So you’ve left home. You’ve left that tiny little fictional town in East Lambroshire for the bright lights of Hull or Norwich or maybe even Cornwall (or London, that’s probably more likely). You’ve finally put away childish things and are well on your way to becoming a man/woman. You’ve got your grown-up looking shirt, your serious shoes and a photo of your childhood teddy Casey Jones for when you’re feeling a little lonely. You’ve also, a little churlishly, ignored your parents kind offers of a loan. They mean well but to you it sounds like they’re saying: “You’re a useless, financially reckless CHILD!” So, yeah, you’ve said no; you’re pretty determined, just like Sheep and Babe you’re going to make it in the Big City (OK, maybe you’re not as mature as you let on).
Two weeks in and you’ve spent all of your savings, have gotten fired from the only job that would have you and are pretty much living hand-to-mouth. You’ve only got two options, sell your beloved collection of vintage Dolly Parton wigs or go cap-in-hand back to your parents and ask for some cash. It’s not really much of a choice, is it?
A carefree Miss Chamberlain (far right) at my university graduation. Look at those skinny ankles! Don’t let the picture fool you, I was potless!
Once you’ve got those wigs under lock and key it’s back home to Lambroshire for a date with the folks. Of course, being nice people they’re only too happy to help but where others hear concern and sincerity in their gruff northern tones all you hear is smug satisfaction: “Of course dear, we’d be happy to help. How much do you need?” to your ears this just sounds like: “I told you so”.
To save some dignity you’re going to have to think of a repayment plan. You can’t have your parents believing that you are about as fiscally responsible as a pop star in an ornate fish tank shop. The thing here is to think of a loan from your parents as an actual bank loan, rather than two people whose trust you can abuse for financial gain.
Now they might be the more laidback type, who will tell you just to pay the money back as and when you can. Or they could be the more disciplinarian of guardians who will set an exact date for when the money should be repaid in full. Either way, make sure you have a date for when the money needs to be paid back. If they don’t set one, you should and then stick to it.
Of course, this might be quite difficult if you don’t have a job or some way of earning regular money. You could get cash from a variety of sources be it a student loan, grant, scholarship or, sigh, selling off some valuables to raise some funds. If you want to prove your maturity you’ve got to take this seriously.
When you’ve got some money coming in, you’ve then got to start budgeting. Budgeting is what being a grown-up is all about, which is why you really should be doing it anyway, loan or not. Take a look at your incomings and outgoings and see exactly you can spare each week or month.
You’ve got to be realistic here. It’s all well and good thinking that you won’t drink for six months or that you will only need £40 a month for food and that added extras like concert tickets, birthdays or QWERTY t-shirts can be avoided. Leave yourself a few spare pounds each week for those added extras that always pop up, no matter how hard you try to avoid them. Then, once you’ve added rent and bills into the mix, you’re ready to come up with the exact figure for what you can pay back each month.
Again allow yourself some leeway in the final payback date. Push it back a few weeks, even a month or two to take into account events you absolutely have to attend: Glastonbury (Dolly Parton is headlining after all), your best mate’s birthday in Bangkok or your favourite auntie’s wedding in Florida . Again some things you just can’t say no to will come up and you will have to miss a repayment or two. Banks may be flexible with this sort of thing (within reason of course) and so should your parents be, particularly if you are on track to meet your final repayment date.
For extra brownie points try to pay it off a week early. That’ll wipe the smug/concerned smiles/frowns off their silly/lovely faces.
Fortnum & Mason Hamper Giveaway
Want to win a fabulous Fortnum and Mason Hamper (worth £50)? Well enter via the Rafflecopter below and tell me what may have left you in a little trouble with Mr. Bank when you left home (all those years ago!). Has all this brought back some cringe-worthy memories?
- Only 1 option is mandatory (leave me a comment) – the rest only improve your chances of winning so just complete as many as you feel like
- UK entrants only – you must be over 18 too (sorry)
- The winner will be contacted by email and must respond within 1 week of having been emailed (I’ll try all known avenues to contact them) or a new winner will be drawn
- When the giveaway is closed, Rafflecopter will select the winner completely at random
- The winners name will be published on this site
- Competition bought to you by Natwest. This is the only occurrence of this competition, it is not replicated elsewhere on the web
I was very careful with money when I left home. The main challenge was transport costs - travelling cheaply by bus and train.
Getting used to so many bills!
My Biggest money challenge was to buy the washing machine & Fridge Freezer. Then the weekly rent. It made me change my whole life style. But I don’t regret a single moment
When I first left home I didn’t smoke or drink or socialize ( too shy ) but later I got into financial trouble all too easily. I blame my friends - of course.
Totally underestimated the actual cost of living. Gas, electric, water, food, phone bill - it all adds up and leaves you with very little left over!
Kate Fever recently posted…Babyologist review - the MAM steam steriliser
Paying off the credit card debt I ran up whilst still living with my parents!
all the bills - you don’t realise how many!
Council Tax
Budgeting and paying household bills (the hardest to understand were gas and electricity bills!)
I totally underestimated everything, from the cost of food, electric and gas, to things you don’t even think about as a child, such as TV licence and council tax
getting used to paying rent and cutting back on other things…eg, taking own sandwiches instead of spending in cafes etc
I hit the store cards way too hard and then spent far too much and ended up in all kinds of bother trying to pay them back
store cards were my downfall
Making money last till the end of the month, hard to keep track of bills
Alison recently posted…Harringtons Dog Food Review
I worked in banking & employees weren’t allowed overdraft facilities so it was a case of having to budget within my salary
Just learning how to budget properly was tough - I didn’t really need to do it before
Rebecca U recently posted…Our Little Adventure
OMG I remember that background at Uni and posing infront of it!!
When I first moved out of home I couldn’t believe how much I ate. I mean, how did my parents afford to feed me? My food bills were out of control until I learned to plan meals.
yes getting the bills sorted was a blow to begin with till I got organised
Budgeting the bills
I underestimated the cost of bills
Louise A recently posted…Sowing Flower Seeds and Garden Wanderings.
