How to fall in love with saving money

cathybird

tara747 wrote: »

Thing is, for a lot of people it is out of necessity. And lots of them don't work full-time.

That is true - I hadn't thought of that. I'd love to have the time to bake my own bread too, but like you I just don't. Maybe some day Anyway, I'm quite sure that if I keep posting here I'll cut back naturally anyway and as long as I'm saving £1,000 a month it doesn't matter so much - starting to save money is the main thing.

YoungBusinessman

cathybird wrote: »

Drinks are on you! :beer::beer::beer::beer:

No no no, I'm saving!!!! Drink is evil, spend so much on nights out, one of the main things I can easy cut back on that I will have a go at doing. And when I do go out sneak a wee hipper flask or simply don't drink much! My boss is a multi millionaire speaking about £60million+ net worth. He got caught with a bald tyre on his jeep at the weekend and fined. That's how greedy he is. Another example of many how some of the extremely weathy try to be the most frugal alyhkught is class driving with a bald tyre stupid.

tara747

cathybird wrote: »

That is true - I hadn't thought of that. I'd love to have the time to bake my own bread too, but like you I just don't. Maybe some day Anyway, I'm quite sure that if I keep posting here I'll cut back naturally anyway and as long as I'm saving £1,000 a month it doesn't matter so much - starting to save money is the main thing.

Exactly! I love the OS board, but I'm realistic enough to know that I can't do everything. But it certainly has saved me a few quid and given me lots of tips!

I also love the 'make do and mend' principles of OS, I've become much greener since discovering it. :A

cathybird

YoungBusinessman wrote: »

No no no, I'm saving!!!! Drink is evil, spend so much on nights out, one of the main things I can easy cut back on that I will have a go at doing. And when I do go out sneak a wee hipper flask or simply don't drink much! My boss is a multi millionaire speaking about £60million+ net worth. He got caught with a bald tyre on his jeep at the weekend and fined. That's how greedy he is. Another example of many how some of the extremely weathy try to be the most frugal alyhkught is class driving with a bald tyre stupid.

YoungBusinessman, I have bought a wee hipper flask so I can do that very thing too!! Great minds :T:rotfl:

cathybird

tara747 wrote: »

Exactly! I love the OS board, but I'm realistic enough to know that I can't do everything. But it certainly has saved me a few quid and given me lots of tips!

I also love the 'make do and mend' principles of OS, I've become much greener since discovering it. :A

There is that aspect of it too - less expense on stuff = less waste - and actually I'm pretty happy to make do and mend on clothes, shoes etc - also on phones, and that sort of gadget - I don't need the latest thing all the time - I only very recently bothered to get a smartphone after having had the same mobile for about a decade. :rotfl: I must have a look at the board though when I get a mo. I bet it is full of useful stuff.

Eco_Miser

cathybird wrote: »

The thing is I am a little embarrassed about my budget anyway because £30 a week is more than some people on the MSE forums spend - some seem to live on the smell of an oily rag But I love food and I love cooking, I have a whole bookcase full of cookbooks alone, and I know I'm only going to cut it back so far. If I try to live on £50 a month I'll manage that for a few short weeks and then I'll completely lose it, and run amok in Waitrose, or somewhere else expensive and tempting So there's no point my trying, in one sense, and the same with books, though I should certainly cut back on both.

So you went over budget on food this month - but it wasn't a real budget based on what you need or want to eat, but the amount left over after your planned savings and other spending - so it wasn't particularly realistic. Look through your spending diary and see where the money went. Decide if each meal was value for money, or if you could have had one just as good for less, or if you were just habit-eating, and revise your budget according to what you actually spent, or should have spent.
You're not cutting back on food to pay your bills, but to save for retirement. You can cut back gradually. Don't get discouraged. Don't think you have to cut back even more to make up for the overspend.
Don't be embarrassed that your food spending is so much more than mine (or the oily rag smellers), your income is also much more than mine. Don't be embarrased about that either, I've retired early, knowing there would be a few lean years before the pension kicks in.
Incidentally, I spent over £80 on food in October, little indulgences quickly add up.

