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I had six children and money was tight. But it was a long time ago - the eldest was 50 yesterday. Things may have changed when it comes to budgeting.This is how I coped.We did not have a car. Living in a city, Plymouth, UK, at that time meant there was abundant public transport. For journeys under 2 miles I walked, even with all the children.Walking is good exercise.We bought a house which was almost derelict and did it up ourselves.My own clothing came from charity shops (thrift stores). I usually made clothes for the children.I made lots of these little shorts because an inexpensive remnant from a fabric store was enough to make a pair, and they washed easily.We didn’t have central heating. There was a solid fuel boiler which heated the water. It was supposed to burn anthracite, but we burned anything we could get - old railway sleepers, telegraph poles, even shoes if there was nothing else.Sawing is good exercise.When it was snowing I would bring mattresses downstairs and everyone would sleep on them on the kitchen floor by the boiler, where it was warm.I knew which shops were best for cheap food. I would buy all sorts of things in quantity - oranges, eggs, toilet rolls - almost everything can be discounted if you buy enough of it.Meal planning was essential. Sometimes there was an unexpected expense, so creativity was required. Sausage meat could be made into meatballs, sausage rolls, and even into something called “Poor Man’s Goose” - a meatloaf made with added breadcrumbs, sage and onion. There were bread-and-butter pudding, rice pudding and junket.I was more concerned about malnutrition than obesity. Vegetables are cheap, and we ate a lot of them.A carefully kept record of expenditure and a cash flow forecast were also important.I still have a cash flow forecast now. It is on an Excel spreadsheet - well, not real Excel of course - LibreOffice Calc. It is telling me on August 3rd, when a regular £100 payment goes out from my current account to my savings account, I will be left £7.42 overdrawn.Knowing about situations like this in advance gives me the opportunity to adjust things so as to avoid bank charges. I can move some money from my savings account back to my current account for just a few days, or cancel that payment, or reduce it.All those years ago there was no online banking, and wages came in a brown packet, weekly, in cash.I used to keep envelopes marked “electricity”, “gas”, “mortgage”, “insurance” and so forth, and put a carefully calculated amount in the envelopes each week so that there would be enough to pay each bill as it became due. Hiding these from burglars was my main concern. We were broken into three times in fifteen years.It is all so much easier and less risky now. We can set up direct debits for all the household bills, and put enough to cover the monthly payments into an account set up for that purpose. We put enough in to cover the food costs too. My husband puts in more than I do each week, because he has more income than I do.Then, whatever is left over in our individual accounts is ours to do with as we wish. This system works very smoothly for us and minimizes disagreements.During the school holidays we would do chores in the morning. Everyone had their assigned chores. Each afternoon we would go out somewhere. It might be cricket, hide and seek, or a picnic in a local park. It might be a library or museum. But sometimes it would be a zoo or theme park. And we lived near the sea, which was great on fine days.I used to save up during term time for the more expensive outings by putting every 20p coin which came my way into a jar. It was a long time ago - £1 coins would be needed now.All my furniture, household appliances and utensils were second hand. I didn’t even have enough to spare for lampshades, curtains or pictures in every room. Books were more important to me anyway. A lot of our stuff came from auction sales, still the best source of bargains in household furnishings.All six seem to have grown up to be reasonably happy and healthy. No one’s life is perfect of course. Everyone has problems or worries of one kind or another.These were my kids 10 years ago. It is rare now to see them all together - life has taken them to different places one way or another.But having a tight budget is no obstacle to growing up healthy, so don’t be discouraged. The latest fashion label or trendy gadget are not essential to life. Love is what they need.

It would depend on the situation. I’ve been in law, law enforcement and teaching for many years. I can usually see a con. Facial expression, body language etc. So, I might and I might not.Just two days ago I was getting something out of my trunk at Target. A man, alone, pulled up and told me his debit card was not working and could I spot him some money to get gas to get “ home” to San Antonio. I didn’t buy it.I just happen to have lived in SA for 25 years so I said “ You live in SA? Where?”. Pause. North side. So I say, “ Have young kids huh?”. Yes, need to get home to them. I ask, what schools do they go to. Long pause. Glare. Called me a bitch and pulled away.I frequently give money to strangers who look like they need help. I’m sure I have been fooled. I’m sure maybe I passed up someone needy. I can only do so much.PS. Crazy thing happened today. I was in the handicapped parking lot of Walmart. I have a new Rav 4. Not the most expensive car on the road but a nice, clearly new car. Next to me is a lady about 60 ( I’m 72) and she is driving a much much older sedan A truck pulls up with the passenger side to us. I recognized the truck. A woman speaks directly to me. “ Can you help us? Our Debit card does not work. Can you spot us enough money to buy gas to get home to SA?”. I lean down and say to my buddy from Target, as loud as possible , “ Hey loser. When you got back to SA the last time you pulled this scam, why didn’t you get your debit card fixed and stay there?” They shot off down the parking lot. The lady at the next car says “ I would have given them money”. I said. “ You are a good woman but be careful. That guy does this for a living. It’s a scam”. She looked bewildered. I’m sure they asked me as I’m older and was driving a nicer car. Sad.

