Just as good as:
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Oh yes 
although I just used ka9q from a DOS window for a long time.
Yep - had that, too, along with a Mercury phone account to separate dial-up usage from everything else.
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More ‘discoloured’ than ‘clear’ at this stage in its life 
Historic hardware!
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Ahhh corded phones. As annoying as my office phone where at least once a week I have to unwind the reciever wire because it gets so much tension i fear it will snap my wrist 
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I am not a cash user. I tend to only have cash if people give it to me, else I rely on Google Pay, however, I cannot dispute the content of this segment of the article:
"It helps people budget, as using cash means you literally can count the pennies. ......
“If you’ve only got £30 to last you the week, holding that in notes and coins is still the most effective way of budgeting and controlling how much you spend.”
The sentence I have removed from the quote is “We all know that if you pay with a card, it’s so easy to spend money you don’t have and then go overdrawn”, as I, personally, do not agree with that, having never managed to be overdrawn in 40 years of banking.
I would have agreed with “We all know that if you pay with a card, it’s so easy to spend money you don’t have” though as, although I settle my credit card statements every month, I am sure many have used credit cards to try and get out of a hole, only to find a deeper one 
The person making the overdrawn quote should try Monzo or Starling, which don’t allow unauthorised overdrafts.
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I’ve never give overdrawn, but I have managed in the past to spend more money than intended because of using a card, because such spending has been ‘invisible’.
‘in the past’ is the key phrase here, though. With the advent of app-based banking, things are now completely different.
No longer do I have to find a cash machine to check my balance, or log into a web portal - where even then the information may not be totally accurate due to delayed updating. I see my spending straight away, and can constantly check my balance in real time.
I can also use pots to silo money away to prevent me spending it, replicating the “stuffing cash in envelopes” method for far less risk (envelopes can get lost or stolen, pots can’t).
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I wish I could get into this mentality of what’s there is what I have 
Is there any thoughts on how someone can build this into their mindset? I am or can be a spender and it’s so annoying 
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For me, the game changer was learning about a method called “Pay yourself first”.
It’s originally a strategy for making savings into a savings account, but the way I’ve adopted it, I’ve applied it to all pots.
Way it works is, when my salary comes into my account, before I spend ANY of it (salary sorter is useful for this) I allocated most of it to pots. Pots for bills, pots for food budgeting, petrol budgeting, insurance etc (save a little bit each month instead of having to pay entirely from one month’s salary), holiday money pots, and occasional specific item saving for pot.
This leaves not a huge amount of general spending money in my account. And for me, the enforced (almost) poverty encourages frugality, while I’m secure in knowing that I have money in pots for the essential and important things.
Used to be some months when I was really good, if I didn’t spend my whole food budget I would move what was leftover into my savings before moving the new allowance in. Inflation has rather kiboshed that for the time being, though.
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Thanks!
I’ve tried the moving into pots/spaces but I don’t have a virtual card (free user) so makes it inconvenient to have to move funds.
I’d love something like Curve have with their Smart Rules - spend groceries take from X card, but for Monzo/Starling the appropriate pot/space.
That would be some next level stuff for managing finances.
I’m trying to run the send X to account on Monday and that’s what I have, but just seem to break that rule too easily.
Probably a lot to address in my mentality, and build a strict budget to adhere to. My bills all go paid so that’s fine, but wanting to pay extra off my loan, that’s where the above would come in to becoming debt free.
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This is exactly what I do. But I think there’s two important parts to it too;
You have to want to save! I put £5 a month away for my glasses because I know I don’t want a big bill every other year and I want most of it saved. It’s only £5 a month, some things like my car, take more.
I don’t have any linked to virtual cards because it breaks the spreadsheet, but mine are mostly for saving for future things, rather than spending this month.
You have to be able to save. If you take home £2,000 and your bills/life/living costs come to £1,995 then all you’ll do is put £50 in a holiday pot and then take it back out in week two when you need to eat and it feels like a failure.
But as Nick said, forcing yourself to have a smaller budget, that does have a backup if needed, but the “this is my spending money” is a good habit to get into.
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For me, the minor inconvenience is a feature, not a bug. It helps make sure I’m spending that money on the right stuff. Make it too easy and the money doesn’t feel siloed away any more, and I’m back to accidentally spending it again.
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I’ll give this a whirl again, see if that helps.
I do try this, but my mentality just says ah get it, itll be fine 
As for car repairs, my ABS light just came on, so I absolutely need to get on board with the pots annually ready for March mot being an old car
Edit: ABS is being looked at today, not in March
Hahahahahaha
The amount of hours spent (definitely usefully ) on that page!
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I also had this problem for a long time. My answer (similar to above) was to make myself “skint” by squirriling away my money into savings and a “left to spend” pot in Monzo.
So I’ll leave like £20 in my account which, strangely, makes my brain think I can’t buy anything and when I do really need to quickly transfer stuff across from the pot next to it.
The inconvenience of having to quickly check my balance and move the money has the pyscological effect of stopping me from impulse purchases.
Over time it’s allowed me to start to leave more money in there since I have less urge to spend it.
Good luck!
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Thanks for this.
I, like a majority no doubt, get money anxious and I’d hate nothing more than a declined transaction.
I’m in the process of simplifying my finances (so many accounts due to my inquisitive side) to make it a lot easier and less stressful to deal.
Probably my complexity helps nothing 
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I have some pots that get topped up monthly, main one being a car pot. Just paid £165 yearly tax, £40 MOT and it’s in for a service today which should be £150-200 depending what needs doing.
All of this is paid out of my “Car Expenses” pot and almost feels “free” because it’s not come out of this months wage.
I only put £50 a month into it.
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As someone with ADHD who has previously got himself into serious trouble in this regard, budgeting and monitoring do really help. But also, at it’s core I just needed to stop buying so much stuff.
One thing CBT helped me with was identifying when I am likely to make unnecessary purchases, as in what moods or situations this happens in, and then before making purchases checking ‘am I doing this because I am in X mood’ and then stopping / controlling.
IDK if that applies to everyone (and I’m not suggesting you need therapy!), but just for me that was a big part of it and the hardest part. Budgeting does help me because it helps me to know whether something is actually affordable or not. But in my case knowing it wasn’t affordable wasn’t actually preventing me from buying things anyway so it wasn’t the root solution.
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If you’re based in these areas you can get a free £30 for Iceland if you’re on a pension. Iceland is giving away free £30 food vouchers in 16 areas - is your town is on the list? - Mirror Online
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