If you grew up poor, what frugal habits have you kept now you're more comfortable?

[OhamIreally]

Mine is that I always buy in the sale. I bought dresses from Monsoon a couple of years ago and paid full price as they were for a wedding DD and I were going to. Saw them in the sale a short while later and returned them and bought them again in the sale (we hadn't yet worn them and the labels were still on) as I couldn't bear to "waste" the difference.
My luxury is that I (pre-Covid) eat out quite a bit but even then I make sure I use vouchers/gourmet society.

@Radn if you buy an item at full price and then buy it again in the sale, you can take the sale item back with the original receipt if within the return time, unless of course the item has been marked as sale.

Identical item, no cheeky fuckery there, just money saving.

If you've bought an item full price and still have the receipt, you can return it for full price, regardless of whether it has since gone on sale.

In my experience that is only the case if it is faulty, not because you’ve changed your mind.
If something has gone in the sale then you get refunded the sale price if you want a refund just because you have changed your mind. You have no right to a refund just because you want one.

I’ve never scrimped on the heating as an adult, I hated every moment of always being cold and mine are free to turn up the heating if cold. Likewise they don’t have to ask for food and they always get to choose their own clothes etc.

I hated hand me downs, they rarely were to my taste, looked worn out and stained etc. I love now being able to shop for what I want. I appreciate everything I buy and have never been in debt bar our mortgage.

I grew up with post war baby parents, so whilst we had money for most of apart from a couple of rickety years, they were very sensible with money and resources.

I was a very frugal student, but I have oscillated since and have credit card debt I'd rather I didn't (though I paid 1/3 of it off recently when a big paycheque came in (self employed) and that felt so good!). One thing lockdown is teaching me is how to shop once a week (I previously somehow managed to spend a fortune shopping every few days) and I'm appreciating more the value of buying good quality, buying once on big purchases.

I taught myself to haggle, that didn't come from parents, and as a result I always go with them to buy cars, or anything over a couple of hundred quid.

If I can't afford it I don't need it! When I was growing up there was no bank account for my parents (they were too poor to get one!), no loans, mortgages, credit cards or overdrafts. The alternatives were not always entirely legal, and very definitely expensive. So it we couldn't afford it, we didn't have it. Now I have a huge overdraft limit, multiple credit cards, and a fantastic credit score. But I never, ever buy anything I can't afford to pay for immediately, and the only credit I ever use is "interest free credit periods" (on the basis that the money is better in my bank than theirs until I have to pay!).

@Radn of course if you paid full price and haven’t worn it and it’s within 28 days you can return it!
I do it ALL the time.
Even online.
And imagine shops are even encouraging it actually.
I got a jacket in Coast for £95 and a week later it went to £45.
I went to my nearest Joules to return it and I re bought it on the spot there!
Actually she just refunded me the difference back on my card without me actually handling the jacket to them, she did all on till without touching or seeing the jacket. I
Also she said it’s understandable and everyone does it these days.

@Radn wow that's pretty rude! I bought the clothes full price, they were unworn, with labels on. I returned them for the price I had paid for them. I then bought the same items online for half the price. No cheekiness or fuckery involved thanks.

I don’t waste any food, ever. I make lots of soup . And bubble & squeak.

Using a credit card is only for a dire emergency like an irreparable cooker.

I grew up with a widowed mum who was careful rather than tight. Money was short but we were always warm, fed, dressed for the weather and clean. I'm guessing she went without herself to allow this to happen. As an adult I was cold and hungry poor due to domestic abuse and that has left me with anxiety about food shortage. If we go anywhere I always have to know what we will do about meals. I plan spending so I won't run out of money. My cupboards are stocked and I use the heating rather than sit shivering in a jumper. I have to anyway as DS2's asthma requires warm air.

Charity shop shopping, because when one item of clothing could feed me for a week I just cannot, cannot justify buying new clothes. Cut my own hair, for same reasons above. Can't bring myself to go to restaurants etc, nor pubs.

Yes, I think it does leave you being anxious about money as an adult - it has for us.

Sometimes being poorer as a child doesn't always make you frugal...
I only ever had one pair of shoes at a time so now I have lots of pairs.
My bff & her husband had no heating as children so now they love putting the heating on.
One friend had little food as a child so now she's obsessed with storing literally boxes of sweets & chocolates.

My family were very poor growing up. I am quite frugal overall but I'd say I do the following most often:

*Won't drive somewhere if I can walk there in 15 mins or less.

• Heating on the bare minimum to be comfortable *Always have a months rent and bills worth of money stashed in the house *Buy things on offer especially clothes or big purchases. *I have my food shopping down to a tee to minimise food waste

And to this day, I still think how lucky I am when I get into a hot shower in the morning! We never had hot water growing up, it was tepid/cold baths growing up even in the middle of winter. I swear my DP thinks I'm a bit simple with some of the things I get so happy about. I don't care. It's bliss

Never waste food. I get really twitchy if I see other people helping themselves to large portions then leaving half of it. Ditto if I see people throwing leftovers away.
I went to one of those "All you can eat" buffets before lock down happened. I didn't enjoy it because the family at the next table were wasting so much food. I could see the waiter looking sideways at them and I felt ashamed.
Also use charity shops a lot, both to donate and buy. But I am also a bit fixated on recycling stuff.

I had to make a real effort to be less frugal as an adult as I was always worrying in spite of being in the top 10% of earners for the area.

I used to worry about buying anything, or going out for meals or on holiday.

I still mainly buy clothes second hand, or at least on sale, and my holidays are usually a bit of a bargain, and my furniture is still almost all second hand. But I have joined a gym because I love swimming, and go out for lunch or dinner etc with friends and try not to stress about splitting the bill etc.

Never ever waste food. I can make a meal out of any old weird leftovers!
Never getting into debt.
Thermostat on 16.
Walking or running where possible to save on fares or petrol.
Hand me downs or second hand stuff for DC.
Charity shops for clothes.
Hardly ever eating meat.
BUT I spend as much as I can on good food and wine!

@Slomi - I do that too. Really appreciative for everything, however little. I have always had a feeling of enormous wellbeing when I’ve brought the shopping home and can feed my family, whereas looking at the cost of a holiday or car makes me feel quite ill!

My parents were very poor when growing up but did ok for themselves so we weren’t poor when I was growing up. I do however seem to have inherited some of their frugal habits:

Thermostat no higher than 18 degrees. If you’re cold put a jumper on. We all have warm slippers, bed socks, hot water bottles and blankets.

“Picnic” dinner once or twice a week, to use up anything that is about to go off.

Run older cars for years, save up and buy them outright. I currently drive a 10 year old Audi that I’ve owned for 5 years. I’m hoping to get another couple of years out of it.

Take a packed lunch and home made coffee to work. I think that saves around £5 a day each - this really adds up.

Good quality 2nd hand furniture - not mattresses, sofas or other soft furnishings but you can get some beautiful wardrobes, desks, coffee tables etc and they are from the era when these things were both built to last and designed beautifully.

2nd hand books.

Main shop at Aldi with a few bits from our local bakery and butcher.

We do treat ourselves sometimes - we’ll go out for dinner or order a nice takeaway every couple of weeks. We go on holiday twice a year 1 abroad and 1 in the U.K. I tend to buy clothes from H&M or Zara but I buy classic things that last a few years. DP likes an expensive brand of organic cider so he buys a crate (16 bottles) once a month to drink at home. The economising above pays for the treats.

@DoubleTweenQueen Oh you've just reminded me, the thought of buying a brand new car fills me with horror!! DP suggested it once and I said to him "do you know how many years we could take off our mortgage for that??!". I just can't justify it to myself

While not "poor" there was not much spare cash around when I was growing up with my parents and several siblings. My mother did not go out to work which was the norm back then, my fairly well paid and never unemployed father was selfish and spent much of his money on himself and beer/cigs. The household bills were paid but only just and brothers and sisters and mother were not even considered as needing new clothes or little treats so my mother would find ways to do that as she didn't have the courage to ask him for more housekeeping money (almost unbelievable but that was how it was) so she would get into debt and hide it from him. Horrible outcomes every few years which I won't go into here.

