Mum managed to save £5k in six months with 'envelope challenge'

A mum has shared a money-saving challenge online which has gone viral and could help you save an amazing £5,000 in less than SIX months.

The envelope challenge is based on a formula created by a German mathematician reports BirminghamLive.

If you have a hard time budgeting or saving money then this could be the hack for you.

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The idea is originally credited to Carl Friedrich Gauss, who made contributions to many fields in mathematics and science in the 18th century.

By splitting different sums of money into four envelopes each week you can save £5,050 by the 25th week.

But if you can't get your brain around this, here's how to do it and why it works.

Here's what you need to do

Create 100 envelopes, each labelled £1 to £100.

Set aside 25 weeks.

Across those 25 weeks, draw two envelopes twice a week - four per week - at complete random.

Once drawn, fill the envelope with the amount of cash written on the front.

By the time you reach the 25th week, you should have just over £5k.

How it works

Carl Friedrich Gauss, who was en vogue in the 18th century, is credited with creating it.

In the 18th century, Mr Gauss realised if you split the number one to 50, and then 51 to 100 into two groups, you can add them together to reach 101.

One plus 100 is 101, and two plus 99 is 101, Mr Gauss realised.

Thus, the total of the two groups is therefore 50 times 101.

That works out at 5,050.

On Facebook, the hack has spread like wildfire, with 11,000 likes and well over 30,000 comments from people eager to give it a go.

The viral money hack - which owes a huge debt to maths - has left many impressed.

The original post from the mum urged fellow Facebook users to give it a go.

She wrote: "If you have a three-year plan to buy a house, you could have a little over $30,000 for a down payment by doing this."

Sounds good, right?

Of course, there is a slight pitfall - not everybody can afford that amount of expenditure every week.

But others said it was "fun" and said they would give it a go.

One commented: "I love this idea. It would be a fun way for us to save up for something special."