Anyone else very financially comfortable but spend SO much time thinking about money

[Marni83]

I earn a good salary
In addition my ex husband is extremely wealthy and so I receive a very large monthly maintenance for our two children.

However in recent years I have become very money focussed. Internally. I don’t ever talk about it but I think about it a lot.

I shop around online for hours trying to find the cheapest of something.
I will go way out of my way to save pennies on, say, bleach
Would never eat out with the children / very rarely buy ice creams etc. Instead I pack picnics ALL the time and bring ice creams in cool bags - meaning I’m always lugging so much around BUT saving, saving
I scour eBay for clothes, books etc
I would never buy myself a coffee
I use up everything in the fridge, never ever waste. I will eat something out of date in order not to waste (never the children though!)

But here’s the contradiction

I am very generous with friends
I splurge on incredible holidays for the children
I spend a small fortune on our home
I have a cleaner and a gardener
I go to a ridiculously expensive London hairdresser
I buy high end make up
My children go to private school (but I buy all uniform and kit second hand)
I drive an absolute banger of a car

It’s odd. I spend ages thinking about money. Budgeting endlessly
Future planning - paying off mortgage, what investments, pension

But then - absolutely splurge on other things.

I want to free myself from thinking about money so much.

Anyone else relate to this?

@1AngelicFruitCake I do this. My food budget and petrol go straight from my bills account every month. Then if all else fails and the we have an emergency I know that even on the last week of the month when my spending pot may be empty I still have enough money for food and petrol. Makes me sleep better at night.

Yeah i can relate, i drive a banger, obsessively use up all food, love charity shop clothes would never touch designer, spend as little as possible on make up, cut my own hair, never have beauty treatments, refuse to give my dollar to costa every day on principle and plan plan plan future finances - savings, pension etc. But i will totally splurge on friends and children and decor and the garden. I figure thats what i scrimp for, the stuff thats important to me. Probably everyone is similar, we've all got different priorities.

I am afraid I don't recognise this at all. I spend almost none of my time thinking about money. This has meant in the past I have had less available cash than I should have had sometimes but on the whole I have been fine . I try not to waste money but sometimes inevitably I do and when that happens I give it a couple of regretful thoughts and then move on . I look for the best value on most larger purchases but could not be bothered searching for all the best value or cheapest foods.

Taking picnics for everything would just ruin some days out for me. Sometimes taking a picnic is fine but feeling obliged to do it EVERY time would just make the days.out more work so less.of a treat for me.

I definitely buy the food I like even if it costs a bit more . So if I've run out of my favourite food say , I buy more regardless of if it is on offer, I wouldn't wait or shop around much to get it cheaply, or if I did I wouldn't spend ages on it. The key thing for me would be getting the item at a reasonable price not getting it as cheaply as possible.

That is not to say I don't buy things like second hand uniform/ clothes just that I don't spend a lot of time on thinking about it at all.