Do You Try To Persuade Other People Not to Spend Money?

silkglade

tesuhoha wrote: »

I gave my sister in law the addresses of the tesco voucher sites and she has managed to get some money off.

Can you please tell me those sites? :j

Bambywamby

I certainly try and tell my 16 year old son to be more careful with his spending however not having to work for his money he doesn't fully appreciate how hard you do have to work for every pound.
However this is about to change as he gets a part time job to subsidise himself as he starts his A levels.

The person I really nag about spending,is my mother.
She is in debt (nearly forty grand) and still won't curb her spending.
She buys antiques, large birthday presents for the family and grandkids, my brother (who is 30, with a full time job and mortgage) £70 of shopping every week etc
Nobody else in the world knows she is in debt but me so the family keep happily taking from her.
I wish she would wake up and smell the coffee.
She has alot of equity in her house (no mortgage) but she doesn't want to sell up and down size.
Unless she stops frivilous spending it will be no longer an option for her and she will have to sell.

Argggggh mothers!

wherediditallgo

To expand my earlier post a bit more, I happily mention this site to people, & direct them to a particular part of it if we're talking about something specific (eg reclaiming bank charges).

I think advising people on how to make savings or where to get something cheaper is one thing, but persuading them not to spend money in the first place is rather different. The former is information-sharing & helpful, but the latter could come across as rude, as if you're criticising someone's ability to make a choice about what to buy rather than where to buy it from. When my ex had loads of contacts for car parts, his friends didn't mind him sharing the info on who was selling them at a better price. But I can remember him & a friend falling out for a while because he kept telling him he shouldn't buy particular things - his friend's words were along the lines of "I passed my test before him, got my car before him, got my house before him - who is he to tell me I don't know what I'm buying? He's not my keeper...", except with several expletives thrown in that wouldn't be allowed here.

We're all converts to the cause, & that's great. But I think we do have to be a bit careful about how we spread the word. Sometimes people have to learn from their own experience. Much as I wouldn't wish my money problems on anyone, I don't think I'd have had as much fun or have as many great memories from when I was younger if I'd listened to my mum going on about staying in instead of going out so much, coming in at all hours from goodness knows where, & buying things that I'm embarrassed to see myself wearing in photos now. I wouldn't have gone to some of the places I've been to, met some of the people I did, & yes I wouldn't have cried some of the tears that I've shed.

You can't protect people from themselves all the time, & there are times when I see someone buying something at a particular price & keep my mouth firmly shut even though I know they could have got a better deal elsewhere. Sometimes part of the enjoyment from buying something comes from being able to get it there & then, & you take that away from them when you tell them they can save £5-10 by getting it mail order, for instance. It might makes sense to us 'learned by getting burned' ones to save the money, but some people would rather spend the £5-10 extra & have the item there & then, rather than go home, look online, order it, wait for the delivery etc. Years later, they'll probably look back just as we do now & wonder what on earth they were doing, but there are some mistakes in life that you have to make yourself in order to learn the most from them.

tesuhoha

silkglade wrote: »

Can you please tell me those sites? :j

http://tescocodes.blogspot.com/

Here's one but theyre not as good as they used to be. Theres another site called paid to shop but I seem to have deleted it from my favourites and there's another one I had for shopping vouchers which also seems to have been deleted. Will look for them when I have time but have to do some urgent letters then go out.

tesuhoha

I appreciate your point of view wherediditallgo but I actually feel guilty now if I dont point out savings that I know about. Im not sure I would actually tell people not to spend money, the lady at work was talking about not being able to afford a special holiday and I just offered her some pointers on how she could save some money on her shopping and how much she could save each month so that she could afford it. However, I will often say, you can buy that much cheaper at blah blah shop. The only people I recommend not to spend money is my kids. For instance I give my son £50 a month allowance as we earn too much for him to qualify for the allowance. He was going to take it all out earlier in the month and I told him to leave £20 in the account as he would need it later on in the month. Sure enough yesterday he went out with his friend to the shopping centre for lunch and cinema and he asked me to lend him £20. I was able to remind him that he still had this in his account. Therefore that saved me some money and he was happy too.

tesuhoha

I used to resent it when I was young but nowadays it is nice to get financial advice I think.

redsquirrel80

I tend to talk to other people as if they think the same as me/ are on a similar budget, sure a lot must think I'm really mean as I refuse to spend what I consider 'too much' on anything (still manage to spend more than I should, but I'm working on that..)... and I'm known as a bit of a 'bargain queen', always telling people how cheap I managed to get things

Gemmzie

Yeah I've got my work colleagues claiming back bank charges, family switching utility suppliers.

My friends however, they refuse to listen and prefer to fritter their money away - their choice.

Storm

I tell all and sundry about this website, often relating to bank charges, where to get discounts etc as well as to sign up for the newsletter.

I've become more open about my debts, though I don't tell most people the figures, just that I'm aiming to clear my credit card & overdraft within the year so I can start saving a deposit for a flat - and when I point out to people that I'm getting vouchers through Pigsback etc they seem a bit jealous...

As others have said though, I wouldn't necessarily speak to someone about what they were buying, but if I knew they could get a better deal, cashback or added extras I would definitely mention it

Skint_Catt

I usually ask my boyf if he can get something cheaper elsewhere. Mum and Dad now know that I can get ANYTHING cheaper online than in the shops - as the lawnmower, cordless phone and numerous other things contest to!

I don't really mention the site much to anyone except Mum who has already heard Martin on Radio 2!

Catt xx