How good are you with money?

[Croconaw]

I used to not be very good, lmao. I have gotten better, though. I’d say I’m okay now. However, one thing I’ve done is that if I’m looking at something I want, I leave it in my cart for a week and see if I still want that item seven days later. (Unless it’s something I actually need, of course.) This has helped me make sure it’s not just a phase of wanting an item. Do you have any similar strategies for helping you?

I also have a savings account where my payouts from Ebay go. Having that second job as a source of income is also nice. It also helps that you can do it pretty much anywhere in the world.

The title is just a question, but the main discussion is strategies you use for saving money. Feel free to discuss.

 

[moo_nieu]

fine. ive always been one to save more often than spend. a saving strategy i guess would be to set up an automatic transfer from checking to savings each month. i only do a couple dollars but ill probably up that now that im getting a good job. other than that i guess just try to save where you can since costs add up. cutting back on eating out can save a lot of money. if you have trouble spending to much, then i think keeping a budget of all monthy expenses and reviewing where you can save might help

 

[daringred_]

i'm pretty good. always have been; i think because my nan drilled it into me pretty young that it's best to save. one year, when i was around 10, i managed to collect £75 in chump change from family members for a holiday. another year, when i was slightly older, i managed to save over £100 in pocket money to spend on holiday, which was almost double what my siblings managed to keep a hold of. right now, i have a change jar with over £25 in it made up primarily of coppers and silvers. there's sort of a running joke in my family that i'm always loaded. (i'm not. i'm literally on benefits due to mental health struggles.) unfortunately, it also means my parents and even siblings are always coming to borrow money from me. my sister always pays it back, and it's usually never large amounts, but my parents are a different story and seem to think i'm made of it. (they are not good with money.)

i can't say i have a strategy, i just find saving money satisfying. i like seeing the number in my bank account go up or counting what's in my jar and seeing the total increase. i'm also naturally pretty frugal, which is both a blessing and a curse, so i don't often buy something unless i really want it or i'm likely to make use of it, although i do have a few slips in judgement sometimes. (e.g. i bought a £23 molang plush last week. part of me regrets it.) i guess it's also partly because i worry about my pets in the future? vet bills can be ludicrously expensive, especially as cats age and become more prone to things like cancer and kidney failure, and cremation fees are up there too. so, i always save with those sorts of incidents in mind. good thing too, since it meant i had enough to take my aging cat to the vet last year and then get her cremated when she sadly passed and, presently, can largely afford on my own to get my other cat's teeth checked and sorted.

 

[biibii]

terrible. I love to buy things for myself and others so I impulse buy way too much.

 

[LadyDestani]

I am really good with money. I don't have many urges to spend my money on frivolous things, and on the rare occasions when I do I know my budget and what I can afford to spend.

Unfortunately, I don't really have any great tips on saving money because it's something that's been ingrained in me since childhood. When I would get Christmas or birthday money as a child, I might spend a little on myself, but I would give most of it to my parents to put in my college fund. When I was a teenager, my needs were covered by my parents, but if I wanted to go to a movie or out to eat with friends, I had to pay for that myself. They bought me a car at 16, but I had to pay for gas, maintenance, and insurance. So I learned to budget early on and it just comes naturally to me now.

 

[kayleee]

I'm not perfect with money because I love shopping, but I'm definitely not bad - I contribute to my 401k, I pay off my credit card every month, and I'm able to save a portion of every paycheck. I online shop pretty impulsively though which is something I'm working on, and I also have a hard time saying no to a sale lol. But overall I'm not terrible.

 

[TurnipBell20]

Generally I‘m pretty good with money. I do buy a lot of stuff, but it’s mostly little things that don’t cost too much. If I want something more expensive, I‘ll try not to think about all the cool stuff that I could do with it, but if I will actually use it. Some things I would probably use if I had more time, but I don’t have more time so I won‘t buy them for now.

 

[Coach]

I'd say I am pretty good for the most part. I love a bargain and am always trying to get deals on essentials! If it's something non-essential normally I will splash out, but since I don't buy 'fun' things too often I can justify it.

 

[Bluebellie]

I’m really good with money. My parents were awful at budgeting and lost their first house when they couldn't afford their mortgage. It was back then in 2009/2010 when the market crashed and many people lost their houses. The banks were doing awful things! I was in high school, and it made me really depressed. I guess I was sheltered growing up. I know my parents weren’t rich, but they always gave me and my sibling everything we wanted. Then all of a sudden that was not the case, and my life got turned upside down. I had to start working right away. I didn’t have a car when I first started working, and had to walk to work and rely on others until I was able to buy one on my own. During that time I was going to school full time and working full time as well.

