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?

Get divorced. Not having a settlement but getting rid of a lazy sponger.

Work out how much are monthly outgoings, deduct from wages received. Save half, use the rest carefully and any surplus at the end of the month put into savings and start afresh on payday.

I opened 2 accounts, with the same bank, I put money in one & it has a debit card I use for petrol, food & clothes.

The other account has my wages going in & all direct debits coming out for bills.

Im.still a bit shit though and overspend, but its better.

Understood the difference between ‘I need’ and ‘I want’.

You may want a new phone / car / TV / coat, but if you already own an adequate, serviceable one, you don’t need a new one.

Accept hand me downs for the children, particularly the youngest.

There are so many gorgeous clothes out there for little ones but the reality is a) she's a messy child and b) at 2 she doesn't care. So practically her whole wardrobe, bar shoes, from birth is donated stuff (which I pass on when outgrown).

Also visit charity shops for the older children. 50p an item in one shop for a really worthwhile charity. And sometimes find something for me.

Local FB buy and sell group. Good bargains particularly for expensive toys. Can also sell items.

Use the library. Make use of museums in the holidays. They often have stuff on for children for little ££.

Overpay the mortgage. They say overpaying, even by small amounts, can reduce the interest by 1000s long term. Set it up so an extra £50 goes out per month say (make sure you don't overpay and incur charges).

Same with savings. Set up SOs so it's automatic.

Shop at Aldi.

Signed up to money saving expert mailing list.

Deleted amazon app from my phone

Savings account with standing order to take x amount off as soon as I've been paid

Worked out income and expenditure of what I knew off my head, then compared to actual spending in the bank so I knew how far off I was. Once that was done, I worked out how much 'spare' I could have each year I. E. If you earn 30k, and worked out you need 27k to live, 3k is the savings goal and where are all the 3ks from previous years and has it been worth it? Done this while saving for a deposit on a house and haven't gotten out of the mindset since.

Went straight back to a full time professional career after having my first child.

Increased hours from part-time to full time. Given me 1k more which I save every month but do spend erratically now! Have started looking at what it is I’m spending again and trying to meal plan so I’m not just spending loads every time I visit the shops.

I am shit with money but last month we set up a second joint account - we now have one for direct debits/bills etc and one for general spending (including food, petrol, bus tickets). It’s early days but it seems to be working remarkably well!

Right now my finances are bloody awful. So instead I'll post the biggest single thing I've done to ruin my finances: Getting a car. The car itself was a gift and one I'm very grateful for, but the running costs are murder, chiefly the insurance in my first couple of years driving. It wiped out my couple grand savings. Add in other factors and I'm now living paycheck to paycheck.

It follows that giving up the car would be the biggest thing I could do to improve my finances, but now I've got it I've got family (who can't learn to drive) relying on me giving them lifts.

Getting married helped my personal finances massively (even with the water tight prenup);
Investing in my qualifications and then in property.

also, not giving up my career when I had my babies

@WalkAwaySugarbear I do this too! Try and beat the previous months spending, I'm well on track this month 👍

Start working from home! No extortionate commuting costs except for meetings once or twice a week. No temptation to waste £££ on shop-bought coffees and salads at lunchtime. No need to buy smart office clothes I don't even like.

There is another one -an important, feminist issue: keep putting my fees up until I'm earning what men in the same job earn. When I work for big companies, I always nudge them towards the higher end of the pay grade they're offering. It makes very little difference to them and a lot of difference to us.

Kept a professional career going even when the kids were little. It was very hard at one point the family finances were negatively effected by me working (2 days only)...we were skint, cold leaky house, budget everything, camping in the rain for hols.....Now, however I have an interesting flexible well paid career. It was well worth the pain...

Here is what I do:
I get paid in account 1.
From there, I have a standing order towards account 2, from which all the bills are paid. It’s a natwest one, gives you cahs back on certain bills.

Another standing order to 2 saving accounts.

What’s left, I transfer into my day to day spending account: food, petrol etc.

A very detailed budget. I went through my bank statement and put in every little amount that goes out regularly. Then cancelled most of them cos I wasn't using the products!

Meal planning. It really helped me to keep our food budget relatively low as I base it around the staples we currently have to use them up. the meals aren't particularly exciting but I manage to feed 3 adults and a toddler for 50-80 per week. And that includes lunches.

Got a job where I can work remotely all the time. My employer doesn't have offices. Means I no longer pay over £4k per year for a travel card into London! I took a pay cut but it still works out that I'm saving.

I don't buy something I like as soon as I see it if it's full price. I wait a couple of weeks to decide if I still want or need it.

Take a packed lunch and snacks whenever we go out. We all have water bottles too.

No need to buy smart office clothes I don't even like.

This too! I work in leggings and hoodies all day 😄

I try to think carefully before I buy stuff. And I stay out of the shops. If you freeze milk you then don't pop to the shop for milk. Saves a fortune.

I currently have no real savings behind me and its really scary. But I am learning how to budget more carefully by using YNAB and I'm doing a bit of Marie Kondo-type thinking about purchases. My savings pot is growing slowly and I know that I am saving a little each month for big future outgoings (car insurance, heating oil, the big chunks that come in one go!) so that by the time they land, the money will be there.

A lot of the impact I can have on my finances is by pre-planning stuff rather than just winging it and this does not come naturally to me! So, taking lunch to work instead of spendy work cafe, meal planning, making sure there are enough snacks in the house rather than grabbing stuff whilst we're out etc etc.

I have three children who are all at school, no partner, and am v grateful that I went back to work after each maternity leave as I got to a point about 5 years ago (before I got divorced) where I was financially and professionally able to work part time. I've looked at increasing my hours back to full time (I work an average of 30 hours a week during a 9 day fortnight at the moment) but the extra travel and wraparound childcare means that I'd be £250 worse off than I am now, plus even more pressured. And that would mean even less time for preparation/planning. So, I can't increase my income.

But I can get back on EBay! Not sold anything there for so long because it's been just another thing to remember to do- pack up and sending off at the post office. Need to put the effort into this.

I like the idea of trying to beat my spending each month- will give this a go!

And I do have the option to work from home one day a fortnight or so which will help a little bit with my £400/month petrol bill!

Christmas is covered, I save a bit every month by standing order direct to my mum on payday- she gives it all back to me when I do my Christmas shopping! Good old mother.

Look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves.

No, that's not meant literally, it's a metaphor. It's the principal and habit forming that matters.

You only "spend big" occasionally but you spend small daily. Get into the habit of controlling/planning your small spends which is something you can do every day, such as shopping around, thinking whether you actually "need" something even if it's "only" a pound or two, getting into the habit of checking different shops/websites for discounts, offers, etc.

If you get into the mindset of being careful with money, understanding the difference between necessity and discretionary spending, you will be in a better place when it comes to bigger things. You'll have the mental "toolkit" to think about and research changing energy suppliers, changing your mobile phone company, shopping around for cheaper/better insurance, moving to a cheaper bank or credit card provider, etc. You'll also be in a better place to negotiate when buying really big items like cars and houses or shopping around when choosing home improvements etc.

If you can't do it for the small stuff, then you'll never do it for the big stuff.

Separate accounts for all my different pots of savings, and saving monthly for annual/long term costs (new car/boiler etc). And transferring my spends into Monzo account every week.

@SpottedOnMN a couple of others have mentioned Monzo too. How does it work? I had a look on line and it seems like it's a straightforward bank, what makes it helpful for you?

Budget.

When the dses were little, we used to overspend - we'd end up dipping into the overdraft facility each month, and spent on the credit card too. When dh got his bonus, we'd get back on an even keel, but it never lasted.

Eventually we sat down, and wrote a detailed budget. Fixed outgoings such as the mortgage, utility bills, insurance etc were all deducted from dh's take home pay as soon as he was paid (even if they were not going out until later in the month). Then what was left was divided up into separate amounts for different things - weekly budgets for food shopping, petrol, spending money for dh and me, and family fun (days out, takeaways, cinema etc etc).

Initially we kept meticulous records - we had sheets for each of the weekly budgets, recorded every expenditure, and kept receipts so we could check back if necessary. If we had an unexpected expense, dh would juggle money between the different budgets, but the aim was always to stay within the weekly amounts.

As time went by, we got better at the budgeting, and we don't have to keep paper records any more - though dh does have a spreadsheet, and budget forecasts, and keeps an eye on the bank account (internet banking has been a real boon), to make sure we aren't going mad.

Has anyone Tried the Emma App? I've just downloaded it, so far it looks really good for keeping a track of purchases and bills etc.