What are you doing with your money

DonDaddyD

Interest is low, inflation is rising and the economy is stalling.

To be honest, right now is arguably a great time to get interest or credit card it seems. However, buying anything with it seems pointless as most items are more expensive and our pound doesn't go as far as it did.

So are you mostly saving, spending or paying off existing debts?

Just curious.

prawny

I'm trying to restart the economy.

0% credit cards are my friends!

DonDaddyD

Me?

I ws a little too young/at the start of my career during the last boom to really have any money to play with.

I also had debts from Uni and poor financial management skills. Having said that I pretty much have everything major that I need and there isn't really anything I want. So at the moment I'm using the opportunity to pay my debts off in order to SAVE.

Cash rich is the goal for the next 10 years.

The debt paying (not much really, I've never had a credit card with a limit more than £1000 and I don't have one now to put things in perspective) has both taken a hit and then speeded up again due to the pending baby.

But I like the idea of knowing that I have allocated savings or the ability to save for things that I want and need.

Sorry, woke up today with money on the mind.

mudcow007

We haven't long got our first house so at the moment there is no chance of saving whilst we still pay out for things to be done on the house.

i'm hoping once most of the big jobs are done we will then be able to start putting more money away.....

prawny

Teehee you said big jobs!

iPete

Saving for a flat and selling loads of stuff like my camera gear as prices have sky rocketed!

mudcow007

prawny wrote:

Teehee you said big jobs!

i was going to say big "jobbies" but that made me giggle like a school girl

Pross

As a 10% paycut and removal of my previous private fuel allowance combined with inflation has wiped out all my monthly surplus all my cash goes on bills, mortgage and loan payments.

veronese68

You've miised an option on the poll. Barely scraping along. EPO has been laid off, 2 kids and a mortgage. I'm not particularly well paid. Redundancy money will keep us going for a while. But she needs to get another job. Even when she was working it was only part time so there was rarely any money left over to spend or save. We had a reasonable quality of life, managed a holiday most years.
Our son is now 13. He's very bright, I'm dreading University fees.

prawny

mudcow007 wrote:

prawny wrote:

Teehee you said big jobs!

i was going to say big "jobbies" but that made me giggle like a school girl

Too late for me!

Thank god I didn't go and make that coffee!

MonkeyMonster

jobbies
can we have an option where by we spend AND save... or will that actually cause a tear in the fabric of the space time continuum and sound like a big fart...

rick_chasey

MonkeyMonster wrote:

jobbies
can we have an option where by we spend AND save... or will that actually cause a tear in the fabric of the space time continuum and sound like a big fart...

Indeed.

Spending most of my salary - saving my bonuses.

Pufftmw

I have no debts and get more than enough to give 1/3 to my ex, live, drink & eat well, pay for all my other needs & buy myself bits n pieces when the whim suits & save a bit too

I guess I'm lucky but then I work for it.

EKE_38BPM

I got myself into debt (like DDD, Uni and poor financial management skills) but got 95% of it all paid off just before the recession hit.
Unfortunately I also got made redundant at about the same sort of time and have been doing crappy jobs (mainly, I was WVM) to keep my head above water but now I've got a job I don't particularly like and isn't that well paid (but a massive improvement on what I've earned over the last 2 years).
As I have such low debt I will be able to pay everything I owe with my first pay cheque, pay back moral debts with my second (meals out for family, "drinks on me" nights out with good mates etc) and then start getting some proper saving done.

I've really tightened my purse strings over the last few years, first in order to pay off my debts and then because of my reduced income, so I need to refresh my stuff e.g.new clothes and I would really like a holiday.
Hopefully my new financial management skills mean I will be able to get the balance between spending on things I need (and want) and saving right, because I've got my eye one a new watch which has a four figure price tag. I've wanted it for almost twenty years but promised myself that I wouldn't buy it until I was out of debt and could afford to buy it twice (not bankrupting myself to buy something frivolous).

So, eventually, to answer DDD's question: a bit of all three.
Paying of the final bits of my debts, then long term saving for the future and short term saving for a holiday and a not at all blingy watch!

Having no debt is a very nice feeling indeed.

bails87

I'm dreading University fees.

I don't think you should. I was lucky enough to go a few years ago (~£1200/year), but my student loan repayments aren't a big chunk out of my wage. And if they are, then it's because you're earning a lot

Me: Only debt is Student Loan debt. comes out of my pay packet like PAYE. Other than that spending and saving. Should do more of one and less of the other though.

SimonAH

Currently farked.

Two houses. The one I'm trying to sell has no tenant ergo I'm paying two mortgages with no income to offset one of them. Plus two loads of council tax, insurance etc etc et'kingc.

Struggling through to month end seems to be my lot at the moment.

The only good thing is that my debts (non property related) are very small.

To say that Christmas and a massively dense birthday period over the next couple of months is not a prospect that I gaze upon with great longing.