My biggest issue is trying to save money when London rents are so extortionate.
Bills in general
I found the biggest challenge was not spending too much on food! I’d gotten used to eating what I wanted and not thinking about the cost, and suddenly I realised how much branded food actually costs.
I must admit, when I first left home, I was hopeless with money, didn’t realize the true cost of electric/gas bills etc, never had any money left over and was always getting into debt. Took a while but glad to say I’m really good with money now x
I totally didn’t factor the price of things I took for granted like a TV licence or council tax
When I left home I was expecting my first child so it was learning how to juggle all the bills as well as baby expenses at the same time x
chantelle hazelden recently posted…The Mummy Tag
Buying my first house was a challenge trying to save up for deposit then all the work that needed doing to it.
Learning how to budget!
My parents had a savings plan for me that matured at 21 when i left home. It was just under £3000 and i thought it would be plenty for everything i needed when i moved into my first house. I didnt have anything put aside so when id paid for the essentals (sofa, cooker, fridge, bed, tv etc) I had nothing left. Those first few months were a massive shock and i did alot of growing up, even though i already thought i was grown up!
Bring away from my parents! I wasn’t earning a lot of money and it was a struggle!
paying the rent and household bills, I struggled a lot after I left home, I took too many thinks for granted.
I did quite well with money when I left home- I was always good at budgeting and finding ways to save my pennies. But I definitely underestimated the cost of day to day essentials!
Not realising how much things actually cost
council tax
I’ve not left home yet! Hopefully this doens’t exclude me from the competition
.
Main reason I’ve not left through is because I simply won’t be able to afford it!. Like living the luxury too much!
Repaying students loans whilst juggling with regular everyday bills
signing for a house and finding out i was pregnant in the same week
My biggest challenge was learning to budget.
I was good with my money and paying bills
I used to buy too many records.
trying to run a clapped out car that had massive insurance costs
Heating oil - its uber expensive
Trying to leave enough money at the end of the month for food and essentials.
The car ate up all my money!
Paying the rent, bills, buying food….just about everything!! lol
rent is so high
Feeling rich when you get your student money but then realising how long it has to last!.
The problem was that I was out a lot drinking pub beer at pub prices and not really worrying about the cost of a long drive home in a taxi, the result being that I was paid on Friday and by Monday I was skint.
I’ll be leaving home for Uni this September. I’ve always been pretty good at saving and repaying (just paid the last tenner off my first big debt of £500, for a couldn’t-miss trip way back in Year 11), but I do have a weakness for expensive tea, and the Waitrose patisserie. Not sure that’ll be in a student budget!
household bills like council tax
i was quite careful with money however i never realised how much bills really cost
When I first moved out the costs of food completely took me by surprise and for the first few months it was a complete struggle just to budget correctly and allowing some cash to be left over for food was hard too do at first.
Realising that you have to pay your credit card bill or else it soon mounts up!
Really struggled after leaving home, he bills piled up and the savings took a battering!
I was awful when I went to uni - but then I got a job to help pay for food etc and luckily my mum was still alive and could send spending money.
Leaving uni I hit credit cards etc and now my credit rating is at a low. Now, I have no overdraft but do have a spreadsheet so I know what money I have etc
BNM
Ffion Hoare recently posted…Truffles - great gift for anyday
When I left home I was quite good at not overspending badly on clothes and nights out but it took me a long time to get into the habit of keeping enough money back for the bills that came every quarter.
Insurance was way more expensive than I expected
Definitely misunderstood about cost of living. Bills, Gas Electricity, all essential services.
Getting used to paying extra bills like insurance etc!
I had no idea what things costed, luckily I over estimated so I had some money left, but I had no idea it was so expensive. There are so many monthly bills that need to be paid, council tax, insurances, gas, electricity, water, car payments as well as buying food and petrol. Luckily I have never had many store/credit cards as my parents drummed it into me not to use them
Knowing how much things are in the supermarket, if a good deal was really a good deal and how much you needed of things.
the cost of food was a big shock and not being able to go out socially as much.
By the time I left home, my parents had taught me to budget, but managing a whole term’s grant money - received as a lump sum - was a bit of a challenge
Cost of food nearly killed me! I had no idea just how expensive it was to eat good food without my parents buying it.
Budgeting and paying for the household bills
Whilst living in a shared house, I didn’t really budget or find it difficult to cope - it was when I left to live alone that I suddenly realised how expensive just day-to-day living was
I didn’t really know how much council tax was and was surprised to get the first bill!
Biggest problem for me, many years ago, was that banks were really hard at giving out overdrafts, and direct debits were not adjustable in date, which meant that every month I had to juggle and pray hard that my bank balance would cover the DDs coming out at the end of the month, which would have been fine just two or three days after. But the bank wouldn’t allow any form of overdraft to make sure they weren’t rejected. So hard on a small salary.
Lynne @josordoni recently posted…Bubble Gum Plums from South Africa and Creamy Custard from Cornwall
learning to make sacrifices, you cant go out clubbing if you need food or something for the house
I was completely unaware of the cost of food! Also took me some time to stop splurging after payday in order to still have money by the end of the month.
The council tax was a shock.
mine had to be the furniture I ended up with a blow up sofa and chair! ( they were around a lot a while back)
Rent was the biggest challenge.
Trying to make my money last as long as the month. I always seemed to run out about the third week of the month and end up living on spuds and cereal
I OVERESTIMATED my bills when I first left home. It left me with more of my loan at the end of the year than I was expecting which was nice, but I made my life a lot more difficult that year than I needed to!
the very first item we bought when we were still living with our parents but saving to get married was an expensive cocktail cabinet! no bed, sofa or cooker etc but a cocktail cabinet! we soon wised up and became more sensible before we left home and got married! so we did have our first home kitted out!
i found buying everything difficult
I seriously underestimated gas bills!
Coming to terms with the fact that my money wasn’t my own anymore - many people, like electronic c, phone etc - had their noses in my purse, like it was a horses feedbag.
My biggest problem was getting a car as I needed it for work. I ended up with an old fiesta that cost me £500.
