Some people just seem to have unlimited money

Mayflower10cat

Interesting, isn't it! Not in a nasty, malicious way but like others here we also have friends in varying degrees of 'perceived' affluence. We moved to our current home (small cottage) just over five years ago from a much bigger house and invested the small profit into updating and extending here. The residue left over (Not much!) went into a high interest, long term saving account. Our outgoings are far less than we've struggled with before and we don't tend to go out a lot, nor have holidays. We wine and dine friends here, we love cooking and entertaining. But we have a good a friend, now retired, who used to be a wine importer for a large chain (and still does for himself and close friends) so when we need decent wine at a good price our friend is happy to help us.

I buy new clothes rarely - mostly charity shop/TKMAXX bargains. I sew and alter decent label clothes from charity shops. We spend money on our garden and our little cottage (and a period property needs regular injections of cash). We're very happy as we can put money aside each month in our savings account, not a lot admittedly, but we still end up in the black.

That's how we do it, our cars were bought new but are now 4 years old, we look after them as best we can.

Doom_and_Gloom

It depends I think.

My parents - bought their house in the 90's at a very good price. My dad has stated that if he was buying now there would be no chance he would be able to buy it - this is on a pre retiring wage of around 50k gross. My parents did however remortgage the house around 10 years ago and bought a place in another country - sold it for a slight loss. Bought a 2nd place (outright) in this country and done it up - sold it for a good profit. Boutght a 2nd place again (outright) and done it up - have been renting it ever since. They managed to send me to private college for two years . My sister and I never went without and we had at least one holiday abroad a year growing up. They also go overboard every Christmas with gift buying (although do buy offers etc). Dad is retiring at the grand old age of 55 and they will be paying what is left on the mortgage. They will have my dads (very good) pention and the income on the rented house and will be better off than when my dad worked as no mortgage payments! They did that by hard work, luck/good timing, deals, sellings of shares etc.

I have a friend who earns 26k a year and is constantly saying she has no money. I know her outgoings as I have tried to help her with her budgets. With the money coming in she should never be without money. She has some savings but we both worked out she should have quite a lot more. I don't know where her money goes (as the rest of the not budgeted for money must go somewhere) but she has no debts.

I have a guy friend who earns at least 20k a year and he is living at his parents. He is always without money and is in debt. He has the latest everything, drives a nice car, doesn't pay keep (or I should say he does but then asks to borrow it and 'pay it back when he gets paid *rolls eyes*), out at pubs/clubs when not in work, splashes out on gifts for people etc. He should have savings enough for a really good deposit on a house by now (same kind of wage for 6 years) but no he is up to his eyeballs in debt.

My sister and husband - paying off debt, living with my parents and have very little outgoings. A car (they sold the second one), minimal keep, food, petrol, car insurance etc. Constantly saying they have no money but they have up to date phones somehow and not cheap contracts either, is able to go out with friends and the rest of it. The money they should have as disposable is getting eaten by their debts.

My partner and I - not a huge income even when you take all our benefits into account (and I mean all), indeed we have the lowest income. Cheapest place we could get to rent, mostly second hand/gifted stuff (things that are new were bought on deals), don't really see the point in going out, rarely have takeout, save to pay for everything we need, if going to the cinema we use Orange Wednesday codes, we buy most of our clothing from charity/second hand/boutique stores (£4 for a top). For food we use coupons, bulk cook and use our huge freezer to our advantage, buy reduced foods, buy things when on deals, make our own bread (bread machine unless my partner really wants to do it by hand) etc.
Clothes get fixed if they can be, heating doesn't go on unless it has to be etc.

On paper we are the ones that would be the most likely in debt but in reality we are not as we budget well and don't buy things if we can not afford them. We look like we have things on the outside but we budget, budget, budget to get what we do and most of it is gifted or second hand/charity bought anyway .

make_me_wise

What you dont see OP is the size of their overdrafts, loans, credit card bills etc. Some folk just live for the moment and aren't that bothered how or when they will pay it all off. No-one has unlimited money, some just have access to far to much credit thats all.

AllyS

Or that mummy and daddy have paid the deposit on a house or paying for annual holidays, new kitchens etc....

B4budget

I'm new to this site and to serious money saving(I realised his much I have to learn after reading MSE properly anyway!) I've really enjoyed reading this thread. So thank you OP and all those people who posted great thoughts and advice. I've particularly enjoyed learning about how much benefit people have gained from tesco clubcard point etc. I'm keen to start using loyalty cards as i only have a boots one. Could anyone give me a quick list of the best ones in terms of value? I shop at Aldi and Asda but could swap. I buy petrol from random garages but would transfer if nectar points good. Erm... Any other ideas for how to get treats etc on a tight budget ? ( there's me my husband and 1 year old- we enjoy days out and meals)

B4budget

OR possibly direct me to a forum containing this info?

KiKi

B4budget wrote: »

OR possibly direct me to a forum containing this info?

Hiya

Welcome to MSE.

Take a look at the main site (not the forums) - look at the 'tabs' at the top of the page under the main banner. 'Shopping' and 'Deals and Vouchers' are a good place to start.

For forums, the Food Shopping and Groceries forum would be useful for you: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=175

In fact, most of the forums in the shopping section would be good: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

Have a search around those, along with the 'sticky' posts at the top of each individual forum, and then feel free to post questions. With regards to points etc, I believe Tesco are the best as you can exchange for up to 4 x the equivalent points if you use their points brochure (or whatever it's called). However, it doesn't mean you're getting the best deal as the shopping may cost more than from Aldi etc. But ask on those forums - the experts there will be happy to help, I'm sure.

KiKi

FBaby

A number of interesting posts have been about budgeting ect... and mainly about how people don't smoke, drink, buy clothes at charity shop, or go on nice holidays, but have an old car etc...

I suspect (maybe wrongly!) that the OP was referring to people who do have a similar lifestyle to hers, yet seem to have more disposable cash.

When I went through that same stage of puzzlement where I always seemed to be able to afford less than others who seemed to have more money despite a lower income, I also didn't drink or smoke (still don't!), had a car on finance, bought all the kids clothes at Tesco or Sainsbury (and always on sale!), bought mine at charity shops etc... and still they seemed to be better off than me!

However, some have suggested the most likely reasons, benefited from good investments at the right time, maybe a redundancy package just before getting another job, inheritance... and as I've discovered, credit cards/remortgage/loans.

determined_new_ms

it could be that they are extremely good with their money - lots of people are able to make their money s t r e t c h far so it seems like they are living a champagne lifestyle but on a shoe string? We go on holiday 3 or 4 times a year, but do this very reasonably. When I see that people are spending £1500 on one holiday when we spend less than that on 3!

TimBear

Another thing I do is stock up on presents etc throughout the year. I've just been and stocked up on perfume, lip balms, purses and other goodies from Next and spent only around £40 but that will do for most of my girlfriends' birthdays and Christmas now for 2012!

They're nice things (I think!) and should cost more than what I've spent so I suppose people will think I have more money than I do in that sense too.