that has had the most impact on the positive side?
I think for me it would be to quit buying those darned home decor magazines! No joke! Those things cost me sooooooooo much more than just the $3-6 each. I love to look at beautiful home furnishings and to decorate my home. It got to be a sickness and really cost us a lot of $. I have to admit that I do still have about a zillion of them in a trunk. Every now and then I have to have a look at the old ones. AND I do still look at em in the checkout BUT I don't buy anymore.

hmmm....Good question. Realizing that we were going to have to get out of cc debt, and tracking our expenses has had the most impact here.

I agree with Jenn, tracking our spending has had the most positive results. I have been using Quicken for several years but didn't really start to analyze our spending until a couple of years ago. It was eye-opening and continues to be so.

Realizing that the decisions we are making now will effect how old we are when we retire and getting the 15 year mortgage rather than 30.

Buying our home just before all the prices here shot up! House prices have gone a bit mad in the UK in recent years. We got one of the last relatively cheap houses in our road in 1997, and six years later it would be valued at double what we paid for it. If we were buying now, we couldn't afford our own home LOL!! As it is we have an affordable mortgage and a nice home which although still needing a lot of work, we really love. (Yep, not over extending our mortgage capacity was a very good decision too).

Belinda

Doubling up on house payments, paying off the first one (in less than 9 years instead of 30) before we bought house #2. Paying cash for our cars instead of making monthly payments. Not using the CC's unless it is an absolute emergency! I'm sorry, I guess I had more than one major impact.

The one thing that has helped the most is cooking from scratch. Menu planning, stock piling, and my beloved crockpot has made our lives much better. I am now even brown-bagging it almost everyday to work or I run home on my lunch hour.

Ooooh these are great! Keep em coming girls!

Originally posted by Jerseygirl
Realizing that the decisions we are making now will effect how old we are when we retire and getting the 15 year mortgage rather than 30.

Amen Jerseygirl!!!!!!

Ooh, I have another:

Realising at 38, and after time out of the workplace, that now I was earning again I *really* needed to do something about a pension plan, and ACTUALLY DOING IT! It's now up and running, and I've funded it for the current tax year already. Of course, if I'd done this in time for my 30th birthday instead of nearly my 40th that would have been better still! But I'm really glad I took action on this one.

BelindaUK

Well you are certainly not alone Belinda....we were late bloomers too and even though we've had our account started for a while we haven't always contributed regularly, but that stops now. We're adding a nice chunk in a month or so for the past year.

For me (I love shopping!) realizing that even if something is on sale I am still spending money to buy it. Does that make sence? If a gorgous dress was 75% off what a great deal! But do I really need it? And the money is still going out of my account if I buy it...it is not saving but spending less.

Paying off my credit card debt before getting married and buying a house instead of renting so we had some equity built up when our family expanded and we needed to go bigger.

The biggest decision I made that impacted me the most was not having what I owned identify who I am.
I'm still me without going to the salon all the time. I am still me without designer handbags and shoes. I am still me without the fancy car. It's all just stuff. It might be nice "stuff", but it isn't more important than placing my money in different places. It's not more important than being debt free. Having zero credit card debt is a great feeling.

Staying out of credit card debt.

For me it was getting rid of credit cards bills and living within our means. No more 500.00 clothes shopping sprees. My 7.00 on clearance jeans and my 2.00 clearance tops are just fine. My car is new but we got it at 0% finance so what we are paying for it the car itself.

Totally agree with Jersey Girl. That is why I always think before I buy. Renee

Realizing that we were robbing our retirement years, by overspending now.

Tracking our spending - what a shocker to realize just how much we were spending on junk food and stuff we didn't NEED.

Sorting out exactly what is a NEED, from what are WANTS.

Reading "Miserly Moms", "Financial Peace", "TWG" and finding out I wasn't alone in my quest for financial independence, and that we didn't have to be deprived to attain it.

~Forgoing big wedding, honeymoon & fancy vacations to buy a home
~Never carrying a balance on our credit cards
~Putting any extra money we had towards the principal on our mortgage so we could pay less interest and own it outright sooner. It worked.:yippee:

Darlene I am there with you to. Can't wait to get this freaking car paid off then all the extra money is going to go on this mortgage. I hate anything hanging over my head!:grrr: Renee

Deciding to fund retirement plans as heavily as we can afford:

* Our contributions to DH's work plans are paid in pre-tax dollars. (i.e. If we put $100 into the plan, that $100 is subtracted from his gross -- and the lower amount is what gets taxed).

* Our retirement accounts won't count against us when it's time for dkids to need financial aid for college.

* In a REAL emergency, we could get that money. But we'd have to pay taxes and a penalty. So, we don't ever touch it.

I have been living on a cash only basis since I left Bob - the only thing that I have newly signed up for credit wise is the house - which is reasonable - I have thoroughly enjoyed "cashing" out on everything the kids and I have done for the last four years - no huge weights and pressures - just meeting the dailies and we either had it or we didn't but nothing has been in jeopardy...

The biggest impact on my financial system right now is seperating want from need and accepting that some things I used to think I had to have I could do without altogether.

Believe it or not, I have a close friend who did not have a phone at all for many years (I'd guesstimate at least 7 years!). I consider phone service a necessity. She used a pay phone at work to keep in touch with everyone. They also could call her at work if they needed to by calling the payphone.

This friend was saving her money to make a down payment on a home of her own and not having phone service was just one thing she did that enabled her to achieve her goal. There were many more things she did, too.

I am very proud of her, btw. She's been a great inspiration to me.

Putting money away every month. I started when I was 18 putting money away monthly into an RRSP (IRA) and now I am in my 30's I save money every month into my emergency fund.

We bought a house for far less money than we were told we could afford. I never would have been able to become a SAHM if we had bought like we were told to.

Finding the book, "Total Money Makeover", by Dave Ramsey last February. Don't follow everything he's says but I did get my daughter's braces paid off, my tooth repair paid for, have my EF, and paying off my car. Than after I pay off my car I'm going to get a 4 to 6 EF. Started a 401(k) that started this month and having money taken out of my check and put in another credit union where I seldom go. Harder to get at. Try to see how many days I can go without spending any money. Not going out to eat, but cooking by scratch. Went from a 30 year loan to a 15 year loan a couple of years ago. Tell the girls no if its not a necessity. If they think it's a necessity they can save their money and buy it themselves. Stock up on personal items if there's a really good deal. Growing some flowers by seed instead of buying the flowers. Last year at Meijers they threw out a whole bunch of hanging plants and my mom and I grabbed them. Bought a couple of pair of pants for the girls so I wasn't washing 4 to 5 times a week. Now only wash twice a week.

I'm finally learning to stay out of the malls unless I really need something. I'm also putting as much $ as I can on our credit cards to pay them off soon. I need to ask myself if I need or want something before I buy it.