READER’S DIGESTDECEMBER 2021 • 107your money in and out of the old
account will be transferred for you.
You’ll always need to read the
terms and conditions for each
switching deal. Some will also
require a couple of Direct Debits,
or perhaps a regular deposit into
the new account.
Look for forgotten money
A quicker way to access some
spending is to look for any balances
sitting around on unused cards and
forgotten accounts that you can
access now.
Start with old savings accounts and
even extra current accounts. There
could be the odd extra quid or two
sitting around in these neglected
accounts, so do check!
Take a look at your bills to see if
you’ve overpaid, and make sure any
credit due from when you switched
away from old providers was actually
sent to you.
Another common place to look
is any kind of loyalty scheme. If you
haven’t checked for a while there
could be a healthy amount sitting
there for you to spend on Christmas.
The same applies if you’re already
using the cashback sites that were
mentioned above.
Make sure you root through your
wallet for any forgotten gift cards or
prepaid cards. Though sometimes
these balances expire if unused for a
year to two, you might strike lucky.
The same applies to old Oyster cards
which you probably haven’t used
since contactless became the norm.
While you’re looking, see if there
is any foreign currency at the back of
a drawer which you’re not needing.
Swap that back into sterling for more
cash to spend now.
And log on to any websites
where you’ve been sent a refund.
Sometimes this could be sitting in
your online account.Sell old things
It’s also a good opportunity to look
for anything around the home which
you don’t need anymore. Anything in
decent nick will sell for fair amount
of money, but even broken and
damaged items can sell.
Sites like eBay and Depop are
obvious places to start, but look for
local selling groups on Facebook
Marketplace to avoid fees.Plan your spending
Finally, you might be able to free up
some extra cash by simply paying
more attention to where your money
is going.
Go through your statements, or
even better, put all your spending
into a spreadsheet, to look for
outgoings costing more than you
might’ve realised.
You might not be able to
streamline all your spending, but
if there’s any that can be trimmed
back, you can reprioritise this money
for other purposes. Q