What's the biggest single thing you've done to improve your finances?

[OldMotherHubbardsBigBottom]

I'm starting to get control of my finances and I'm curious as to what others have done to improve their relationship with money.

I almost feel like I tell my money what to do rather than the other way round- still a bit of ground to cover before I'm finally there though.

What did you do/are you doing?

@Itsrebekahvardysaccount

I don't have enough time at the moment but I'd be happy to talk more about it, I'll post a properly reply tonight.

pay into savings as if it is a bill ideally 10% into long term savings and 10% into short term savings this is for presents holidays and christmas maybe eating out cinema etc
work out what you have free to spend on coffee magazines takeaways each week, have it in cash in your purse when it is gone it's gone any left over goes into savings not added on to next week.

unless you live remotely and only get to the city and shops every couple of months don't make instant purchases of shoes clothes or cosmetics but think about it, if it is truly wonderful it is worth going back for if you can't be bothered going back for it is would have been an unnecessary purchase

Martin Lewis Mantra
if you are skint do I need it ? can I afford it?
not skint is it worth it? will I use it?
don't buy unless you can truly answer yes to both questions

I’m disloyal now. I switch. Utilities, broadband, you name it, as soon as I can switch to a better deal, I do. If I can go via Quidco, all the better.

I bit like the pp who smoked, I cut down on my takeaway lattte habit.

I switch everything whenever possible too, I shop around for most things.
We also pay £50 each per month into a savings account that we can't easily access via standing order from the joint bills account and pretend it isn't there. Hopefully will be enough to pay our legal and estate agent fees when we move!

I was made redundant and couldn't find a suitable job with suitable hours. I had a house in a good area and property prices had gone up since I bought it.

I sold my 3 bed house, so could pay off the mortgage and I bought a cheaper 2 bed for cash in a less popular area...my 2 sons had to share a bedroom which I was able to divide, and it worked out well.

I was then mortgage free and have been ever since. The area I moved to rose in popularity and is a trendy place to live in now.

@blamethecat
debt management about 4 years ago, I now have one full payment pus about £40 to go

Well Done - that must feel great

Cut down £3 coffees, buying my lunch out on work days, takeaways and trips to m and s food hall has helped massively. Keep my weekly food bill to about £50 for family of four by cutting back on meat, buying in bulk, batch cooking and cooking from scratch.

We've recently started to plan our weekly meals and ship appropriately at Lidl or Aldi. We've also started buying chicken thighs and deboning them, rather than using breast meat.

This has enabled us to save £30ish per week, which although not huge, is significant for us.

Downsized to a much smaller house.

Divorced.
Moved 300 miles.

Lots of ideas, thanks all!

@nixee2231 and @Itsrebekahvardysaccount I've been using YNAB for a couple of months and its definitely helping me work out where my money is. I feel a lot less panicky than I did before, I was worrying about how I was going to find the money for x or y in 3 months time but now I know I've budgeted for it properly. It's a nice feeling.

@tectonicplates I haven't ebayed in ages, do you just have a box with all your stuff for sale and just post it off when it sells? You don't have to perpetually relist stuff?

I retired. Was amazed how much i spent on my commute. Train fairs were a given, but coffee and toast in the morning, lunch and a snack on my way home? I was surprised how it added up

Moved from working 2.5 days to 3 then 4. And got a promotion.
The hard bit is not increasing your spending at the same time.

Wait it was 2.5 to 3.5 then 4. Same result in the end.

I got a second job. If I'm at work I'm earning rather than being out spending, works as a double bonus.

Bought a house with a staff mortgage.
Overpaid whenever we can.
Been a mortgage tart and gone with whichever company has the best deal.
Reduced the term and hence the interest.
Will be mortgage free in 5 years.
Shopped around for cheaper utilities, insurances etc.
Claimed for missold PPI.
Buy high street goods rather than designer.
Buy from charity shops
Sell old stuff on Facebook, gumtree and cash for clothes.
Live within our means. Last 5years holidays have been in a caravan rather than abroad.
Use loyalty points (mainly for Christmas presents).
Never spend more on our credit cards than we can afford to pay back each month.
Next time I have a haircut I will not be having it coloured and will be going grey. That will be another saving.

I've had to start running a book where I write everything down again as we were increasing our debt by over a £1000 a month

£1000 a month is the exact figure we're overpaying on our mortgage so clearly since I'd rearranged that we'd not adjusted our spending (cos we're fuckwits) to pay for it.

Our spending on 'essentials' (ie. direct debits) is so high - over £5k a month.
Yes, a lot of it is non negotiable work stuff.

I'm now constantly shopping around for all of those to get direct debits down - saved £80 a year on car insurance last month.

Stop buying crap and wanting crap.

If I want to buy someone I absolutely can have it but I have to go back next day. Stops impulse spending.

Selling clothes on depop. Much cheaper fees wise than eBay. I love charity shops and vintage clothes. Buy buying and reselling I'm funding my habit rather then spending house hold money

1. what are all your monthly bills eg rent /mort, electricity. Are they all on dd?

Once they are all out, what's left.
In order of necessity, food. How much do you need to put aside from what's left over from bills for food?
Give rough budget per week. Then petrol.

Then what's left is for going out...

Is there anything left? If so, set money aside for Christmas, holidays, birthday and saving, short and long term.

The last part eg Christmas... May have minimal amounts per month and may not cover the entire cost but my goodness... How wondeful to have a couple 100 when it gets to Xmas.

Instead of looking at 2 grand holiday and booking. We look and see how much holiday money we have saved then buy flights, accmd from that.

Every single area has this budget.

Some people set what they will spend before working out what they can afford to to spend first... By taking out bills, food, petrol and other stuff.

@LaurieFairyCake

Yes, a lot of it is non negotiable work stuff
£5k a month?!

Got divorced.

We ran up huge credit card bills and loans during a period where we had to act as carers and income was limited.

The best thing I've ever realised was to adjust the repayments on the credit cards from the monthly minimum repayments to the maximum we can afford without sinking financially.

Also never pay interest, make sure you have at least two or three on the go to transfer the balances as soon as you start to incur interest, use that money towards repayment not interest.

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel because I realised all of this and hope to be debt free in not much more than two years now.

If people have multiple debts then use the Dave Ramsey snowball method

It’s very effective at reduce debt fast

"If I want to buy someone"

That should say something