My Money Persona. What are my Beliefs and why am I like this?

My Money Persona

I have just finished reading an incredible book ‘It is Only Money and it Grows on Trees‘ by Cara Macmillan and it’s really made me question and understand my money persona and attitude to money also why I make the decisions I do about money. It’s taught me about different attitudes to money, different religious beliefs, different methods of dealing with money. It’s a great book I recommend a read. Click on the link and I will get a little bit of payment from Amazon.

The Importance of Money

So money is extremely important to me, hence Mrs Mummypenny arrived 3 years ago. I am slightly (read that as massively) obsessed with the saving of money on everything that we spend. From our food shopping to our bills to things for the boys to holidays to investments. I want to get the absolute best for the money we work very hard to earn. And all these savings add up to huge amounts, I have saved £7,500 in 6 months.

This does not mean that we are frugal, far from it. We just get the best price for everything we buy. I will ask for a discount anywhere and everywhere within reason. I don’t ask for a discount at John Lewis or Aldi 😉 All these savings then mean we can splurge on amazing holidays, Prada bags (I have 2, one bought when I got promoted in my last job at EE and one when I was made redundant at EE 😉 and have some amazing dinners out. We also have a lovely house that we have worked extremely hardly hard to make perfect.

My Upbringing

My parents were not rich. My dad worked for the forces his entire life and worked as a dog handler for the MOD until he retired at 60. My mum stayed at home to look after me, she did a few cleaning job when I was growing up. My mum and dad had me later in life, at 42 & 45. I was a result of hot night of the summer of 1976. It was the hottest ever apparently and created me 🙂 My parents spoilt me as the 3^rd child, the 3^rd child 18 years after my siblings were born. My mum was pregnant at my sisters 21^st birthday party, lol!

I remember birthdays and Christmas’s being overwhelmed with presents. From neighbours, friends of the family, from my brother and sister. I didn’t get everything I wanted through the year but I was very fortunate at these celebration times. I got the huge Cindy house full of furniture, I got the Lego house and the doll that weed and cried. I wanted for nothing.

My parents taught me that hard work got you material things in life. We had a lovely house in the middle of Penzance town centre. We spent every summer weekend at the beach. Life a child was idyllic. I remember the day I opened my first savings account at Bradford & Bingley, I used to check my balance every week. My birthday and Christmas money went into my account and I would love to watch the balance grow. I used to help out with the Barclays school bank when I was 11. I used to help friends decide which bank account to open…when I was 13. I got my first job when I was 14 at Oliver’s shoe shop on the high street. I wanted to earn money as early as possible.

Then my security blanket was ripped away.

My mum died when I was 16 and then dad died when I was 19. A long story to be told another time but my dad re-married in-between mum and him dying so my step-mother inherited the money (there was no will and they were married).  These 2 events took away my security, access to money and my house I grew up in. The house I lived in for 18 years until I went to London for University.

So since then I have become even more obsessed with building financial security. Having a great job and house has always been SUPER important to me. I’m not so fussed about the car or expensive clothes. But my house is very important as it homes my unit, my beautiful family. And now all of my money goes towards providing my unit a life like I had when I little.

The Future

I love getting this understanding of my financial psychology and knowing why I am like I am. It just makes me more determined to make Mrs Mummypenny a success and to get more financial stability. I would love to pay off our mortgage and I would love to take the boys on a mammouth holiday to America to see the entire west coast. Its important for me to set goals. Although these goals are flexible and maybe don’t all have a timeframe 😉 Saying that I did write #40thingsbefore40, post in my 7 days of blog posts. There’s quite alot in there to achieve before March 2017..lol!

1 year celebration posts and competition

This is my 7th and final post 7/7 in my week of blog posts to celebrate my 1 year of leaving EE and launching Mrs Mummypenny. Hurrah…..writing 7 posts in 7 days has been such a challenge. I am so happy its done. And I can take maybe 1 day off writing!!

• My first post 1/7 is My first year in business as Mrs Mummypenny. It’s a great read:-)
• My second post 2/7 is 40 things before turning forty. Amazing number of reads of that, posted at 7am today!
• My third post 3/7 is a gallstones and detox health update. I have lost 6lbs in 8 days!!
• My fourth post 4/7 is My Money Saving tips for a holiday to Las Vegas. I got a retweet from Cirque Du Soleil:-)
• My fifth post 5/7 is How I saved £7,500 in 6 months. Super popular especially on Facebook!!
• My sixth post 6/7 is How to Make £000’s from Home. Another super popular post. Ive had the best traffic week EVER.