Birthday money?

JimmyTheWig

I see that your debt-free date is October 2016.
How about you lend the money to yourself until then?

If you're paying, say 30% interest on a credit card then paying £100 off now rather than in 18 months time will save around £50 interest.
So paying £100 off now with your birthday money means you will be debt-free £150 sooner than if you didn't.

You could charge yourself interest and treat it like a debt. So your last debt payment would be £150 paid to yourself. With which you could buy yourself something.
The question is "would you rather have £100 to spend on yourself now or £150 to spend on yourself in 18 months time?" A difficult one to answer.

sugarbaby125

My Birthday was on the 15th April. I got £40 Birthday money from one of my sister's and lots of lovely gifts from my 3 adult children and £10 from my 14 year old son. I bought the Sam Smith Deluxe CD I had long been hankering for with the £10. I then scoured eBay to get 3 pairs of shoes 2 tops and a skirt for £35.58 and then bought 4 hardback books from Poundland.

The items I bought for myself were just the moral booster that I needed, as I recently lost my job and am currently claiming JSA, so have to budget even more tightly than before. I am thankfully debt free, so that helps.

Please treat yourself. Consider what you really want to spend the money on, then get the best bargains available to you, then thoroughly enjoy your purchases. That is what the giver's of your Birthday money want you to do with the money.

My sister was astonished that I could buy so much with just £40 and leave a few pence change for my sealed money pot. Just as my son was delighted that I had my Sam Smith Deluxe CD at last.

When we are being frugal with our money, we need the odd time when we are just treating ourselves and Birthday money is given to us for us to treat ourselves, the trick is to do so wisely, then sit back and enjoy our purchases.

koselur

Hi all!

Many thanks for your advice and suggestions. I have decided to spend a chunk of the money on a train ticket to see friends which I would otherwise have been unable to afford or justify on my budget.

I have also spent a very little on some bits and pieces for summer that I didn't strictly need - two light scarves which were £2 each in Primark and a pair of glittery sandals!

There is a bit left over which I have put aside to decide what to do with. At the moment it is soaking up a bit of my overdraft so will reduce my fees on that until I've decided how/when to spend it.

Felt quite guilty treating myself but it was my birthday and I have done better than other years when I would have just frittered the money away on nothing!

fatpiggy

Ha ha, it was a standing joke with me that every penny I received for birthday or Christmas went straight to my vet! I had a horse with a huge drug habit and she swallowed up my budget with no effort whatsoever. She started as she meant to go on as the week I bought her I won £140 on the lottery and that paid for her pre-purchase vetting I got so used to going without just about everything that when I did have a few ££s to potentially spend on myself I couldn't think of anything I actually wanted to buy. So it always went towards a bill for something or other. Even now I'm horseless and have plenty of cash I still shop for bargains and haunt the charity shops - old habits die hard!

SeduLOUs

It depends with me. My birthday is early in January so historically it has always serviced the shortfall from an overspend at Xmas.

Now that I'm more on top of my money I usually use it for a treat rather than sticking it in savings.

I use any work bonuses (which are generally larger) as a nice stick to beat a credit card with and that always feels fantastic!