Skimming

I won't be wandering into the more financial side of frugality much in this blog as I'm no expert, mildly dyscalculic, and more complicated numbers confuse me no end.

I don't know a lot about skimming but, wherever I look, people seem to be discussing it so it's obviously now a big thing and I'm well behind the times.
I realise I've been 'skimming' - sort of - for ages now and, yes, it does help me to save.  This is what I do.

Skimming my purse.  This happens on a regular basis, whenever I pay for anything by cash, which I am trying to do more and more as it feels more 'spendy' than handing over a card.  All I do is tip out all the change in my purse, put back the two pounds, the fifties and twenties while the tens, fives and ones go in a money jar.  I lifted the jar the other day and it's really quite heavy so I must look into what I do with it.  After all, it's not earning me anything, however small, just sitting in a jar!

I could use the money machine thingy at Morrison's but that takes a certain percentage and I'm not sure what for.  If it's a charity I might be very happy about that (depending on what it is, of course) but I just don't know and need to remember to look next time I am there.  The other option is to bag it all up and take it to the bank.  Two problems there - I don't know how they want it bagged and the bank is in town and parking would cut into the cash!  I can find out the former but the latter is one of those insurmountable (good word) things as there's no way I want to bus and then walk with a heavy bag of cash!

Lazy?  Moi?  Maybe I have to get my act together here!  :-)

The other purse skimming is to pop almost all the pound coins into a tin.  I keep one for my trolley pound and maybe a couple for luck but the rest hits the tin.  It's very useful for charity collections, tips, parking costs and, if needed, smaller shopping and when Beth and I did craft fairs we were never short of a good float.  However, most gets bagged and saved.

Then there's my bank account.  I gather you can get apps that access your account and skim off the lose change at the end of each day/week/month or whatever.  I have a more active approach as I like to keep on top of things and I access my account online several times a week.  I skim off any extra deposits, such as the winter fuel payment and the Christmas bonus and, when I can, my state pension, as I try to manage on my teacher's pension.  Also, at the end of each month I check my statement against my records and move any leftover money too.

This month will be brilliant as I get state pension every four weeks so this month there are two payments, one at the beginning and one right at the end.  I know it's all just figures in a book really but it feels good.  And in the next two months I won't be paying rates and water rates so that's more to go into savings!

I'm not a great financial manager and the specifics of interest rates, etc, just baffle me, but the above works for me and while the savings get bigger, even by a small amount, I am content.

What are the savings for?   Well, security, for a start.  If something crucial goes, I can repair/replace without worry or needing to borrow at exorbitant cost.  It's for my future in case I need medical or care support.  It's so I can help family members out if needed.  It's for giving.  It's for any holidays I wish to take.  It's for a car replacement when that time comes along.  Oh, you get the idea.

So that's me and skimming!  Simple, manageable and works for me.