Have You Always Been Bad At Managing Money?

in_debt_again_but_dealing_with_it

Can I join in??? I've always been a spender too, never saved much in my life, never more than a couple of £100 and didn't hold onto that for very long. My motto seems to be "have money will spend" and prior to lbm "don't have money but still spending!!" My earliest memory of extravagant spending was on my 9th birthday, it was a Saturday, mum was at work in the morning and I'd received about 40p birthday money (quite a lot in 1973 - honest) instead of waiting for mum to come home from work and taking me into town I rushed to our local Woolies and bought a Remmington 44 Pistol (cowboy gun) and some caps (remember them??) when I got home with my treasure my older brothers laughed at first (a girl with a cowboy gun!) but then reminded me how mad mum would be, I tried to take it back but had lost the receipt and Woolies wouldn't give me my money back - mum went mad as predicted but I didn't learn any lessons (and I did love that gun!!)!!

girltuesday_2

I was always crap with money. I'm a lot better now, but that's because I make myself budget etc - it still doesn't come naturally to me AT ALL. I had a little bad patch last year and managed to spunk about £1500 on a credit card within a fortnight without even trying...

My Mum is good with money, my Dad is terrible. When I was growing up they fought about money all the time. But basically Dad just spent what he wanted, when he wanted - which is a habit I inherited...!

Seaxwyn

No, I was always been good with money, didn't get into debt and saved up for what I wanted.

I got into debt at university (I think it's inevitable) but paid it all off within six months of finishing by working hard.

My OH is completely useless with money. For the first years of our relationshp I was always paying off his debts.

What did for us was taking on a large mortgage and having a fourth child at the same time in 2001. I got a HUGE tax bill three months later and things really went downhill then.

Thankfully, and largely due to this site, I think my good money management nature has reasserted itself and the debt is no longer getting worse, even if its not getting better very fast.

Swishter

I've always been rubbish with money, dreaming of what I could spend it on.... I've always had the mentality that being at -£1K in a £1K overdraft was zero and £0 meant I had loads of money left. I have a 500 overdraft now and when working out what my money is when its minus it really is minus! Fingers crossed with some hard work I am getting out of that damn thing this month!

I'd did the sick with worry, consolidate, then go out and spend the extra all the time!

I was the same as a child, I think that part of me came out in other ways too. When me and my bro got some sweets (if he hadn't ask for the cash first to put in his savings account - freak) I would gobble mine up straight away whilst he would have one at a time and make me really jealous because he had some left!

beemuzed

I think I was always fairly good with money as a child - there wasn't much around! Full grant for FE (those were the days!) and I managed even to include the coach fare to stay with future DH at w/es!
As with many others, it was the first credit card that led me to go astray - didn't seem as if I was actually spending real money at all!
Now, with just over a year to retirement (DH already semi-retired) I have huge incentive to clear all debts. Would hate my lump sum to disappear paying for things I've already forgotten about! I want to use it to travel and see all the things I've missed so far!

livinginhope

Evening SS,
I come a family who,until about 20 years ago didn't have 2 pennies to rub together,my parents were terrible with money,dad was a compulsive gambler and mum just worked every hour god sent to keep the bailiffs at bay.
When I grew up and left home,I was determined NEVER to get myself into the same state my parents did,I was one of those boring people with the little notebook and calculator in Asda,counting EVERY penny as I shopped,my parents became millionaires,through hard work,then unfortunately went bust,they are now millionaires again,but still bad with money.
I carried on with my frugal life until I got into the mess I'm in 2 years ago,(you all know the story )I can honestly say,that after getting into this deep trouble,I have become MORE careless with money I now find myself with a bit of an attitude of 'well we might not be here tomorrow,what the hell!' I try so hard to save,but just don't seem to be able to get back my old ways,I wish I could,so I come on here confessing my spends in the hope that one day my old self will return :rolleyes:

GirlRacer_2

I've always been really bad with money. If I had had a budget of £10 I'd spend £20!!!

Iguana

I'm probably better at managing money now; however when I first started earning (a paper round) it was spend spend spend; probably because I never had any money to spend before!
I would say I am not particularly brilliant at managing my money but I live within my means; I have a reasonable amount of savings, a pension scheme, two isa's and various other savings. I (mostly) pay off my credit card in full!
The importantant thing to me is to have some savings, because when my children were younger all we had were debts; my husband had cardboard in his shoes when they developed holes, rather than buy new ones

kathfisch

No, I was a kid who liked to save and didn't really have much to spend money on. I never struggled for money because of this - I didn't want much and didn't have any essential outgoings! This could be the problem though because when I went away to university I didn't budget at all. I let spending become an emotional crutch as well as having to pay bills etc and ended up in debt.

tigtag02

I think this is the easiest question I have ever been asked - :rotfl:

In a word - YES!!!

I have had many sleepless nights worrying about how much money I owe and when it was all paid off I vowed that I would never be in that situatuon again!!

I haven't (touch wood) but still spend what we have so haven't totally leant my lesson!!

My 14yr old DD worries me too coz she spends everything she gets!!! I hope and pray she wont end up like I did!!