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.

If withdrawing premium bonds, don't do it until 1 November at least (I think the website does warn you and allows you to set up a transfer to take place after the next draw) as you need them in the draw on the 1st of the month to have a chance of winning.

I use Plum and let them decide how much to take each week and I have the round ups option too. I can transfer back immediately if I need. It means that I can save towards expenses such as Xmas and kids birthdays as they are all close together.

Lots of stuff like this! Not so much in vouchers as I've been stung before with expiry dates, but I do have a couple of gift cards with a small balance from returns. And an Amazon one I won in a prize draw at work last month.

I let my Boots points build up and usually use on perfume. Just checked and I've got just under £50 so about time I spent them! I only really shop there when there are good points offers on & stock up on make-up and skincare.

Costa not as generous these days but i used to save them & gift to DD at uni when she was fed up / skint!

Tesco I always used to fill up there and use my Tesco CC - points paid for our Railcard and the odd Bella Italia voucher or similar. Again, not so generous now, so I don't bother as much.

Quidco I have lots in there which I begrudge cashing out for bare rate, so I wait and exchange for vouchers when I need something. Same with my workplace rewards scheme thing.

Also have about £350 in £2 coins that i need to pay in to the bank. This has been building up for years but won't do it again as I don't really use cash these days.

I do the round up thing on Chase too and with that and the cashback rewards I have got around £180.

Vinted sales I withdraw straight away & keep in a separate Monzo pot & forget about it - daren't leave it there just in case.

Nectar points - i have about £8 on there but don't really shop at Sainsburys that often.

Probably other bits here and there too!

We get cash back on our NatWest account, when it hits £25 out it comes and it goes into PB’s, ditto our Nectar card, we spend the value on the nectar account and then buy PB’s to the value.

Being broke never truly leaves you.

Point taken about losing them - I'll have a look at cashing some out

I have a round up thing with my bank (Natwest) but it goes straight into my normal saving pot. I wish it had its own little pot to acrew in as that would feel different somehow

It's the fact most if them aren't cash savings and I've not really "earned' them that I like
I'm off to Google Plum.

Hi. I’m not sure if you were replying to me but just in case you were. I know I could earn interest from the bank but saving this way as a group is a good way to help other women get their hands on good lump sum even after a few months of saving when there aren’t any other options available to them. It’s like our own little co-operative.

We do have a bit of cash tucked away but otherwise it’s premium bonds and what’s in the bank.

I have £167 shares in my old company. Probably about £400, which I'm saving for a rainy day. I'm currently drowning, but can't bear the thought that I wouldn't have that buffer. Stupid I know

I have a few pounds - less than £100 in stocks and shares and didn't realise I got dividends. Looked at my acct to find £80 in it which I reinvested half back into the same stocks.

Better to use actual cash though? I have a money box that can only be opened with a tin opener...I occasionally put a tenner in. I do tend to stock pile tesco club card points though, we have about £180. You get a warning when they are about to expire so no worries about forgetting to use them

I’ve got £85 in my Asda rewards. I did have £40 in my Vinted but I just bought a huge bundle of Autumn clothes.

One of my hobbies is paid for online quizzing, there is quite a big crowd of us and it provides a really good social life for people who, for whatever reason, cant go out.

I win regularly and the winnings go into Paypal and I just leave them there to build up until I am skint and then transfer some into the bank if I really need to. Things have been a bit precarious recently so having that little bit there is quite handy. Any that is still in there in December will go towards Xmas.

The only thing that would concern me about your vouchers etc would be expiry dates, so I would check that out.

We pay our childcare in full each month through the tax free childcare account. We save the government top ups in the account so if we ever need to we can skip a month of paying for childcare. Helped us through an unexpectedly huge vet bill.

Yes I have boots, Tesco, Morrisons and most importantly lego points. I like to keep them to help when it's been a tight month and birthday months

I try to cash out everything ASAP but I have credit card cashback pending, so far I have £135 on my Amex that will be deducted from my Jan bill and £10 on my Aqua card.

I'm stoozing a balance on a 0% credit card which is sat in a 5.25% account, this should gain me £300 by next summer in interest.

Yes I do this! I have a bit on my vinted balance, an Amazon gift card with £20 on it, about £15 in my Asda rewards account, a costa gift card with a few quid on it.
Dont know why I do this when we’re not struggling really but I just like having a bit extra in case anything pops up and we’re unexpectedly out of pocket.

I think you’re better off getting a savings account and putting in a couple pound s week.

As PPs have said, lots of the things you mention have expiry dates.

I do have a tesco Clubcard which has points that I can use for shopping, which has been a God send when I’ve been skint.

I used to have an Iceland savers card, where I’d put £1 on each time I did my shopping at then at Christmas or if I was skint I could have at least £40 on it in a year.

My back up now is a credit card.
I don’t use it but it’s there if I need it.
I would only use it if it was an emergency.

The high street gift voucher doesn't last long - they deduct 90p per month off the balance after 18 months. It's never worth hanging on to vouchers and bonuses in case they go bust or you run out of time to use them.

i tend to save stuff to build up them put towards something bigger but I’d just be careful they don’t expired as some vouchers only have 2 years on them. We were saving our Tesco Clubcard vouchers to put towards something bigger and only just managed to use some of them before they expired.

@Cotswoldbee sitting with a grand in cash stashed away is just plain bonkers! You're effectively losing money

It's not our savings, that is all tucked away in ISA's, PB's, shares etc.
The cash just sits there year in year out as we feel we should have some cash in the house "just in case" (which was the original question).

Yes it is devaluing but only recently to a measurable amount and compared to our savings, investments etc, nothing we would worry about.
Could liken it to piggy banks, when emptied they contain significant sums but while they are filling up we don't think about it.

Probably something that we grew up with.
My late parents were very comfortably off but still liked to keep "a bit of cash" at home "just in case".

I get shares through work on an employee stock purchase program which vest every 6 months. It’s like a savings scheme in effect as we get at least 15% off the market value when they get purchased so just leave them there in the portfolio and don’t sell unless needed as and when. Obviously this requires monitoring of stock price and also consideration on wire transfer fees if multiple transactions but generally a really solid way to save. I try to put as much as possible into that per month within scheme rules.

I also sell most of my sons stuff on Facebook sites local to us so stash the cash somewhere nobody would realise was a cash place and have about £380. We dip into that for DH and DS haircuts, car washes, takeaways, stuff like that.

I don’t keep vouchers due to the risk.

Largely everything is in savings/ISA/Shares portfolio as they’re the best rates.

I am pretty savvy with spending and my husbands workplace have a benefit where they get discounts at most places or cash back so we get 5% off everything at curry’s or Argos or IKEA etc so we always use that for stuff.

I always like to know I’ve got something for a rainy day and pretend I just don’t have it at all so I can’t miss it!

I thought stoozing wasn’t worth it any more because the cash transfer fee is 4% on cards ?
I’ve got an empty VM card with a £17k limit and a Barclaycard with £9k - they are forever sending me offers but they always come with a 4% fee and are usually only for a year.
I have £16 in nectar points and £10 on a M&S gift card, DH has £35 in Asda rewards, they’ll go on Xmas.

You can find offers with fees much lower than 4%. I've stoozed for over a decade and the offers have been 0% and no or very minimal fee, eg 1%. Look on Moneysavingexpert.com.

I am reading all of these with envy is there a way to save when there is not a penny left after bills and having to borrow every month this post has inspired me to find a way to save any ideas