That has really affected the way I handle money now. I always save up ahead of time before buying something expensive. I also don’t buy something if I don’t have the money for it. I have credit cards, but I won’t use more than what I get paid, and I pay them right away as soon as a transaction gets posted.

I have zero debt to my name. When I learned about new horizons, I had a whole year to save up for the game and a switch. Every paycheck I set aside a small amount, so that when the release came around, it didn’t feel like I was spending too much. Same thing with everything else.

I promised myself a very long time ago, that I would try my best to never be in the position that my parents were in.

Spoiler

I love my parents and they are happily living in a lovely home right now. I was able to help them with the down payment and budgeting. They are doing much better now.

 

[lana.]

i think i'm pretty good with money! growing up i always had to buy most of my own things, so i got in the habit of saving a lot. my new addiction to clothes, however, is slowly tearing my saving habits at the seam...

im sorry i needed to make the joke

 

[skarmoury]

Idk honestly? I’m definitely not a heavy spender, but I also kind of impulse buy sometimes. I‘m guilty in that I like retail therapy over getting things I actually need, like a new laptop, because I don’t like spending too much with one item. Right now I’ve saved enough to buy myself a more decent laptop, but part of me wants to keep saving and another part of me wants to spend on other smaller things on my wishlist.

 

[Fye]

I'd say I'm pretty good at holding back from big purchases and waiting till Black Friday for most things, but it's the little purchases that get to me and they really add up sometimes. I've started limiting how many things I can buy per general category and that's been helping me think more about what I'm buying and if I need it! I also need to stop buying coffee when I already like the ones I can make at home...

 

[windloft]

as far as leisure money goes, i like to think i'm ... decent? at saving money? it depends on what i'm playing at the moment. i always go for sales whenever possible though. i'm fairly weak-willed when it comes to buying video games, and it's really difficult for me to resist a really good sale ... but i try and manage, lmao. otherwise i'm pretty strict with myself.

 

[Autumn247]

I'm bad with money, I'm too impulsive. I'm working on getting better with it though

 

[VanitasFan26]

I save money for....well important stuff in life, but when I have a lot of money it still doesn't make me feel any better. I am too numb to care these days.

 

[Belle T]

I'm the opposite of a reckless spender. Not because I spend responsibly, but because if I'm ever faced with a difficult financial decision, my mind just locks up and I end up just not buying anything as a result, even if that thing might actually benefit me.

That being said, I consider budgeting to be something I'm fairly good at.

 

[visibleghost]

i rarely spend money on things that aren't grocieries, medication and bills. online shopping makes me anxious and i put off buying things for weeks even when i think to myself that i want to and should buy something. shopping in person also makes me anxious but for different reasons. i dislike spending money and making decisions and it's just difficult to buy things sometimes so i don't end up shopping a lot.

i almost never go out to eat for several reasons so i don't spend money on seeing friends and eating and stuff a lot either

 

[Mikaiah]

the answer is always "trying to get better" lol. i have spreadsheets set up for all my spending and budgeting bcus i enjoy doing that sort of thing (also i'm probably just insane). i think it's important to set aside money to spend on fun things after everything else is covered (tho ik i'm in a super good place financially to be able to do that)

 

[Joe Bishop]

the answer is always "trying to get better" lol that is why I eventually switched to this platform from my previous one.. i have spreadsheets set up for all my spending and budgeting bcus i enjoy doing that sort of thing (also i'm probably just insane). i think it's important to set aside money to spend on fun things after everything else is covered (tho ik i'm in a super good place financially to be able to do that)

Recently I read the book by Geirge Clason called "The Richest Man in Babylon" and there was said to invest 10% of your monthly salary. It turned out that only 10% is more than enough so after this revelation I started to actively keep a google spreadsheet to understand how much I earn and spend. One of the best habits so far

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

I really love shopping lol. I am not BAD because I have limits but I definitely should probably save up more. Whenever I see cute things I want I buy them... BUT ONLY IF I CAN AFFORD IT. I really want certain things that I cannot afford like even more sticker books, plushies, keychains, and random stuff thats probably not worth it but make me happy I am saving up my money so that I can but a 3DS capture card oneday but I do not know if it will ever happen?? I keep buying plushies