Living life, loving life.......hypno's having a ball!

hypno06

Certainly is!! But it does me good to acknowledge that and write it down from time to time......no avoiding the facts then!!

MrsMoo2U

What a thought provoking post there Hypno. It is too easy to lose sight of the things that are important in the day to day humdrum of life and easy for things to run away with us. Well done for working all of that out. Thanks to Souk too I have been having a look at figures today.

Nargleblast

Sounds like a plan, there, Hypno! Just goes to show, even when someone does become debt-free (apart from mortgage) there is still no room for complacency. Alvin Hall in one of his books suggests building up an emergency fund equivalent to about 3 months' wages just in case you lose your job, then start on more pleasurable savings plans. I think, the way the cost of living has shot up over the past year or so, more like 6 months' wages is a more realistic amount to save for a start.

hypno06

Obviously, I have stuck with round figures above, but it does give a pretty realistic idea of how my money is allocated, and does indeed give me plenty to think about.....especially as some elements of my income will reduce over the next year or so, at the same time as big costs increase :eek:

I have about 2 weeks salary worth of emergency savings so far.....some way to go yet! But it is a start, and I could make it stretch a little further than 2 weeks if I put my mind to it....and of course it is 2 weeks worth more than I have had before.....but it will be another couple of years of saving 10% of my salary before I have a reasonable cushion.....and that really does put it in perspective!

But....taking all of that into account, I am a whole lot better off than I was a few years ago, and considering I only have the one salary, and manage to keep us all enjoying a reasonable lifestyle, I cannot be unhappy with that!

Definitely continuing work in progress though.....

beanielou

My mortgage alone is 40% :rotfl:

hypno06

beanielou wrote: »

My mortgage alone is 40% :rotfl:

Am with you there - mine is 39%.....

ShelleyC_2

Thanks for that Hypno and Souk :T

Going to try and play with my figures. Was horrified recently when doing expenses and realised how much I'd spent on petrol last year :eek:

Currently I'm living in rented which is cheaper than my potential mortgage costs but I'm probably not being as strict as I should so suspect my slushy spends will be higher than they should be

hypno06

My aim is to get and keep the essential household bills below 50% of my basic salary (without maintenance and child benefit)....so that when those things reduce and ultimately disappear, I am still leaving myself with a good proportion of money to "live" - food, petrol, savings, life etc etc

At the moment, they are very slightly over 50% of my total monthly income, so there is definitely a need to reduce it somehow - but I also have to bear in mind that in 2 years my fixed rate mortgage comes to an end and of course I have no idea what sort of rate I will be getting at that time.

It is certainly giving me lots to think about - and I foresee many brainstorming sessions ahead of me in the next couple of weeks :cool:

Souk08

Goodness! it was just a wee idea I had last night as well XXX

hypno06

See what happens when you have "wee ideas".......they can be bloomin dangerous :rotfl: