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

Desperate finances. We are blissfully unaware of each others financial situations. I bought a car on HP. I couldn't bear driving an awful car for a minute longer. I love it and it has made my life so much better.

Same.

I have big picture stuff but not the day to day, month by month. Saves so much arguing on whether a purchase is worth it. Our spending values are different (he'll spend on electronics and I spend on activities) and we wind each other up with how much we spend on stuff.

We make sure our bills are met and we don't have personal debt and have joint savings, but the rest is up to us as individuals.

I’m intrigued what your dividend experiment is? Please can you share

Agree with lots of the things said, but for me it's not considering the sodding 'Sam Vines boots theory' as the epitome of financial wisdom.

An aphorism written for a faux-medieval fantasy novel in the 1980s isn't directly applicable to the real world consumerism of the 2020s but people still quote it like it's a directive sent down from on high.

I fully accept there may be some, occasional examples where the overall premise - which boils down to it's better to spend more and buy something of really good quality, once, than to buy cheap and have to replace it repeatedly, which ends up costing more in the long term, still applies.

But, generally, in 2026 UK, firstly spending more often doesn't result in significantly improved quality, but just means the extra money goes towards branding, advertising, shareholder profits, etc. I have £5 tops from primark/asda that are going strong after 20 years, and £50 ones that went bobbly after a wear or two. Same with electricals, or household items, or even cars. Even if it means slightly better quality, it doesn't mean 10, 20 or 50 times better, which is what it would have to work out as for the cost/benefit to be worth it.

Secondly, most people don't have just one pair of footwear, so the analogy doesn't work. In real life, how many people hold on to the same capsule item (whether boots, coat, white shirt) for 5, 10, 20 years, and don't lose it/stain it/lose or put on weight, change their circumstances (if I followed MN advice and bought an expensive 'capsule wardrobe' of timeless work classics in 2019 they'd still be languishing almost completely unworn 5 years later now I wfh), or just, heaven forbid, want to look vaguely fashionable given even 'classic' items such as jeans and boots can look out of date within a fairly short space of time.

I have separate finances to my DP and we contribute 50:50 to our joint bill account, the rest is my own. It seems very unpopular to those on mumsnet (although there are a few of us).

We don't go on terribly expensive holidays so I am happy to spend money where I think I need to. We're away right now and I've so far paid for fast track security, speedy boarding and a taxi from the airport instead of public transport. Takes away a lot of the stress for me and means we're having a good time. OTOH I make my own lunch every day.

Until recently I always leased my cars, usually a decent one which was replaced every 3 years. I knew it was more expensive in the long run but I liked the fixed monthly payment that covered everything, and being able to drive a nice, new, reliable car which was under warranty. I don’t know much about cars and would be scared of getting ripped off buying a second hand one. I also spent very little time deciding which car to get when it was time to replace. Never even did a test drive. Decided based on price and what I liked the look of. Ordered, and had them delivered to my door. I only stopped because I loved my most recent car, prices had increased quite a bit, and I had enough in savings to buy it at the end of the lease period.

Rather than paying off our small mortgage in the next few years we decided to double it in order to extend the house. We’d been saving for a few years but decided by the time we’d saved the full amount the DC would be almost grown and it would benefit us more to do it now.

Zero based budgeting, tracking everything I spend and having much of savings in an S&S ISA instead of a cash ISA works for me. Though many hate all of this.

Rather than leave my kids an inheritance, I give them as much as possible, now, by taking on debt. I owe a huge amount but I always seem to be able to borrow more. At some point it will probably catch up with me and I may need to declare bankruptcy. My long term partner and I have never married so that our finances are separate.

Let's wait fir the but your married his money is your money 🤭 we do same as you

There are loads of different types of budgets though — including the “lazy budget” which is barely budgeting.

My unpopular spending money decision is that I have ALOT of charity direct debits including to some that some up on here that have large overheads and or CEO salaries. I don’t give a monkeys- helps me deal with the guilt I feel when I see the adverts.

I'm pretty much the same. NEVER buy coffee/tea shop hot drinks 'just because' ... just not worth it imo. I bring my own drinks to work and to children's sporting events.

So much of this is people saying the things they do that are actually recommended- just boasting really!

Do you mind me asking what cars you’ve had? This is our plan for the next car we purchase

Aren't all these responses just budgets? You've chosen what to spend your money on and then stick to it? No one here has said "I spend all my money on things I can't afford, therefore I'm in a huge amount of debt and my house has been repossessed"...that would be not having a budget?? Everyone who has posted is living within their means.....which means they're budgeting?!

Well, no kids is cheaper, but living alone is very expensive.

Chase has got a good one going on at the moment

Exactly. A kitty you’ve both paid into for the days out.

We work in a similar way. When we have a weeks leave usually a staycation we have a holiday budget. A main bit for both of us and our own for our own spends. So we can treat each other or ourselves like ice cream on me and so on. I have mine as cash in my purse my DP’s on his phone.

"Why not just put it into instant access savings?"

Might be different in the UK, but where I live instant access savings account give almost 0 interest so there's no point.

Been there, got the wee soaked mattress. Never again I'm afraid.

What works for me is living alone and having no kids.

We have one car between us. It’s almost never an issue.
We also live in a house much cheaper than we could afford but we’re priotising being mortgage free, having investments for the DC that mean they can avoid university debt, and I’m planning on retiring at 60. It’s taken quite a bit of mental effort to move past the idea that we should be moving up the property ladder.

Borrowing as much money as I can in this lifetime. Currently up to 1.2 million

I don’t budget.

I buy lunch most days at work.

i don’t meal plan.

i have the opposite of a capsule wardrobe (lots of ‘just in case’ pieces).

This thread has been a great confessional and guilt reliever!