How to fall in love with saving money

Eco_Miser

No, by instant food I meant, you walk into (or up to) a catering establishment, pay money, and walk out eating food, or sit down and eat it there. Lovely for treats, but hammers the budget if used daily.

cathybird

Eco_Miser wrote: »

No, by instant food I meant, you walk into (or up to) a catering establishment, pay money, and walk out eating food, or sit down and eat it there. Lovely for treats, but hammers the budget if used daily.

ah I get you. I haven't done that since setting up the budget either tho

cathybird

TheFactory wrote: »

This is how I fell in love with saving this year

New years eve I challenged myself to pay off all my debts in 2013, I decided that I would get my head down, not refuse any overtime offered and although I would allow myself the odd night out I really decided to kurb my spending and basicly became quite boring (hard at 28!)

Boring is good. My plan is pretty much to be boring from now on in.

I now have more in savings than I have ever had before and its addicting watching the number rise!

I'm hoping it will have that effect on me too. :rotfl::A

Eco_Miser

cathybird wrote: »

ah I get you. I haven't done that since setting up the budget either tho

O.K. That's not where the money's going then. I'll stop making guesses about your eating habits, and let you get on with saving money.

cathybird

Eco_Miser wrote: »

O.K. That's not where the money's going then. I'll stop making guesses about your eating habits, and let you get on with saving money.

No, it isn't, but it wouldn't do me any harm to sit down with my grocery receipts and look long and hard about where it is going But it's okay for this month ... next month I'll do better (fingers crossed). Anyway, I do appreciate the time you've taken responding to my questions, Eco Miser - everything you've said is useful, you know.

YoungBusinessman

I also was really careless in the sense id buy a loaf and sandwich fillers for making work lunches then in morning if I didn't have time would leave it and get something at work meaning a lot of the stuff that was meant for work got wasted. I easy spent £10 a day on two tea breaks at work, total waste! Older lad who got me into saving said one day il realise the value of money a bit more and stop going shop everyday. Iv taken that on board now especially as guy who told me that is retiring at Xmas this year when he will be 58.

This thread is a great help, I don't thank many posts as I go on here on my iPhone mostly so it's a bit fidgety for that but just about all posts here are so good and some have points iv never thought of before. Getting a lot done at work so far this week, got a sober weekend in with the OH planned so hopefully no unnessesary spends for at least 2 weeks. All of my pay a week on Friday is getting saved should be £1,500ish, wonder where that money went before!!

cathybird

YoungBusinessman wrote: »

I also was really careless in the sense id buy a loaf and sandwich fillers for making work lunches then in morning if I didn't have time would leave it and get something at work meaning a lot of the stuff that was meant for work got wasted. I easy spent £10 a day on two tea breaks at work, total waste!

Easily done. I'm making a point of bringing lunch to work but it is time-consuming - easier just to buy it, but a waste of money, and you do have to be organised in the mornings, as you say.

This thread is a great help, I don't thank many posts as I go on here on my iPhone mostly so it's a bit fidgety for that but just about all posts here are so good and some have points iv never thought of before.

I'm finding it incredibly helpful too (including your posts, YoungBusinessman)

All of my pay a week on Friday is getting saved should be £1,500ish, wonder where that money went before!!

Yeah, I wonder where the money went too. Well, in fact I've got a good idea - on food and books. But it has to stop.

cathybird

Thanks maharani_m. It's interesting though, you know, because it's not the mechanics of saving money that represent a problem for me - I know how, and in fact it's quite simple. It's the psychology of it. It's a bit like losing weight, and more to the point, keeping it off. Losing weight is relatively simple (eat less than you expend in energy), just as saving money is simple (spend less than you bring in). The thing that's hard with losing weight (and saving money) is the desire to do so, not the means. Moreover, it's easier to lose weight (save for a while) than it is to keep it off (keep saving long-term) - give most people enough time and they'll put it back on. Similarly, I can go on a drive to save money for a while, but after a bit I'll lose the urge, and stop paying it so much attention, and then it's easy to start spending again. That's the hard bit for me

WantToBeSE

Hi again Cathy Do you have a running total of how much you have saved, or do you just log in to your OLB and look every week/day/second (if you are like me!)?

I hate to say it, but i find that saving money can sometimes be BORING! I guess i like the instant gratification of buying something, rather than waiting for a long time reward of having money to fall back on.

At the moment i am trying to remember a few times over the past few years where i have been unable to do things because of having no savings or literally having £0 in the bank.

But the day-to-day act of saving is boring to me..i wish i loved it!

tight_is_right

cathybird wrote: »

Similarly, I can go on a drive to save money for a while, but after a bit I'll lose the urge, and stop paying it so much attention, and then it's easy to start spending again. That's the hard bit for me

WantToBeSE wrote: »

But the day-to-day act of saving is boring to me..i wish i loved it!

I think you're looking at it from the wrong angle. Stop thinking of actively 'saving' money, think instead of 'not spending' money. Get the hang of this and you'll accumulate more which is your savings. It may sound like the same thing but I think there is a subtle difference, and once questioning your spending is normal I don't think you'll slip back to wasting money easily.