For my husband and I, it was the decision not to go into debt as soon as we got married, and to limit any avoidable debt thereafter.When we got married, we were still driving my first car - a 1982 Mitsubishi Colt. My poor (6′6″) husband’s head brushed the roof when we got in, his knees rested around his chin, and heaven help us on a bumpy road.We were both still in university at the time, and we rented an inexpensive two bedroom unit and had a weekly grocery budget of about $40. Sometimes, at the end of the week, we had 47 cents to our name.We furnished our house with second-furniture bought from op shops, or gifted. Most of our appliances had been wedding gifts.When I started working (I finished university a year ahead of my husband), I took a job in a town that subsidised rent for teachers. We were paying $16/week. Also, now that I was earning a salary we could have really gone crazy.We’d gone from having nothing, to having money coming out of our ears.We could have gone crazy.We chose not to.Every week, we put a large proportion of our budget into savings. I began salary sacrificing into my superannuation account, which meant I paid less tax, and was building up a nest egg for retirement.We kept our dodgy car until it exploded. Then we bought a second-hand car that we could pay for with the money we had saved.Our one big expense was a yearly vacation, where we’d go overseas. Our job was super stressful, so having some time away to completely relax was a great way to recharge.On a weekly basis, we budgeted $30 as spending money. We could spent our $30 on whatever we wanted, but if we decided we wanted to spend more than that, we tried to talk about it first. This was 15 years ago, and we’d been used to living on nothing, so $30 seemed like a fortune.When we moved, and were paying more rent, we figured out we’d be financially better off to buy a house. We had a choice: buy one of the top five houses in the town - and go into a huge amount of debt - or buy something more affordable. We chose the more affordable option. We had already saved half the price of the house, and were blessed to get an interest-free loan for the rest from our in-laws.From then on, we poured everything into paying off the loan as fast as we could.We shop at Coles, and use their rewards card. Whenever we have saved enough points, we opt for the gift card, which covers all our groceries 3–4 a year.We have one credit card. We use it to pay most bills, and then pay it off in full every fortnight. Once we have enough points, we get a gift card, which usually pays our entire grocery bill for another 3–4 shops per year.When paying bills, if there is a discount for paying the bill in full, I always opt for this.For other bills, if I can, I pay them down in advance via fortnightly direct debit payments, rather than getting hit with a huge bill monthly or quarterly.We choose to live in small country towns, rather than the city, which means we only need one car. We live five minutes walk from our workplace and the kids’ school, so we don’t have to pay for parking, petrol, or public transport. (Bonus points: we don’t have to waste half our lives driving from one place to another).We don’t own a TV, so we don’t see advertisements telling us about all the things we need to make our lives better.When making necessary replacements to furniture and appliances (now that we have more disposable income) we research and are happy to spend more money on items of better quality, which will last longer. (Bonus points for saving the environment!). It might cost a little bit more at the outset, but it’s far more cost efficient to buy something that will last, than to buy something cheap that you will constantly need to replace.For our kids clothing - particularly in their first two years - we didn’t get sucked into buying expensive brand-name clothing. Since children that young are only wearing the clothes for such a short period of time, there was no point spending hundreds of dollars on something sturdy and stunning. We also were quite happy to accept hand-me-downs from friends, rather than purchasing new.My daughter is six now; she has the biggest wardrobe out of the family, and I have hardly had to purchase any of it. In turn, we pass on clothes when our kids are finished with them.In January and July, I take advantage of the post-Christmas and end of financial year sales and purchase gifts suitable for children around the same age as my kids. I also purchase birthday and Christmas gifts for the children of friends and family. I might spend $300, but last year I ended up with good quality gifts for 50 people for that price. It’s also handy to have some spares in the cupboard for those inevitable birthday parties which pop up. You know, the ones where the invitation comes out of the school bag in a crumpled and stained state the day before the party? I don’t fear those invitations, because we only need to make a quick trip to the “present box” to find something to wrap. Instead of spending $30, I have spent $5.I think, for us, the main lifestyle change we really need to make now is in the area of food. I’m not a huge fan of cooking, and when I get tired or busy, I get lazy and opt for take-away or pre-packaged food more than I’m comfortable with. The best change I think I need to make is going back to meal planning. Because the biggest stressor in cooking (for me) is deciding what to cook, I think this will be really helpful. And it will also make sure I’m not wasting food. And, bonus points, it’s healthier for me, and my family.