Can saving money ever be fun?

Let’s be honest, people who watch the pennies (out of choice) are always deeply, deeply annoying.

I’m trying to change my habits, though. Spent a decade at least just buying what i want, logic being that buying yourself nice things every day’s better for the ol’ mental health than depriving yourself.

Need to start putting a bit away now, though, which shouldn’t be too hard given i barely ever do a bigshop and go to the pub and bookies every day, but how do you convince your brain that it’s not grim going without fun things?

Has anyone got any productive tips beyond the usual batch-cooking bores?

Shoot…

Corrie is good at the moment

Nope.

CWBAFT

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The trick is to hate your job with a passion and mentally redefine money as time spent at work. You’ll start naturally gravitating towards free, rewarding hobbies like finding good deals on vegetables and defending Billy Corgan on the internet.

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Depends what our saving for… always nice to look forward to a holiday or something so you know what the sacrifice is for.

If it’s saving for a house or something it’s just depressing cos you don’t get the payback of having a new toy to play with or somewhere to go :man_shrugging:

Depends what you’re saving for, obvs.

I find it helpful to stick away a small amount each week, basically like a bill or whatever. In about October least year I started sticking a tenner each Monday into a savings account, meant that by the time Chistmas rolled around I had like £120 in there. Didn’t really miss the tenner, was super helpful to have it an Christmas for buying food/booze/some presents etc. Imagine doing that would work as well for holiday spending money as well.

Also well into @ttf about weekly targets and budgetting that way. Been doing that for the last few years and found it really helpful to clear a huge overdraft I’d built up.

I don’t really enjoy drinking alcohol that much, don’t do drugs and rarely go on holiday, so just save money naturally.

It is miserable though, yeah.

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Not if they’re camping holidays in Tuscany

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Basically gamify it

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I’ve made a budget spreadsheet in really nice colours

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i have an alright salary and cheap rent and never do much really, not sure why im so bad at saving

oh yeah i forgot that im spending £200 a month on health insurance + student loans. and flying home every few months costs money. that’ll be it

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There are so many good apps to budget with nowadays. Once you start feeling like you’re reaching goals and can see in a nicely laid out/graphic way how much money you’ve saved and what you spend on stuff, it’s bordering on fun.

When I got better with money it was because I’d made two savings accounts; one as a proper rainy day savings account and one as a designated fun account. Have to spend it on holidays or trips or footy or nice things. Having the two separate helped work things out financially, and isn’t boring.

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I use moneybox app. Its an investment app and takes the odd pence on your purchases (5p from a £9.95 purchase for example) and invests them. I do that and add £50 a month on payday. Beem doing it 8 months and have over £700. It’s kind of fun checking what rate you have (currently 4% growth but does fluctuate). You can lose money on it though

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I don’t think saving money, much like ironing or going for a run, is supposed to be fun. It’s just one of those things you’re supposed to do.

Work out what you’re saving for and whether it’s worth not spending on the things you immediately want.

can’t wait to eat all the money i’ve saved when the planet collapses in on itself

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I once saved every £2 coin i got over a period of around 18 months and ended up with over £700…it was a fun night counting it.

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i dont think so, no

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