Can you ever be too MSE?

Mutter_2

Martin has a mission statement somewhere. He states catagorically that his intention was never that anyone should go without but get the best value for money as katieclampet says.

ailuro2

_Martin_Lewis wrote:

There are two easy money mantras, one for when you're skint and one for when you're not. Before you spend money on anything ask yourself these three questions.

FOR THOSE WHO ARE SKINT

Do I need it?
Can I afford it?
Have I checked if it's cheaper elsewhere?

FOR THOSE WHO AREN'T SKINT

Will I use it?
Is it worth it?
Have I checked if it's cheaper elsewhere?

If the answer to any of the questions is no, Don't Buy It!

Found it! knew it was here somewhere...

SugarSpun

I think it's also worth remembering that there are things other than money that have value that needs to be taken into account. I had to book a hotel recently for a conference (funded by work but I pay and they reimburse me). I spent three hours wondering whether a 2.5km walk to the conference venue and back was worth the €45 saving I'd make - and then realised that I'd wasted about €45 worth of my working hours searching for a hotel. My time is also valuable, and so although I like to get the best value I can out of things, the value won't only be monetary.

ixwood

I wouldn't not go on holiday personally, but as long as your happy, that's the main thing.

A lot of people are saying what if you die tomorrow, but what happens if you don't die tomorrow? You're making an investment in the rest of your life.

gabyjane

Hmm interesting thread!

At the end of the day if you feel you are missing out on something then that's what you need to change?..if for example you have always wanted to travel somewhere then id'e suggest doing it now rather than later when you are older as you will probably get more from it. If you want a new tv then buy one etc etc..so long as you are not making yourself struggle each month then it's what you want at the end of it.

It is hard, especially on here as you find yourself(well i do!) comparing everything and trying to get better prices on things or bargains, this can lead to sometimes having the money longer than you normally would and thinking 'do i really need xyz'. for example we are buying a new tv but i keep looking on here and other sites, there are others cheaper, some better than the one we want blah blah so we have had the money for weeks now but still haven't bought it! sometimes i think why are we buying it as we don't 'need' it but it is something we want and like you said we work to buy things so why not. Our down fall is eating out lots which we don't 'need' to do either!

My husbands mum was a fabulous woman and died a few years back suddenly, she worked all her life and her only thing she wanted to do was travel to Egypt..luckily she did so i am glad she fullfilled her wants in life..if she had left it any later she wouldn't have gone.

Life is sometimes too short to sit down at 50..or whatever age and have your house paid off imo, what are you going to do if you reach 50 and have some illness that stops you from travelling or similar? (sorry to be negative but?!)
My next door neihbour died too a few months back and was a year older than me (32).makes you think what's important. If we want something now and it's in our means to buy it..we buy it!

Good luck with your decision..lots of great suggestions on here x

burnoutbabe

you don't mention a partner, so maybe that is why you are not fussed about holidays? i don't have any real desire to go on expensive holidays on my own, prefer occasional weekends away with mates when that happens.

I probably am the same, i am very MSE, though thats been handy when redundancy happened and i could volunteer right away and can now afford to spend a year or so not working. So thats very handy. And use all my MSE skills to be frugal for the year.

to be honest, as long as your happy, then what does it matter if you die at 50 with lots of money? far better that way than live much longer in poverty and worrying. so spend some stuff on what you want but don't worry too much about having to spend it all to have a good life!!

Soubrette

ixwood wrote: »

A lot of people are saying what if you die tomorrow, but what happens if you don't die tomorrow? You're making an investment in the rest of your life.

Totally agree, it's all about balance and that will be different to different people.

I enjoy being a bit stingy - its a bit of a hobby . I do not want to be one of those pensioners that worry about putting the heating on because of the cost.

If I die and leave a lot of money to the kids (:rotfl:fat chance) at least I've enjoyed my frugal life. If I don't die then perhaps I'll be able to retire a bit earlier and put the heating on whenever I want

Sou

ceridwen

I've come in late on this thread - but I am speaking from the viewpoint now of someone who will be retiring soon.

