To ask what your attitude to money is?

[elderflowerlemonade]

Are you a saver or a spender? Are you good with money or living from one pay day to the next?

I'm a bit rubbish with finances while DH is very good.

Since I left home I've been pretty driven with money...I paid off my first mortgage by 30. I hate debt.

I'm not frugal, I still feel good about spending on good food, top health cover, private school...and I'm generous with friends....but I'd never buy an expensive handbag or car. I'm not a shopper.

I'm a spender. I used to be really poor, so always counting pennies (literally, searching my handbags and sofa) before each payday, and it's just crap. So I really enjoy spending money on nice stuff and experiences.

At the same time, I'm totally paranoid about being poor again, so I don't have any debt besides mortgage and get twitchy if I don't have enough cash in savings.

So the only option was to earn enough for both. I could certainly save a lot more if I lived more frugally and budgeted, but I think the balance works for me.

We end up down to our last £10 the day before payday but at least it's ours and not debt .

We don't have overdrafts , 1 credit card each with £300 on both (car broke down then a pet emergency ) , a small catalogue account and car finance at £150 PCM .

We try to manage within our means but as we can't really afford to save sometimes things crop up and we do what we have too .

Our income dropped by £10k this year and we have managed perfectly fine , it has made me realise how much ( me , not so much DH) wasted on shit .

I'm back to work full time next month and I can see us actually having savings for the first time ever by the end of the year because actually I've realised the kids don't need a new outfit every week , the couch and bed won't thank me for anymore soft furnishes and most importantly , I've managed to finally ditch the cigs

Before having kids, I was terrible, always in my overdraft, out most nights, takeaways, clothes, CDs. Only became worried about money if I was nearing my overdraft limit. Shames me now to think how much I could have saved back then But I didn't think I had any spare money to save, because it was all gone by the end of the month. I suppose it's all part of being young, having a wage and no responsibilities.

Now, I am much better, because I've had to be. Since having children and paying large amounts in nursery fees. DH is by his own admission, crap with money, though a hell of a lot better than he used to be. I tend to be the one who looks after the money though.

I have a spreadsheet and EVERYTHING is logged on it. At the end of the month, whats left (and at the moment that's not much) is split between paying off a little extra on the credit cards and putting a bit into a savings account.

In fact I'm getting a bit obsessive about living frugally now and having a bit more put away just in case. In a weird way, I'm looking forward to the children being in school so I can enjoy being a bit more comfortable and saving more for them and us.

I am great with business finances, I save for a rainy day and am pretty cautious. Not as careful with my personal money once I've paid myself and taken it into my personal account.

At key times of year like harvest time or when I've sold a lot of livestock there can be quite a few tens of thousands of £ floating around so I hand it all over to DW and she divvys it up between business savings, personal savings, kids savings, new machinery / car / property maintenance funds, holiday funds etc (think we've got about a dozen 'pots' on the go at the moment).

Then we split some designated as personal 'fun' money which we can do whatever we like with - even if the other one thinks it's a ridiculous waste!

I'm shit with money but have worked hard to overcome it. Like...I don't naturally save so I set up a standing order to take a set amount from my bank balance the day after payday and put it in a savings account. So I'm still skint by payday, but I've got that set aside.

I'm a saver. I do think attitude to money is something learned early on. I am an only child and I think my parents were very conscious of not spoiling me, so from 13 I had to earn pocket money (doing odd jobs, making tea, etc for the family business). I then had to save for things. Big things like my driving lessons when I was 17, my parents would match what I paid.

I've always saved well. My parents lent me some money for my postgrad course, and in my first year of earning I paid them back. I've never used credit except for my mortgage (and one occasion when I used a 0% card to buy some furniture for my first house, and paid it off before the interest kicked in).

It helps that I don't really like "stuff". I hate clutter and always think twice before I buy something to see if I really need it. The thought of loads of crap going to landfill bothers me too.

Argh I love new 'stuff' but hate clutter. So I'm costantly buying new stuff and constantly clearing out to make room for it. Wish I could get out of the cycle! I think it's because we had very little as a child (not in poverty at all but only ever had one pair of pyjamas, bare minimum of clothes/toys etc as my parents didn't have much) and I try and overcompensate.

