How to enjoy life without constantly worrying about money

ilovelondontown

The long and short of it, like many I wish I could improve my financial situation and it's something I'm constantly working at improving. It's not terrible at the moment but could be a lot better. (We currently rent in London which hurts my head when if we had the chance to save it could be a mortgage) I'm on mat leave and my income is about to drop by 75%.

Anyway I digress. I'm sick of money being the second thought to everything I do, I want to enjoy life with my new 11 week old son and I can't.

So I ask you, how do you separate money thoughts/ worries with the ability to just enjoy your life?

chanie

In answer to your question, it's been a long time and a hard slog, but I've started to find ways to enjoy life cheaply. When I was on mat leave with dc1, I couldn't help but spend e.g. car parking in town, then stopping for a cup of tea and some cake. By the time dc2 came along, I couldn't afford it, so I was forced to stop.

My children are getting older and are going to want to do fun days out and I don't want (lack of) money to stop our family time, so we've found creative ways to have fun but limiting the spending:

When going to town, I park in the free supermarket and walk the extra 15 minutes. It means I'm literally in and out, as I'm only allowed 1 hour, but it saves £3.

I look for cheap/free events in the local paper, online and the council's website and take advantage of those.

We take our own food and drink with us, to save money, but may get an ice cream as a treat.

I look on the freebie boards on this site and take up any good offers. For example, I can get free hot drinks at ikea and waitrose, so I take advantage of those.

As your baby is so young, they don't need entertaining, so whatever you do is for you. I also live in London and there are so many great things to do cheaply or free. For example:

See the sights of London - walk along the Thames, visit pArliament, Buckingham palace etc.

The museums are free. Avoid school holidays and you will be fine.

Top up your oyster card, bring a packed lunch and flask of tea or coffee. You can easily have a nice day out for under £5.

theoretica

Do your money thinking thoroughly enough that you have a plan and know you have thought about things, know what your budget is and how you can stick to it. A lot of worry is because of the unknown, so cut right down on them.

suki1964

Come on over to the old style money saving board, we cam make a pound stretch as far as a fiver


Seriously it's a scary place to be , looking at such a decreased income, but believe it or not it only takes ( from own experience ) about 3 months doing old style before you notice your account is back to balance, without missing out on treats

oldtractor

Old Style board is great.
Also can you downsize your house/car/holidays/clothes? Borrow books from the library, go out less unless its free like walks etc

carefullycautious

None of this is any different to what we had to do 35 plus years ago with our children.


you will soon become very inventive and also teach your children a very important lesson in life regarding money management.


Spoiling children only creates selfish adults who have no idea how to budget wisely when they fly the nest.


Imaginative play is so important and costs nothing. Enjoy your time with your children as it goes so fast.

bylromarha

Simple answer is make/slim down your budget using the wealth of info on here, stick to it, and choose to not live in the worries - retrain your brain to respond to the money thoughts with "we've thought about that, and we made a plan"

meritaten

Do you HAVE to live in London? could you or your partner get a job elsewhere? because 'relocating' may improve your lifestyle. it sounds like you want to get on the property ladder and cant. which from what I see of London property prices .............its beyond the reach of 'ordinary' people.