Some people just seem to have unlimited money

guitarman001

OP, £50k's pretty good - what does your husband do?

guitarman001

FYI they're all more than likely loaded up on debt with absolutely no savings... I almost guarantee you that. Also, anybody that bought a house on the cheap is going to have a much easier life. People my age have been shafted - luckily house prices are going down big-time.

JulieGeorgiana

B4budget wrote: »

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)

Get all of the loyalty cards you can.

And don't ever be loyal! Shop around and buy what you need, where it's cheapest and then make the most of the points that you get. Otherwise you are playing into the supermarkets hands!

If you are great with money then using a MrT credit card for everyday purchases will up your points balance, but only useful if you pay it off in full each month... otherwise you gain less then the interest.

Try the Groceries Board to find out about new and good offers which are on (Including Aldi and Lidl)

missprice

phew read all of this:D

alls I can say is pretty much same as others that posted
they either live off credit or have inheritance/tiny mortgage/budget well.

I do budget very well and manage to run this house on just £496 a month inc mortgage and council tax. but thats luck in buying this house when I did and shopping around for leccy/gas/tv/internet/phone/mobile etc(have just done next years budget thats how I can be so precise:) )

so we have a decent standard of living but we dont live in a great area
we have some really nice hols but cant afford 2 weeks so its a week to 10 days and only one big hol a year. we go off on weekends but it has taken hours to find a hotel/b and b or hostel in the right place for the right price.

my only wish after reading all replies is that I had a tesco nearby, just because we would probably get some good deals on the points reward scheme
however nearest tesco is around 7 miles away so to get the points would mean driving an extra 12 miles each week, kind of negates the points then with petrol so expensive.(I do have clubcard but never make more than a few quid off it every quarter)

btw the car aint mine and I pay no bills for it and the food is not included in my budget above, think food comes to around £200 a month for usually 4 of us plus extra teens as they turn up.
to some I suppose we have a decent lifestyle but for me this has taken years to get to this stage and there were many years when money was scarce and we lived hand to mouth.
oh yes and I buy nothing new til the old one has died a death, then I hunt the internet for best price and then price match with a nearer company
washing machine last year was price matched with tesco online, I went to comet and said I want that machine at the same price as tesco, will take it now if you let me and i got my new machine 20 mins later for £169, very happy too.:T

so hope any of that may help theOP and if not sorry for boring you all:)

JulieGeorgiana

missprice wrote: »

my only wish after reading all replies is that I had a tesco nearby, just because we would probably get some good deals on the points reward scheme
however nearest tesco is around 7 miles away so to get the points would mean driving an extra 12 miles each week, kind of negates the points then with petrol so expensive.(I do have clubcard but never make more than a few quid off it every quarter)

I do only half my shopping at Tescos (£100 a month) that's £3 in vouchers a Quarter! yet I get a LOT more per quarter using their Credit Card.

All you do is use their card to make all your purchases (Food - Even None Tesco, Petrol, Insurance and other car costs, vet bills, shopping... EVERYTHING) and then pay it off in full every month when the bill comes in! It doesn't matter where you spend the money... just stick it on their card!

This only benefits you if you pay it off in full each month though!

I am very strict and have been doing this for about 7 years now!

It pays for DS to go to Legoland every year. Once we did so well that I saved for DH and I to go to London, 2 nights in a 4* hotel, plus evening meals and the hop on-hop off bus all paid for in vouchers

I can't do that now as I spend so little as our income has been halved... but I still get enough for legoland

RadoJo

I find the opposite, that I am surprised that some people cannot live within their budgets when they earn what I would consider a reasonably healthy amount and seem to never have any spare cash. FWIW, I can't imagine that anyone would consider us a frugal family, but we just don't place that much importance on material items and hence spend comparatively little on clothes, entertainment etc whereas other people seem to blow large amounts of money on things that I just don't want. For example, if we were earning as much as the OP, I would have at least £25k spare cash a year to spend on the things listed, so perhaps their friends just have different priorities.

patchwork_cat

I was going to say on tick, but it could be an inheritance and also it could be illegal earnings.

Marisco

RadoJo wrote: »

I find the opposite, that I am surprised that some people cannot live within their budgets when they earn what I would consider a reasonably healthy amount and seem to never have any spare cash. FWIW, I can't imagine that anyone would consider us a frugal family, but we just don't place that much importance on material items and hence spend comparatively little on clothes, entertainment etc whereas other people seem to blow large amounts of money on things that I just don't want. For example, if we were earning as much as the OP, I would have at least £25k spare cash a year to spend on the things listed, so perhaps their friends just have different priorities.

Must agree here, £50,000 pa (I presume it's what I call "through the door money"? Can't be doing with figures gross, as it's pointless in a discussion about spending!) is nearly a grand a week!!!! Anyone who cannot manage on that ought to be ashamed of themselves!

BitterAndTwisted

There are so very many people who've been using the increase in value of their homes and then remortgaging as if the roof over their heads was some kind of ATM.

I suspect there are more people funding a lifestyle not in keeping with their actual incomes than you think. The inevitable increase in lending-rates is going to be very, very unpleasant for them.

missprice

RadoJo wrote: »

I find the opposite, that I am surprised that some people cannot live within their budgets when they earn what I would consider a reasonably healthy amount and seem to never have any spare cash. FWIW, I can't imagine that anyone would consider us a frugal family, but we just don't place that much importance on material items and hence spend comparatively little on clothes, entertainment etc whereas other people seem to blow large amounts of money on things that I just don't want. For example, if we were earning as much as the OP, I would have at least £25k spare cash a year to spend on the things listed, so perhaps their friends just have different priorities.

assuming OP means that they get 50k a year in their hand, as in after tax
then I would have around 40k a year left after all my bills paid inc the car that is not mine and food that I dont currently pay for

wow I must find a new job :rotfl: