Had a mortgage too long - it's going, going, gone!

Ali-OK

Current account interest for kids, again depends on the bank. Right now, his current account pays 2.5%, the savings one having just dropped to 2.25% - hence wanting to move that to a 3% savings one which happens to require him to have a current one alongside it (0% interest, so it won't get used).

Debit card is a choice and yes, he has one. Can't go overdrawn (one of the limitations) and max he keeps in there is £100. Sometimes he wants his pocket money (£20 a month) transferred into there, sometimes he wants cash.

Teaching kids young is a good start for being responsible later on hopefully

AlexLK

Thanks for the information.

My son will have an allowance once he reaches senior school age and have some pocket money before then. Cousin's kids earn money beating during the shooting season, £30 per session so they feel quite rich during the winter months. Both save the money to buy something they particularly want and often leave some money in the bank for their future. Think son needs to learn from them rather than my not so good example.

beanielou

Well I certainly hope my son did not lead by my early example :eek:

A_Frayed_Knot

Ali-OK wrote: »

Teaching kids young is a good start for being responsible later on hopefully

Was just thinking about this today, I truly believe that being given "pocket money" from an early age stood me in good stead through life.

I was "allocated" a sum (which you wouldn't believe) and at the beginning would spend it all in one day so quickly learnt to keep some back for the rest of the week, made me think and plan ahead and to always keep some back incase I wanted something later on in the week.

And although I may be a tad unusual - I have never had a loan (except for my mortgage), been overdrawn or bought anything on HP. My brother (who didn't get pocket money, just got - when he asked) is a different story altogether - which kind of proves my point:)

Ali-OK

Agree with both of you there - DS has had the same upbringing - he chooses how to spend/save his pocket money and once it's gone, it's gone. Similarly with what he has in his current account - 9 months from Christmas to birthday is a long time, so he's learnt to keep some back, but then learnt about interest being "free money" so doesn't like to spend any now :rotfl: He's got his own budget spreadsheet on his laptop to record when he uses his debit card (due to no online access) so he knows his balance at any given point

From his £2,700 going to the 3% savings, he's already calculated he'll get £81 interest added - just for not touching it! He likes that alot

He's a bit of a Mini-me

A_Frayed_Knot

DS has a good teacher he's way ahead of the game :T

Conclusion - Your really not doing them any favours by "giving" them everything they ask for

AlexLK

I had an allowance when I went to senior school, would spend it all and then go into "overdraft" (asking my parents for more money) ... They'd oblige and I thought money "grew on trees" until my mid-20s. After my parents refused to give me more money, I found myself in almost £60,000 worth of debt which they paid only for me to get into more debt which I paid. These days I'm much more sensible and don't spend much money unless it's on something worth more than I can buy it for. The strange thing is my parents were completely perplexed I wasted a large amount (too embarrassing to say) of money they gave me at 18. Looking back, for all their "chat", I saw it as another allowance, ready to spend before asking for more.

My son won't get the opportunity because when he gets an allowance and inevitably spends it all, I won't be giving him a penny more until the month after. Hopefully that will help as well as some advice and perhaps him going beating with cousin's children once old enough too.

Ali, as for your son already fiddling the spreadsheets ... :eek: ... He's about 300 steps ahead of me ... .

Ali-OK

A little bit of Spring shopping today - exterior paint for my Easter holiday plan to redo the porch woodwork at £14.99 and to satisfy my curiosity of trying to grown my own, I bought a small starter seed kit for cherry tomatoes - 99p comes with seeds, soil and little propogator from B&M. All set up, so let's see if anything happens!

Financials:
- bank accounts checked
- FPL & LP checked (bagged 100 points - 1,000 = £10 payout)
- Inbox £s - at £3.40
- Qmee - up at 41p
- £20 in £1 coins ready to be banked

Popped into a friends, coffee and home-made cake and a good natter.

Still managed to get a fair bit of work done too, so all in all a productive day.

Ali-OK

Electric DD email in saying increasing by £15 a month. Rang and paid the £15.80 it's in deficit by and agreed adding £7 a month - they're basing it on me staying and moving to a rubbish standard tarriff rather than when fix ends in May. No way!

Chased pension chap up, goodness me, don't think they want my money, been dragging on since the autumn. :mad:

DS has a sore throat and feels rough, probably a cold coming on, so he's taken the throat sweet stash and I've got him on extra Vit C. Thinks 'Feed a cold, starve a fever' means he can have more biscuits in the weekly food shop :rotfl:

Not much news on the financials front, lull in month before a succession of DDs go out in a weeks time.

Lovely news with a baby in the family due in the autumn :j It's lovely if I discount that it's 2 more presents a year to buy :rotfl:

CathT

Good for you challenging the greedy energy company!

Where are you up to with the extension?