To over pay may rent so I don't have to pay as much Xmas next year?

[itsmeits]

I know its January but... I've been thinking about it.

I pay my rent by DD, however also have a rent card, so could pay a little extra each month on pay day to that and won't notice it (eg £15-20 as stopped treating myself to coffee/tea when out as bought a flask 😎)

This would mean I could ask for a rent refund from my housing association in December, meaning I only have to pay equivalent of 2 and a half weeks rent, instead of 5.

With 3 kids this would make a big difference and also mean I can afford Xmas treats like the panto. Which I love but haven't taken them to since before lock down due to cost.

I am also trying to save for half for a mortgage so the money could be going into that.
DP would want it going towards mortgage.
I'd be keeping quite and paying it off the rent, for extra family treats over Christmas.
Experiences and memories I had as a child that I don't want my kids to miss.

I have already increase mortgage savings by £35 a month by cutting out other useless spending 😀

YABU - save for the mortgage it's an extra £15-20 a month
YANBU - kids are only kids once save it within the rent account and make memories

Why don't you just put £20 in a savings account every month ? Your landlord is not a savings account - this seems like a long winded and bizarre approach to me. If you don't have any accounts (which I do understand) - could you not put it into a post office?

Why don't you open a new savings account and put that money there , you would get any interest then too?

Why did I not think of that 😕 thanks 😊

Agree with squirrelling it into savings instead. Or if you think you might get tempted by it, just buy as you go and set what you buy aside for Christmas.

If anything goes wrong/you don't get the refund as quickly as you'd hoped, you'll be screwed.

Sometimes I really over think things

Are you worried you will spend it on other things if you have it in your own savings?

Saving up little bits for December is a super good idea though! My grandma always had a saver card on the go with the supermarket for Christmas, she would buy a stamp every week.

I would just save a bit for Christmas each month. Then you know what’s available and can book things as needed not have to wait for a refund.

Put the money in savings account...at least you'll eat a small amount of interest on the money instead of your landlord...

I think it's the not being able to dip into it that's the safety net with the rent saving idea I was going along with.

Open a separate account that you don’t carry the card for or anything and put it in there. Monzo allow you to have little pots, so you can have a Christmas pot.

ill admit its better to build a buffer, wish i had done it sooner

I deal with Council Tax and sometimes rent accounts. Quite a lot of people do this to reduce future payments. The only thing I would check is if you are paying by DD and make additional cash payments it may reduce the amount of DD taken. Eg if your DD is £100 and you make a manual payment of £20 this may credit against the next DD so it would only take £80

So put it in a savings scheme where you have to give notice or keep for a period.

https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/savings-accounts/notice-accounts-up-to-30-days/

@fanaticalfairy
Thank you. Will look into this

YABU to hide it from your DP (assuming you live together).

My mum always did this when she paid rent to the council. At that time (many years ago) it was paid weekly at the post office and she always paid extra so then she didn't pay anything around Christmas/early January . She did this with gas and electric as well. She had a set amount she paid and she'd pay it even in summer so she never actually had a bill as she was always ahead of herself, she was a low income earner and this helped her knowing that no matter what happened weather wise we always had a warm home

I pay the rent as tenancy is mine. He pays towards bills.
He grew up very differently to me and is very frugal with money. They never went to the theatre, cinima, theam parks, or abroad. Adult things in his parents eyes.
He struggles understanding the same joy i do from it.

The dd calculator would more than likely recalculate and reduce your on going payments if you made ad hoc payments. Would be better to x weekly rent by 52 % 11 and pay that amount Jan to nov, so no rent due in December

@UsedToBeAtAmber
I didn't know this my account normally sits about £3.40 in credit after a DD on a 5 week month, more on a 4 week month.
This is what kick started this idea.

@Holycowss
That was sort of what I was aiming for in the end. If I swap to SO would it work that way?

Look at the moneybox app, it's a proper bank account look at their super simple saver you can withdraw from it once a month.

Have a set amount set as a DD every week, set up roundups from all of your other bank accounts, add an instant lump sum etc.

Whilst you are there look into their LISA if you are eligible, depending on how you are currently saving this could be a better option as the govt top it up 25% and you can save £4k a year, you and your partner can both have one and combine them when you come to buy if eligible.

I used to buy supermarket savings stamps every time I did the grocery shop, amounts varied depending on how flush I was, but come Christmas I had enough to cover my groceries for all of December and freeing the money I usually spent for other things.

Are you putting your mortgage savings into a help to buy ISA? That would be a sensible move.

Get yourself a Monzo pot with interest 🤩

Also if you get someone to refer you to Monzo you’ll get £5 to kick start your savings