I'm a saver and so is DH. We have a surplus of money at the end of every month, and that's the way it's always been, whether we have a high or low income (I've been on benefits in the past and always had enough to pay bills and essential costs). I log my money obsessively, DH doesn't but he plays it by ear and we both still end up with spare cash. I like shopping but I'm a bargain hunter. DH doesn't hunt down deals like I do but he doesn't spend much because he doesn't like buying 'stuff'.

We've recently been able to buy a home in an expensive part of London in our early 30s, which I keep reading is impossible to do for young people these days. But thanks to our frugal attitude we've been able to do it without inheritance or any help from parents.

I'm not entirely sure where we fit in because although we have always saved a fair amount but we also frittered a lot of money away (in some areas but are quite frugal in others - mainly down to habit). It would be easy to declare us 'savers' because we save a good amount but as a percentage of our income is it really that good? I just don't know. We've always structured our finances so that we could manage the basics on the lowest salary if the main breadwinner lost their job (this has happened to use before).

On balance I would say we are savers - paying off the mortgage early, having a decent savings pot and building up good pensions have always been a priority. DH 'does the money' every day (cross checks bank account with money program he uses) and he is very good at managing the finances and investing but also encouraging us to spend some when we want something we can afford.

Despite now reaching the financial targets we set ourselves (mainly being mortgage free but also some home improvement stuff) I still feel anxious about spending at times and feel we are being really reckless or have been far too cautious. So we have paid off the mortgage early but the is largely down to not moving up the property ladder so in comparison to our current household income it probably isn't that impressive. I feel we really need to set ourselves a new financial goal simply to stop ourselves wasting it because we can...

Definitely a saver. I'm fortunate though in that we have an estrongincome and so I don't have to go without in order to save.

DP and I live payday to payday. We have no savings. Paid off our credit cards this year so we're now debt free. I'm a SAHM and we split DP's wages 50/50 so we both have the same disposable income. I've been completely in my overdraft for years and I can't get out of it because each payday the money I get just about goes over it. I could pay it back if I put £50 in my savings account (which has always been empty) each month, but then that's £50 I could spend on something else. And there's always something. I always feel like I have no money yet I recently started learning to drive and pay £40 a week. I never knew I could put aside £40 a week until I had to. So all this time I could have done it. But I was spending it on other things instead. If I have £100 I will spend that £100. I never put money aside and I always prioritise things I want over things I need.

I'm a saver, we both are, we are in our 20s and have saved 10s of thousands since graduation.

Saver, I couldn't live with a spend thrift. I think having a similar attitude to money is essential for a good partnership.
Neither of us think money is that important or want lots of it or fancy jewellery etc. We both prefer going for a bike ride to going shopping.

I'm a spender by nature but have turned into a saver over the years.
I liked spending money but felt guilty that I was wasting it.

I had a savings account when I started work forty years ago but I was useless at saving regular amounts until I started taking out endowment policies every few years.
I know they have a bad press these days, but they really helped me to build up my savings and it was nice knowing that I would be in line for a lump sum every now and then.
I treated myself with every payout but still managed to save most of it and I now have peace of mind in case of emergencies.

I'm saving now in the sense that I still have three policies left to pay off (taken out 20+ years ago) but so long as my bills are paid I try not to feel guilty about spending money.

Saver. My parents did well financially but they saved a lot of it. Stuff that annoyed me as a teen now makes perfect sense I'm afraid! I don't get paying for more for brands and labels etc. I only get it when there's a chance of a product giving better service.

budgeted, scrimped, saved, did overtime throughout 20s, all with a plan of having a bigger deposit. AFter that, did it all again to overpay mortgage.

I do think, depending on your age and industry, there is a good chance of earning less later in life rather than more. My parents actually thought I was being OTT in my scrimping but sadly time has proved my theory right. I increasingly meet 50+ people who are struggling to find work. I am not in a specific line of work so perhaps that's another reason why I always thought it was high risk.

I also get a lot of satisfaction from the "pay yourself first" idea. If you, OP, or anyone else, might be intersted, I like the tool from Martin Lewis
www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/demotivator/

It does actually still cause problems with DP, family and friends, but tbh they have grumbled less since the recession. DP is a real foodie and will pay a lot for "the experience" which I totally don't understand. A couple of day's wages for 2 people's wine and food - no way.