Emma Wright recently posted…A Day Out At South Lakes Wild Animal Park
learning the difference between being alone, and being lonely. Enjoy one and avoid the other
Just bills in general, especially the boring ones like electricity and gas!
When I left home, I had no concept of where the bills came from, they just appeared at the end of the month lol. It took a while for me to realise it was what I did during the month that caused the bills, few years later and a little wiser, I now turn watch my pennies ie turn lights off when I leave a room etc, slowly but surely I am getting there
Budgeting. You don’t realise how expensive everything is until you get your own place..
The biggest shock was the number of bills - I was very careful with spending day to day.
Doing my own ironing. My mum used to do all mine good job I have a husband who knows how to now!
I found paying for the utility bills hardest of all. It could be quite a struggle with rising fuel bills to make ends meet.
buying furniture was a challenge
Kathy Cakebread recently posted…Lazy Nail Wraps Collaborate with Tata Naka to create a series of unique print nail wraps
mine was saving up to pay for our wedding
I had some savings when I moved into my first flat and bought myself some lovely new wardrobes & a dressing table (Ikea!) …I then realised I had none of the boring stuff like cutlery and tea towels which I had over looked! I also found the TV licence a sudden expenditure which I wasnt used to paying whilst living at home with Mum & Dad! (I wouldn’t mind, I only watch Call The Midwife on the BBC, so still grumble about paying it today!)
x
Jenifer Lack recently posted…Spring At Home: High Street Edit
I was aware of what bills I would have to pay when I moved out (Council tax, gas, elec etc etc), but I was never aware of the costs…water bills were a shock!!!
Whilst I was renting when I first moved out, I was also saving for a mortgage to balance that with actually having a social life was very difficult.
just money managing and sorting out budget
Just having no idea what anything would cost! We had our first utility, rent, TV licence and water bills coming in together and we did not have any idea what it would come to!
laura hadland recently posted…Ways with Pumpkin
I uderestimated bills, I had no idea how much you spend on water, gas, ect…til this day I am shocked how much it costs
All the deposits for utilities and such were more than anticipated
I didn’t realise how much all the different bills came too ! I found it hard to budget, but now I have a strict finance plan - and pay all my bills by direct debit !
To be honest, I was very good with money when I first left home - it’s years after that the credit cards took a beating!
I completely underestimated just how much renting a home would cost. I was 20 when I moved out with my boyfriend who was 23 at the time - he left home at 18 so knew the drill..it came as a big shock to me though!
Bex Smith recently posted…Bills, Bills, Bills
My biggest problem was getting in to too much debt with credit cards and store cards.
Getting used to all of the bills. I thought I’d allocated for the usual - Gas, Electricity, Water, etc. - but it was the sneaky ones that caught me out (the house insurance, the TV licence, the replacement of broken appliances, a food bill that was double what I thought it would be for a single woman who loved going out). Didn’t regret it though - loved my freedom too much and I was able to budget for it all - it just meant my regular savings weren’t as high as I thought they would be.
At uni I drank too much of my money! When I set up home I was ok until nursey fees for kids…
I actually shocked myself I thought I would have ended up in a little bit of debt but we actually did surprisingly well to say we started married life in a different country due to work.
Bills bills and more bills…. and just when you think you’ve paid them all another one comes along…..
Getting used to so many bills
I was not too bad with money when I left home at first, but we found that we had to keep moving a lot as we were renting so every year or so had to move around and those costs add up a lot, the main problem we had was landlady keeping a 3k deposit for so long - which meant we had to put all our moving costs on credit card as she had most of our money tied up!! we sued her in the end and got it back, but it caused a lot of problems! I’m not one to just waste a lot, but housing costs in some parts of london are ridiculous!
anna marikar recently posted…MuddyPaws’ New Friends
I was only 15 years old when I first left home due to serious family troubles and I had zero money and was out on the streets. I slept in sheds and bin cupboards and had to visit soup kitchens to survive, but when I got older and got a flat, the biggest struggle was juggling social security benefits to be able to afford to heat and eat as I was pregnant at the time. I’ve had a very hard life and now I’m disabled and a wheelchair user and reliant on disability benefits to survive, I once again find I’m struggling to heat and eat in my disability adapted home.
I had very little when I moved out (I got £15 a week and that had to cover electric / water and food) it was definitely a learning curve but one that made me think more about money - apparently I became very thrifty after it all.
Pay bills on time
Unexpected car breakdowns
Emmys Mummy recently posted…This week I’m thankful for…..
I got really stung by taking out student loans - still paying them back more than 15 years later!
I couldn’t get over the cost of. The shopping bill! I still can’t now lol
Just all the bills, I never realised there were so many. Supplemented my salary by doing freelance design work x
I would spend too much on going out to the pub so had to learn to budget
We used to spend a ridiculous amount on food shopping when we first moved in together - easily double what we spend now as a family of 4! Of course food wasn’t the only thing going into the trolley and magazines, DVD’s and CD’s were regularly found nestled between the cereal and frozen pizzas!
Not so much underestimate the price of bills but just fail to realise how many there were!!
I under estimated how much it would cost to furnish a flat and how much money I would need. Everything cost more than I thought - curtains, carpet etc.
I found it hard to pay for the family shopping bills
My biggest money challenge was not realised that companies make mistakes and do sometimes incorrectly bill you and because I buried my head in the sand. I was getting charges on charges etc rather than dealing with the situation.
I’ve been lucky in life I’ve never had any money challenges, I’ve been spoilt
I went to university and struggled to budget for food. x
The hardest thing was having the money to buy white goods and furnishings
when i left home it was straight into marriage, my hubby had been living alone so was used to dealing with the bills etc, the hardest struggle for us was fining the money for furniture, we bought a lot of second hand stuff which we slowly replaced in the early years
I got into a real muddle when I was younger - I wanted to live a lifestyle that was slightly out of kilter with what I was earning. I got a real buzz from shopping and it was all too easy to take out way too many credit cards. The kept putting my limit up and I kept spending. Took me years to pay it off and Im never going to buy things I cant afford to pay for at the time again. Hard lesson but Im soooo happy now!
