What’s the ONE Money-Saving Habit That Changed Your Life?

Hoenir

Take care of the pennies and pounds look after themselves. 

ColdIron

Hoenir said:

Take care of the pennies and pounds look after themselves. 

Penny wise, pound foolish   

fun4everyone

Investing.

HedgehogRulez

Marry into money 

jaypers

Easier said than done but in later life the ethos of never paying anyone any interest ever again. Makes a hell of a difference.

Jami74

Plan your meals and drinks. Eg: If you know you are going to buy an energy drink and a chocolate bar every day from the local shop/work canteen then buy a multi pack from the supermarket instead. Same with takeaway foods, if you always want pizza/Chinese on a Friday, buy from supermarket on shopping day and stick it in the freezer.

n15h

When i first started working full time and was building savings for house deposit, I read somewhere that if you wanted to buy something impulsive, can you afford to buy 3 of the same item? If no, walk away and don't think about it till you can afford to buy 3. If you can buy 3, what have you been doing until now without the item?

That was a shift in my mindset that helped build stronger saving habits and think twice about impulsive buys.

kimwp

n15h said:

When i first started working full time and was building savings for house deposit, I read somewhere that if you wanted to buy something impulsive, can you afford to buy 3 of the same item? If no, walk away and don't think about it till you can afford to buy 3. If you can buy 3, what have you been doing until now without the item?

That was a shift in my mindset that helped build stronger saving habits and think twice about impulsive buys.

What do you do if you can buy three to start with?

Beddie

Apart from a house and maybe a car, do not borrow money for anything. Save up or do without. Interest free credit is okay, but never pay interest on a loan.

MarzipanCrumble

Separating my income from my husband's.  I am a saver, he was a spender.  Didn't mind this as his income compensated his spending (higher earner by far).  But by separating when married and in 1970's (not normal separating then) I had control of my own money.