Paid off the £31,000! BUT - still scrimping!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

Hi Hairy - I actually keep all my cash in my Santander 123 account as I'm getting 1.5% interest, and I use YNAB to separate all my outgoings and savings pots so that I know exactly where I am with it all.

You do have to pay £5 per month for the account but I get monthly Cashback on certain direct debits, as well as the monthly interest. I could probably get a little more if a used a fixed account with withdrawal penalties, but I want everything easy access. The way I look at the EF is the Dave Ramsey way. He says your EF is an insurance rather than a pure savings fund and you expect to pay for insurance - so basically you lose a little interest for the facility of being able to draw your cash out straight away if needed.

You do have to have so much in the Santander account to make it worthwhile (sorry I can't remember what it is offhand, but Martin writes about it on the savings bit of the MSE saving website). Santander do have a 'lite' version of the account I think for smaller balances, though the interest isn't as much.

Thanks SSG . I want easy access too because you never know when you might need it. I've put my EF in a Mr T online saver account which Martin recommends because it pays 1.42% interest. But it drops after the first year so I'll probably have to move it after that (if I've still got it ).

1.5% is good, but I'm guessing you have to have a reasonable minimum amount and maybe a certain number of transactions going in and out. The Mr T account only needs £1 to open it which is very flexible.

brizzlegirl

Glad you've had a good trip away (and a day off after to recover )

Have a good week

milann

We have a Santander 123 and another account (virtually empty ) and to make the desired number of dds in a month with Santander I transfer cash from 1 to the other and back a couple of days later - it works for us and gets the interest. And it got the go ahead from the Santander lady :money:

Seasidegal58

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

Thanks SSG . I want easy access too because you never know when you might need it. I've put my EF in a Mr T online saver account which Martin recommends because it pays 1.42% interest. But it drops after the first year so I'll probably have to move it after that (if I've still got it ).

1.5% is good, but I'm guessing you have to have a reasonable minimum amount and maybe a certain number of transactions going in and out. The Mr T account only needs £1 to open it which is very flexible.

Hairy – I checked the Santander Lite account but it's not paying out any interest, only cashback - here's the lowdown from the MSE website in case you wanted to check the cashback position to see if it would make sense for your finances:-

"The　Santander 123 Lite*　gives tiered cashback on certain household bills for a £1 monthly fee. You get 3% on phone, broadband, mobile and TV bills, 2% on gas and electricity, Santander home insurance and life protection, and 1% on water and council tax, as long as you pay by direct debit. Have a Santander mortgage? You also get 1% cashback (max £10/mth) on it, which can give seriously good returns on this account.

To get cashback, you need to pay in £500+/mth, have two active direct debits, pay your monthly fee and log in to online or mobile banking at least once every three months. Watch out　– it counts a month from the anniversary of account opening, not a calendar month."

brizzlegirl wrote: »

Glad you've had a good trip away (and a day off after to recover )

Have a good week

Thanks brizzle - you have a good week too!:)

milann wrote: »

We have a Santander 123 and another account (virtually empty ) and to make the desired number of dds in a month with Santander I transfer cash from 1 to the other and back a couple of days later - it works for us and gets the interest. And it got the go ahead from the Santander lady :money:

Clever old milann! :T

SCRIMPY WEEK 3 – APRIL

I have £100 Ad Hoc spends. Yesterday I spent £5.10 on coffees and £2.50 on a Euromillions ticket as it was a big pot. Won £5.90 so quids in here for the savings pot (though not life-changing!)

Nails tonight and on Sunday I'm taking a friend out for lunch for her birthday pressie. I did say to her did she want to bring along her little son who's two? – she said God no! She wants a nice quiet adult lunch for a change and is leaving him with her husband. She said come back to her place afterwards for coffee and I can see him then!:rotfl:

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thanks for the info on the bank account SSG . Enjoy having your nails done tonight.

Scott-Weiland

Giorgio Moroder v very jealous i love the song i think he did with David Bowie ie Cat People. Its a weird movie but the songs awesome.

Sun_Addict

I went to see that movie back in the 80s, had forgotten all about it until now.

Enjoy your child free lunch on Sunday

Seasidegal58

You're welcome Hairy!

Hi Scott and SA - I have the film on DVD and also have the soundtrack as well. The film is a bit dated now, but what lifts it is Giorgio's marvellous soundtrack - which I love. In fact I'm playing it at the moment! At the concert they performed the Bowie 'Cat People' track - there was a large screen of Bowie performing it with just his voice relayed - Giorgio's orchestra at the concert played the rest - bliss - one of my favourite songs!:)

Doing well with the Ad Hoc spends so far - nil since I last posted. I did buy a little chocolate Easter chick in M&S for my friend's little boy as hopefully I'll be seeing him tomorrow but that's from the gift pot.

Interestingly my DNA kit arrived this morning in the post. I think I posted previously about this. It's to test whether one is genetically predisposed to certain illnesses/diseases and then you have an health app from the company to aid you with the preventative measures you can take as well as help you with aspects that you choose, i.e weight loss, fitness etc. I've received it through the benefits my firm offered this year. So I've got to spit into the tube and post it off for analysis!:eek:

I've got some topcashback money winging its way to me and I've also applied for some more delay and repay from my rail company.

I'm off later to Aldi, including getting some bits for the food bank and dropping these off.

Tonight I'm relaxing with the TV. Have episodes of ' Follow The Money' to catch up with.
X

Sunshine_girl2

The DNA could prove interesting, after you have had your spit analysed , what a great job that must be for someone !

I haven't watched TV for about 3 weeks, I just watch catch up all the time on my tablet !

Have a lovely lunch tomorrow.

redofromstart

I'm another fan of Fat Rascals.

How lovely of your boss to share the bonus.