What do you spend the money on?

Sassers

Piglet that sounds really fab :j - and you sound really happy excited and optimistic! :T I think you have to experience real lows before you enjoy all the good bits, if you know what I mean. Things like the cinema tickets and being creative....

Ginger_Girl

We had a change of priorities! Used to earn a very very nice salary working all hours, child no 3 then appeared (not in the grand plan - but extremely well loved!). Something had to give - the job or my sanity. Now earn 80% less than before but love being around to see the children and to be there to see school plays and help with homework. Feel much better now!

jcr16

i'm not totally O/S. but with the o/s thing i do . it has made both hubby and i appericate things so much more.
it is fair more satisfying sitting down to a home cooked meal with the family than something from a packet. i am also learning to buy alot of the kids toys etc second hand. the kids no no difference and there for i am able to buy them what they need , but without getting into debt doing it.

we don't have credit cards so if we don't have the cash in the bank then we don't have any other options.

i enjoy being o/s, if it wasn't for me finding this site, then we prob wouldn't of gone on holiday this month. it was our first ever proper holiday. and even while being away. we cooked our own meals in the caravan rather than wasting money which we prob would of done many years ago.

nick_b

My main reason for being OS is environmental. I don't know what the saved money is spent on, as I've been like this as long as I can remember. We live frugally and anything left over is saved. What for, I don't know. There's no way we're getting a house any time soon, with the state of the housing market.

Shortie

OS Money Saving for me is about trying to pay off our large debt to my Dad, and when that's paid off, paying that monthly sum off our mortgage as over payments. I'd love to be mortgage free before the official 25 year term.

My £2 Savings jar at the moment is to go towards Chrimbo pressies.

That was my reasoning for starting OS. savings. However it now flourished into so much more... The healthier eating from cooking from scratch (okay we still have lapses of take away, a bit too often, but we're 85% there now), being in more control of my own spending, it's rubbed of a bit onto OH's spending (thank goodness... he used to really stress me out, hence my initial step onto these boads to find my own ways to try and counteract his terrible spending habits) and what's almost the best bit, is actually having a goal to work towards

Yay for OS :T

tankgirl1

My main reason for trying to be OS was so that I could feed DS (12mths) a healthy diet, without any processed rubbish in it.

Im also a single SAHM, and on benefits, so I struggle to make ends meet at the best of times!! lol!

twinklybev

Hi,

I'm just started my food budget saving last month. We nomally spend £200 on food, which I've got down to £100 - albeit with a few cheats, i.e. invited tou for tea so didn't cook 4 or 5 times this month. Short-term - spending some of it on a bottle of champagne so celebrate!!

Longer-term aiming to contribute towards keep me off work as long as poss with my darling 7-week old daughter. Also, great way to help with environment & great sense of achievement too

Quasar

Oh what a great thread

I admit I'm not as OS as I'd like to because of my work schedule - grabbing a sandwich and a coffee in Central London is not exactly moneysaving, and carrying my lunch on my surveys is not really ideal.

Anyway I've been saving quite a bit at home, since joining MSE. Cleaning, cooking etc, free quite a bit of money. Right now there's nothing I want to buy or do really, so I just follow the Quasar Cardinal Rule:

All money I have spare at the end of the months I divide in two: One part goes to savings, the other I fritter on whatever I want: clothes, books, CDs, cinema, you name it.

Then again, I live alone and have no debts, so I accept it's easy for me.

WISHIWASRICH_2

Hi

I became OS to clear debt and be mortgage free. What I didn't realise is that I'd loose loads of weight and feel so smug that my family eat beautiful meals cooked from scratch. I feel that my kids now understand were meals really come from (i.e. not from a ready meal)....Good Luck Everyone:money:

pollys

Environmental reasons here too. We still havent got the heating on:j