How has MSE changed you in 2005?

daveboy

When I first heard about this site, I think I was in the area of £8k or £9k in debt.

I now have £1k of debt, on a 0% card.

Everything in my life has some relation to this site, be it my home phone calls, utility company, home contents insurance, credit card company etc.

I remember the days of just idling along spending money where I thought I had to, regardless. This site made me realise how really, not that much effort is required to save money (most of my money saving has been done online).

A funny part - a huge chunk of my £1k borrowing can be blamed on the X-Box 360 (and again, I made a saving on the delivery charge and got £25 off from Currys thanks to this site).

ms_london

My attitude to money has definately changed, almost to the other extreme!! (although I am trying to save to go travelling, so I suppose its normal to want as save as much as I can!!)..

I used to think that my monthly salary HAD to be spent (and more), but now I think that being wealthy isnt measured by how much you earn, but by how much you save, and how you manage your money.

My monthly outgoings are down to the bare minimum now, and all come out on the 1st, so I know exactly where I stand, mind you, every time I use my debit card or withdraw cash, I write it in my diary, so know exactly the balance in my account at all times.

Like Skintchick, I havent paid full price for anything for a long while. For example, the St Tropez tan I use (a luxury, and it lasts for 6 months), retails at £29.99, but I buy off ebay, and this last one cost me £16.10.. Bargain!! The last time I bought clothes, they were from Primark - I just cant justify spending a lot of money.

I do think I am a bit of a scrooge now, but I hope that will gradually disapear, and I'll reach some kind of balance :0)

scroogey

nah sometimes being scrooge like can be a good thing! :rolleyes:
I'm a scrooge and proud of it! :j
Learnt well from my Grandma I think, she taught me how to be a canny shopper although it drives my OH crazy!

Lottiepots

Well as can be seen from my signature we were and we still are in quite a bit of debt.. however thanks to this site we are making great progress..

We have both had our lightbulb moment..
Our main issue was that we put a set amount towards credit cards and then without fail spent the rest every month even adding some more to the cards! When i first wrote up a SOA on this board I was encouraged to add more at the beginning of each month to the cards.. I have been doing this and have stretched it to the max..
I have found myself a part time job in a pub on top of my full time job.
My husband is taking on extra freelance work.
All our credit cards are on 0%
We budget for shopping.
I use price checker websites when buying CD's etc (for gifts)
Do not buy nearly as much cothes.
Have completely reduced how much of my money goes towards socialising.
Have stopped buying magazines and newspapers.
Opened up an Alliance and Leiester account.
Reduced my mobile tarrif.. will move to Pay as u go when contract runs out.

I don't know what situation i would be in if I hadn't found this site but thankfully i did and things are looking much more positive..
happy xmas to all and thanks :xmastree:

stanmoresaver

Mine is slightly different-

Basically after looking at the expenditure (and the waste!!!!!!!!!). I now have a passion for cooking food and freezing it. I never ever pay a bill unless i check it. I do not pay interest on monthly payment plans and seriously enjoy haggling over bills like mobiles and car insurance. I buy everthing i can (if it saves money) in bulk and store, normally after checking the price on the net.


But the best thing is that all these savings mean our daughter is going to the school we thought we could never afford and she is really happy!:j


For me that is what MSE was always about as even if you aren't in debt,which we weren't, it shows how to save to inprove your lifestyle..

Cheers one and all!!!!!!!

System

I have to say it has changed me, but not in a normal way.

I now dispise (yes dispise) credit companies of any form whatsoever. I even come to think of shops as "the enemy" with all the blatent advertising, buy this, save that, commercial pressure. I hate them. I would go so far as to say I am very anti retailer now.

I have saved a lot of money, couldnt put a figure on it. To be honest, a lot of it seems common sense, but when people feel they need to play keeping up with the jones' with mobiles etc, all egged on by more than happy credit card crooks, sorry companies.

I even have the car off the road at the minute, to see how I get on with biking and public transport. You want to know, its liberating. That walk in the morning to work is great to get your mind going and help you keep healthy. Hell I even started walking 16 miles at the weekend for fun. Ok not so great when it rains, but it saves me the money I would pay to some overpriced gym I never visited.

Kinda the same with freeview. I used to have NTL Cable, phone and internet ~ £45 pcm. Now I have a freeview box and can only say there are two channels I miss. NTL screwed up on removing the box, so I still have 2MBit broadband, but no cost, and I get credit for my phone, so my entire phone/broadband/tv comes to £5.45 per month.

The orange contract is gone in a few months, as is the gym. Its all good. It is true what they say that you become addicted to saving !

I still have my little endulgences etc but its all "can I afford it" first.

The old bank account gets checked every day also and if I have spare it goes into a savings account to help me pay off the bills. Its great because last year I had a miserable christmas and no money, this year I have plenty, am not spending half as much (got wise to the retail pressure) and am reducing my debts

The bit you have to watch for is the money "drip" ie £5, £5 there, it all adds up, in some cases *ahem* it was several hundred pounds, on crap mainly, ie ready made meals, magazines, take aways.

Anyhow, enough from me

frosty

since joining this site we have saved hundreds of pounds :j ,we have faced up to our debt and we are trying very hard to get it to zero,we follow all the tips on here.The best thing about this site is the help everyone is willing to give and the non-judgemental way it is given.Everyone on here has given us the motivation to keep going,when we do need to buy something we always check out the different threads before we buy,where before we would of just gone out and purchased it,never really looking for the best deal.
I have been doing the grocery challenge for the past 3 months and have saved hundreds of pounds :j .
We are all set for christmas and for once we have not put it on the credit card.
So a big thankyou to every one for the motivation to keep going. :xmassign:

shopbot

Lottiepots wrote:

Well as can be seen from my signature we were and we still are in quite a bit of debt.. however thanks to this site we are making great progress..

Wow! Just looked at your signature - thats an incredible reduction month on month....

If there was a smilie that said 'take my hat off to you' I would be using it now!

Xbigman

I managed to clear my debts several years ago but I've still picked up loads of tips from MSE. But the biggest thing has been finding people to talk to who don't think I'm an idiot for having a money saving attitude. I was once told I knew nothing about money because I said remortgaging to release equity whilst house prices were rising was not free money, but had to be paid back.
Regards




X

squiggles

In the past ive been such an idiot with money,someone referred me to MSE and ive went to bed and woken up with a usable brain that thinks now.