What’s an “unpopular” spending or money decision that actually works well for you?

Another one who ditched her car. I'm retired now and have a free travel pass, get most things delivered and use Uber when necessary. I live near everything and am close to the city centre too. Public Transport is good around here and is rarely packed as I can use off peak times. Everyone thought I was mad. I'm not. It took a while to get used to but the amount of money saved is unreal! And I don't have to worry about fuel shortages/cost (for cars), service, MoT, Insurance, breakdowns and so on. Unpopular amongst family and peers, But I'm laughing all the way to the bank!

I don't need to budget or be frugal, but this decision has shown me how much having a car costs! I have no regrets.

I know this isn’t good for businesses and will be unpopular but I buy a glass of wine then top up using my own wine for the next glass. Easier if we’re sitting outside. The wine i like at the chain I go to is £12 for a medium glass. I can get a bottle for that. Same if I go to the cinema, bring my own snacks and drinks. Otherwise it would be very expensive to go out socialising financially.

100%. People are massively over-insured for little things like vets bills and appliances and often under-insured for big things like death and critical illness.

I love saving a fiver here and there 😆 it's a bit of a hobby. But it's easy to make it a hobby when it doesn't really matter.

DB laughs that we go to the airport for a long haul flight on public transport and a colleague once said to DH that he's the type who would barter with a taxi driver over 50p then give him a pound tip.

I’m the opposite to this and have spent a fortune on attractions and experiences over the years. I’ve lost count of the amount of annual passes I’ve had.
I am even worse on holiday and have spent well over 1k on a fabulous day out a number of times.

Hardly unpopular

I only insure things if I couldn’t afford the bill. I can pay a vet bill, I can pay a consultant. I can’t replace my house.
Save the premiums and self insure.

I'm noticing an increasing number of people posting about keeping housing costs low and not wanting to upgrade to anywhere bigger even when affordable. Wonder if we might see this become more common, given the economy.

We bought in a cheap area that people are generally mean about and look down their noses at and even when we both started earning more we chose to spend that on fun experiences and meals and trips and just carry on enjoying our home and being positive present members of our community.

This an interesting one. What do you count as an attraction? Do you never go to museums or galleries? Castles? Parks? Does the theatre count?

Could you explain how this works please @youalright? Salary goes into one and from there it goes into the separate pots?

Yes we've never had any pet insurance (going to jinx that now probably)

Also I dont use or collect 'points' from things or use vouchers or discounts. Pure laziness I think. I cant be bothered with the faff.

Also having 100% joint finances if you have children. I know it's not universally popular and sometimes seen as a way as a means of control by which a woman becomes dependent on a man, but having read many threads on here over the years I have concluded that keeping separate finances is used by some men as a means of control- that they insist on outlandish splits that effectively make the cost of bearing and raising children primarily the mother's responsibility so that she is then in a far weaker financial position and can't leave without hugely reducing her standard of living. Joint all the way for me.

I cancelled my pet insurance for an old cat, the year after he got an ongoing condition. I wish I'd done it earlier, it is such a scam.

After paying insurance for 17 years with barely a claim, as soon as we made a claim which would result in costs of ~£400 per year, the insurance cost increased to more than double that. The annual cost is far more than we would ever pay to extend the life of a cat that age, who we wouldn't put through invasive treatment.

I don't think I would take out insurance again, and save a buffer first instead.

We are renting long term. We do own a house but it was in a location which wasn't working for us so we rent that one out to off set our own rent.

The house we're living in is worth far more than we could afford if we bought it but the rent is reasonable so we get to live in a lovely house in an expensive area.

You understand the premise of the thread I presume?

Unpopular spending decisions that work well for you?

This works well for that poster.

I do a tiny bit of work for my husband’s company but otherwise don’t generate any money independently. I manage all our finances and it works absolutely fine for us.

Not wasting time and effort on things I know from experience I won't use, even if they're generally popular- eg collecting Avios. I'm sure there are great bargains to be had but I won't be having them as I really can't be arsed with the complexity and I value having flexibility and freedom over cost saving.

I spend a fortune every year on a particular diary, which I love and which makes my life 10x easier. I am well aware that diaries are available for 1/20 of the price.

Barring disasters, I'll be buying both my kids a flat. I have no truck at all with the idea that you have to work for something in order to value it, especially in the current climate.

Cheap clothes are a waste of money.

I don’t budget either 😅 the ‘big’ bills go out within the first couple of days of the month and then I just keep an eye on my spending from there. I’m not exactly an extravagant spender and don’t have any expensive habits or hobbies so it works okay for me.

We have three times bought the house with the most potential in a not quite up and coming neighbourhood, and all three times the neighbourhood has come up and we've done very, very well.

This in spades. We buy the sort of staples that can make a few different meals, and the sort that make quick low effort. And we expect that we will get takeaway at some point.

I don't meal-plan, despite a food budget. We have a loose 'plan' dictated by working hours and time/energy and my love of fishfingers and chips on a Friday night; but I just can't plan for a full week. What if I don't want spag bol on Wednesday? what if I'm too exhausted on Thursday to cook from scratch? I can still use what fresh stuff we have within the week, but I can't dictate what meals are when. Apart from Friday night!

We also have separate bank accounts, separate savings, but also joint accounts and savings to pool together. Been married 20 years and it suits us.

I'm sort of similar. Im using my excellent credit rating and pretty stable, secure employment to access 0% credit that has kept me afloat while single parenting teens. We've had some, not loads, nice holidays, we have Netflix and Disney and x box subscriptions, they do vaguely expensive hobbies. I keep a close eye and move things around as needed. In 5-10 years I will be downsizing and in a position to pay it off but Im not going to turn down every nice opportunity for a trip or day out to be sensible. Life is too short. They'll not have much of an inheritance but they'll be adults and its up to them.

Me too. I love my little house and it enables me to be generous with my adult DC and have lots of great holidays.

Six holidays booked for this year so far…

I also drive a 12 year old tiny car.

We do this too. We also didn’t trade up houses either, it might be small but it’s mortgage free.