new mfw

chirpchirp

I must update my sig at some point but no time tonight.

I rang my S&S ISA provider and found out the current prices. I then did some calculations and have worked out that although I have been paying regular amounts into the ISA since 1996 it's now worth £3000 less than I have paid into it. I think the problem is that it has high charges.

I can't decide now that my cash ISA is full whether to put this extra £150 or so a month into a savings account paying 5%gross or whether to pay it as extra money into the S&S ISA, perhaps into a different fund as markets are so low. On the other hand I'm concerned that after 13 years the amount is less than has been paid in and should I just cut my lossess and stop paying money into it and use my regular payment and my extra money in a savings account.

What would you do?

My cash ISA is full and I can't decide whether to cut my losses with the S&S

chirpchirp

Back from holidays - back to overpaying.

Just before I went away I topped up my cash ISA to the full amount. Having found out how much less my S&S ISA is worth despite paying in for 13 years I have decided to invest in a monthly saver. Lloyds are offering 5% and so are Halifax but the catch with Lloyds is you have to have a current account with them.

Lloyds also pay more interest on their current accounts if you have more than a £1000 a month going in but you have to ask either for their advanced or vantage account. You can keep your current, current account and just have this added on - wish I had know this sooner it pays up to 4% dependent on your balance.

Meanwhile I have paid another £701 off the mortgage directly and put £400 into a monthly saver. Had pension sharing order finalised today - transfer has taken place. Looking at how low the projections are I really do have to get this mortgage paid off quickly.

Off to update sig now!:T

Car tax is due this month and I've just had to pay ex some money I owed him.

setmefree2

chirpchirp wrote: »

Meanwhile I have paid another £701 off the mortgage directly and put £400 into a monthly saver.

yay - well done with that and all the savings :T:T

pammyj74

wow you are doing really well on the OPs and savings. good on you x

chirpchirp

Right, after reading some other diaries, I've decided to list some book on Green Metropolis. I'm a bit worried about the postage and packaging - they say just use a manilla envelope, just hoping this is enough! I may of course never sell any of them so it may not be a problem. It seems there are quite a few multiple copies on there of the books which I have listed. I guess the more I list the better chance I have of selling them. Just want to get a few sales under my belt before I list too many as really unsure about the postage and don't want to waste all the money on postage and packaging but I suppose even if I'm left with 50p it's still better than the book gathering dust on my bookshelf!

Do I need to count this as income when I complete my tax return?

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Might check the Green Metropolis site out... we took loads of books to a car boot but they didn't sell. May give this a try and if not freecycle/charity shop.

Not a clue about tax return... I've never counted selling my junk on ebaying and now I'm worried I should have?

Well done on the overpayment earlier this month!

chirpchirp

I have had an email from one of my credit cards saying they are offering me 0% for 13 months. Now, I never use credit cards and I'm wondering about stoozing and how this works. Trying to find out if this 0% works on cash going into my current account and whether it's worth the hassle. My credit limit is about 17k with this credit card ( I haven't a clue why or how it ever got this high!). I could then use the cash to pay my mortgage but is it really worth it? I could probably only reasonably pay off an amout of 3k maybe less. I also don't really want to end up messing things up and ending up paying interest in a years time or maybe even straight away :-(

gallygirl

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice wrote: »

Might check the Green Metropolis site out... we took loads of books to a car boot but they didn't sell. May give this a try and if not freecycle/charity shop.

Not a clue about tax return... I've never counted selling my junk on ebaying and now I'm worried I should have?

Well done on the overpayment earlier this month!

I believe the rule of thumb is if you are disposing of your own stuff it's fine but if you buy to sell on it's a no-no

chirpchirp

This weeks moneysaving has been to find out what to do with my two old mobiles. I am planning to recycle using Boots advantage scheme. I will get at least 300 points for each one, if they are working one will give me 1000 points the other over 2800 and each point is worth a penny so at least £6 back. One is definitely not working - can't get it to even charge so that I can delete info off it. The other one not sure if it will work or not.

chirpchirp

Well bang goes the idea of stoozing using credit card cheques, they charge me 3% of any transaction even though it's interest free. Anyhow, as I'm so indecisive I would never have been able to decide how much to do anyway!