Hang on - what does that mean? It sounds like a scam, and we could all do with a lot fewer of those. But skimming your bank account is actually a good idea.
Skimming your bank account is something all of us can do - and when you find out more about it, you'll realise it's something you should do, too.
What is skimming?
If you've ever skimmed the fat off a saucepan of soup or stock, you'll know how it works. You take off the top layer and get rid of it.
When you skim your bank account, you take the spare pennies out of it and sweep them into a savings account. You do this every day, whenever there are any spare pennies in your balance.
How to skim your bank account to save money
Let's say your account balance stands at £301.78. You log in to your online banking and make an internal transfer of 78p into your savings. It doesn't sound like much, does it? The trick, though, is that you check each day to see whether there are any pennies in your balance. If there are, you transfer them over, leaving your balance rounded down to the pound each time.
Can you skim more?
Absolutely - and it's the best way to build your savings more quickly. Take the same example as above. You start with £301.78, but instead of skimming just 78p, you could skim off £1.78. Do that regularly and it will certainly give your savings a further boost.
You can also round down to the nearest £5 or £10 when it makes sense to. If your balance were £106.12, you'd round it to £100 and sweep £6.12 into your savings. If you had £521.02, you might look at your upcoming bills and decide you could happily transfer £21.02. If you needed most of the money, you could stick to the £1.02 instead.
You get the idea.
Some people begin by transferring a few pence, then move on to an extra pound or two, and then start rounding to £5 or £10 as described above. The point is that starting with a few pence builds a savings habit that's easy to keep up. Most of us wouldn't miss those few pence each day. Over time, once the habit has formed, we can save a little more - a pound or two each time - and from there we can go further still.
Try the skimming technique today
You'll need online banking to make it easy. Once that's set up, you're ready to start skimming. Even without a target in mind, you might be surprised how much you can save this way over a few weeks or months.