Have You Always Been Bad At Managing Money?

Molanole

Now the odd thing with me is that I manage a budget of millions at work and scrutinise the expenditure to the very last penny. If only I'd had that same drive regarding my personal finances :rotfl:

I always used to have to work for any money I got, hoovering and such when I was 11/12. Got my first job in a shop at 16 and was very good with money. The crunch point came when I went to uni and suddenly discovered CREDIT!! A whole new world of opportunity of which I was decidely ignorant about the consequences. Lo and behold, some shocking decisions about consolidation, failing to understand compound interest, or indeed take notice of interest rates at all and I now find myself here.

Thank god I did find here though. I dread to think where I'd be without it!

immoral_angeluk

I was and I wasn't. I was never terrible with money but never great either. DH on the other hand is just like his mum and brother... CLUELESS! LOL.

southernscouser

Hmmm. See growing up my mum and dad didn't have a lot of money at all. In fact we only got by due to inheritance from my nan dying.

On one hand I think maybe that should have taught me to appreicate money more. But on the other hand money was so tight that any I did get was a rareity so I felt I had to treat myself! :think:


Interesting about parents though! My mum is great with money, as is my brother. My dad, well he is/was like me! A spender! :doh:

newleaf

Yes, same here. Money has always burnt a hole in my pocket. We were pretty hard up when I was a kid and on the rare occasion I got my hands on any cash :j I would spend it straight away, usually on sweets - which I wasn't normally allowed to have.
As an adult, wages were always spent as soon as they were received, and sometimes before. Getting a Barclaycard at 18 was the worst thing that could have happened to me, I just carried on spending with no thought of consequences. Here I am, 30 years on, paying a heavy price.
My mum is really good with money though, never owed anyone a penny, saved up for what she needed, never had a loan or credit card, and tried very hard to instill the same values into me. Don't know why I never took it on board really.

southernscouser

Lucy1982 wrote: »

I'm going to learn money management and it starts here!!

You need to start picking better men aswell! Wink, wink!

immoral_angeluk

southernscouser wrote: »

Hmmm. See growing up my mum and dad didn't have a lot of money at all. In fact we only got by due to inheritance from my nan dying.

On one hand I think maybe that should have taught me to appreicate money more. But on the other hand money was so tight that any I did get was a rareity so I felt I had to treat myself! :think:


Interesting about parents though! My mum is great with money, as is my brother. My dad, well he is/was like me! A spender! :doh:

My parents had a lot of debt, my dad (not that I call him that anymore but that's a whole different story!) is AWFUL with money. He cons, scrounges and defrauds anyone and everyone for every last penny and benefit he can get. He then either ignores his bills ortries to sue them for some crap so he doesn't have to pay. I'd hate to be sorting out his estate when he cops it.

southernscouser

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

DH on the other hand is just like his mum and brother... CLUELESS! LOL.

And whats he like with money?

chevalier

I was a young child during the 70s when being a one parent household was still pretty unusual. So I saw how hard my mum worked to stay in our house, and to have a relatively ok life. Apparently I always wanted to know who had had my 'new' clothes first:D . When it came to uni I was lucky to get a grant for most of it, and I worked every holiday too, so I came out of uni with much less debt than now a days. But it was meeting my now OH that got me sorted about credit cards and how much you pay if you have minimum payments.

So we have always saved. Or had 0% deals which we always paid off by the end of the 0% period. Now that we are on one income, it is a lot harder, and we are dipping slightly into an overdraft each month. But that has just spurred me on to ebay more, and do surveys and things, so that I have some me money!

But we also had a childrens bank in school, so we got used to saving in that, and what interest was etc. Do they still do those?
chev

BlondeHeadOn

I'm kind of schizophrenic about money management. I used to be really good when I was a kid - saved my Saturday job money for 18 months to go on a school holiday, saved my small 'pre-inheritance gift' from my grandparents for 10 years (10 years? :eek: - why can't I still be like that???) So I had a deposit for when I wanted to buy a house, and generally was very careful. Then...

.... I went to university and blew my entire first term's grant on a huge shopping spree in Manchester town centre :eek: :eek: :eek: (this was in the days when we still got grants - and I had a full grant, being from a dirt poor family). I had to live on baked potatoes and cheapie shop baked beans all the rest of the term (on the plus side, I did lose weight as I couldn't afford food or bus fares :rotfl: ).

And I still kind of ricochet between being frugal and a complete spendthrift - and then laying awake all night panicking about being a spendthrift - then spending again the following day. Argghh :eek: :eek: :eek:

Is anyone else like this, or am I a complete freak?

immoral_angeluk

southernscouser wrote: »

And whats he like with money?

Even worse! lol