THE biggest thing I want money to do personally is to provide me with financial security and freedom. I want nice possessions and I want nice experiences and theres some balancing to be done.

However - I've lived long enough by now that I know that my own finances go up and down, the economy goes up and down (and is basically heading down for some extended period of time now.....) and i am glad I made my priority to pay off the mortgage/pay off debt/make sure I'm as "sound as a pound" financially generally.

Because I took that attitude - it now means that I don't have to panic if I lose my job. Many people will have to work on beyond their retirement age - not me:D. Many people would have to find another job if they got made redundant at my age - not me:D.

I watch all the hassle/aggro/uncertainty in my workplace now from a pretty "detached" viewpoint - knowing that they cant possibly hurt me very much - because I've planned too well for that:D.

Yes - that means I've left having a lot of my holidays until I retire - well..in that case I'd better just look after my health well...so I'm not too ill to have them then hadnt I?

Maybe it depends a bit on what your personal belief system is - if you think that this life is it - you get one shot and then you die and thats it = end of story - then I guess you would take a "get it in NOW/all of it" viewpoint. If you believe in life after death (as I do personally) - then what does it matter if I do something now/10 years time/20 years time/50 years time/100 years time etc etc - I'll still do it at some point - I won't miss out on anything I want to do. It WILL happen - its just a matter of when...

So - for right now - I basically use what money I have to make sure I get as near as I can to that joint goal of financial security/freedom.

Sambucus_Nigra

There's a HUGE difference between living a grey existence and being MSE.

Personally, I'm as tight as I can be on the things that matter [weekly shopping, keeping the treats to be really treat-worthy]; but will buy friends a week's shopping if they need it [after having a baby and not being able to get out, being skint etc] or help supply a friend's allotment with plants and seeds when they move or have the plot vandalised.....as that's what's important.

It's all about balance; and a good break once in a while really helps to get some perspective on your own life.

Ancilla

pukkamum wrote: »

My MIL was definately too MSE when DH was young they were very very poor (or so he thought) every item of clothing was second hand as was every xmas and birthday present.
Pretty much every meal time consisted of chips and value white bread with marge except when he came home once to the smell of rost chiken, lovely he thought only to be give a single drumstick nothing else.
They had no holidays, days out etc.

They lived in a council house which they had bought, his dad worked there were four kids and sometimes mum worked also.
She would always say it was because of buying the house they had no money.
Dad would tip up his wage and be given pocket money with which to buy his fags and a paper etc.

Many years later DH's mum and dad split up just after we had our first son.

MIL bought FIL out of the house WITH CASH ( a four bed semi) went on foreign holidays etc it turned out that not only had she saved pretty much every bit of spare cash she had also recieved a very big inheritance when DH was little.

As you can imagine both FIL and DH were very very angry that they had been living in almost poverty whilst she saved every single penny.


In my eyes that is taking MSE'ing too far.

This sounds exactly like my parents. We were always told we were so poor we couldn't have biscuits, christmas presents, rides on the bus, shoes, etc. i'm talking every little thing here, really really stingy. People used to knock on the door at xmas with mince pies for us as we were considered in need of charity.

I found out recently that between them they have over half a million pounds in pensions, savings, investments, etc. All ammassed over my childhood while we were eating beans on toast and walking two miles to school with plastic bags over our feet in the rain because our shoes had holes in.

I don't have a penny put away. While this may be stupid I want my children to enjoy childhood. And I dont mean spoil them, I mean swimming lessons, a new pair of shoes when the old ones wear out, a meal out on birthdays, presents at xmas, a lunchbox that isn't a carrier bag, those little things that most people dont even think about. Now I'm on my own I'm still going to put them first as I dont want them to be dissappointed in me like i am in my own parents. I'm livid that they put me and my sisters through so much humiliation while keeping all the money for themselves. They really were mean to us growing up and I just can't understand it. My ex always used to agree with me on this too.