'Money Mantras – never leave home without them' blog discussion

PM1

Can you do those mantras as a twice credit card sized thing on a sheet of paper so that I can cut it out, fold in half with one side for the 'skint' and the other side for the 'not skint', glue together, and keep in my wallet with my cards?

tealady

Thanks Martin for the reminder. I am not in debt but am just bumping along the bottom and do tend to impulse buy.
It is especially pertinent at this time of year when people may be tempted to buy overpriced rubbish just because its Christmas.
I like the idea of keeping the reminder in my purse, in fact I think I might print it off, wrap it around an old store card and then varnish over it (or use sticky tape)

RichTeaBiscuits

I would like a MSE Visa card with this mantra on it, that would be really useful.

MSE_Martin

We're going to do the MSE cards

donquine

Rafter wrote: »

I also prefer your description of 'fighting for financial justice' rather than 'consumer revenge'.

I really agree with this.

If there is a good deal on, I will take advantage of it. If a company seeks to restrict my statutory rights, I will fight until they recognise them. However, 'revenge'?

I've always agreed wholeheartedly with Martin's common sense approach approach to spending/saving, but the idea of 'revenge' has never sat easily with me. There are some companies who do have their own code of ethics and who do operate within those parameters - yet a lot of posters have the mindset that they should screw them for all they can get, because all companies are as bad as each other.

It would be lovely if we could move away from this.

Well done for recognising that posters come from all financial walks of life though - I've seen some posters go crazy about higher earners daring to post how much they earn or ask for how to get the best deal on something expensive. As a community, I think we really need to get over this jealousy issue - there will always be someone worse off than you and someone better off than you - doesn't mean you should refuse to help either one of them.

Of course I aspire to earn more money - who doesn't? And when I am rolling in it, I will still spend ages on Google hunting down discount codes to get the best deal possible! I'm sure the rich don't stay rich by frittering their money away!

Spencerx

With regard to the recession the country is in at the moment, I have been in a recession of my own for years. I chose to stay at home when I had children, to look after them. As they grew older I took a part time job and only worked school terms. Money was tight, we had to give up our car, we didn't have holidays or any luxuries, but we managed. I always ask myself 'do I really need it' and more often than not I don't. My husband has recently retired and because we have been very frugal in the past and always paid our way instead of borrowing, I feel we are quite comfortably off. We live a very simple lifestyle but we are now in a position to help our children, who unfortunately have not listened to my sound financial advice, and can afford almost anything we want.
I can't understand people when they have to have everything they want. Christmas waste makes me so annoyed that I try to avoid as much of it as possible. For the last few years I have cancelled more and more of Christmas because I am not a religious person and can't see the sense of it any more. I regularly overhear conversations about how many 100s of pounds parents spend on their children, some of them too small to understand. They then spend the rest of the year paying for everything. When mine were little, if I didn't feel that I could pay for Christmas by the end of December then some things didn't get bought. I use a credit card but only for convenience, it is always paid off at the end of the month. Sorry for the rant but some people don't seem to help themselves by spending money they haven't got. I know there are others who really haven't got much. Maybe the government should take the advice they are giving to us - stop wasting money and save. I heard the results of a survey today that found that couples without children are paying more into private pensions for their old age. Did it really need a survey to work out that if you have children you are not going to have as much to save as someone who doesn't!! what was the point in this?