If we had a cake for pudding it was amazing as so rare. Sweets once a week and even then it was a tiny few so at least our teeth were healthy and none of us overweight children. On that note I remember an overweight child at my school was a one off. One child was known as the fatty, horrible but telling it like it was, whereas now a lot of children and teens are overweight and we all know why. My childhood knew no fast food/takeaway options other than fish and chips which was a treat once in a blue moon.

I am still to this day loathe to throw out a scrap of food so make sure I use/eat everything bought. Only yesterday I realised I had an egg which was 2 days past sell by date so I boiled it and ate it rather than bin it.

Charity shops I discovered a few years ago and have got the bug now. Many amazing bargains for clothes and home for next to nothing and unless I tell people where they came from no one is any wiser.

I do sometimes treat myself as can afford to so it tends to be Jo Malone body lotion (no longer owned by her I recently found out) as I have my favourite and I do make it last as long as possible.

I have a winter coat which gets an airing each year and I think this will be it's 5th year or maybe more. It is a family joke now "oh here it comes again" but it is a style never outdated. I have several other really nice coats and jackets but most were charity shop buys.

Yeah I agree with you on the clothes one. I feel so guilty even buying myself clothes. I buy online and always sort to show the lowest item first.
At the min I have clothes in an online shopping basket, I do need them as I have a baby and not much else fits me, but I just feel so guilty about hitting 'buy' on the shopping cart.
It's probably the only thing I watch the prices for.

I grew up believing we were quite poor but we actually weren't. As a result I went through quite an extravagant patch. I still inwardly shudder at the mention of a packed lunch as my mum's idea was horrible brown bread sandwiches and a banana. Everything ended up tasting of banana. Ugh.
However I am very much a put a jumper on or get a blanket sort of person rather than put the heating on. I do have to control myself when looking at the display on the smart meter. Using the microwave costs 45p!
Well, only if it's on for an hour. Two minutes, not so much!

I meal plan, never waste any food (as long as it smells ok I will eat it). Only shop in sales or second hand. Compare prices for everything if we are buying appliances etc. Check Quidco.

I have an annoying habit of looking for jobs. I earn a fair amount and was discussing with hubby me getting a weekend job to get a bit extra. He was just 🙄 I can’t help it.

I’m so terrified of being poor again. I have worked very hard to be well off now, and I am not willing to go back to living like that.

Almost all our furniture is secondhand, except our beds. Same with my clothes. I learned to sew so I could make exactly what I wanted/alter second hand stuff to fit (just don’t look too close at my wonky seams).
I’d much rather go to the chazza than a fancy department store. I have one actual designer bag (a gift) that I’ve only used a handful of times because I cannot bear walking past a homeless person holding an object that costs the same as a deposit on studio flat in this area.
Can’t bring myself to sell it though, as I know I will never own anything else like it (unless I have an extremely lucky chazza find 😂)

I’ve never learned to drive, I use a bike, with a basket. Same as my Nan did, right up to her 80s.

I’m scared of debt. Don’t even have an overdraft, let alone a credit card or loan. I don’t want my kids to have to crouch behind the sofa when the bailiff bangs on the door.

Plan ahead where possible financially. Always thought this was what everyone else did until I moved in with my DP.

If I know I'm going to need (example) X money for a holiday next year, I'll put a bit away a month. I also do this with things I need such as cheap toiletries or second hand clothing along the year.

DP has a savings account that he empties every month. . I used to prompt him to put a bit aside etc for what ever we had planned or might point things out that he might want for next year's holiday etc but it's a waste of my energy and his answer is often "it's not until next year, we can deal with it nearer the time". He'll get to the pay day before said holiday, moan like a drain that he's got nothing to wear and that we couldn't afford the holiday so why did we bother even booking it etc and sometimes come out with "oh, I see you got yourself sorted didn't you?"

He'll then pay through the nose for next day delivery, complain things are never in his size, and when we get on the holiday, will moan about prices of things (ie, drinks, children's wants and activities).

Planning menus so that we eat the food that's going to go out of date first. Our children are pretty good at helping with menus and ideas etc so hopefully I'll pass this on.