Does anyone else have stashes of 'not cash but spendable' for just in case?

[NorthernGirlie]

We're not skint now but we have been and those days stuck in my mind!

I was talking to a pal yesterday about weird stashes of 'just in case'

Me and ds play games on my phone on MistPlay. I've got enough points for a £25 Amazon voucher there that nobody knew about.

My bank does a rewards thing and I've got £30 stashed. Not sure how to redeem it and won't look unless I need to

I won a High Street gift voucher at work on a training day. I let ds spend £15 of it but kept the other tenner on there.

I'm also fairly sure I have £16 or so on my Boots card.

I told DH about these stashes last night and he thought it was hilarious - and that I should treat myself with them all as we're OK these days.

I’d transfer it into something useable. I’ve lost a few vouchers in the past because they’ve expired.

Yes. As the above poster said - be careful they don’t go out of date.

My stash is a large tin I put small denomination bank notes in as I really don’t like carrying them around with me. They’re worth between 20 - 50p each. I save until the tin is full and can usually rustle up about 200 pounds. Apart from that I’m in a savings scheme with family and a few friends that I put the equivalent of 200 pounds into every month without even seeing it in my bank account for more than a few minutes and once a year I get 2400 back. It suits me fine doing it that way.

As honeyroar says watch the expiry dates, and the provider might go bust leaving you with nothing.

Given how good interest rates are at the moment you would be much better off having a stash in a high interest account! Otherwise they are just becoming worth less in time with inflation.

I know exactly what you mean and yes I do. it's not the £200 or the type of savings that would be better in a high interest rate account. It's the Greggs free coffee vouchers, the £5 amazon voucher from doing surveys, the tesco's vouchers. It's the bits that mean if you get to the end of the month with no money you can do a small shop or treat yourself. Generally it's easy to keep a mental note of the expiry dates on these things or check frequently. And because it's small amounts if you lose it its not the end of the world.

I use plum, don't even notice it coming out of my account and I've got about £2000 in there. Plus 'save the change' is on my current account and sweeps into a savings account.

TopCashback for online buying, particularly lucrative around insurance renewal time. That has £50-100 most of the time. I also do shoppix that gives a £20 voucher a couple of times a year and YouGov for £50 about twice a year too.

There's probably about £70 on my boots card and the change jar holds near £200 when it's full.
I like the security of having emergency funds

I use a save the change account with Lloyds so it sweeps pennies into it every day. Adds up to several hundred pounds a year and I use it for Christmas

Same here and I'm trying to use them up so I don't lose or forget about them. But half the time I just end up buying things elsewhere with cash (well credit card that's used for everything for the points, then paid off each month). It's not like I don't buy 'treats' because I do, but I need to want something, then buy it. I don't look and think 'I have money available, what can I spend it on' like your DH seems to be suggesting.

Off the top of my head, I have:

Some Amazon vouchers from a birthday gift - I spent about half of them on a thing, have used a bit on 99 p kindle books, the rest just sits there and will probably go the same way.

About £50 in M&S vouchers, taken from Quidco because you get a bit more than cash. I'll probably use these for food shopping TBH.

Enough McDonalds points for a meal deal.

About £60 of Nectar points. I'm in a Mexican stand off with them because I used to use my Nectar points in the double up event to buy fizzy wine just before Christmas but they seem to have stopped doing that, but I know that if I use the points for something else, they'll bring it back, so I'm currently waiting it out.

A £20 Currys voucher as a freebie for signing up to ID mobile. But we need a new fridge so likely use it when we buy that.

About £30 as Natwest current account cashback

A tiny amount of Clubcard and Boots points, but I hardly ever shop at either of these so never amounts to much. Tesco once sent me a Christmas card/voucher which made a big thing about 'here are your points, treat yourself for Christmas' and I got a whole £1.50, which probably wouldn't have bought a box of mince pies.

Probably about a tenner of Zooplus points, which I tend to use to get free Dreamies just before they're about to run out.

Boots card
Vouchers from surveys I do
Free coffee/sausage roll etc from greggs or o2 app every week

Helped me out in a pickle

I do the opposite and spend them ASAP before they're "lost". I'm sure there must be millions in points and vouchers that never gets used.

I would never hang onto vouchers or gift cards as that is a recipe for forgetting/loosing/expiring/no-longer trading (delete as appropriate).

