Living on one income in 2012

susiejq

Hi All,
We are hellbent on retiring in two and a half years time and in order to do this we need to pay off our mortgage and prove to ourselves that we can live, and not just survive, on a reduced income. I will be 60 and my OH 66 so we feel that having worked since we were both 16yrs old we have had enough. We have a lot of interests and hobbies and want to spend more time doing them when we want, not just cramming everything in to a Sunday. OH works most Saturdays whcih really restricts when we can sail and use our motorhome. However, we have to be mortgage free and hopefully with some savings for an emergency fund. We also have a daughter starting Uni in Sept 2012 who we will have to help support.
So our plan is to live off one income until we retire.
I am careful with money and have my budget and sreadsheets all set out, making savings where I can and getting best value for every thing we buy and use. I have bought a new, bigger freezer and have put raised beds in the garden as well as having a small allotment. These produced a surprsing amount of food this year and really cut down on our food costs.
I am an avid Lidl shopper and have recently found a fantastic cut price local frozen food supplier.
So I'm itching to get started. 2012 - bring it on.:j

newgirly

Hello :hello: it sounds like you have plan worked out. There are so many great tips on here and the oldstyle boards to stretch the pennies. Growing your own is a great idea, I would like to try properly this year as well.

Anyway good luck becoming mortgage free.

susiejq

Thank you. I love reading the ideas, suggestions and inspirational stories of contributors to the boards.
At the moment our ISAs are paying more interest than our mortgage charges so our mortgage free pot is currently at £25,785. I have managed to sell some stuff on ebay this month, get £30 for switching utilities and sell an old broken phone, so I'm adding to this fund every week.
I think I will also get my daughter to open an ISA so that once I have put this year's limit into ours I can start saving for her Uni in hers (although I will need to make sure she can't spend it!!!). My OH is also commited to this - he used to be really free and easy with money but I knew I had converted him when he came home from a family lunch and said "That was good, a free lunch". :beer:

dark^knight

Sounds like a good plan. Good luck.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hello,

I wish you all the best with your plans. But your oh needs to remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch!

Squirrel:j

susiejq

Yes, very true. It's been a bit of an up and down week. OH had to visit his mum in Suffolk and as luck would have it his company sent him there on Monday so saved us a quarter of a tank of diesel and he had the free lunch at his sister's. He's also had a contract with some materials supplied and with what he had left over has done a job on our house, saving over £100. On the other hand the boiler packed up last night and we had to have the heating engineer out which cost us £100.
Just ordered my usual dog food on-line and saved £6.00 so overall I think we must be up on the week.

Courgette

Good luck susie!

susiejq

Gathered a big bunch of greenery, berries and dried seed heads today and made a big display for the hall table, cheaper and a bit more interesting than a poinsetta.
I've also made a door wreath although my daughter says it looks like a birds' nest - I'm quite proud of it - I'm rubbish at craft type things.
I also walked to my allotment in the village today and picked up a big bag of windfall apples from someone's trees. It pains me that they leave them on the ground to rot although I'm never sure if it counts as scrumping! I'm going to peel, slice and bag them ready for crumbles, pies and apple sauce through the winter.
Also printed off the L'Occitane voucher and collected my free body lotion today.
On the downside the boiler still isn't working so having to run the immerion for hot water - very expensive.:eek:
Also discovered that DD voted 18 times @ 41p a time for Little Mix to win X-factor - not amused and just made her pay me back out of her part time job money.:D