How long did it take you to be able to manage your money?

shirlgirl2004

I've always managed my money well. My father taught me that the only "good" debt is a mortgage. My children although quite different in how they spend & save are both aware that credit cards & loans can be a slippery slope.

Yolina

I'm 40 and never had problems managing money, which I have my parents and grandparents to thank for as they've always taught me that you budget and never spend all the money you've got coming in because you need to save some up 1) for when the SHTF and 2) for treats and "nice" things. So I've always been a saver.

sweetme

From about 35/36 when I split from my husband. I've never been in the red since and now have savings for a rainy day.

victory

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

I had a deposit account at the age of 5 for christmas money.

I had a PO savings account and a Girobank current account at 15.

Credit cards at 18, only ever not been paid off in total every month after major purchases (I guess fewer than five times ever).

Even when unemployed I saved money into my ISA out of my JSA.

Wow that is fantastic:D

lilmisskitkat

I left home at 19 to move into a rented house with my DD1 who had just turned 3, i was on income support, did 2 evenings a week work (permitted work) and was at college part time. I managed because i had to, never missed a bill and never ran up any debt aside from the initial £700 budgetting loan for furniture etc from the DSS (paid back weekly from my IS). Ok i ate lots of beans on toast and 8p noodles lol but i was content and DD had everything she needed. Many a night i sat in the dark wrapped in a quilt to save the gas and leccy. I was very lucky and my parents and grandparents used to help me with odds and ends but i was fiercely independent and was determined to prove i could manage.

Now fast forward 8 yrs, i'm married with 2 more children. I'm a SAHM and manage all the budgetting/bills etc. It is easier now as there is more to play with, more lee-way but i still have my 'single-mum' mindset of the fear that the bills wont be paid or we wont have enough food or the kids will need something and we dont have the money so i still budget very very carefully which allows us to have everything we need and there is money left for a few treats.

So i suppose i've been good with money all my adult life *polishes halo* :rotfl: I just have a deep-rooted fear of debt and not being able to pay our way. Aside from the mortgage we have no debt, no credit cards or anything on payment scheme. Our house may be more shabby than chic but everything in it is ours, bought and paid for

K xx

TeamLowe

me and DH struggled a bit at first but more him than me, he spends without thinking.
bills were always paid but he was always borrowing money off me even though he earned 6k more than me. in an odd way it didn't help that his wage kept going up as to him that meant there was more to spend so why worry.

we're better now its me in charge of all the money but it is hard to learn the discipline if you've never had to pay rent before

Mrs_Z

I have always been pretty ok. The only time when I kind of had problems when I moved into an office job that was paid monthly whereas in my previous job I had been paid weekly. At first I noticed that the money run out either after 2 or 3 weeks.

Then I devised a system. First of all, I would pay all my bills when I got paid, then put a little bit into a savings pot and whatever was left I'd divide either by 4 or 5 (no of weeks on that month). That would give me the amount I could spend in a week. That way, if I ran out - i'd only have to wait for another couple of days before I could take out the next week's allowance. So effectively I was 'paying' myself weekly.

Owain_Moneysaver

mulberrytree wrote: »

End of the year I will break into it and go to the coincash machines in ASDA and cash it all in

Don't they charge commission?

Pee

It's been gradual. Some stuff is obvious and some I've made mistakes with. I'd be worried if I hadn't learnt anything.

redwasp

Hi there,

I went to Uni when I was 18. and set myself a budget every week based on what I knew was coming in, and what I thought would be going out. At first it wasn't perfect, but it got better the more practise I had at it!

I also didn't get a credit card, as I just thought that was too tempting, but now I do have one, but I just pay it off at the end of every month...I am probably a bit over-cautious, but I think it pays to be in the end.

Just sit down and work out roughly what you spend on each area; food, going out, make-up, etc. and then what you are bringing in. Then you can see where you need to cut back, and it'll help you longer term.

Hope that helps.