What's the one thing that you've done in your financial life

PrairieRose · 02-18-2003, 01:33 AM

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.

justjenn · 02-18-2003, 06:15 AM

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.

pamy · 02-19-2003, 08:15 AM

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.

Jerseygirl · 02-19-2003, 12:12 PM

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.

BelindaUK · 02-19-2003, 04:10 PM

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

Ellise · 02-19-2003, 05:14 PM

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.

tigo · 02-19-2003, 05:16 PM

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.

PrairieRose · 02-20-2003, 09:46 AM

Ooooh these are great! Keep em coming girls!

scooby · 02-20-2003, 10:34 AM

Quote:

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!!!!!!

BelindaUK · 02-20-2003, 06:45 PM

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

PrairieRose · 03-01-2003, 12:06 PM

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.

melina123 · 03-09-2003, 07:50 PM

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.

AmyBoz · 03-09-2003, 08:47 PM

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.

Sara Noel · 03-10-2003, 11:11 AM

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.

ReneeLynn · 03-10-2003, 11:55 AM

Staying out of credit card debt.