When my husband opened his FNB account at the end of last year he opted for a “piggy bank” savings account which is linked to his transactional account. Each time he uses his bank card, the transaction is rounded to the nearest R5 and the difference is credited to the “piggy bank” account. So for example if he spends R63.25 at a store, R65 is debited and R1.75 is paid to the savings account. This is the virtual equivalent of putting your lose change into a jar at the end of each day.
This is money that is not missed every month and yet the balance, less than a year later, is almost R2Â 000. That is a tidy little saving which will be used to supplement our budget over the festive season. If you can set up little pockets of savings that you hardly notice there is less need to use up credit over the silly season.
It may seem a bit early to be thinking about Christmas, but the retailers certainly are and this can play to your advantage. Start spreading your spend over several months rather than blowing the budget in December. Start buying your gift wrapping, Christmas crackers and teachers’ gifts this month.