You love food, so you're not going to cut down to supermarkets' value brands (even I don't), and possibly not even own brands - if it tastes worse, why should you? But you also like cooking and have loads of cookbooks and an allotment. Surely you can prepare good, healthy, tasty meals from cheaper ingredients? Not that I could.

On books though, stop buying during your current challenge, hold back until the January sales.

Meanwhile your savings are on track, even if your spending is over. I guess that means you started by stocking up, and you'll be cutting your spending as the month goes on.

:T:TWell done on getting this far:T:T

cathybird

Eco_Miser wrote: »

So you went over budget on food this month - but it wasn't a real budget based on what you need or want to eat, but the amount left over after your planned savings and other spending - so it wasn't particularly realistic.

That's true - it was just a punt at a budget rather than a real budget But I do know it's possible to eat well for £30 a week and (as you have shown) even less, so I thought I'd try.

You love food, so you're not going to cut down to supermarkets' value brands (even I don't), and possibly not even own brands - if it tastes worse, why should you? But you also like cooking and have loads of cookbooks and an allotment. Surely you can prepare good, healthy, tasty meals from cheaper ingredients? Not that I could.

Yes, and I planned pretty well in terms of basic meals and have plenty left in the freezer, so may well be able to make December a little cheaper.

On books though, stop buying during your current challenge, hold back until the January sales.

In fact I hardly ever buy books at full price anyway - it's so easy via second-hand sales on Amazon and discount outlets to get cheap books anyway - too easy really :rotfl:. I bought a book yesterday for 1p on Amazon (though obviously it's £2.81 once postage is added). I should keep track of it here though, just to be accountable.

Meanwhile your savings are on track, even if your spending is over. I guess that means you started by stocking up, and you'll be cutting your spending as the month goes on.

:T:TWell done on getting this far:T:T

Thanks I'll take heart from what you've said, Eco Miser - it really helps that people here are prepared to chip in with encouragement.

cathybird

Interestingly, speaking for myself (***warning, I am about to start rambling out loud***), I wonder if the reason people spend rather than save is it alleviates boredom a lot better, but also, if you spend in small amounts all the time (which is what I did/do, frittering it away), you feel in a weird way as though you are making a sort of progress because there is constant change. If I go on Amazon and buy a book for the Kindle I get the satisfaction of all that information in the book there at my fingertips - it feels like a new and weighty addition to what I have in my life. Whereas savings obviously is a lot slower, unless you can put something towards it every day. But most people are going to add to their savings once a month, when they get paid. What do you do for the rest of the month to feel as though you're making progress? Look at your savings pot every day? But it doesn't update till you add to it or the interest gets paid on it. So it doesn't feel as though you are making progress. I'm not so much talking about instant gratification or novelty, both factors in spending, but a sense of adding to what you have, which (ironically) you seem to get more with spending, because the addition (the object you have bought) is there in front of you. But it's a false sense of progress, because actually you're taking away from what you have - it's subtraction, not addition. Savings is the real process of addition, but, oddly, it doesn't really feel like addition. It feels like stagnation.

Anyway, just mulling over the whole psychology of saving vs spending out loud, but that's where the "save £10 every day" thread is a good idea, because it keeps the sense of "adding to the pot" (ie progress) constant. (Also where a savings diary is a good idea, or even just hanging round on MSE, because you can post here, thus feeling that you've made a small change, even though you haven't really ). If you can't do something small every day or every couple of days, you may feel that nothing is happening and your savings plan has ground to a halt. If I feel I've ground to a halt, I get restless, and start looking round for a change I can make to what I'm doing. The easiest way to make a change is to spend some money.

So, instead of doing that, I'm going to make a phone call to that pesky car rental company that still hasn't returned my damn deposit, and I'm going to look for an item I can put on eBay. Change!! Hurrah!!!

dreaming

cathybird wrote: »

In fact I hardly ever buy books at full price anyway - it's so easy via second-hand sales on Amazon and discount outlets to get cheap books anyway - too easy really :rotfl:. I bought a book yesterday for 1p on Amazon (though obviously it's £2.81 once postage is added). I should keep track of it here though, just to be accountable.

