The ultimate frugal life - how much per year? Is it a good life?

tori.k

Oh i have a Mercedes too...well a smart car..lol

katieowl_2

I can see the appeal TBH, but I think £5K is a bit too low. £7-10K would be better. You can't underestimate how much you can save by doing stuff for yourself if you have enough free time (not to mention foraging/freecycling for stuff you want) but it gets a bit soul destroying when your are permanently up against it with no money to do anything. Don't forget your house will need occasional repairs and maintenance which won't be cheap, you are looking at the odd very large bill! (You haven't got buildings insurance on your list either BTW!

I'm not sure there is such a thing as a recession proof job, but you might as well build some more skills into your employability if you're up for it, local colleges offer all sorts of stuff, on a part time basis, so you could extend your knowledge whilst working part time too, which might come in handy if the Mcjob gets boring, or disappears into the 'downturn'

Kate

LB29

If your interested in engineering have a look at apprenticeships!

moneyistooshorttomention

I agree £7k-£10k is the lowest that "might" be manageable on and that is dependant on having a lot of free time.

I shall be on only £8k a year for a while now - because I retired at my retirement age (of 60 - being a woman), rather than waiting till my Revised State Pension Age (now some way older than that).

I think I can manage - just about - on that but I will need to be pretty darn economical and am not sure I would have dared even try without the back-up (if needed) of knowing I have some savings mentally set-aside to top-up my weekly money if I have to. I do hope I wont have to raid those savings for this - because it wasnt my choice to have my State Pension Age revised and therefore have to manage on work pension only for a while. But I have mentally set aside a part of my savings as "subsidise myself during that gap if I have to money", whilst ringfencing some savings as "to stay as Savings in case of a rainy day". It wasnt an easy decision to throw myself onto such a low income for a while and was basically done in my case because my workplace was so darn stressful that it really wasnt possible to work on past my retirement age and at least its for a time-limited period - after which I have "enough income to live on again" because my State Pension will have started being paid at last.

raphanius

the best things in life are free lol. Lie ins, late nights, cups of tea, going to bed with a full stomach in a cosy bed, no 9-5 daily chore, rush hour traffic. These are the things that I like. I have no want for a Mercedes car or an Iphone. The only thing I would buy if I did have the money a career would bring would be holidays.

amen to that!

i work part time (max 30 hours, min 16 hours a week) in a pub. i get to lie in in the mornings stay up late watching tv and because most pub work is at the weekends on a good week i have 4 days off consecutively. when i was in my 20's i worked full time in offices and hated it. i went to college in my 30's to persue a career in marketing only to find myself despising the men and women in suits for their brainwashed corporate thinking. i love my life now i'm in my 40's and have my priorities sorted. if i catch myself envying a new phone or gadget one of my customers is showing off to their friends i just remind myself of the price they pay every day for 'having it all'.

LameWolf

If I might throw another thought into the pot - don't bank on always having your health.

Illness, short-term and long-term, can strike anyone; I hope it never happens to you, but it's something to maybe factor in while making your long term plans - if the worst were to happen, how would you manage?

I'm a wheelchair user with a chronic debilitating illness, so I know what I'm talking about.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.