re: Those of you with good money habits - How were those taught or learned?

Does anyone have any success stories of turning their spending SO into a saver?

Self-taught, at first by being dumb with credit cards and getting myself into a very deep hole. I "hit bottom" and righted the ship, along the way taking up accounting and finance as a career.

At one point I was $63k in credit card debt and very suddenly unemployed (my employer went under, I guess their problems were worse than mine). Amazingly, I found a new job fairly quickly and started making minimum payments again exactly 29 days late, so I never got a derogatory note on my credit report.

Now my FICO hovers around 840 and things are great, but basically my 20's were a financial disaster. Not only did I learn from it, I built a successful career in the field.

Im getting to that point just don't know how to go about it without making her feel like a child

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Im getting to that point just don't know how to go about it without making her feel like a child

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real simple. Have a joint checking account and then have your own private account in your name only. Setup what percentage of your checks you want going to each account direct deposit. The amount you choose for the joint account is her allowance.many ways to do it.

We have it set up sort of like that but she will still run out of money with several days to go and I have no choice but to give her some more to make it through the week. It's mainly crap she buys for the kids everytime she goes to the store. I tried telling her without all that crap she would make it everytime.

I purchased a brand new Z71 in 1998 at the age of 19 and my uncle climbed my arse pretty good. At the time I was living at home and didn't have any property or anything. He made me listen to Dave Ramsey on a AM radio station for about week.
I wouldn't be were I'm at today if it wasn't for my uncle that's for sure.

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Was there an event that made you become smarter with money?

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When I stopped drinking.

Credit Cards: I had an American Express Blue when I started at LSU. All through high school my dad would say when using his credit card, "now remember, this is the same a paying cash. You absolutely owe this money at the end of the month". I guess after hearing that enough times, it locked into my head. I have never EVER paid a minimum payment. Always in full all the time.

Financing: Again, this one comes from my dad. He always told me, "the only two things you should ever finance are a house and a car, because you need those things to live". On the house front, you always put money down. On the car front, you drive it until the wheels fall off, not when it loses the new car smell.

A few mistakes with zeroes at the end of them will teach you a lot.

My parents earned middle class salaries and were tight as hell and saved. They didn't waste much on us kids--toys at Christmas and birthday only-- and the like. Pack sandwiches for road trips. Cereal and milk in the Igloo.

Until college, when they gave me the greatest gift of all: They payed most of my way through a couple of degrees.

I worked the shitty jobs that were available in our area in high school and college, some sub-minimum wage. That will teach you the value of a dollar, This new cassette costs 3 hours of work. That cassette has to be pretty good to get bought.

My wife's family was less well off, but they wasted money on $1200 VCRs, swimming pools, and the like. She learned her lessons there, and we are now both on the same page financially.

We got married and bought a modest house in our 20s,paid it off in 12 years, and haven't paid a penny of interest to anyone since. And neither of us makes a big income. We're just tight asses.

I've really enjoyed reading everyone's different experiences. There is more than one way to get there,