How to fall in love with saving money

cathybird

hi JoJoC! Yes, I love baking. Actually I wish I could hand out sweet treats to people on MSE but they'd have to be virtual. I have a hard time not letting my sweet tooth get the better of me though. People at my workplace don't seem to celebrate their birthdays like that, which is a shame - I wish people brought in cakes for their birthday. What were your Easter-based treats, by the way? ...

I had a terrifically busy day today and not particularly MSE as I didn't get the time to make lunch to take to work but heigh ho, tomorrow is another day. I suppose we've all got to cut ourselves a little bit of slack sometimes.

JIL

Hi Cathy
Just popped by to say hello.
Not been able to save too much this month but May should see some healthy progress. Have also had to send some money to my student son. Car insurance, service and Mot were also this month.
I did get some cash back. Husbands mobile phone was up for renewal so got £40 cb. Not bad for £11.99 per month contract. Also got £60 cb on my car insurance. So just waiting until that's payable.
Husband also did some overtime. So that will be paid in May. But I think he wants that to go on a Spanish holiday.
Keep saving x

JoJoC

Just popping in quickly to say that speaking of baking, I'm planning to make a kiwi cake with lemon frosting next week while I'm off! The picture looks AMAZING. I'm rather looking forward to devouring it!

cathybird

hi JoJoC! This thread has been quiet the last couple of days. I hope everyone is having an MSE time. I was out drinking last night with some friends, only due to my booze-free routine I wasn't actually drinking and stuck to water pretty much, which made the evening a lot cheaper than it otherwise would have been.

I've started reading an interesting book called "How to Worry Less About Money", by John Armstrong - it's part of the "School of Life" series set up by Alain de Botton, which takes a philosophical slant towards practical life questions. It's a very good read so far, will report back on it later.

atush

cathybird wrote: »

Well I forgot to post yesterday! The weird thing is I could have sworn I had, but no. I think I forgot to because I made my work colleagues choccy bikkies and that tends to take my mind off everything else, as I worry about whether people will eat them, etc. It is a nice recipe, hardly any flour and a massive blast of chocolate, so very chewy and fudgy, more like a brownie. It calls for hazelnuts but I made them with pecans. I might make it a semi-regular thing - I love baking, but live on my own, and I can't very well eat a whole cake so have to find someone to share it with.

Work is offering a Save For Shares programme. Do I want to save to buy shares in my workplace? I don't know if I do because, without saying where I actually work, a) I've pretty much stuck to passive index investing and don't want any particular company's shares per se and b) I'm saving already and it seems to be working pretty well. The argument for taking part is I do get the shares at a 20% discount, or my money back if they have dropped below the value of whatever I saved. What do people think? ... I'm already investing a small amount in the scheme but if I had the time over am not sure I would have done that.

I hope everyone is having an MSE day. Sunny where I am, a bit cold, but the blossom on the trees in the street is beautiful. I love where I live.

I would always advise using a sharesave scheme and grab that discount. We had one going all thru the recession so our strike rate never worked out. But we got the cash plus some interest so didn't lose out.

As said above, if you dont want single shares, sell them, take your TF profit and invest the proceeds as you prefer.

atush

cathybird wrote: »

hi JoJoC! This thread has been quiet the last couple of days. I hope everyone is having an MSE time. I was out drinking last night with some friends, only due to my booze-free routine I wasn't actually drinking and stuck to water pretty much, which made the evening a lot cheaper than it otherwise would have been.

I've started reading an interesting book called "How to Worry Less About Money", by John Armstrong - it's part of the "School of Life" series set up by Alain de Botton, which takes a philosophical slant towards practical life questions. It's a very good read so far, will report back on it later.

Sorry if i've been quiet, I am on my family holiday lol. Seems we are down to one a year now. And still minus one boy (who is moving out this WE- how the years pass lol).

I am working hard on my holiday (painting and cutting back hedges and palm trees) but I am sure you don't feel sorry for me in the FL sun lol. Although I cna't swim in the pool as the pool heater is on the fritz and am awaiting the repair guy today. Will commence having fun when the others arrive on saturday- trying to get as much work done before they get here as poss.

As for MSE, I do this work so I dont' have to pay someone to do it, and I have eaten on the cheap. Breakfast Wed for $15US, lunch Thurs for $23 US. This is for two peeps incl tax and tip. Not too bad. Also got some new patio furniture (rentals ride a house hard and 4 of 6 of the old chairs had breakage problems) under 250 quid at a sale discount of 40%. This was a good quality table and 6 chairs w/cushions.

cathybird

hi atush! I thought you'd been quiet Have fun on your holiday. The FL sun sounds absolutely wonderful, though we did manage a glorious sunny day today here Sounds like you got a pretty good price on your furniture (and your food). Ages since I swam in a pool in the sun, sounds lovely. Are you there for a while, or back soon? ...

Thanks for the advice on the sharesave scheme. Eco Miser says the same. I think I'll go for it.

cathybird

JIL wrote: »

Hi Cathy
Just popped by to say hello.
Not been able to save too much this month but May should see some healthy progress. Have also had to send some money to my student son. Car insurance, service and Mot were also this month.
I did get some cash back. Husbands mobile phone was up for renewal so got £40 cb. Not bad for £11.99 per month contract. Also got £60 cb on my car insurance. So just waiting until that's payable.
Husband also did some overtime. So that will be paid in May. But I think he wants that to go on a Spanish holiday.
Keep saving x

Yes, I've had a slowish month in terms of savings and April might be a bit the same but May onwards should be easier. I really want to reach my target of £12,000 and I think I ought to be able to do it. £40 cashback is great, was that through Topcashback? ... I have car tax, insurance and breakdown cover this month too - it certainly makes a bit of a dent.

atush

cathybird wrote: »

hi atush! I thought you'd been quiet Have fun on your holiday. The FL sun sounds absolutely wonderful, though we did manage a glorious sunny day today here Sounds like you got a pretty good price on your furniture (and your food). Ages since I swam in a pool in the sun, sounds lovely. Are you there for a while, or back soon? ...

Thanks for the advice on the sharesave scheme. Eco Miser says the same. I think I'll go for it.

I am back the 29th.

I had an afternoon in London on my way out. Was rainy but the 8th when I flew from LHR it was glorious sunshine if a little cool. Was cool for here when I arrived (low 70's) but is heating up to 80's now. Am painting this am, going to Ft Myers to pick up the OH and Twin 1 later today. Pool heater fixed- yeah!

cathybird

atush wrote: »

I am back the 29th.

I had an afternoon in London on my way out. Was rainy but the 8th when I flew from LHR it was glorious sunshine if a little cool. Was cool for here when I arrived (low 70's) but is heating up to 80's now. Am painting this am, going to Ft Myers to pick up the OH and Twin 1 later today. Pool heater fixed- yeah!

Have fun in the pool. London has had some absolutely beautiful days recently - lovely spring blossom too.