Keep calm and carry on....

South_coast

I-Say are giving an unusually long time to complete this survey 🤣

South_coast

Right, it's November (how did that happen? This year feels like it's gone really quickly, yet January feels like it was a different lifetime). Time to tot up the October free money. I set a modest target of £38 this month, and the scores on the doors are:

£0.29 TopCashBack
£0.79 bank account interest
£1.04 bank account cashback
£2.00 Storewards
£3.00 Swagbucks
£5.00 Vypr
£9.05 Qmee
£10.00 i-Say
£14.95 Streetbees
£15.00 cashed-in Nectar points (would have been £22.50 if BF would have played ball 🙄)
£16.69 Prolific
£20.00 Shop & Scan

Total = £97.81

I'm happy with that 😀!

With the OP's I've got planned, next month's interest should be £31, so that should be my November target.... However, I can see where £20 is coming from already, so let's make it £51 to keep it interesting 😀

Have a good day all x

debtfreeoneday

South_coast said:

I-Say are giving an unusually long time to complete this survey 🤣

I did that one last night. Took quite a while and no blinking points have credited. 

debtfreeoneday

Well done on the free money this month. Awesome stuff!

Moneyfordreams

The year has flown by.., no if we can speed up the next month too

South_coast

Yes, a quick November would be pretty awesome wouldn't it!

South_coast

I'm in a bit of a funny mood today, my thoughts seem to be swinging from one crazy extreme to another:
* Did some research on LISA's, as a few people on here seem to have them now. Decided a guaranteed 25% bonus would probably beat my S&S ISA
* Wondered why I was even bothering to look, as I'd want to put the maximum in and I won't have that much money available
* Worked out my "money needed" figure, as it's the 1st of the month, was pleased to see that the tax rebate puts me roughly back where I was on 1 August
* Worked out how many more years I have to work to achieve that figure. 40 years at current projections - by which point I'll have been getting state pension for 10 years, thus negating the point of the calculation!
* Reminded myself that I want to try and get £9k a year in non-state pension income, and between them they're on track for about £1400 at the moment 😥
* Had a brainwave that I could make a cupboard in my lounge 20cm deeper when I do the refurb, which would solve the problem of storing a couple of awkward items
* Got cross with myself for even contemplating spending a couple of hundred pounds on gaining 20cm in view of all of the above!

Gah! Think I'll go and have a shower and try and wash the thoughts out of my hair. All I can do is continue to spend as little as possible and save/invest/pay off everything that's left over. There's no point stressing about it any more than that. 

(now I just need to listen to myself when I say that....🙁)

killerpeaty

You could have both an S&S ISA and an S&S LISA. That's what I do. It is nice that you get the bonus, but do you want the flexibility of being able to withdraw whenever you want without penalty?

You're also 15% of your target, that's pretty awesome, I'm about 4.7% of mine.

Also is it £200. If it stops a niggly annoyance every week for the next five years then it is approx 79p per niggle elimination. Seems pretty cheap to me. But if it only annoyed you once a year, then I might not consider it.

QueenJess

I'm with you with the save/invest/pension headaches.  I'm trying to do what I can whilst also trying not to think about it too much since I have no idea what I am actually doing with my work life going forwards!

Assuming you are not a higher rate tax payer, you get the same bonus if you want to save into a pension (you can open a SIPP).  You get the tax back now into the SIPP, but pay tax on your pension when you take it (LISA you don't get tax back now, but you don't pay it later).  You can take your SIPP earlier than a LISA though (at the moment).

I think if your employer offers salary sacrifice you get a better deal as you save NI as well.

killerpeaty

If you are doing something, it is better than doing nothing Jess. We can only make the best decisions with the information we have at hand, if we get new information/change of circumstances then we can act again. What I'm trying to say is keep going, you're doing brilliantly.