Keeping motivated in real life!!

de1amo

İ have set myself a target of 3 years tough saving--i am 48 and have spent my life denying myself 'extras' and i am getting to a point in life where i am lacking techniques in my day to day life to keep enduring the slog!--Can anyone pass on some practical words of advice for living a fullfilled life while watching the pennies!!i know this place has lots of words of wisdom and i follow as many as possible about saving but its a long slog --must be mid life i reckon!!

Sassers

Hi there,
This is the Sassers guide to living the high life on $od-all....
Like you, I've felt the same at times, yes it is a slog, but you will get there:D

It's taken a while, but I had to change my mindset from thinking I was depriving myself to actually looking at the other end, as it's a game, I will learn some brill things along the way and it will make me very resourceful, canny and I'll enjoy the `luxury' and `high-ended treats' just that little bit more when they come along on occassions. Everything can be seen as an `opportunity'...

I love my life as it is and I spose that's the secret...and I'm very lucky that my OH feels the same way too.

Friday night we put on youtube favourites, pushed the sofa back, and spent the evening dancing with a bottle of wine, given to me by a friend for my birthday three weeks ago. It was great fun and we didn't feel too hard done-by as we were laughing too much. We laugh a lot BTW!

I shop out of the bargain bins in our local Tesco, Morrison and buy food from ethnic shops. For lunch today I have 3 tangerines (15p a bag), a passionfruit (6 in a bag for 15p), ciabatta sliced bread (loaf 9p) and a pot of luxury crab pate (15p).

I also eat more veggie stuff and also cook from scratch.

I use online surveys that pay out in luncheon vouchers, cash and vouchers, so I can top up shop or buy myself or friends and family a treat now and again.

We don’t have an old, a new Tv or any TV come to that.:rotfl:

I used My p2p and streaming (not live) on our £85 second hand charity enterprise scheme renovated computer to watch major sports, events, films etc.

I download lots of free songs offered on Itunes etc. I read books online, borrow them from our (still open thank god) library or from charity shops. .

I don’t window shop or buy magazines anymore as they are just 70-odd pages of `things’ that are put there by PR and marketing/advertisers, so you buy them. And I should know I work in PR (and it took me ages to get my head round this very simple concept!)

Me and the OH are planning lots of walks and wanderings this summer....all free. We keep our eye out for stuff, such as British Gas’s free swims.

I use megabus for trips away – got free Grand Designs event tickets in London for next month.

Renovating my house: I look at what people are chucking out, go to carboots and go down the dump in the car quite often and spy things that I need. That's after off-loading the car of rubbish first. Some times other people's rubbish comes home with me....!!!!!

Latest was a chrome shower rail still in its packet with the stop ends. I’ll chop this down to fit over the alcove inside back door, and with a pack of kitchen hooks from Ikea, I have a virtually indestructible pan hanger, to hang my collections of pots and pans (including a welsh bakestone that I brought from a charity warehouse at the end of my village for a £1). Homemade Welsh cakes anyone...?

Teach yourself skills such as DIY, cooking, gardening, car mechanics....to me it was like learning without college or education fees....:D

If you like learning new things then this is great - and will save you money. I taught myself how to plaster walls - so well I thought about going into trade ! - decorate, lay and level floors, install damp proofing...all sorts. I can sew, so made cushions, curtains and throws....for the last 10 years I have always been making or doing something for or in the house!

I upped my income two years ago and took on a weekend part-time job for fun, working for the tourist industry. The pay was excellent but it also gave me an opportunity to find out where all the freebee places to visit were, not just in Wales but the UK. Oh, and budget hols too.

After doing seven-days-a week for nearly two years my body was too tired to do anymore and I had to leave. It was fab while it lasted though...I lived off the £500 a month I earned and flung the FT 40 hours a week money at the debts and mortgage, which was about £1400 a month.

I took in a lodger, which means I get a tax-free allowance.

I also joined the pay-a-debt-a-day thread over in the DFW/diaries thread. See my sig below....

I’ve even paid my mortgage provider through internet banking 1’p’s before now. And the joy of getting a monster statement with 1p’s and 2p’s is fab and a raspberry to the fat cats...

I also draw portraits on occasion, now I have weekends off. Upwards of £50 quid although this is time-consuming.

My dream is paying off my debt and mortgage, which is all in my name and quite unusual where I live, as a 40-year-old female with an OH but no kids. Women aren't seen as home buyers and so independent - more your traditional man goes out to work, women stays at home type of thing.

Everything I do, I do with the debt-free and mortgage-free goal in mind, because in five years I will be free and think about other ambitions I want to achieve. Every penny I pick up off the street goes to the mortgage.

Sorry to rattle on and I hope this post doesn’t come across as too big headed or patronising. MSE ways are now so ingrained to be honest, I will never ever change.

I hope this helps! Diolch yn fawr
Love Sassers x
PS: you will find many people take the pi$$ because of MSe ways, but you will have the last laugh of all! Which I hope will be long, very loud and with great mirth and much hilarity when you, I and the rest of the MF wannabees get there in the end!

adwat

Very inspirational Sassers. If I'd done half of what you suggest I'd already have paid off my mortgage.

[Deleted User]

Sassers thats fantastic!! very inspirational and I can see how the luxuries would be much more fun too!
de1amo
I do sometimes feel demoralised with it all and it feels like a tough slog- especially weeks like this when Im tired, cant be bothered to make lunch or cook up something homemade etc..and feel deprived!! I find what helps is breaking it down to smaller chunks and also having some leeway/fun spends each month - (gonna start taking this out weekly so I dont spend it all on payday as per this month! :rotfl:) knowing I can spend that on whatever I want means I use my bargain hunting skills and feel satisfied when I know Ive got a good deal - but still feel I am able to enjoy myself! otherwise I think its abit like a diet- more strict you are the more likely to have a big "stuff it" blow out!

good luck!

Sassers

Aww - thanks everyone, just popped on and found the replies! How lovely and thank you..

VfM4meplse

Just one tip for feeling happier about life - take a brisk walk for an hour a day. Foc and makes you feel great!

Annieddiva

de1amo - I too feel like I am on a rollercoaster of ups and downs on this mortgage free wannabee madness - sometimes I am tempted to get off and then take stock of the achievements you have made to date and it seems to reinvigorate me to keep on going! I have built in treats towards weekend spending I must admit - they may be small but at times worth their weight in gold!! I always batch cook at the weekends with quick and easy recipes, so during the week I can just pop some delicious home cooked food in the microwave during the week - which helps me out a lot!!

You are absolutely going great guns with your figures and I would love to have my mortgage paid for by then too!! I know its hard at times - but as the saying goes we should always look on the bright side of life!! Just think in 3 years (I wish!!) you'll be having all those extras again - yee haa!!