The ultimate incentive worked! Now onto phase two

Dinah93

£25 minimum a month, so not much at all really. I don't know, for the difference we'd make its not that much, but if the top paying saver is still only 3.6% by the time we finish filling the ISAs we'll have missed a trick.... hmm.

Okay, I LOVE that house Cinny. Seems quite cheap actually compared to the tat you get around here for that price. (http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-21472373.html?locationIdentifier=POSTCODE%5E894212&radius=5.0&pageNumber=1&backToListURL=%2Fproperty-for-sale%2Ffind.html%3FsearchType%3DSALE%26locationIdentifier%3DPOSTCODE%255E894212%26radius%3D5.0%26displayPropertyType%3D%26minBedrooms%3D%26maxBedrooms%3D%26minPrice%3D%26maxPrice%3D%26maxDaysSinceAdded%3D%26retirement%3D%26partBuyPartRent%3Dfalse%26_includeSSTC%3Don%26sortByPriceDescending%3D%26primaryDisplayPropertyType%3D%26secondaryDisplayPropertyType%3D%26oldDisplayPropertyType%3D%26oldPrimaryDisplayPropertyType%3D%26oldSecondaryDisplayPropertyType%3D%26newHome%3D%26auction%3Dfalse%26x%3D113%26y%3D8 .... no comparison)

Tete_en_l'Air

Wow Cinny, nice house! I like the steps in thhe garden, but that bed looks a bit lonely, you'd have to have a four poster! £950k doesn't seem that bed actually for that house...

Might go for the hair, problem is that if I hate it, it's the day before we go away and it'll be in all the photos (I've made that mistake before!)

Dinah, with the bank accs have you taken into account whether they're fixed rate or not (and whether your ISAs are), and what difference the tax you'd pay on the regular saver would make? I'd be inclined to just stick with what you have for the minute and apply for another as and when you need it, you already have about 28 don't you?!

Birdie, is it time for the Rugby Head to have its little accident?

Flower08

I think i would get lost in a house that size!

Dinah93

Yep I took tax into account. The Barclays regular savers are fixed at 6%, but most of the savers aren't fixed. Tbf I've actually seriously scaled back the number of savers we have, clothes now come out of monthly spends instead of having their own saver for example. I do need to properly sit down and work out the accounts though, find out what goes where and how much ready for paydays in June as that is when I want the new budget sorted for.

I have made the decision to loosen the budgets a bit, while this means we are not actually on track to hit the £40k target, I am hoping that between overshooting the £20 a day challenge, and maybe a little luck on the comps, we'll get there anyway. I know this is a risky strategy, but we need to enjoy days out, or meals or the cinema without feeling guilty. So from now on we're going to have a spends budget of around £160 each per month. This doesn't have to include petrol, just socalising, shopping, treats, etc. I'll admit in my initial budget I had £38 a month and NIM had £161... he got really funny about that. I've just been feeling a bit drained by the money making lately, and think we need to enjoy our time a bit more.

Tete_en_l'Air

I think it'd be more risky NOT to scale back the saving a bit Dinah, you need to enjoy your time together, especially now you're debt-free and NIM has a proper wage coming in.

And I'd hardly call that house 'tat', but I see what you mean!

Dinah93

Lol okay tat is harsh, but its not really in the same league, it's a glorified Barrats Box.

Cinny91

Dinah93 wrote: »

Okay, I LOVE that house Cinny. Seems quite cheap actually compared to the tat you get around here for that price.

It's because, for some reason, people don't seem to like Retford! That's my dream house though, aim high and what not, and I could have a horse.

Ooh, I like the idea of a funs money budget! You really do deserve to enjoy yourself now though, so that's a good idea. You've been money making like a crazy lady on crazy pills for the best part of a year so you are going to feel drained at some point!

I'd go for the Reg Saver though, but keep the ISAs going at the same time. You'll be able to make up the £25 for the month pretty easily (well, I'd hope so if you're doing the £20 a day challenge!) and if you find a better saver when the ISAs are full, you'd be able to just cancel the TSB account.. unless it's a locked in kind of one?

Dinah93

Well it looks like you need to deposit every month for a year to get the rate, but its only £25 a month, not exactly the end of the world if we have to put away £25 a month into it.

Dinah93

So on the new 'you only live once' budget designed to actually enjoy our next two years not just skulk through them, we'll come to the end of our two years with £34,750. That's assuming we make the £20 a month target every month. So everyone cross your fingers and hope we win one of the gmtv daily comps to get the last £5k!

Flower08

Or the lottery