I found it hard to budget and pay the rent.
When we first moved in we ate off a cardboard box for 2 years as we couldn’t afford furniture! It has paid off now though as we will very thankfully and through being sensible be abke to pay our mortgage 5 years early. This was by being sensible and SAVING for things unlike nowadays everyone seems to have car finance and mobile contracts and still want to go out every week and also go on holiday, this makes me feel old writing this but I am only 34 and we have 3 children. When we first bought our house we were both on £4 something an hour so it can be done!
I budgeted the food bills really well - just didn’t think about the pure expense of washing powder, shampoos, toilet paper and toothpaste! I think I thought they just appeared in the cupboard by magic. They always did at home!
Keeping money aside for those unexpected bills. Winter fuel bills were a shock
never realised the cost of gas and electric now i know why my mum and dad used to tell me to turn lights off
getting out of my overdraft
bit boring but i was really careful. still am
Food! Oh my goodness!
I didn’t get a credit card until I was 30. I was always taught that if you wanted something you had to save up for it. When I first left home I had two jobs on the go so that I could afford to furnish the place.
I just spent whatever I had and didn’t save a single penny, wish I had been more sensible now.
Learning to manage without using credit cards. Best lesson I ever learned and one that has stood me in good stead throughout adult life!
i left home and moved into my 1st home at 30 weeks pregnant i had nothing i sat on a dirctors chair and had a radio.so i had to kit my who house out.
When I first started uni I tried to live on takeaways for a little while. I managed to run out of money after the first month and a half. Oops!
Help mum & dad!!
Alexandra Smith recently posted…The Disappearance of Emily Marr - Book Review
Learning to live alone and pay bills
My car! Suddenly I had to take out my own insurance policy & if anything went wrong or needed replacing, it was up to me to deal with it.
I was very young when I left home and had no real idea about money. I didn’t realise that a return train ticket cost almost the same as a single ticket back then. I pretty much blew all my money in the first two weeks and then virtually starved till the end of the month. I learned from my mistakes though.
Water rates
I couldn’t believe the price of non food items - tissue, cleaning stuff etc.
I knew rent was going to be high but didn’t realise my bills would be equal to my rent :/
I ended up buying a car that I really couldn’t afford and had to trade it in for a more economical model - I ended up preferring it!
I left home when i was five months pregnant - my biggest challenge was making sure I had enough of everything in time for my son’s arrival
Pay off my bills
I’ve always been careful with money, only buying what I could afford. When we bought our first home the only new things we bought were a bed and a cooker - everything else, furniture, curtains, pictures, sofa, plates, etc were second hand items donated by friends and family. For over a year we didn’t have a curtain rail in our living room and in order to “draw” the curtains we had to hook them over some screws hubby had put into the wall above the window! We never felt deprived, this was back in the 90′s but people today seem to want brand new everything from day 1. I think it was good to struggle in those early years because it makes us appreciate what we have now.
I was never interested in material things but nights out were my real vice and they were expensive!
store cards were very tempting
My biggest challenge was finding enough hours to work enough and complete my degree whilst paying rent and household bills etc!
the hardest thing is food shopping
When I left home I moved to Devon. My biggest cost was transport as I had to get a car because where I lived there was only one bus a week!
When I got married and left home at 17 I was very good wit money and budgeted for everything, little knowing that my first husband was not actually paying the bills, instead spending the money on girlfriends.
it was the cost of food that shocked us the most!
credit cards were my biggest financial problem when I first left home
I bought my own place and went over the top with furnishings, but then was poorly and was off work for 18 months and struggled to pay my mortgage and bills.
I had a very hard time as I knew nothing about how to sign up for things, rental contracts plus I had little money to buy the things I needed.
Wasn’t so much that I underestimated, just that I earned so little and everything cost so much. And that pesky poll tax! (Remember that? Or am I showing my age here) Still, amazing what you can make with left over veg, rice and a stock cube.
I went straight from home with mom, to married life and buying a house. Our biggest money challenge was getting used to paying all the monthly bills and balancing the books.
council tax
I thought I was hard done to when I had to part with £70 month rent many years ago….little did I know!
I think it was managing my money throughout the month as not all bills cand out straight after I had been paid so it was making sure I had money in my account all month for the rest of the bills lol! X
I found paying the household bills, very hard when I first left home and had to cut right down on nights out and buying clothes.
Not having those home cooked meals!
Learning to agree a budget and compromise on priorities with my new husband
I have always been very careful with my money, I think I was a little unprepared for all the bills I would have to pay
When I first left home, far too much money went on pink wine, menthol cigarettes and playing pool. I’m far more sensible these days, but not nearly as good at pool…
Could not stop impulse buying, disposable income seriously reduced.
I have always been a fan of going out to eat. Needless to say I had not really realised how expensive it would seem when I also had bills to pay :S
concert tickets! I was so happy to be in London and always having something to go to I went a bit wild!
I underestermated the cost of food shopping and electric
I just had no idea of the value of money or how to budget for things. I’d never been taught about it at home and it took me several years to teach myself.
I have never had a problem with money as I am very careful. I bought my first small house at 21, didn’t have a car so I managed ok with bills etc.
My biggest challenge was cleaning materials and balancing a weekly food budget.
Claire toplis recently posted…Mexican Chilli And Lime Chocolate Sauce Pancake Recipe
i bought a gaming pc for all of my games. it v. quickly became outdated - i just wouldn’t listen to my parents! all of my savings used on it .. whooops! with love, faye xx
The dreaded credit card! I thought I would get a credit card to just tie me over….biggest mistake ever! I then got a loan to cover the credit card. I was only 18 years old and already in debt! Thankfully I got my act together and paid it off by the time I was about 22 but I remember being stressed about it for a few years
I’ve always been quite good with money, but trying to pay bills and save for big purchases like a washing machine and a freezer was difficult, especially as I was alone and on a really low income.
Learning to balance a household budget was my hardest challenge when I left home. I did pay ‘housekeeping’ when I was at home and my mum was very cute in raising it every time my salary increased which I sort of got annoyed at at the time but appreciate now why she did it. You forget that things like loo paper, toothpaste, washing up liquid etc have to be paid for. When I lived at home they just appeared like magic so you forgot they still had to be bought and paid for! Plus my mum did all clothes that needed hand washing for me!
I moved out at 18 straight into living with my now hubby, rent is ridiculously high in my area and I didn’t realise how expensive everything was going to be. But I was very naive back then!
food shopping - I drastically underestimated how much this would cost x
I got into trouble with all the household bills and trying to remember to keep enough money to cover them all each month
Used to get paid on Friday and skint by Monday. Survived on beans on toast
I maxed out my very first credit card on just going out - oops x
getting used to paying and budgeting for all bills
budgeting, food costs a lot more than what I thought
I remember the shock of the first electricity bill coming in. until it arrived it wasn’t even considered as part of the budget!
the heating bills!
Mainly getting used to putting money aside every month for household bills
things breaking was unexpected and it makes it really hard - didn’t expect to need to pay for repairs to appliances or replacments
Getting to grips with budgeting monthly bills was a lot tougher than I had imagined.
when I left home at 16 i worked in a supermarket earning just £2.13 an hour I worked all the time to pay the rent on my bedsit I was to young to drive and mobile phones were only just really taking off so had no bills but I loved my job and I did well with money back then.
The challenge was to learn to cook for one person. And budgeting for everything myself.
Was the credit cards for us - we saw our limits as ‘money to spend’!! x
Emily recently posted…Mothers Day Gift Giveaway from Love Boo…
I first left home to go to uni at the age of 18 - I was studying maths so I was pretty good with numbers. I made a weekly budget and I stuck to it. I did indulge myself in my second year buying a couple of musical instruments which I probably shouldn’t have and saved the money, as I didn’t use one of them much. My challenge later on was getting a bursary in termly installments, which didn’t quite coincide with rent payments. I kept having to borrow money for a week from my parents and pay them back to avoid being overdrawn. Later on my challenges have been long interest free periods on credit cards and making sure I repay regularly.
@auntygeek (Twitter)
Learning how to budget
Having the willpower not to spend money on luxuries like new clothes!
remembering to pay bills on time!
Bills!
The cost of water bills caught me out to be fair…
Being able to earn enough money to pay bills etc
It was not being able to furnish my flat. I had no bed for months and slept in a sleeping bag.
Underestimating how hard it would be having no disposable income.
Having about £5 left over each month after paying for everything gets pretty depressing after a while.
I didn’t realise how many bills there would be! Especially council tax… urgh!
Whilst I lived at home I got a House of Fraser store card which I was paying off; unfortunately when I moved out and had all the household bills I couldn’t afford to repay it and the balance was creeping up. Luckily my lovely parents helped me out and I well and truly learned my lesson.
All the taxing and bills!
Trying to restrain my love of spending on food, clothes, shoes, going out etc…!
The pile of bills thats keeps rolling in on top of all the other bills!
Soo many bills!
Supermarket shopping. I just went wild in the aisles and spent way more than I should have. There’s so much choice out there when it comes to food!
Mortgage and house repairs!
I left home at 16 with a bin liner full of clothes and a portable TV. I was naive and believed that moving in with my then boyfriend would be easy. I found having to start from scratch as my boyfriend had very little really hard and although older he lived wage to wage never budgetting.
I was 16 when i got my own place and to make sure the bills was paid i only ate every few days it was a hard time and it probably made me the splurger i am today because of not having much when i was younger.
I think it was just the overwhelming feeling that all the bills had to be paid by me on my own! Council tax was a big shocker!
I’m currently on a gap year before leaving home so this year I watched all of my friends do it and slowly run out of money. I’m hoping this will have made me more cautious but probably not!
Learning how to budget my money when paying the bills was the hardest thing for me as I was so used to making silly purchases on anything I fancied.
7 was a little irresponsible with credit card
Water
I was just frustrated with the council tax!
I remember not long after arriving at university - standing in tescos dumbfounded at the cost of washing powder, I couldn’t believe it!!!! (This was before the days of mobile phones and I went to a pay phone to phone my mum and see if it was right!!!!!)
the cost of bills
Paying my own rent and bills was the hardest part
getting used to paying rent and bills ON TIME
I was always good with money and still am today, my mum taught me to manage money from a young age
how expensive energy bills are!
Making my pay last the month! I remember having to spend my gym bag locker £1 on packs of supermarket value noodles to feed me for the week when I totally ran out of money. That soon taught me
Bills, bills, bills.
My first winter gas bill it was more than I earned and we had stupid hot air heating that just gobbled up the pounds. Massive shock to live on my own for the first time and have to really scrimp.
My biggest challenge was living with my boyfriend at the time who preferred spending his money in the pub rather than on bills!!! Happier times now though
Not sure my first comment worked…
My biggest challenge was living with a boyf who preferred spending money in the pub rather than on bills! Happier times now though
the cost of everything but still had a great time all those years ago
Juggling all the bills
Had no idea about the cost of living - bills, food, etc etc
Kara recently posted…My Mummy Personalised Peppa Pig Book
having a baby and making sure i had enough food in the house
amount of council tax was a surprise
I was very lucky, my dad taught me the value of money from a very early age so have never had any serious money troubles. I left home at 18 and met my now husband a few months later. The only big challenge we’ve had is saving for a house -_-
Budgeting my food shop
all the bills
My biggest challenge was realising how little money I had left for food and clothes and that I would have to walk to work . I lived on soup and potatoes for a long time. Too proud to ask my Dad
I found that eating, rent and travel ate up most of my salary - I couldn’t buy any new clothes without a credit card
when i moved out my mums house i moved into my own flat so i had to learn to buget and pay my own bills
My biggest problem was the electric meter. It was a coin slot meter ( in the dark ages! ) and I never had enough and ended up sitting in the cold and dark! Direct Debit is a much better idea!
Moving in with boyfriend and splitting bills when he maybe used more than half etc meant that my budgeting was a bit off key
We were very careful with money, we were only teenagers, it was a great adventure and challenge just going to the supermarket with a set budget each week.
