originally posted on 14-11-2016 9:04 PM

Hey @j95!!!

originally posted on 14-11-2016 9:06 PM

If there is no cash left in my wallet, then I know I spent to much. I try to avoid shopping unless it's food.

originally posted on 14-11-2016 9:10 PM

@loves netball I use a similar strategy. I only use cash (mainly because I hate using my card) I avoid shopping by not going out anywhere 😛

I usually set myself personal rules like, no cash-no purchase (although I broke that rule today, don't tell anyone :P) and then every now and again I'll take money out so I have cash. But I definitely put more money into savings then I spend.

originally posted on 14-11-2016 8:59 PM

Hey @j95! 😄

originally posted on 14-11-2016 9:22 PM

How good are you at managing your money?

 

I'm fairly good, I earn not all that much being an apprentice so there isn't a lot of money to throw around and waste cause I got bills and stuff, but I do like to treat myself a little more often than I should. I consider myself fairly lucky I haven't had to use credit cards or get loans yet cause nope,but thats easy to say harder to do. 

But I do find that I'm good at buying big things like holidays but refuse to pay for shipping and stupid little things like that.

 

 What are some of the things that make managing money tricky?

- Wanting to have money in case of emergencies then thinking I could be using the money on something useful rather than have it sitting there.

- Unexpected payments

- Buying random stuff for projects 

- When Kmart bring out new homewares

 

What are some of the things that help you manage your money better?

I used to refuse to look at my bank statement but now I look because it says where all my money is gone and it mostly says 

'Coles'

'IGA'

'Random cafe'

'Kmart' 

the whole way through so I use that as reminder to stop wasting my money at Kmart etc

Also, I discovered my bank has this thing online where you have a pie chart on what you spend your money on, like food & drink, petrol, utilities etc it does it all automatically. Also some of my pay goes over to a seperate account each week, I know  I can pull it out if I need its just harder to do so. 

 

andddd i cant catch up without getting further behind so thats all i'll say 

 

originally posted on 14-11-2016 9:07 PM

Time for the next question!

 

How far into the future do you think about money? 

originally posted on 14-11-2016 9:14 PM

originally posted on 14-11-2016 9:12 PM

How far into the future do you think about money?
Not at all. 😛 A couple of months ago I told myself no spending money until December. Today I did spend money, but I also needed birdseed and that can't wait another month. But really, I hardly think into the future about money. I do worry about it when I think about living out of home, but never in a realistic sense, more just guessing and ideas rather than actual numbers.

originally posted on 14-11-2016 9:19 PM

How far into the future do you think about money? 

 

Pretty far these days. I've realised that money i save now is worth a LOT more than money i save later. Like... basically if I save a buck and get 5% interest on it for 10 years it'll be worth 2 bucks... that doesn't seem like much but i just made a buck for doing nothing. Now imagine if you did that with 20,000 bucks.... anyway I like the idea of putting a little bit aside that I don't really notice knowing that that bit of money that i didn't really care about will one day turn into quite a bit of money that I will care about 😛 

originally posted on 14-11-2016 8:08 PM

Hey @Ben-RO and @Alison5! So happy I'm finally home in time to take part in this! I've just missed being able to join the past few GR's!

 

I would say I'm relatively good at managing my money. I carefully consider all my purchases/expenses, from something as small as a hot chocolate to something bigger like my car. I save as much as I can and I allocate a certain amount of what I earn as spending money for things like food/petrol, and the rest stays in my bank account, untouched.

 

I find writing down how much money I have coming in helps me keep track of it/my spending habits. 

originally posted on 14-11-2016 8:10 PM

Having said that, thinking about money can be anxiety-inducing for me, especially in regards to supporting myself out of home, which just isn't plausibe right now. (So thankful for my parents and being able to live with them!)  

originally posted on 14-11-2016 8:13 PM

Same goes for me @letitgo. I hate making decisions around money. I'm worried i'll regret it, hence why I don't spend a thing!

originally posted on 14-11-2016 8:16 PM

Good to see you here @letitgo @N1ghtW1ng @loves netball 🙂

 

Aw man I don't have that much to spend on it @Ben-RO looks pretty sweet though 😉 😄

 

Second question time: What are some of the things that make managing money tricky?

originally posted on 14-11-2016 8:22 PM

What are some of the things that make managing money tricky?

Trying to balance what you want to buy vs what you have to spend money on. Keeping some savings in case of emergency,

Having people invite you out to places when you haven't planned to spend money on that.

originally posted on 14-11-2016 8:20 PM

What are some of the things that make managing money tricky?

 

When I do buy things, it always seems to be on impulse so that makes it tricky to manage it properly (but also exiting :P)

originally posted on 14-11-2016 8:19 PM

What are some of the things that make managing money tricky?
I'd say things like debt, rent, groceries, daily living kind of things. It's hard to save up on money when you keep needing to spend it on bills.

originally posted on 14-11-2016 8:24 PM

What are some of the things that make managing money tricky?

 

Definitely all the things like bills etc that @N1ghtW1ng mentioned. Although to be honest what i discovered the biggest drain on my money was the countless little things. Like buying lunch out every day of the week, buying a couple of coffees a day, little random things that i bought for projects and ideas and hobbies (that i probably didn't always need). 

 

Also not having a goal made it tricky, because seeing money in the account and not having any reason not  to spend it left me looking for a cool thing 😛 

 

AND I think growing up in a really poor family. Basically i don't think i really got the hang of having more money than i needed to survive a week, so i was kind of in the habit of spending it all...

originally posted on 14-11-2016 8:28 PM

I've heard that's a pretty common thing with people living week-to-week @Ben-RO where they're used to not having money and sometimes feel like they need to spend it before it has to be spent on something else.

originally posted on 14-11-2016 8:29 PM

And I think your point @Ben-RO leads on well to our next question:

 

What are some of the things that help you manage your money better?