Managing Money!

NewToThis_3

Hi all.

I have cashback credit cards (Amex Platinum and Egg Money) plus an M & S card which is much better than people might think, btw.

Problem is I need to keep track of my spending and find that I am pulling in money from savings to pay my cards off each month. If I simply used my debit card, it would be easy not to overspend but keeping an eye on everything is proving difficult. I could pre-load the cards with money from my banks account but would then lose interest because none of the cards pay interest on a credit balance.

Any bright ideas?

Pollie

anna42hmr

NewToThis wrote: »

Hi all.

I have cashback credit cards (Amex Platinum and Egg Money) plus an M & S card which is much better than people might think, btw.

Problem is I need to keep track of my spending and find that I am pulling in money from savings to pay my cards off each month. If I simply used my debit card, it would be easy not to overspend but keeping an eye on everything is proving difficult. I could pre-load the cards with money from my banks account but would then lose interest because none of the cards pay interest on a credit balance.

Any bright ideas?

Pollie

you could use www.spendingdiary.com as you can add everything you spend it adds it up automatically for you and you can set up categories etc.

alternativly the method i find useful is a spreadsheet on my laptop, has a page for each month, and down it lists everything that comes out every month (bills direct debits etc) , use the sum facility for the sub total, and then below that i have listed all the credit cards i have an each time i use them update how much i have spent on that card

so ie

phone bill - £30
electric £50
pet insurance £12
etc etc

the system autosums the subtotal

and then i list my credit cards

ie halifax
amex etc

then autosums the overall total

set up autosum for that and it adds it up when i put a figure in it.

you only have to set it up once, and then copy paste into page for each month on the spreadsheet as it copies the sums over and then i can see for exampple i have £X on halifax etc. and how much my outgoings for the next pay day will be so i can see how close i am to my incomings

agsnu

NewToThis wrote: »

I could pre-load the cards with money from my banks account but would then lose interest because none of the cards pay interest on a credit balance.

2% interest on your monthly spending money is probably a few quid over the course of the year. If it stops you spending hundreds, your argument is a false economy

NewToThis_3

Good observation and thank you. However, I earn 5% on my savings at the moment but I see your point.

Following advice from a friend, I have decided to pay the minimum amount due each month, on each card, by direct debit. Then pay off my weekly spend online. That way, I can keep an eye on my bank account more easily.

Kind regards,
Pollie

MPH80

Watch yourself with that idea - there are a good number of cards who will cancel the DD if they've already seen a payment hit the account above their planned payment.

It varies from card provider to card provider - so you need to check the policy of the card provider.

Can I offer another suggestion?

Set up the DDs for the full amount - that way you get the full benefit. Set yourself a separate linked savings account to your C/A.

When you spend the money on the CC - move the money from the C/A to the savings account - then when the CC bill comes in - simply arrange a transfer from the savings to the C/A again - the money will be there to pay it off because you already moved it into place and you won't have spent it because it wasn't in your C/A.

M.

SkintGypsy

I have loaded all my accounts onto Egg Money Manager, so one log in logs them all in. All balances show on the front page and I swap monies around at the beginning of the month.

I use this along with a spreadsheet of that months outgoings so I know what is accounted for and check each one off as it's been paid.

Works for me, but I do like to log on daily. Saddo.

JCB2020

You could try a Personal Money Manager such as: http://www.grisbi.org/

NewToThis_3

MPH80 wrote: »

Watch yourself with that idea - there are a good number of cards who will cancel the DD if they've already seen a payment hit the account above their planned payment.

It varies from card provider to card provider - so you need to check the policy of the card provider.

Can I offer another suggestion?

Set up the DDs for the full amount - that way you get the full benefit. Set yourself a separate linked savings account to your C/A.

When you spend the money on the CC - move the money from the C/A to the savings account - then when the CC bill comes in - simply arrange a transfer from the savings to the C/A again - the money will be there to pay it off because you already moved it into place and you won't have spent it because it wasn't in your C/A.

M.

I have to say this is a better idea than mine. Although linked savings accounts pay poor interest (generally) it beats paying the money over more quickly than needs be. I shall adopt this simple solution immediately! Thank you!

MPH80

NewToThis wrote: »

I have to say this is a better idea than mine. Although linked savings accounts pay poor interest (generally) it beats paying the money over more quickly than needs be. I shall adopt this simple solution immediately! Thank you!

Doesn't have to be a directly linked savings account - if you're disciplined - you can use an instant access account with another organisation which pays better interest.

You just need to keep in mind the transfer times of 3 days for it. That's why I suggest the linked account - it means an instant transfer without issue.

M.

Thrugelmir

Why not just run one credit card?

NewToThis_3

MPH80 wrote: »

Doesn't have to be a directly linked savings account - if you're disciplined - you can use an instant access account with another organisation which pays better interest.

You just need to keep in mind the transfer times of 3 days for it. That's why I suggest the linked account - it means an instant transfer without issue.

M.

Yes, I gathered that. I think the linked account is better because the interest involved, with the to-ing and fro-ing, wouldn't be worth worrying about. Thanks once again.

Pollie