Buffer zone in your current account?

vishpatel

My buffer is £500. Used to be £1000 but I opened a online savings account with the same bank so I can transfer another £500 or so instantly if needs be.

I often buy tickets for my friends, and it takes a while for all of them to pay me back, so the buffer zone is used regularly.

KTF

On the day that I get paid I deduct the amount from the balance on my account then sweep the remainder over to a savings account. This way I start each month with only the salary in the account.

alecpr

I have four accounts, my current account in to which my salary is paid, a feeder account, a savings account and a joint account.

When my salary comes in I put the value in to a spreadsheet which has all expenses (mortgage, energy, water) plus my contribution to the joint account (food, holidays etc) plus a £200 monthly spend (covers petrol, food at work & spending), the rest goes to my feeder account. So the account balance at the end of the month according to my spreadsheet should be £0 and most months it is! :-)

The feeder account feeds my investments and my savings account, but normally has a balance of about £500. My rule is I never touch money once it hits savings or investments. My feeder account is for dire emergencies and my attitude is that because I'm fully budgeted once that money leaves the feeder account, it's gone forever which helps when I fancy a new gadget.

Jarlawuk

I try to keep a minimum of £500 in my account - that to me is my 'saftey net'. In terms of spending I try to rein it in nowadays, I prefer to spend on my MSDW credit card to get cash back and then pay it off in full - every little helps

choccyface2006

I always keep £100 in my current account as a buffer zone, I do have a £1600 overdraft but I loothed to use it unless I really need to and so far I've not had to. I have "dipped" into that buffer zone, but always got back on track next month.

kenshaz

I have two current accounts ,one receives the salary ,the other has transferred to it every month enough to cover all Standing orders and direct debits,Number 1 current account is a linked account to a savings account,which scoops up every evening ,leaving £100.Then at the end of the month I transfer surplus to an online account paying approx 5%.I check online,but this method prevents me ever going overdrawn,but if their was an error I would pick it up online and correct it with a transfer,from the online account paying 5%

kenshaz

If you have a linked current with savings account that pays interest,the link is the buffer,I operate this with the RBS,at the end of the day it is sorted automaticaly

Old_No.7

I use my savings account as a buffer as well: I pay into savings & bills accounts first of all when I get paid, then I can use the remainder as spending money. The first couple of months I sometimes ran into the overdraft, but not more than a couple of quid, and haven't had to recently at all. Now I've got it all sorted: feel skint at the end of the month, so not too tempted to buy anything I feel I can't afford.

I have a friend however, who once told me she only felt safe if she had at least £5,000 in her account! Even at the end of the month! She would panic if the balance dropped below that. And this was one of those usual high street lousy interest paying accounts (0.1% I believe...). She has changed banks since then, I'm happy to say.

Gers

Salary goes into current account - all spends are on one credit card which gets paid off each month, the excess money is then transferred into online savings accounts and I drip feed money into current account when necessary to cover direct debits/standing orders. Only miscalculated once by .09p so far but I suspect my arranged overdraft kicked in!!

I check my bank accounts at least twice a day to maintain the proper levels of funds.

sashacat

I leave £1000 in my current account( but may well change this after reading this). I use my cash back credit card for everything and pay it off every month. Since joining this site I have started stoozing with 3 credit cards so the monthly payments come from my current account so I will leave it for now.