how do you divide up your pennies?

dubgirl

Hi folks, I wanted to know what everyone does in term of putting aside pennies for car tax, MOT, holidays (if you have them), birthdays etc. I was trying to put a set amount aside in a saving accounts, but ended up just dipping into it and frittering away the money. I heard some other dfws talk about putting set amounts into different pots - are we talking about pots, jars etc in a literal sense ie a glass jar and how do you stop yourself from dipping into these. I feel I need to get a better handle on this as having just paid the car tax we only just managed to scrap the money together and I dont want us to keep going on like this every year.

newlywed

You do have to try and be strict with yourself.

I use online savings accounts that I can nickname to remind me what they are for, but it still does need will power to not use them.

Not having a cash card for those savings accounts helps, as does the fact that it takes 1 day for any money to transfer over into my current account so I can spend it.

But now I have to budget as I can't get any credit - so that helps me be more strict

Skint_Catt

I have a separate savings acc - haven't started dripping it away yet due to wages sort out but I will when I get back from hols. £40 per month for car tax/insurance/servicing/MOT/repairs, £25 per month for holidays, £30 per month for Xmas/Birthdays.

c xx

dubgirl

thanks for that, i like the idea of the online accounts - what bank do you use newlywed?

Storm

I put £100 a month for car expenses into a building society account that doesn't have a cashcard or internet/phone banking with it. As I don't work near the building society the only way for me to get at the cash is to get up early on a Saturday to get there (or on a day off).

I have a 2nd bank account for household bills (so I can set up DDs easily) and I put £100 a month into here so the money's sitting waiting for the quarterly ones.

I also have a piggybank (well, he's a frog actually) that I keep all my £2 coins in - these are being saved for my holiday in September, so will get paid into the bank just before I actually book it! Once it's booked the £2 coins are going to be saving up for Christmas & an enormous clutch of family birthdays in January.

Frittering is always a problem though - and at the end of the day there's no substitute for will power - apart from possibly giving the card/book to a good friend to keep for you? That way you will have to justify to them why you're goign to withdraw that £20 - just make sure they'll be strict with you! I once did this for a friend where I confiscated her credit card - unfortunately a week into it I had to return it as her iron blew up, she had £1 until payday and work shirts to iron!

SarahNeedle1872

I also use separate accounts, as I find it the easiest way. My monthly payments are divided as follows:
Car tax/Ins/maint £55
Elec £50 (an estimate atm, but I pay quarterly)
Xmas £30
BDay's £20
Summer Hols £20
Dentist £10
Haircuts £7
Clothes £20
Baby Clothes £20

I also have an account just for the food shopping money, and a debt account that all my eBay/Amazon money goes into. Finally, I have a money pot stashed in the house where all my spare change goes to, which is to help pay off my overdraft. I'd love to have lots of little pots full of cash, but my OH has a habit of 'borrowing' money and not returning it!

Have only been doing it for 1 month and it may dwindle for the next couple of months while my mat money drops, but once I'm back at work in Aug, they'll be back with a vengence!

Sarah x

dubgirl

Stopping my OH dipping into individualaccounts/pots would also be a problem for me, but I guess he would soon learn that once the money is gone that is it. Just another thing that has come to mind, i think Storm mentioned it, do you think it is better to pay the utilities bills quarterly? At the mo, we pay a set amount DD each month and always seem to be in credit.

newlywed

dubgirl wrote: »

thanks for that, i like the idea of the online accounts - what bank do you use newlywed?

Alliance and Leicester as I have a current account with them too. Means with the current account I can pay in and withdraw money from a post office (branch is 20 minute walk from work or 40 minute walk from home), can check everything online and move it across accounts so saves me a lot of hassle

SarahNeedle1872

I pay my water monthly by DD (£23), so I'll be interested to see what happens when the bill comes in.
My elec I've been paying quarterly so far (since Aug when we moved in), coz we had a load of hassle with our Econ 7 meter being broke, and they took ages to action the rebate. Once the next bill comes and I can confirm the rebate's been actioned, then I might switch to monthly DD - or another company if it's cheaper!
I don't know that it makes a massive amount of difference (please someone tell me if I'm wrong!) which way u pay. I guess if ur disciplined enough to save a bit each monthly, quarterly is fine, but if u think u might dip into that money, go for a monthly DD. That way, the money's paid and u won't be tempted to 'borrow' some.

Sarah x

dubgirl

Newlywed - will definitely check out A & L
Sarah - i think i agree with you and probably will stay with monthly DD, I know that neither myself or OH are probably disciplined enough at the mo to save for those quarterly bills, which is why i thought we would start with trying to save for car etc. I have started buying the post office saving stamps for the car tax.

Storm

I'm actually changing suppliers for gas & electric at the moment, and will be switching to monthly DD from quarterly billing as it's a slightly cheaper rate I'll get. It also means I can't just dip into the money I've put aside!