No, I don’t mean cleaning up after yourself (because who can afford a cleaner these days, right?), but instead ‘sweeping up’ your bank accounts to boost your savings or pay down your debt.
What do I mean by ‘sweeping up’? I mainly deal with cash on a daily basis because I find it much easier to keep on top of where I’m up to with my monthly budget. However, there are times such as when I pay for something online or I come across a yellow-sticker bargain in the supermarket and I don’t have enough cash on me that I will use my card. In these instances, my bank account will not show a nice tidy round number.
I check my banking daily and so if and when this happens I pay this amount off my debt or transfer the excess into a savings account, bringing my balance back down to a round number. It may be 10p, it may be £9.99. Either way, it goes. In the days leading up to payday, I sweep any balance into the same place.
The purpose of this is to ‘hide’ your cash from yourself, allowing you to save or pay off that debt without really noticing that you’re doing it. Give it a try – it really works!
It’s how I slowly but surely build my saving account money/. At the end of every month a small amount of interest is added to my savings account and I immediately go online and round this up to the next £100, it looks neater, makes me happy and adds nicely to the savings.
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