If you have turned your finances around and learned to live frugally, HOW??

[LittleDorritt]

How have you done it??

I was made bankrupt this week. I got my first credit card at eighteen and I've been living above my means my entire adult life. I try to budget and save and I get nowhere at all. I don't seem to have an "off" switch when it comes to self-sabotage.

If you have successfully turned your spending habits around completely, please tell me how you've done it, and where to start.

What is YNAB?

You Need a Budget.

budgeting software that costs money. Like decluttering books that cost money and add clutter...

Open Office spreadsheets are free. Pen, paper and a calculator cost little. None help unless you spend less.

I used to be like you OP. Eventually I had no option but to take on a debt management plan and it changed my life. I paid off all my debts over 6 years and of course I couldn’t take out anymore credit in that time. I checked my bank balance every single day and stuck to a budget. I went without a lot of luxuries - no foreign holidays, hardly any nights out, no expensive clothes, had to learn how not to walk into a shop and buy whatever I fancied etc etc.
Many years on now and I have stuck to those habits. My earnings have gone up, I am now living with DH and am lucky enough now to be very financially comfortable. But my lesson has been learnt and I have not borrowed money or had credit for anything since. If I want something we save for it.
I can’t believe how much money I frittered away on clothes and crap over the years - it brings me out in a cold sweat thinking about it now!

Thank you special

I've been messing about with the free trial of YNAB for the last few days and am really enjoying using it. It's definitely worth a look @Littlechocola. I'm not sure if I will carry on with it once my free trial is up or try and work my own version out on Excel (techie dunce that I am), but I really wish I had started using it a year ago, before I got quite so deep into the mire.

That’s interesting @LittleDorritt I might take a look. Thank you

I think one key thing is to realise that debt comes with an enormous amount of stress. Imagine what it would be like to be solvent, and to have no debt and to save. Then, when you feel tempted to buy something expensive and frivolous, tell yourself that the feeling that it will give you is less good than the feeling you'll get from being debt-free. Repeat it often enough when you're confronted by temptation and the strength of the temptation will fade.

Discipline isn't one gigantic switch that you pull on with all your might and that then hums away. It's a myriad of small, daily decisions.

Sit down and type into a spreadsheet all your monthly bills (use your bank statement to know what they are) and income. Then you have your basic budget. If you have money left include an amount to save and set up a standing order with your bank to put it into another account. DH and I have little pocket money accounts and we each get £20 a month to spend how we want (stopped DH buying endless £3 coffees now he has to spend his 'own' money and I stopped buying so much yarn!).

We used cash for a while but also found it hard shopping with it. Tesco do scan and shop in lots of their stores, so I withdraw cash outside (within the budget I allow for shopping) and then scan as I go so I know the total. I also shop online so I can add it up too.

I have also in the past cut up our credit card. Stopped more things going on and I used a spreadsheet with a formula to estimate the monthly interest so I could predict when we would pay it off. I tweaked the payments and saw how much it changed when it would be zero. Obviously you don't have this now with the bankruptcy, but build up savings now so you don't get in to a pickle in the future of not being able to fund unexpected things. This was key for us, having some savings to pay for car repairs so we didn't have to use the credit card (we upped our monthly savings standing order until we had a buffer, then reduced it a little and switched more to pay off the credit card).

Kids are my weakness too, especially at Christmas. I know what I should do but I do just buy a little more than I should. It's easy to get carried away and I just need to be disciplined.

I must say, this thread and spurred me on to re-do our budget. I've been made redundant in January so we're a little in the habit of just buying a little more than usual and that has to stop before the new year.

The children have been fantastically well behaved for an hour and I've redone our budget. I've also managed to do the credit card projected balances going forward.

It is really surprising how much you can fritter away here and there when you don't add it up. Quite shocking how little we thought we had.

Hooray for a 2018 new start

I'm so glad this has been useful for you too Purple. It's been brilliant for me although it has shown me how far I have to go mentally to get into the right habits. Even this week I have been frittering money left and right because of Christmas. I thought the bankruptcy would sort me out, like *Whiskyowls" gigantic switch that doesn't exist I have a really long way to go to get into a good daily financial pattern.

Just tagging on, I so agree that getting into the new mindset comes through lots of small decisions, and practice.

When I first started getting in control of my spending I used to write down every morning what I expected to spend that day and then at the end, what I had spent, and if I had overspent, why. That helped me avoid impulse buys as I'd have to justify it to myself later, but also to keep track of small expenses like someone's leaving collection at work, stamps, meeting someone for coffee that day, stuff that's easy to forget you need money for!

New year. New start. Placemarking for tips! Good luck @ LittleDorritt.

LittleDorrit, if you have a student card by any chance, you can get YNAB free for a year if you're getting on well with it. Worth a mention just in case!

Sadly not, but thanks for thinking of me!

(Sorry, tis the OP with a festive namechange!)

No problem - I was just doing my monthly YNAB budget and thought of you! Merry nearly Xmas

I didn’t budget as such, I just started playing a game with myself of “how tight can I be” and it’s been amazing. I look for bargains and don’t spend money unless I really want/need something.

It’s changed the way I spend. I used to be terrible and now I am good with money. I don’t deny myself stuff. I just don’t spend like it’s going out of fashion.
Good luck

I like to think of it as leading a minimalist and environmentally friendly lifestyle, as well as being frugal. If items aren't being wasted/thrown away/bought unnecessarily, it is kind to your purse as well as the environment.

Once you get into the habit, you will find it difficult to spend though, even when you can afford to.

Lots of good advice here.

I'd just like to add that it may feel tough at first, but you will soon start getting g a thrill similar to spending, from NOT spending, clearing debt and saving - it starts to feel really fantastic.

Being slim and solvent is something that other, better, people do.

It's what other people do right now, I have a strong feeling that YOU are going to find the self belief to become one of those people 💕

Thanks for being so kind everyone. I really can't wait to start getting that thrill and for everything to become second nature. It certainly doesn't feel that way yet.
No Spend Day today though, so I have yet to fritter any money away this year

Just following the thread there's some really good advice here. I'm not in debt but have a credit card bill I need to shift

I use the Good Budget app - the basic version is free and allows you to set up to 10 budget envelopes and then you allocate your spending to it.

It’s prwtty similar to YNAB.