How are you different from your parents in terms of how you handle your finances?

Were they cheap / generous / thrifty / frugal and how are you different or similar to them?

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I am similar to my mom in that I will always look for a good bargain on things before I buy but I also have a bit of my dad in me that if I need something I will buy it even if it isn't a great price. Its really a mess. lol

But really a lot of my spending ways I think were developed in rebellion to the way my mother was when we were growing up. She would always buy the cheapest brand in everything and would often say that we couldn't afford something. I think a lot of it wasn't that we couldn't afford it but that it was something we weren't willing to spend money on. So when I got out on my own I really went against all of that. If there is an item that I like a more expensive brand of better I'll buy it. But I still try to be frugal in other ways, I just don't feel like I have to buy the cheaper stuff just because its cheaper.

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Proud mommy to adorable Kinsley

MY BLOG!

I'm very similar to my parents in the way I handle our family's finances. My parents are older than most of my friends' parents (my dad grew up during The Great Depression, my mom grew up during WWII in England), so the survival frugality they learned during childhood stayed with them during their adult years. They never sat me down and taught me how to handle money; I just learned by observing them.

i would like to say over time i have gotten better at my finances compared to my parents...as children we thought we had money little did we know that they were in debt to their eyeballs. they eventually dug out and became more frugal... i would also say i'm more frugal than my siblings one is a close secound though... i would say i'm just living a more simple lifestlye then my parents did i don't feel the need to have things time is more important with my family then what we own.

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'The will of God will never take you where the
Grace of God will not protect you.'

HAVE A BOOTIFUL HALLOWEEN

I am not like my parents at all. They do not have any sort of budget and it drives me crazy. They don't even have retirement or savings which scares me. When my mom goes grocery shopping, she just buys whatever. My dad is constantly spending money that they don't have. DH and I have a budget, I plan our grocery list with coupons and sales, and hardly buy anything. It's crazy how different we are.

I am just like my Dad when it comes to money. He is a a saver and very frugal. My Mom is the spender. It just kills me to see her throwing money out the window but as long as they have money to throw, I'm keeping my mouth shut ... especially when they throw it at us.

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I'm similar with the fact that I handle our money -- as far as I know all women in my family handle the money (pays the bills, buys the groceries, etc.) And I also have some of my mom's shopping habits. I like to buy things for our daughter.

I think I'm also think I take more time to educate myself about money of course they never had the internet! My one issue with how my parents raised my brothers and myself about money - they didn't teach any of us a thing about saving, spending, or anything. It seems most of the things that I have learned have been because of mistakes that I made.

That said my mom once gave my husband and I wonderful advice when it came to our money habits -- Pay Your Bills! My husband came from a family life where bills came last and I had picked up a lot of his bad spending habits. My mother realized we were digging ourselves into a hole and told me to pull it together. Today we have more and bigger bills but we also own a house, an family car, and so forth.

I am like my dad, I save. (My mom... watch out she spends everything. Needless to say they are divorced. My dad is now remarried and his wife is a saver, like he is.) I save my money. I watch sale prices and save as much as I can. I am a single mother and make sure that we have something to fall back on in case emergencies arise.

My mom didn't have a lot of money, but was very generous. She also had some weaknesses, where I felt she spent too much money (her garden, gourmet/not on sale food, and sometimes I felt she was a little too generous). It was the only thing we ever argued about, but it made her happy, and it was her money. She was rebelling against when she was married and being told what she could and couldn't spend money on.

My husband's parents on the other hand, they have money and are generous, but act like they don't have a dime to spare, which drives me crazy sometimes. My husband and I like to ignore our savings too, but we don't complain about not having money, just because we would rather save it.

I guess my parents never really focused on teaching us about Money. Bills were a time to leave mom alone and let her think. I have had to learn things on my own. My mom was always more of a spender my dad only spent on big things both were super generous when it came to giving. I think though they had it easier with COL. At least I know that I will not have to support them.
I have had to learn lots of things on my own. It has helped that deep down inside I really like working with numbers. I feel that we are more frugal my parents didn't have kids for 11 years thats a lot of time to get established

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006