Old hand needs a fresh pair of eyes on SOA

[Deleted User]

Spirit wrote: »

Telephone (land line)................... 39
Internet Services....................... 22 Shop around for a bundled deal of calls & broadband

Clothing................................ 70 This can temporarily come right down - budget for essential replacements of underwear, shoes etc only

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 120 again this can come down by at least half
Haircuts................................ 52 If your local FE college trains hairdressing & beauty students you can get really good cheap cuts for no more than £10-15/month at the most
Entertainment........................... 100 can be reduced in the short term - 2for1 offers at restaurants, orange Wednesdays movies etc

Holiday................................. 200 cut this & go for cheap & cheerful internet booked Mediterranean/UK break

Plus - look at alternatives for life insurance. Pay off any debts with savings then start your emergency fund

donny-gal

I have to ask - Field Rental??

I would disagree re the cheap suits, it they are worn every day and you have to look the part they are a not an option.

If you take entertainment/holidays and sports clubs that is almost £400 a month, I would look at those for a short while.

I would also look carefully into going part time if you health is as serious as it sounds, as it could have serious impact on your pension if you are forced to take ill health retirement.

Can the gardener help with the veg patch? and I think the groceries could be cut, maybe look at on line shoping and then not tempted to "pick up what you fancy?"

Hope you get sorted
DG

Spirit_2

donny-gal wrote: »

I have to ask - Field Rental??

I would disagree re the cheap suits, it they are worn every day and you have to look the part they are a not an option.

If you take entertainment/holidays and sports clubs that is almost £400 a month, I would look at those for a short while.

I would also look carefully into going part time if you health is as serious as it sounds, as it could have serious impact on your pension if you are forced to take ill health retirement.

Can the gardener help with the veg patch? and I think the groceries could be cut, maybe look at on line shoping and then not tempted to "pick up what you fancy?"

Hope you get sorted
DG

Field rental - hangover from having horses (last pony died last year). When debt free & DD finished Uni - she may have horses again - if we give up the grazing we are unlikely to get it again or so cheaply (and so close - our stables are in the garden so no livery costs).

Clothes is the annual spend averaged over 12 month - which I thought we did quite well on. Will make a plan of what we must buy for work home and see what we can reduce for a while.

If I worked full time until 60 my pension would be very good .The effect on pension if going PT and a higher than average possibility of ill health retirement in a few years is an issue. However I have got to be realistic - I cannot "perform well" full time, by struggling to keep doing it I am impacting on my health, so PT is better than not working. It is chicken and egg - if it was just about the money I could carry on fulltime run myself into the ground go off sick, get dismissed/ill health retired (if agreed) and get the most from my pension scheme. What I prefer though is to help myself until the point where it is not realistic to carry on working at all. I do worry about the impact it has on a reduced life cover and spouses pension for Mr Spirit in the event of my early demise.

I choose to shop locally, rarely use large supermarkets, meal plan and am doing the grocery challenge.

Will persevere with the veg patch. The veg patch problem is the constant war with the slugs - heavy clay despite lots of muck and grit can't use slug pellets (and prefer not to) as I have free range chooks and bunny rabbits who should not be in there but manage the odd break in. Last year the deer ate the runner beans and mice/birds ate the peas . Only successes were tomatoes and lettuce (container grown) courgettes and two of the toughest aubergines I have ever seen.

misscousinitt

beowulf wrote: »

Doesn't that apply to all (or most) of us?

Sorry beowulf - badly worded. What I meant was that the luxuries are deserved and are able to be taken because of being able to afford them - not that we arn't entitled to luxuries - we are ALL entitled to them, but can't always afford them.;)

vandanfc

How about fleece or polytunnels for the veg patch, might mean that you get something of a crop.

Do you know yet what your income will drop by - can you slowly reduce your hours by say doing a 4 day week for a while, then down to a 3 day week ?

Keeping_Positive

Hello

You health comes first and you have already made a hugh dent. Have you worked out the potential drop in income when/if you go PT? As long as there is still a surplus to cover and hopefully overpay the debts isnt that enough?

Very lax thinking i know but whilst debt busting is important its not the be all.

Also how many years left of student fees for DD - its not neverending so savings there at some point.

Good luck xx

Spirit_2

Keeping_Positive wrote: »

Hello

You health comes first and you have already made a hugh dent. Have you worked out the potential drop in income when/if you go PT? As long as there is still a surplus to cover and hopefully overpay the debts isnt that enough?

Very lax thinking i know but whilst debt busting is important its not the be all.

Also how many years left of student fees for DD - its not neverending so savings there at some point.

Good luck xx

You are absolutely right .....the thing is that I don't feel I should reduce my earnings whist I have debt. Flawed logic I know, so it has pushed me to rethink the pace at which we are debt busting to get there quicker.

Mr Spirit came home today - he has gone out now - in our brief time together I did mention this thread and the suggestions for further reducing spending.

• When I suggested the £70 a month reduction in clothes spending he said he had'nt realised that was all we were spending, and should'nt we be spending that each:o.
• He practically went into a decline suggesting his motoring costs could go down further - to be fair I do not think it can.
• Reducing groceries - he will need some persuading.
• Hairdressers reduction- warmed to that.
• Stopping saving whilst overdrawn - could see sense of that.
• Tennis and shooting - :eek:
• Review insurances - he liked this (relatively pain free I suppose)
• Growing our own - asked me had I expalined to you all about the slugs.
• Holidays, Christmas, Gifts - we never got that far.

Overall he was not impressed. I do not think he thought the advice was meant to be serious. I will need to give it time with him. He has had a LBM hence our debt busting so far and his willingness to give things up to date, but I may be pushing it a bit.

donny-gal

There are more friendlier ways to get slugs, there is some powder to disolve and water the ground with, and does not leave the soil poisoned. Beer traps, sink a container to ground level and put some beer in the bottom, the slug like the beer smell, fall in and are too drunk to get out :rotfl: broken egg shells they don;t like to cross. Re the grocery shopping, try having a read here.
DG

Nottoobadyet

Perhaps a silly question, but depending on where OH travels and whether he has any time, maybe he could get clothes there cheaper? I travel a lot to the developing world for work and get some absolutely fabulous clothes very cheaply, and you have so much less chance of discovering someone else has come to a party in the same top! And of course it helps the local economy etc. Clothes are also cheaper on the continent or in America, if he goes there.

Spirit_2

Nottoobadyet wrote: »

Perhaps a silly question, but depending on where OH travels and whether he has any time, maybe he could get clothes there cheaper? I travel a lot to the developing world for work and get some absolutely fabulous clothes very cheaply, and you have so much less chance of discovering someone else has come to a party in the same top! And of course it helps the local economy etc. Clothes are also cheaper on the continent or in America, if he goes there.

Excellent suggestion - mostly he is in the eurozone, scandanavia and the baltic - this week Copenhagen, next week Greece all week. Sadly his itineries do not leave him any free time.