Certainly we keep some cash tucked away "just in case". It sits there untouched from one year to another, the most we have ever had to do is change the notes when the old ones were discontinued.
I know some will say it is loosing value (and that is correct) but it is isn't much (£1k) and is just something we have always done, probably because our parents did the same.

I’m not sure the mindset ever goes once you’ve lived through ever needing it. We’re comfortable with savings and I still have that set of “break glass in case of emergency” plans in my head for any scenario I can imagine.

I overpay my rent every month and come Dec/Jan, I can skip a months' rent to get me through the long wait for the next pay day. I started this years ago when I was on the bones of my arse and it was a massive relief.
These days, I don't need that help come Dec/January but I have kept it up as I know if something unexpected arises, I can skip that payment and divert the funds where it's needed.

I'm in social housing so a lifetime tenancy, no concerns about anyone running away with my "savings" :)

Haha I have a stash of free coffees on an app, from buying myself a daily coffee when I got paid much more than I do now. And it's a very nice treat once a week to have someone else make me a nice coffee 😁

I don't do it because I think I might need to squirrel things away but because I like to. I like fixed rate regular saver accounts for this reason - the interest you get after the 12 months is negligible on the amount you're allowed to deposit each month, but having the sum given back to you when you never noticed your standing order leaving you feels like a bonus.

I have a round up on my chase account, rounds it up to £1 and saves it separately. I also have a plum account with two pots. That skims little bits of money when I'm flush (ha!) and over the last 5 years I've managed to save a total of £20k for big purchases, holidays , Christmas, car deposit etc and it's been great. We also have a cash stash where my DH has been tipped in dollars or euros. We save it up through the year and if we need it we cash it in at the post office. Was about £75 from dollars last year and euros go into the holiday purse. I have several gift cards lying around too. Never thought about it before but yes, quite a bit

I stash for things such as Christmas. My bank rewards go towards this. I won a £100 Amazon gift voucher which stays in my account for birthdays etc. I always get money off ny df which he gives me in cash which gets stashed in my underwear drawer for emergencies

Yes 😂

Ive got £30ish in my Vinted account, £20 on my Asda app, £40 cash in my purse that’s been there for months and months and a £50 John Lewis voucher since Xmas 😂.

I have about $160 in flybys cash...this is a rewards card for points that can be used at a major food chain, DIY superstore, 2 big chain clothing stores etc. You can use your points to buy items from the online store or convert into credit on your card to use in any of the stores it is accepted at.
Haven't used it in a while as flybys cash last time was when things were lean. Have purchased with points a few things.

I have a whole lot of airline points from having my mortgage with a certain provider so I could get a flight from Melbourne to NZ I think

I have $50 emergency cash in my car in case I need petrol or food or a nights accommodation and I don't have my card for some reason. It's very well hidden!

I think that is it for convertible sources. I have 2nd bank account at a different bank just in case I get hacked I have enough for some groceries and small bills e.g. electricity (but not car insurance)

I started collecting money boxes last year and filled a few. Buy Costa cards when you get £25 for £20..have also put Asda rewards onto a Christmas savings card. Top up my Greggs app by a few quid every week. A cake now and again is a treat. Never tell the dc!

Be careful with the boots points, apparently they get wiped off after a certain amount of time now, it’s use it or lose it.

I have a 0% credit card and huge overdraft available, only for peace of mind, I don’t use them.

Given that plum isn’t protected by FSCS if they go bust, I’d be very wary of keeping so much in there if you might need it in an emergency. It’s probably a better idea to transfer it regularly into a bank account if possible.

I don't do this, I always spend vouchers before I lose them or they expire. Wouldn't you better off spending them and putting the same amount into a high interest savings account? I think keeping vouchers as a back up plan is risky personally.

Yes! I've only just spent £45 worth of Boots points that I've had for 5 years. It was a good Star Gift for me!

I've also got £1000 in premium bonds that I don't know how to get hold of. I'm going to buy curtains with the money when I can work out how to get hold of it.

I've also got £1000 in premium bonds that I don't know how to get hold of. I'm going to buy curtains with the money when I can work out how to get hold of it.

This is quite easy, there are one or two forms to fill in but NS&I will find them for you with not much information.

https://www.nsandi.com/help/lost-touch-with-nsandi/get-back-to-premium-bonds