 per year. Actual savings depend on the subscription and when it can be cancelled.
Source: New measures unveiled to crack down on subscription traps.
3. Grocery and gift calculations
Grocery and gift figures are illustrative calculations, not research findings. Grocery example: £10 × 14 weeks = £140; £10 × 52 weeks = £520. Gift example: £10 × 10 recipients = £100. Annual savings must not be presented as money available by Christmas.
Further guidance on setting an affordable festive budget: MoneyHelper – Saving money for Christmas.
Confused.com press office
chloe.walters@confused.com
katharine.adair@confused.com
pressoffice@confused.com
About Confused.com
Launched in 2002, Confused.com was the UK’s first digital marketplace for car insurance and is one of the leading brands in the sector, generating over one million quotes per month. It has expanded its range of comparison products over the years to include home insurance, van insurance, motorcycle insurance, and car finance comparison, as well as a number of tools designed to save consumers money.
Confused.com is not an insurance company or lender. It provides an objective and unbiased service. By using cutting-edge technology, it has developed a series of intelligent web-based solutions that evaluate a number of risk factors to help customers with their decision-making, subsequently finding them great deals on a wide-range of insurance products, financial services, utilities and more. Confused.com’s service is based on the most up-to-date information provided by UK suppliers and industry regulators. Confused.com is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
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