What’s an “unpopular” spending or money decision that actually works well for you?

[HonestTealPoster]

For me, it’s not budgeting. I’ve tried it before and found it quite stressful, I ended up overthinking every purchase. These days I don’t follow a strict budget. I just spend fairly naturally and because I’m quite frugal anyway, I still tend to save more than I spend.

Is there anything you do that might go against the usual advice but works for you?

I don't ever buy drinks on the go and always refuse the fancy coffee run at work.
The amount of money wasted on liquid.."just because" is insane.

Socialising or with a meal is different

I live in a small house rather than a bigger one with a huge mortgage. I spend the money I would have spent on holidays.

I don't budget either. I have all my big bills come out on the first of the month, and just monitor my bank balance throughout the month if I want any big purchases.

Not buying takeaway coffee is absolutely not something that goes against usual money-related advice. It’s completely standard advice.

Agree. Don’t waste money or calories on drink unless you need some Dutch courage to get through a tough social occasion.

My DH and I have separate finances.

We have a joint account for mortgage, bills, kids stuff - which we each put £X a month.

Everything else is separate. I have no idea what his day-to-day income or spending are like, how much he has in savings etc - and he is equally vague on my situation.

Yep - I still live in my first house; it's not my dream home, but I'm on a great mortgage rate. My repayments are less than a third/a quarter of what some friends are paying.

I have multiple bank accounts one for bills, one for savings and then one for spending

Having coffee out

If a weekly coffee in a nice cafe is your treat, then so be it. It's better than restaurants!

We pretty much never spend money on attending ‘attractions’. Our household income is in excess for £250k a year. We just don’t see the value in them.

We chose to move to an area that's considered far less posh than some and went against the advice of 'wordt house in best area' etc. It meant we could get a good size home, detached, amazing garden and a lower mortgage. Also, it's actually really lovely just underrated.

Maybe boring, but neither of us like alcoholic drinks so we feel we save a fortune through the year just for that!

“Pay yourself first” ie put your money you want to save in an account first, then pay everything else.

Cant get on with that at all. I pay the necessaries (rent food etc) then spend as needed eg petrol, entrance fee for somewhere, then what’s left gets saved.

I moved to a much nicer and more expensive house and got an interest only mortgage for the difference in price and then paid it off with some of my pension lump sum.

I also switched between interest only and repayment mortgage when my DC were younger so I could go on lots of holidays.

My DH and I never had more than £1000 in savings until our 50’s.

Another one with separate finances from DH, except for bills where we both put in the same amount.

All my regular bills and savings go out at the start of the month and I work from there in terms of what I can afford.

And I don't save up for holidays. I am too spontaneous (unruly) for that level of prep. We just cut our cloth accordingly when the time comes.

Taxis almost daily. A lot of the time more than once a day. Not that I really want to but it makes life easier.

Similar. Bills go out at the start of the month, and generally spend at the same level throughout the month. We aim to maintain a constant 15k balance at month end after pay day. Anything above the 15k we move in saving and investments.

I borrowed from the future by extending mortgage until I'm 70 to lower repayments and not have to budget whilst kids are with us. I spend our savings on holidays. Cannot see the point of make a budget, overpay now and you'll have lots of money to go on cruises when kids leave home.

I'll overpay and pay the mortgage down once kids have left - if I'm lucky may even get some inheritance to clear it early.

I have a bad Uber habit!

I think OP is looking for UNPOPULAR money decisions.

Not spending on coffee is hardly unpopular…

I encourage my DH to buy us all breakfast from Greggs on a day out using my app so I get all the free stuff.

Taking public transport.
My family are car snobs. According to them:
the city bus is “smelly and claustrophobic”
the coach makes you travel sick (OK but pills exist)
and the train wastes time on connections.

But for £3 a day local bus fare and no parking, the £2.50 unlimited bus tickets offered recently (I did a holiday with those instead of renting a car!) and Flixbus prices it’s not worth getting the car out. The train price is still shocking, however.

We've gone from 2 cars to one now DH has retired. Loads of money saved.

You’ll pay so much in extra interest doing this though. That’s why people overpay. To save on interest.

ha yeah whats next, "I pay money in to a pension each month" as a wacky financial idea that doesnt work for everyone but works for me.

When we have all our picnics and snacks packed for a day out we’ll often buy a nice drink to go with it so we feel good. Cheaper than a whole meal out and we don’t end up feeling miserable and deprived

Why do you need £15,000 in a current account "just in case"? In case your yacht needs an emergency repair or something? 🤔Why not just put it into instant access savings?