MoneyQueen’s MFW Journey and Daily Diary

setmefree2

moneyqueen wrote: »

total interest gained £409

Brilliant :T:T:T:T

Button21

Hi there,

I have just read your thread! Wow, I am absolutely amazed! Need to take a leaf out of many members on this forum and start changing my ways! I thought I was quite good but you put me to shame!!:o:o

Can I ask what is the benefit of paying your council tax and fuel on a 0% credit card?? Excuse my ignorance, it is probably pretty obvious but I am not always the quickest to pick up on something!!:rotfl::rotfl:

Or if any other member could enlighten me that would be fab!!

Thank you!!

Button:D

MoneyQueen

Button21 wrote: »

Can I ask what is the benefit of paying your council tax and fuel on a 0% credit card?? Excuse my ignorance, it is probably pretty obvious but I am not always the quickest to pick up on something!!:rotfl::rotfl:
Button:D

Hi Button21,

We pay absolutely everything by 0% credit card (as long as I am not being charged for using a credit card). As you can see from my first post. I have quite a lot of monthly regular savers and by paying with a 0% credit card my money can earn interest in the bank for a year and then I can pay the credit card balance together when the 0% rate finishes (generally after a year). So I am quids in :money:
I will quote an example

Council tax + Fuel + Grocery in our household is £320. So even if I am paying £70 (generally its much less than this) as minimum payment for the 0% credit card , I am left with £250 each month. If I earn 5% on this £250 per month in a monthly regular saver, I can earn £64.61 interest in 12 months after paying basic rate tax. Now say I had 6 regular savers, thats an earning of £387.66 per year.

You could use this money per month to offset your mortgage (we don't have a offset mortgage) or you could save it like we do

This thread gives a list of best regular savers atm

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=608697

Hope this helps.

MQ

Button21

Thanks for your reply - I see what you mean!! You have got me thinking and I might look into a cashback credit card for my council tax. It would mean I was paying the full amount up front, but there's a 5% one just now for the first £2k spend.

Do you think that might be a good idea?? Your idea is fab, but maybe not for me as I am embarassed to say I am not as organised - I went to work the other day in wellies, and forgot to take my shoes!! :o

Button:D

MoneyQueen

Button21 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply - I see what you mean!! You have got me thinking and I might look into a cashback credit card for my council tax. It would mean I was paying the full amount up front, but there's a 5% one just now for the first £2k spend.

Do you think that might be a good idea??
Button:D

Sounds a good idea to me. Just make sure you check with your council if there is a charge for paying by a credit card (my council doesn't charge) and if they accept Amex(I think thats the only 5% card) as it is not as widely accepted as Visa/ Mastercard.

Button21 wrote: »

Your idea is fab, but maybe not for me as I am embarassed to say I am not as organised - I went to work the other day in wellies, and forgot to take my shoes!! :o
Button:D

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

uzubairu

MoneyQueen wrote: »

. Just make sure you check with your council if there is a charge for paying by a credit card (my council doesn't charge).

Mine doesn't so I cancelled the direct debit a few years ago, and pay monthly with my Tesco credit card and get Clubcard points too.

Queen-Bee_2

uzubairu wrote: »

Mine doesn't so I cancelled the direct debit a few years ago, and pay monthly with my Tesco credit card and get Clubcard points too.

Hmm, that gives me an idea - wonder if I can pay with my Amex card and get Nectar points...
QB

MoneyQueen

I and DH have opened another Reward Current Account with Halifax today with joint names. So thats another £5 each month.:j

I have also upgraded DH's existing Lloyds Classic Account to Vantage so between us we have five Lloyds Vantage Accounts and three Halifax Reward Current Accounts :eek:

I am right now in the process of opening new regular saving accounts as most of the previous accounts are nearing maturity or have already matured

Have sent applications for Principality BS for both of us and also for Stroud and Swindon BS (hadn't even heard of these building societies some time back and now I am opening accounts with them :rolleyes:)

Still have to open Regular Saving accounts with Barclays, Santander and Norwich and Peterborough BS this month and then with Santander next month.

Once this is all done, I don't have to do anything till April when will have to look for a Cash ISA as our regular Saver 7% ISA will mature

I also submitted the gas and elec readings for the last 2-3 weeks.

Gas - 102 KWH/day :eek:
Leccy - 5 KWH/day

Needless to say, boiler has been set to come up at regular times instead of being on all the time unless the temperature inside the house goes below 11 degrees in which case, the heating will switch on. Will keep an eye on the daily temperatures and if minimum goes to 0 or below will increase the minimum temperature to 14 degrees.

MoneyQueen

Almost forgot, got £70 from TCB for the car insurance that we took in September last year :j

MQ

MoneyQueen

Hi All,

I have spent the last couple of hours preparing the update for January.Just wanted to do something else other than thinking about the possible redundancy that I and DH are facing atm.

DH was informed about his last week. Both of us are very upset about this as DH has joined only couple of years ago and he really likes his job. It's not decided yet if he would definitely go but as the work in his team had been drying up for the last few months, he is not very hopeful

If that wasn't enough, I have been informed this week that I am at risk of redundancy . I have been with the company for the last 3 years only so none of us will be getting a fat redundancy package.

Apart from this, this month has been good financially. Not much spent on Grocery and Miscellaneous and we are going to make more cuts now incase the worst happens(though unsure about what to cut)

DH has been updating his CV and I will be doing that at the weekend