Ha! This was me a few months ago. I prided myself on never paying full price for books/Kindle downloads but when I added it up all the 2 and 3 pound spends it came to rather a lot. Although I do still download to my Kindle I limit it now to £10/month and use the local library instead of buying. I also ask for book vouchers for Xmas and birthday gifts so I can still get my fix.
When I sorted my budget out for November (on the first of the month) I allowed £20/week for "odds & sods" but still had £8 left from the previous week so I haven't yet taken the cash out of the bank. This morning I have about £3.50 left of the £8 - plenty for a big bar of chocolate for Saturday night so I wont get the cash from the bank until next week.
I think it is the small spends which are harder to manage sometimes but you are doing well. Even 2 steps forward and 1 back is still moving forwards.

tara747

cathybird wrote: »

Interestingly, speaking for myself (***warning, I am about to start rambling out loud***), I wonder if the reason people spend rather than save is it alleviates boredom a lot better, but also, if you spend in small amounts all the time (which is what I did/do, frittering it away), you feel in a weird way as though you are making a sort of progress because there is constant change. If I go on Amazon and buy a book for the Kindle I get the satisfaction of all that information in the book there at my fingertips - it feels like a new and weighty addition to what I have in my life. Whereas savings obviously is a lot slower, unless you can put something towards it every day. But most people are going to add to their savings once a month, when they get paid. What do you do for the rest of the month to feel as though you're making progress? Look at your savings pot every day? But it doesn't update till you add to it or the interest gets paid on it. So it doesn't feel as though you are making progress. I'm not so much talking about instant gratification or novelty, both factors in spending, but a sense of adding to what you have, which (ironically) you seem to get more with spending, because the addition (the object you have bought) is there in front of you. But it's a false sense of progress, because actually you're taking away from what you have - it's subtraction, not addition. Savings is the real process of addition, but, oddly, it doesn't really feel like addition. It feels like stagnation.

Anyway, just mulling over the whole psychology of saving vs spending out loud, but that's where the "save £10 every day" thread is a good idea, because it keeps the sense of "adding to the pot" (ie progress) constant. (Also where a savings diary is a good idea, or even just hanging round on MSE, because you can post here, thus feeling that you've made a small change, even though you haven't really ). If you can't do something small every day or every couple of days, you may feel that nothing is happening and your savings plan has ground to a halt. If I feel I've ground to a halt, I get restless, and start looking round for a change I can make to what I'm doing. The easiest way to make a change is to spend some money.

So, instead of doing that, I'm going to make a phone call to that pesky car rental company that still hasn't returned my damn deposit, and I'm going to look for an item I can put on eBay. Change!! Hurrah!!!

This is absolutely spot on, and something that I've noticed in myself.

A few years ago, I got into the habit of buying lots of stuff on Grabbits and returning most of it (if it didn't fit/I changed my mind etc). It was weird, but returning it gave me as much of a buzz as buying it - probably more so, as I was getting money back. It is the 'constant change' idea.

I recognised what I was doing, and that's when I started eBaying. It gave me lots of little 'transactions' every week, and money was coming in rather than going out. Even though it was only a small amount each time, it was great to see my savings increase and it kept me busy. :rotfl:

The £10 a day challenges are great (though I don't take part) because there's a sense of achievement and a buzz about 'making progress'. I try to 'make progress' by keeping a daily spending diary - I've done this ever since I joined MSE almost 7 years ago, and it's the best thing I've ever done.

Also, as I work in a city centre, it's hard to stay away from the shops, so I always have to have something to do at lunchtimes e.g. going for a walk or meeting someone for coffee, just to keep me from going shopping! And it works - mostly.

My weakness is charity shops. I can't walk past them! I can easily spend £10 in one go, but I'm always chuffed to bits with my bargains. And I get SO much for my money compared with ordinary shops - so it's very cheap retail therapy. Pus I'm giving to charity, so it makes me feel good! :A

Brilliant analysis. :T