LBM had. Changes made. Advice or critique Welcome

bouncydog1

As you bank with HSBC have you opened a regular savings account each where the interest is 5%? There are T’s and C’s but you can save £250 per month each and at the end of 12 months you get the interest paid. Their bonus saver pays .55% interest. Youmaybe able to get better elsewhere but the cash is accessible on the bonus saver. Regular saver has to be for12 months or you lose the interest. Maybe worth a look?

Sanctioned_Parts_List

Pip_Boy_111 wrote: »

Yeah, I had planned not to touch what's already in the savings pot and leave for such a time as it may be required. If that day comes, I plan to replenish it back to the (albeit small) fund that it is now.

After all the above, I'm a pain for never following my own advice.

I piled my surplus income into a savings account, then every 3 months or so, would look at my situation. If everything was looking rosy, I would pay all but the last £500 into a debt. If I was feeling nervous (my job can be quite unstable at times), I'd hold onto the savings and review again in a few months. The fortunate thing was my debts were interest-free, but I think it would only have been marginally less efficient than overpaying monthly, and charted a nice third way between the two approaches mentioned above.

Pip_Boy_111

bouncydog1 wrote: »

As you bank with HSBC have you opened a regular savings account each where the interest is 5%? There are T’s and C’s but you can save £250 per month each and at the end of 12 months you get the interest paid. Their bonus saver pays .55% interest. Youmaybe able to get better elsewhere but the cash is accessible on the bonus saver. Regular saver has to be for12 months or you lose the interest. Maybe worth a look?

Hi Bouncydog.
I have the bonus saver. As you say, the interest isn't the best around but that's not really the primary concern for that pot. It's more about ease of access and using it to "hide" a little bit of cash away from the spendable portion of it.
With regards the regular saver, I had considered it. The only thing stopping me is that fact, as you rightly say, it's locked away for 12 months to gain the 5%. With the small sum I could put to it at the moment, I don't really think it's worth it, plus it doesn't really do what I need in terms of ease of access.
Sanctioned, I like the thinking behind the "third way" (sounds very mysterious by the way :rotfl:). I think leaving what's there now and putting the future payments towards the loan will, in the long run, work out to be MY best solution. I say MY because logic and numbers dictate that I should probably put all of it to the loan, but, as I've said before, comfort blanket.
Massive thankyou to all who've contributed to this thread so far. You think you've got it all worked out and someone pops along with something to consider. Brilliant and the reason why I had to sign up and stop being an anonymous reader. Thankyou again. :beer:

datlex

Well done on getting through your debts and becoming debt free in the future. Regarding savings, there are multiple reasons for them. For example: Emergency savings, 3 to 6 bills buffer, planned future events (e.g. Christmas, new appliances (washing machines don't last forever), birthdays & others), general savings (money aside for the future). When paying debt all of these are often put on the back burner, however putting money to at least planned future events and emergency savings can protect against debt creeping back. Once debt free the 3 to 6 and then general come into play.

Pip_Boy_111

datlex wrote: »

Well done on getting through your debts and becoming debt free in the future. Regarding savings, there are multiple reasons for them. For example: Emergency savings, 3 to 6 bills buffer, planned future events (e.g. Christmas, new appliances (washing machines don't last forever), birthdays & others), general savings (money aside for the future). When paying debt all of these are often put on the back burner, however putting money to at least planned future events and emergency savings can protect against debt creeping back. Once debt free the 3 to 6 and then general come into play.

Thanks Datlex.
Following this thread and thinking through various things has seen us come to the decision that what we have in the pot currently will suffice for any breakdowns etc as is. I know there can always be MAJOR things happen unexpectedly but I would hope that home insurance is the go to for this scale of disaster. Anyway, the pot will be left until such a time as it used, where it will be put back to the level it is at now. In the meantime I aim to focus on clearing debt with the monthly surplus (as explained earlier) and as we become debt free (fingers crossed) divert more and more into a 6 month "buffer", before then focusing on a future savings pot.
It's a long term strategy and seems like a distant thing at the moment, but, ultimately, it's something to work towards rather than a blanket plan of "pay stuff off" :rotfl:

a_silver_lining

Just want to say that it's been a pleasure to read your progress Pip Boy, well done! Very motivating

Pip_Boy_111

Just a quick update. I have worked through the figures with my trusty spreadsheet and various calculators and after a household referendum, the constituents have voted to leave debt on 1/3/2022. This will hereby be know as Dexit
Sorry, couldn't resist a bit of satire, what with the shambles that's going on in this country at the minute.
In all seriousness though this is the date I have firmly entrenched at the top of my spreadsheet in big BOLD font. This is a conservative estimate and I fully expect to beat it, but it allows us to ease back if needed without beating ourselves up about it.
Just seeing it expressed in date format makes everything seem so achievable and real. :T

[Deleted User]

Sanctioned_Parts_List wrote: »

It's counter-productive to have savings while you have interest-bearing debt. Once the debt's interest-free, it's perfectly reasonable to hold both savings and debt at the same time.

While I'll probably agree, but it's useful to have a little bit of savings kept back for emergencies i.e replacing a broken washing machine or minor car repairs etc.

BabyStepper

Pip_Boy_111 wrote: »

Just a quick update. I have worked through the figures with my trusty spreadsheet and various calculators and after a household referendum, the constituents have voted to leave debt on 1/3/2022. This will hereby be know as Dexit

Love it!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Pip_Boy_111

Morning all. Optimism is high in the land of Pip Boy, Mrs Pip and the Piplings following the referendum. With a clear plan of action we seem to be heading towards Dexit with sense of clarity and like minded thinking. Who'd have thought it possible??;)
Following suggestions in this thread, i might turn this into a diary to record progress, achievements and random musings and ramblings for my, and others consideration. It would also be good to have something to look back on down the line to remind myself that progress is being made when we get to the inevitable "slump" and everything gets a bit boring and drawn out. Is there any way this can be moved to the diary section or is it fine to ramble away here?
Happy Sunday :T