Still, mustn't grumble

dhope

Paying off student loan as part of PAYE plus a little more, saving a bit for a deposit. Pissing the rest up the wall on bike stuff and drink.

joelsim

SimonAH wrote:

Currently farked.

Two houses. The one I'm trying to sell has no tenant ergo I'm paying two mortgages with no income to offset one of them. Plus two loads of council tax, insurance etc etc et'kingc.

Struggling through to month end seems to be my lot at the moment.

The only good thing is that my debts (non property related) are very small.

To say that Christmas and a massively dense birthday period over the next couple of months is not a prospect that I gaze upon with great longing.

Still, mustn't grumble

Exactly my situation. Costing me over £600 per month over and above the one tenant I have in there. 6 months now, plus refurb costs etc. Not good. Just had to borrow some money off my dad.

veronese68

bails87 wrote:

I'm dreading University fees.

I don't think you should. I was lucky enough to go a few years ago (~£1200/year), but my student loan repayments aren't a big chunk out of my wage. And if they are, then it's because you're earning a lot

Me: Only debt is Student Loan debt. comes out of my pay packet like PAYE. Other than that spending and saving. Should do more of one and less of the other though.

I pre-date student loans and all of that. In my day you got a grant to go to university. Unfortunately I'm still on my year off. 5 years to go until the boy may go to uni. Hopefully things will change by then and the mortgage will be paid off. Fees will probably have changed by then.

joelsim

Spending is good at the moment, loads of bargains to be had.

jonny_trousers

Though I am technically self employed, I am extremely lucky in that I have a position working on a very popular theatre production in London that is giving me a pretty good, regular income (long may it last). I do, however, seem to be permanently broke.

I bought my first house a year ago and the mortgage repayments are pretty damn epic.
My dear, old mum had to help me out with the deposit and so I am paying her back a good chunk each month.
I have credit card debts to pay off from bad money management when married to my ex, but I expect them to be cleared by the end of the year.
I have things I would like to do to the house that will cost several thousand pounds.
I'm getting married next year and the cost of that will be huge.

The idea of saving money is a complete fantasy to me.

All of the above said, I know, and regularly remind myself of, how fortunate I am.

Anonymous

bails87 wrote:

I'm dreading University fees.

I don't think you should. I was lucky enough to go a few years ago (~£1200/year), but my student loan repayments aren't a big chunk out of my wage. And if they are, then it's because you're earning a lot

Me: Only debt is Student Loan debt. comes out of my pay packet like PAYE. Other than that spending and saving. Should do more of one and less of the other though.

Same. I think I was the final year to get the 1200 fees. I took the full maintenance loan and fees loan and landed about 14K in debt or so for the privilege. (plus another 2k if we are counting overdrafts, which still hasn't been paid off)

I worked hard, partied harder, and fortunately not to bad off job wise.

However, as many others have also said, my financial management is nothing short of appalling, and money does tend to burn a hole in my pockets, so with the latest hobby, cycling come along its slightly screwed me over.
Seem to just about get by, and I think I need a staggeringly austere month to put me back on level ground credit card wise.
November will be quiet.....

bails87

I didn't actually end up with any 'bank' debt after uni.

Just my student loans. I worked when I was at college, so saved a bit of money for that, which left me with £30 a week after paying my rent in the first year. Not fun, so I worked even more during the summer holidays for the next two years to make sure I had a bit more than that to live on.

W1

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

I have credit card debts to pay off from bad money management when married to my ex,
.
I'm getting married next year and the cost of that will be huge..

Did you not learn the first time?!

CiB

There's no option to cover 'All of the above'. It's possible to save a bit, spend a bit (got to keep the economy moving along; govts don't buy much stuff esp from small outlets), and also keep paying the mortgage off at the rate that we were paying when rates were higher, to end it all sooner. So all three; when it all crashes around our ears I'll reappraise the situation.

Anonymous

I worked during holidays for spending money, loan went straight on rent then fees had their own loan.

Not really sure where the overdraft went, but it was interest free (at the time!) and I presume it was all worthwhile!

jonny_trousers

W1 wrote:

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

I have credit card debts to pay off from bad money management when married to my ex,
.
I'm getting married next year and the cost of that will be huge..

Did you not learn the first time?!

Ha! Clearly not. In my defence, I have upgraded to a younger model and one that brings in her own money rather than getting me to fund her entire university education before f*cking off back to Sweden. As you can tell, I'm not bitter in the slightest.

dhope

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

upgraded to a younger model

...

rather than getting me to fund her entire university education

GCSEs are cheaper certainly.

bails87

dhope wrote:

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

upgraded to a younger model

...

rather than getting me to fund her entire university education

GCSEs are cheaper certainly.

My girlfriend got me to fund her through her SATS, bloody cheek.


Worth it though, giggity!

Initialised

Not much left. At the end of the month to save and not much point since inflation is stripping even higher interest savings.

dunnnooo

Want a house, and no debts worth worrying about. Ergo, saving saving saving.