Money Supermarket contains a great deal of information involving money tips, saving money, spending thriftily. So I was (sadly!) excited when the latest newsletter hit my inbox.
We all need to know HOW to handle our money wisely. Being one of those “babyboomers” no one taught me how to handle money but I soon found out that debt can get out of hand as I obtained my first credit card around the age of 23. I thought I could finally spend money (I hadn’t got) on stuff I needed (didn’t need). I could become a (un)savvy shopper picking up bargains I could ill afford and fill my cupboards with (un)needed stuff.
I guess it took me until my mid fifties to finally get a grip on my finances, looking at how much I needed per month to *survive* and how much extra I needed per month to *thrive*, and then add on some for holidays and unexpected expenses such as vet bills (dog), car MOT, tyres and other unexpected motoring costs, not to mention unexpected periods of little or no work which meant no money coming in.
Beware the “monthly subscription”! Some of these are informative and valuable if these end up saving you money in the long run, but do you really need it? What happens if you haven’t used “the service” for a couple of months and “empty” money has been siphoned out of your account? Check DD’s on a regular basis, check PayPal if you have it for pre-authorised recurring payments. If you’re not sure, don’t sign up. I recently got stung myself by signing up to (Free) Avast and despite de-registering from the paid service *still* managed to get stung. I removed all trace of my bank accounts from PayPal as a precaution, managed to get the payment refunded and hopefully learned my lesson BUT the exercise was in my view entirely unethical.
Here is a handy little guide on handling YOUR money.
