How did you convince your family to save money?

Tiger_greeneyes

I've recently converted my DH to-be to my money saving ways. It wasn't easy, I've battled for four years with running around after him to turn down the heating, turn off lights, what food to buy etc.

It's caused many arguments and I can't count the number of times I've been called tight.

Anyway - 4 days ago I had a breakthrough! I finally convinced him that saving money is actually the only way to go. So much so that last night, when I mentioned I was thinking about buying us a couple of those cheapie fleece blankets and cutting a hole in the middle so we could wear them as poncho's to save on heating bills, he actually laughed instead of having a pop at me:rotfl: He also said that while he didn't want to wear a poncho, if I got him a fleecey jacket with a hood then he'd happily wear that instead :j

The thing that finally convinced him to be more frugal was the fact he's got a fairly expensive deep space telescope and he's really into learning about it and wants to use it, although he needs £150 to buy some equipment that will enable him to use it without worrying about condensation etc building up in it.

Over the last few months, I've managed to halve our Tesco shopping bill from £70 to £35 per week - I pointed out that fact and he hadn't noticed any difference in the meals. I told him that he could order the equipment he needs with the money I've saved. He's really chuffed with his new boy toys and he's now making plans with what to do with the next lot of saved money now he's seen the light :eek::D

I just wondered how other MSE'ers have convinced their families to be more careful - our ideas might help other savers tackle their families aversion to being thrifty :T

rozzy_2

I shown my OH a mortgage calculator that I got from this site and shown her how much money we will save if we overpaid the mortgage. The rest is history.

Since then its been easy to introduce things like a savings pig to put towards our holiday.

misspenny

i pointed out to him that me, him and ds (aged 2) would lose the house and be living in my parents garage or worse a box unless we lived within our means

that worked

at the moment hes enjoying experimenting with budget supermarkets to see what bargins are to be had

though i still cant get him to switch the lights of when he leaves a room, is it tight to remove all the light bulbs and issue him with a wind up torch to go round with when its dark.

Tiger_greeneyes

I showed my OH how much we're paying back to our mortgage lender at the end of the term - basically it's £2.44 for every £1 we borrow (£45k mortgage = £110k repayment) but it wasn't until he actually had something solid in his hands (as it were ) that he really wanted, it didn't mean a thing!

I'm introducing a 'spare change' tin soon and I'll put loads of sellotape around it so it'll be a nuisance to get at the money, I know he'll give up within seconds of starting to try opening it as he's got zero patience

Tiger_greeneyes

misspenny wrote: »

though i still cant get him to switch the lights of when he leaves a room, is it tight to remove all the light bulbs and issue him with a wind up torch to go round with when its dark.

I've asked myself exactly the same thing - I love the wind up torch idea and it's gone through my mind a number of times! I've changed all the light bulbs in the house with the low energy variety so it's not such a worry. I think he'd have done his nut if I'd hidden the light bulbs and given him a torch

hermoine_2

I haven't I am still trying to convince DH that it is necessary.

We are now on one wage just his and I am home all day. I have cut the amount we spend in the supermarket by quite a bit and he has not noticed the difference - except he wonders why we have a menu planner on the fridge.

He insisted we went to the pub on Friday as a treat, it won't be much he says - £45 later and poorer we left. I spent less than that on the weeks shopping!

He plugged his mobile in this morning for a quick charge and unplugged it at the phone end leaving the charger still using the power, 3 computers left on last night - all night - by him. His work one, our daughters (which he had been fixing) and our family pc.

He put the central heating on yesterday and then left the patio doors open for the dogs to come in and out.

He leaves all the lights on when he leave the room and even when he goes out!

I am at my wits end. I do not seem to be able to get through to him to cut back, especially on the electric.

H

misspenny

ive switched to energy saving bulbs but i came home the other day to find him in bed watching tv with the living room lights on (5bulbs) the dineing room lights on (5bulbs) the kitchen lights on (7bulbs) stairs lights on (2bulbs) bathroom light on (just the 1bulb in there) a grand total of 20 light bulbs merrily glowing away to theirselves

Tiger_greeneyes

Mine was the same Hermione - if he felt cold, then the heating would get turned on or up rather than putting on a jumper. I found that leaving a jumper on the back of the sofa (right by where he sits) works really well - it's easier for him to pop it on rather than going to the kitchen to adjust the heating. I've got the washing machine placed in front of the heating controls - I count on the fact that my OH likes an easy life and he wouldn't want to pull the washing machine out of of the understairs cupboard to get to the controls. Another really valuable thing to have is thermostats on all the radiators - if there's a door or window open then I'll surreptitiously turn the thermostat right down in that room.

Mine has the extremely annoying habit of turning on lights when it's broad daylight and exclaiming "but it's pitch dark" when I point out that it's the middle of the day. Again, the energy saving lightbulbs have stopped me having heart failure over it.

As for the computers and phone charger, you can get 'power down' plugs.
The last time mine suggested the pub, I asked how much money we'd need to take - he said "£10 - £20 maximum" - so I said I'd treat us and produced a £20 note. He didn't take any money but if I'd not done that, then we'd have been in there until closing time and got through much more. As it was, he was chuffed that I'd treated him to an afternoon at the pub and therefore wasn't as bad/tight as he thought I was. We have a joint account btw!

You have to stay one step ahead and try not to let it get you down.

Tiger_greeneyes

20 bulbs Misspenny - that's got to be costing you a fortune. I've whittled it down to one bulb in each room, one in each of our bedside lamps and one lamp in the living room. If mine left all the lights on in the house then there would only be 10 and they're all cheap to run anyway.

sooz

hermoine wrote: »

He insisted we went to the pub on Friday as a treat, it won't be much he says - £45 later and poorer we left. I spent less than that on the weeks shopping!

That sounds like my OH. It's even worse when he goes out with his mates. Then it's £45 just for the cab home, & I have no idea how much he's spent on drinks. Most of the time, neither does he...:mad:

shiny_happy_people

misspenny wrote: »

ive switched to energy saving bulbs but i came home the other day to find him in bed watching tv with the living room lights on (5bulbs) the dineing room lights on (5bulbs) the kitchen lights on (7bulbs) stairs lights on (2bulbs) bathroom light on (just the 1bulb in there) a grand total of 20 light bulbs merrily glowing away to theirselves

my son sometimes puts the light on in the day, i switch it off and point out the window and say see that light out there its free use that :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: