Money Mantras: What I’ve learnt from the women in my life

This is Women’s Week. With today being International Women’s Day and with Mothering Sunday on the horizon it seems only right that we spend this week celebrating womankind in all its forms.

I’ve teamed up with female Money Bloggers across the UK as we share our personal finance blog posts to mark International Women’s Day. You can also follow this topic on social media by following the hashtags #ukWomenMoney and #WomenRockMoney .

Who run the world? Girls!

From Mothers to Grandmothers, Daughters to Goddaughters, Aunties to Nieces and Sisters to Friends it seems that all women are adept in giving, sharing and receiving support and advice.

I turned 31 this week and, to mark the occasion, I want to share the money mantras that I’ve learnt from the women in my life.

If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it

This is the first money mantra that always pops into my head before I part with my hard earned money. My Mum has always been careful with money and I learnt, through watching her, how to be savvy with my money from an early age. In fact, I can’t remember a time before I thought of money in this way. I just grew up doing this and I am sure that is down to my parents and their careful money management throughout my childhood and beyond. After all, you learn the most by doing and this is one mantra that has always stood me in good stead.

Save it for a rainy day

As a child I remember my cousins and I staying with my Grandma. She used to have a jar of copper coins on the top of one of her display cabinets and she would often get us to sit round the table and polish the coins with HP sauce and a cloth. The coins would get so shiny and we would sit there chatting and giggling away as we shined the pennies and shared stories. At the end, the coins would all go back in the jar and would glint down at us. This was such a simple activity which I’m assuming we used to do to keep us out of trouble but we really, really enjoyed it! However, it taught me to understand the joy of saving for a rainy day. The rainy day we were allowed to spend the pennies I remember that my overwhelming feeling was that I didn’t want to spend them! I knew how hard we had worked on those pennies and I was fond of them. To anyone else they were a collection of coppers but to us, they were ours and we were fiercely proud of them.

Do not save what is left after spending, spend what is left after saving

My Godmother has always given me advice and support when I’ve needed it, through good times and bad. She has always said I have an old head on young shoulders and that I am wise beyond my years. However, sometimes this has lead me to be too sensible and I am often at risk of being too serious and letting fun pass me by. To counteract this, I’ve learnt to ‘spend what is left after saving’ which enables me the best of both words. I can truly enjoy spending my money knowing that the majority has been saved should I need it in the future.

Money doesn’t grow on trees

My Granny has always said that money doesn’t grow on trees. This simply means don’t fritter your money away because once it’s gone, it’s gone! When I used to stay with her as a child and we would go to Covent Garden and look around the markets, I remember her saying this when I was thinking of spending my holiday money. It taught me to consider my spending carefully. There is always something else you might want to buy but it’s important to focus on the things that you need to buy instead.

Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves

When I was younger we used to do a lot of family car boot sales to raise extra money. I used to love setting out the stall and hoping buyers would come by and barter for the best price. I remember doing a car boot sale one Winter with my Aunty. I remember being disappointed that my ice cream tub of change was mostly full of 50p’s rather than one pound coins. I wasn’t old enough to realise that 50p’s soon add up to pounds which is why this saying sticks in my mind whenever I see a sign for car boot sales!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my money mantras. Do you have any of your own that have been passed down to you through the generations? I’d love to know what yours are so please comment below and let me know.

Love, Thrifty Mumma X

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I am proud to be joining up with the #WomenRockMoney movement and the UK Money Bloggers to inspire women to take action when it comes to their financial literacy. If you enjoyed my post, you may like to take a look at theirs also:

• Maria at The Money Principle has written about the excuses woman have for not investing and how to destroy them.
• Lynn from MrsMummyPenny has written about the women who inspire her.
• Jennifer from Mamafurfur is a mum of boys but has written about what she would teach a daughter about money.
• Jo and Leisa from Joleisa have written about how to demonstrate your financial worth when you’re a stay at home mum.
• Emma from The Money Whisperer has written an open letter to her daughters.
• Faith from MuchMoreWithLess has written about are you ready to invest?
• Araminta from Financially Mint has written about why finance is a great degree for women. 
• Kaya from Earning by the Sea has written about whether MLM empowers or exploits women.
• Cat from Penny Wise, Rich Life has written about empowering women around money.
• Eileen from Your Money, Sorted has written about why we need to talk about money. 
• Emma from Mums Savvy Savings has written about how sporty girls are tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.
• Nikki from The Female Money Doctor has written about why great women need great support. 
• Hollie from Thrifty Mum has written about top tips for women on how to ask for a pay rise.