The overdraft - took it to the limit at uni and stayed there for about 10 years!Finally got back in the black last year!
Nothing was much of a challenge- it was cheap (north east uni), i worked, mum paid my rent and the drinks were ridiculously cheap. the challenge was saving my student loans for travelling in the summer.
Leaving home was a big shock! with bills and being able to afford everything, all appliances, carpet, wallpaper, furniture. I found it really difficult.
The monthly cost of me renting a small flat was only just covered by my full time monthly day job salary I had to get a 2nd job as a waitress in the evenings & weekends to cover my other outgoings.
I wanted everything when I first left home. Couldn’t bear to cut back on the luxuries I had become used to. Really was a struggle to keep up appearances.
all the bills and how to pay them
Lets just say its a good job my husband is good with money! He likes to save, I spend - perfect combo!
Budgeting so had some money left before payday!
Struggled with the idea of renting (paying out, nothing to show for it) We had to work very hard to buy a building plot (£300 cash) and build our own house (£3000 mortgage) This of course was a while ago (in the early 70s) Both sets of parents were worried we were overstratching ourselves:)
I always used to be good at budgeting but I’ve found it tougher and tougher until now the bills are taking all my money and there is nothing left for me.
I massively over spent on credit cards, thinking the minimum payments would never add up! I was an idiot. Now I never use credit cards, I only spend what I have in the bank.
Credit cards = so tempting.
Budgeting for bills and having enough money left for food after socialising!
I was very very careful with my gas, electricity and water and only used it when it was essential, to ensure my bills were not too high. Wore lots of jumpers lol.
paying the gas and electric
biggest problem always easy to use the credit card and hope for the best!, Eventually shredded the card and only bought with cash so no cash no buy, soon sorted the finances out!
Had to get pretty creative furniture wise.
food shopping was a shock not only the shopping but the cooking as id never done any
Not being able to go out for dinner every week!
Coping with the price of bin bags.
I ran up debts in my final year of Uni because I thought I would be sorted for money once I graduated (more fool me)!
Trying not to spend all my money on alcohol! (very hard as a uni student)
Buying electronic things i.e irons kettles so many things we need that I had just taken from granted “Money doesn’t grow on trees”
All bills
No one prepares you for how boring it can be to be financially responsible for yourself.
tv licence was a big shock
Water bills
when I left home I moved abroad so the foreign currency (before euros) was quite a big challenge
The utility bills shocked me. no more spare cash for fripperies
I left home at 17 and lived in London. My biggest downfall was getting a Selfridges store card!!!
bills bills bills bills ha x
lovely giveway, thanks
Credit cards and overdraft fees
I didn’t realise how bad my husband was with money!!
i never knew we had to pay for our water! until a year after i first moved in to my house, the back payments were a pain!
It would have to be getting used to all of the household bills.
We definitely underestimated our bills- and how much money we would need for unexpected expenses
Trying to keep to a budget when my husband (ex) felt he should spend spend spend. I was just as bad so it’s not all his fault. We used to put things on the credit card instead of waiting and saving for it. Now I save for it
Was totally unprepared for how much gas & electricity cost, topped off by what we were paying on our mortgage (left home to get married), when interest rates were in high teens
Having a mortgage for the first time and realising the importance of always paying it.
Water bills
The cost of getting to and from work on top of all the bills and food!
Having to become more of a money saver once family came along
For me it was resisting buying those ‘wants’ and not focusing on the ‘needs’
fab prize
We forgot about the council tax for 3 months then had to pay the whole year in one go!
Have money for food after the bills, and social life
I was probably helped when leaving home because I went to University on a full grant, so rent was paid. Our only priorities were our social life and we didn’t bother buying expensive clothes. Then, when I got my first job I was richer than I am now !!!
Bills!!! I never realised how much they were
all the unexpected expenses like the washing machine breaking down and ruining my kitchen floor
Budgeting for the bills - especially the once a year big ones
All the bills that come with the household
My parents brought us up to save money & not squander it so I have never had any money problems, that’s not to say I’ve not had money worries. Both my husbands became ill & I did worry about how we’d manage if I gave up work to look after them but it never came to that.
The Unexpected Extras i.e. Insurance and TV License
I didn’t realise how much food costs
getting a Barclaycard was an eye opener when I realised how long it would take to pay it off!!
Credit Cards - it was hard to remember you actually had to pay it back at some point!
the bills!!!!
i was shocked how much things actually cost and realised that what my parents were talking about was totally the truth. I thought that they used to exaggerate about it all.
Having to buy food and cook in bulk to freeze things down to save money in the long-term. Hours in the kitchen cooking and putting stuff into seemingly endless freezer-proof containers. And the initial bill. Ouch! And finally, trying to remember to get things out in good time to defrost (oh, how I failed at that sooooo many times). But it was the only way to manage in the beginning.
Our biggest challenge was trying to pay the bills, the mortgage and eat. Still you can’t expect everything.
It would definitely have to be the food cost. I had managed to budget around bills and essential payments like council tax, rent, water etc but never took into consideration the real cost of good food. My parents had always brought nice and expensive food and it rubbed off on me, after spending £60 a week just on myself I decided to plan meals and shop for cheaper brands - managed to get my weekly spend down to £30 a week just for myself.
Transport costs. I bought a bike and ended up riding every where.
All those bills!!!
The cost of the bills
Paying Council tax.. I never realised how much it was.
My biggest money challenge was saving some of my hard earned wages each month so I didn’t have to use the credit card for a holiday and take a year to pay it off. After 3 years I managed it!
i was 18 and i brought a house with my ex, i had no idea of bills, my phone was pay as you go and i paid my mum £100 a month for rent, the rest of the money was mine to play with, it was a bit of a shock when i realised all these bills i had to pay
My ex and I were fine with money, we both worked fulltime and lived within our means. I am very frugal and sensible!
I have always been careful with money but dealing with the household bills an working out how much to spend on food was tricky at the start.
the bills
Paying Utility bills
I don’t really remember those pre-historic days now but I do remember begrudging spending my money on things like washing up liquid when there were lovely new clothes to be bought (still begrudge spending my money on things like washing up liquid when there were lovely new clothes to be bought!)
not realising other people would leave you with bills, been in my new house 7 weeks and got £500 bill that was from the residents before, learnt the had way
It was hard but I managed just had to cut back on going out
I found there was too much month left at the end of my money! I was surprised how much EVERYTHING added up to!
usual thing BILLS BILLS BILLS
My partner lost his job soon after I left home to live together so we had to struggle to live on state benefits while I was also pregnant which made it very difficult for me to afford to eat healthily and get necessary equipment for my baby.
Looks great.
i had to learn not to go along with the friends i met, they all had parents paying their rent and even had deliverys of food turning up every week! their student loans went on partying and unfortunately i had to be more responsible. The first time i reached the limit on my over draft because of the cost of a photography project nearly had me crying at the cash point!
My biggest challenge was to save about £5K in a year to pay off sofa’s, washing machine and a car loan when i got my first house as well as survive….I didn’t go out much that year!!
The cost of cat food and vet bills was a big shock when I first got my own cat!
being able to pay the rent plus bills and telephone. I hadnt budgeted exactly how much the bills would be
bills…such a BORING way to spend money
catherine recently posted…Aldi special buys this week
I managed if that is what it’s called but do recall eating rice and cucumber because that’s what was available and also on one occasion trying to cococt something with flour water and jam as that is all I had. I regularly took satchets of sugar etc from wherever but am still here to tell the tale and win that fab hamper.
I lived with my parents until I met my boyfriend (now husband), aged 28, and we went travelling together around Australia with my deceased gran’s inheritance!
Buying everything I needed for the house!
OMG..boy, did I underestimate the gas and electric bills!!!
Making the money I had stretch every which way!
Attachment Mummy recently posted…3 Fun Cookie Ideas
Food and utility bills
I would have to say just the cost of rent…its just so expensive and I now wish I would have saved for a mortgage before moving out as I am paying somones elses! Live and learn
spent way too much on going out with my friends as a student!
Mine was buying my first place and leaving myself pretty tight. I totally underestimated how much actually having a property day to day can cost you. First the roof needed fixing… then the drainage… it’s a money pit!
Having let a very drunk ‘friend’ sleep in the bed, he disappeared in the night leaving a sopping wet bed and I had to buy a new mattress I couldn’t afford.
I was a lover of designer bags and holidays, that came to and end swiftly!
When I left home I was just about to have my first child so we had to learn quickly how to budget and how to work out scrimp and save to buy furniture and baby stuff. Luxuries soon became a thing of the past. It wasn’t easy but we survived.
My biggest challenge was paying off all the debt I has accumulated as a shopoholic when I lived with my parents. When I left home, I realised that credit card debt sucked and I best pay it off. Stopping spending was hard but now I love being frugal.
No luxuries just basic food and veg and plenty of pasta until a better job
Without doubt it was balancing bills such as Gas, Electricity, Water ad TV licence. I get paid every 4 weeks which makes setting up a direct debit difficult. I also quickly learnt to have a mini savings account - around £100 for any unexpected bills that came up such as birthdays or a new tyre for the car.
Saving for a deposit…!
I would get paid on a friday and would have to give my partner my half straight away as he was the sensible one and by sunday I would be broke.counting down tge days to friday again.i have always been a live for today worry about tomorrow tomorrow kinda person. But 10 years and 2 kids later im still getting used to the hoke budgeting thing and I get paid minthly now
It was store cards with me. Tempting offers of 10% off your first shop. i racked up a lot of debt, and it took years to clear it.
sarah gray recently posted…My five Week Challenge - 30 days to go
Budgeting and paying the bills
I have always been very careful with money, but our biggest challenge was having to buy a new boiler 6 months after buying our home, a week without heat or hot water in the week before Christmas 2005, it cleared out my savings account, and I remember being distraught!
Great giveaway.
My biggest problem was bills, I didn’t realise there were so many and they would take so much of my income.
Managing all the bills and what needs paying when.
I was pretty organised when I left home but I still got stung by an unexpected phone bill that messed up my plans :p
I budgeted my bile perfectly but then realised I hadn’t factored in food, so buying my own groceries was a real shock xx
Oops meant bills not bile
Biggest challenge for me was not to spend on stuff I didn’t need after getting in debt of £5k.
Interest free overdraft on my student bank account!!
Found it hard to curb spending on non essentials, like going out to the pub!
Mobile Phones had just got big when I left home and me and my boyfriend each got one and called each other so much - we didn’t really understand the tariffs and our bills were massive. I learned pretty quickly about tariffs after that !
I was good with money when I left home. I have two grown up daughters, one who is good with money and the other that is a bit less organised and that is a worry to me.
life was a struggle keeping bills paid
as when I was younger I did not know what to do
Become a doctor or work in a zoo
And as I grow older I know what lives about
Fates got your future already planned out
The cost of rent in London and too much partying!
Realising that you need to save for things that break! 2 years after we moved in we had to pay £2500 for a new roof.
I hated the fact i had to pay for cleaning products !! it would take up so much of my budget, and i never even thought about the cost of it al, i begrudged buying them when i had just took them for granted when i had bee living at home !!
I still live at home as I can’t afford to move out,but pay half of all household bill,plus my own credit card/phone bills etc.After paying themI get very little money for anything else,but so is life!!
Food, I definitely under estimated the cost of food. I know we can all survive on a small budget but I will never forget the first few weeks when I over spent on other things and had no money for food so had to keep going to parents for tea
for me it was definitely the cost of grocery shopping - I really had no idea!
I have been fortunate enough not to have many money worries after leaving home, I’ve never had a credit card and I’ve never really been a big spender. x
my rafflecopter email is j.hewitt4468[at]gmail.com by the way, I forgot about that! x
The cost of living in London.
I got into a lot of debt just from spending too much!
council tax
I actually just left home recently, two months ago, and before I left home I used to spend all my money on clothes, CDs, shoes, anything I wanted really, and I cut down just before I moved but apparently not enough and got in a little bit of trouble. Still can’t believe how hard I thought my life was as a teenager - no responsibilities, no bills, nothing! Want to go back now!
forgetting to budget for food and travel on the first month waiting for wages to appear
Anthony Martin recently posted…What to make for a weekend breakfast?
I think we lived on savings and credit card for a bit, but when it all ran out we had to learn to budget!!
Hannah Lawrence (Lewenstein) recently posted…Side Effects Of Becoming A Parent
My biggest money challenge (being a student and being away from home for the first time) was balancing trying to meet new people and make friends by going out and to social events regularly, but not wasting too much money on alcohol when there were bills/ expenses relating to my Uni course to be paid!
Has to be the amount of bills, when i first left home i thought it would just be the basics (rent, water, electric) didnt think there were many more. How wrong was i.
It was hard to cope with all the bills.
I found it very hard to budget with no experience
I was pretty good with money as a student, the biggest challenge was when I started my first job and I had the purchase of smart work clothes to buy as well as a deposit on the house we were renting.
oh it was the rent
Just didn’t realise all the little things that I would have to buy. Forks and bins and ladles and dustpans and bowls and lamps and chairs and clocks and rugs and …
Travel costs were definitely the killer!
Leaving home for the first time was to live in a foreign country for 3 months - so looking after myself but having to speak in a foreign language to get by and live on the small amount i was earning for those three months was a definite shock to the system
I didn’t come from a wealthy family so I was used to not having everything I wanted, it took some time to get used to budgeting and not overspending though
When I moved into halls at uni most of my money went on food. Never enough time to go shopping for essentials, hunger was always satisfied with a nice tasty Chinese takeaway. I was broke all the time!
Unforeseen repair bills caused complete chaos!
The cost of basic living was a huge surprise to me when I first moved out!
When I first went to Uni I had no concept of budgeting. My first term started off brilliantly with splurging everywhere followed by 8 weeks of baked beans or noodles. Bleak times!
Not moved out yet:( but I think my biggest challenge is cutting back on food, and only buying what I need!
Saving - like when the TV broke and we have to use a tiny portable until we saved up as we hadn’t bothered to save any rainy day / emergency money
I got a huge shock at the price of food and electric lol
I had to stop all the socialising that i used to do when i lived with my parents i also had to cut down on the retail therapy and do as much over time as i possibly could lol
the rise in rent. i didnt expect it really, as never thought, and never thought about what if a landlord wants you to leave cause they decide to sell.
Saving for a deposit
Definitely learning to budget.
I have always been good with money but was really shocked how much my food shopping cost
the cost of food - you don’t realise how much it costs when you live at home and dinner is on the table every night !
I think it was understanding that, whilst I never got into debt, I needed to put money aside for emergencies, rather than believing it was ok to spend all my money as long as I didn’t get into debt.
House hold bills
I think it was just to budget properly & not to spend all at the start of the month.
The choosing between the latest heels and handbag or the council tax! Yuk
the cost of food
6 months after I left home I had a baby. Wow what an expense. X
Managing bills, getting the timing of direct debits right so they went our when I go pais, not at the end of the month!
I did not realize how expensive raising a child can be.
The little bills you forget about that soon add up!…like tv license etc
Buying a house was our biggest challenge & we’d never have done it without the Bank of Mum & Dad - luckily they very comfortable so they leant us £6000 to add to the £2000 we’d saved, on the relaxed agreement that we’d pay back what we could afford each month, £50 or £100. When we got married 6 months later (which they also paid for - I am INCREDIBLY lucky!), they wrote off the rest of the debt as part of our wedding present. I really don’t like borrowing from my parents but I don’t know how anyone could buy a house without doing so!
Of course I knew there were bills to pay… But soooo many of them.
The fear of how to deal with the bills if I lose my job
Utilities, never realised how much it all costs!
Leaving home for the first time for me was uni and in all honesty I was pretty careful with money. But it was still a slippery slope of not saying ‘yes’ to every offer of a meal out, night, out, drinks….
When I first left home it was moving to halls of residence at uni, so, I don’t really think I had that much of a challenge back then… When I moved for a hob though I did have to take out a bank loan to afford the 2 rent months in advance and deposit.
moved for a JOB… pah
not realising how many bills you would have
the shock of council tax after so many years renting as a student!
I was surprised by the amount of bills but we handled it all pretty well! Although I’m still surprised by how much food costs!!
keeping up with bills
The cost of a baby, I was 7 months pregnant when we moved into our first home and I didnt have a clue how much he would cost when he was born.
We underestimated the general cost of living and then we learned to appreciate the cost of living when we both lost our jobs within weeks of each other due to redundancy. Having no money for a period of time and having to negotiate with creditors whilst our income was down was a nightmare! Hopefully we’re back on track now and we live within our means!
Getting used to so many bills!
Finding enough money to buy suitable clothes for work so that I didn’t wear the same thing every day!
Underestimating the value of home contents insurance … until we got robbed!
Everything as my mum kicked me out when I was 17 - I was homeless for 3 months and then relied on friends giving me bits and pieces they no longer needed to furnish the house, whilst working 3 jobs to set everything up
My biggest money challenge was keeping my boyfriend from overspending as we have rent to pay and he is terrible for just fluttering it on nothing!
Totally underestimated the costs, it was how many there really were and all the unexpected ones that popped up!
balancing the books
Realising all the different things you need to budget for to run a home …
Food was a real problem for me.
budgeting for bills was a problem when I first had to fend for myself
no one had ever taught me about council tax …….. nuff said
gas and elec. i was shocked at the cost
Janine Atkin recently posted…Zebra Z Grip Flight Ballpoint Pen
The biggest problem I had was finding a first ‘real’ job which paid enough so that I had some left over to save each month, even when I was sensible.
Getting used to all the bills!!!
the bills and needing to furnish my flat!
Utility bills
When I first left home I was a student - enough said !
I underestimated the cost of home improvements!
The bills, took the rent into account but the additional costs