Being ‘tight’ with money - how tight are you with yours?

pollyanna24 wrote: »

Like others, I think it depends on your situation. People would see me as tight, but I am a single mum to two kids with a job that mightn't last that much longer.

I overpay my mortgage to the point where I am tight with everything else, but then I am mortgaged up to my eyeballs due to various things that have happened in my life.

For me it's about financial security. Once I get the monthly payment down to what I feel I can pay on a lower paid job (as I doubt I will get one that pays what I get now), then I might let myself relax a little.

You aren't tight, you are wise.

I am a tiny bit obsessed with becoming financially independent so I'm currently saving most of my income. I call myself semi-frugal as I do sometimes splurge on things I don't really need.

Once I'm financially independent it will give me options on what to do with the rest of my life: if I want to travel (on a budget) for a year or volunteer I have the option to do it. If I want to live in luxury I can work for that priviledge. But I won't have to do a job I don't enjoy anymore just to survive.

My ex was 'tight' with money. I remember he once bought me flowers and when I thanked him he replied with: "I got them on special".

I would call myself frugal rather than tight

I buy yellow sticker meat at the supermarket (lidl) and freeze until I need it. I aim to get our food bill around £50 a week for 4 of us. I also shop around for bargains, pay a reasonable amount into my pension, make do and mend as much as possible. I don't see the point in paying more for neccessities than I have to.

However I did recently pay for myself and 6 friends to stay overnight in a hotel in Brighton because I am the most well off and got a bonus and wanted to have a weekend away and some of the others are financially struggling so I shouted the hotel (a 3 bed and a 4 bed room in a hotel for £400 between us all) - It made me happy to share a bit of my good fortune.

Nothing wrong with monitoring your cash. My partner and I aim to spend around £50/week between 2 of us on food, we go out maybe once a month (we have to work some weekends per month - so days off together are rare). We both get our accommodation paid for by work but we both drive normal small cars despite having a couple thousand pounds spare at the end of the month between us. We're saving up for a house but looking to put down at least 30-40% of a deposit just to make the mortgage easier later on.
If you live well within your means then you wont go wrong

Some of my friends/family probably think I'm tight, but I would say I'm frugal. When I was younger, I used to spend money without a care in the world. Eventually I decided to start a spreadsheet to track where it all went (something I've continued ever since) and, after seeing how much was wasted, started to save relatively successfully. About a decade ago, my life was massively disrupted by my employer at the time. After that, I vowed to get myself into a position asap where I wouldn't be at the mercy of some senior manager repeatedly shifting jobs/staff all round the country for the sake of saving a bit of money.



Whilst I wouldn't say I'm completely financially independent, I am at least at a stage where I could at least cover all my monthly bills/living costs with income from various investments (with a respectable cash savings buffer for any unforeseen expenses) if I were to become unemployed.


I don't waste money, and have become rather opposed to the idea of having "stuff" just for the sake of it, but if I genuinely need something I'll happily go out and buy it.