Christmas is one of the most expensive times of year for many people and we all wish we had saved more throughout the year to make buying presents less painful on our wallets.
But one woman on Facebook has shared an easy way to make sure you save some money this year – and all you need is a Smarties tube.
Posting on the Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK group, the woman showed off one of the large Smarties tubes that are popular around Christmas and revealed the diameter of the tube perfectly fits a £2 coin.
One tube fits a total of 83 coins inside, meaning that if you put all your £2 coins in the tube throughout the year, you’ll have £166 once it's full – hopefully in time for next Christmas.
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Alongside two pictures of the tube in action, she wrote: “You may all know about this, but I thought I’d share after I saw the envelope trick.
“If you have any of these tubes at home, basically you can just save £2 coins in them over the year and when it’s full you’ll have £166 towards Christmas.”
The Smarties hack was also shared on TikTok, where commenters were keen to try the idea – especially if it meant they had to munch on the chocolates inside the tube first.
One person said: “So we need to spend our money on Smarties first? Sounds like a plan to me.”
While another added: “That’s a good idea.”
The woman’s helpful post comes as she was inspired to share it after seeing the popular “envelope challenge”, which has been helping some people save up to £5,000 a year.
The challenge requires people to buy 100 envelopes and number them from 1 to 100, before shuffling them up so the numbers aren’t in order.
Then, you simply pick out two envelopes at random each week, and put the amount listed on the front into the envelope and seal it away until the end of the year.
After the hack was shared on TikTok, many people loved the idea – but others pointed out it wouldn’t always be possible for some people, especially if you pick out two large numbers in one week.
Someone said: "£5,000 a year means you're saving £400 per month. Not many people can do that. This 'trick' is only for people who can afford that."
Do you have a top money-saving tip? Let us know in the comments below.
