Quarter life crisis - advice needed on spending & life

Blogger

katsu wrote: »

All the very best wishes.

Thank you!

My regular savings are as follows:

£220 into pension pot to maximize employer contribution
£125 into tax free shares
Leftover coins in the jar

I am now saving for a deposit. We signed up for a nationwide save to buy account. I plant o save £400-£500 every month. His figure is higher than mine as he earns more. He will be putting in approximately £700 - £800.

We tried with gym... we used to be part of lower priced gym but as we used to get there we had no place to exercise basically it was so full during weekdays after work. Also it was too hot and stuffy during summer and showers were cold as many people used them. Right now I feel that I am motivated to exercise when I go there. They have equipment as well as swimming pool and sauna which is part of the £60 we pay. Maybe once my contract is expired I will shop around a bit more. One more thing: we work at locations very far from each other and as a couple we spend minimum amount of time together as both of us are so busy. Since the gym is central we meet there and sort of exercise together if it makes any sense? It is like a bonding for us in a way.

We are renting 1 bedroom flat. It works out 450 for us each and this is CHEAP for london. My friends pay £600 + bills for houseshare and you do not know who you are going to live with... We looked at rent very carefully and consider moving too but the place like this or studio is either more expensive or same price for lesser location and higher council tax band.

Phone package - I will look into this definitely and see what options we have available.Thanks for advice!

Toiletries include everything. I use minimal makeup actually, not even foundation or lipstick or mascara. This is things like shampoo, shower gel, conditioner, hair moisturiser, body moisturiser, hand wash, toilet tissue, creams etc. Living in London can destroy your skin and if you do not look after yourself one can age very quickly here with all this pollution an dirt around.

Yes, I can merge coffee budget with food budget. The only reason why it is separate is because I am a coffee shop generation and to keep an eye on my coffee costs I set up a separate budget for it.

Going out - because this budget is also for holidays we drastically cut down going out. It is either holiday or going out.. so far we are saving this amount for holiday booking in June. It is really hard not to go out at all in London... people are busy so no one has time to pop over for a tea or something.I do not have any time to invite anyone for a coffee at home. The majority of spend is over the weekend. Luckily the weather had been really bad recently so no one wants to meet up anywhere outside.. This is the cost which is one of the hardest to control .


Gifts - yes, already doing that Buying in sales is much cheaper actually..


vics199 are you paying by direct debit? Which borough do you live in? I definitely pay £66 per month.

Thanks for advice!


So far definite culprit identified

1. Phone bills
2. Food
3. Gifts


I had this idea of somehow combining gift with going out? Like giving experience type of gift tickets etc.. Could be doable..

FireWyrm

Blogger wrote: »

FireWyrm

Toiletries - how else do you buy shampoo, conditioner, shoer gel, body moisturiser, face cream and all the cosmetics? I recon you are a man hence no need? If anyone can come up soem free way of doing this I would happily welcome!

Do you really need all that? For a start, soap is a 100 times cheaper, even the most expensive hand-made kinds. The gel you buy is actually liquified shaved soap. Yes, you read that right, they take actual soap, grind it, mix it with water and some stabilisers and sell it to you as 'gel'. It's no such thing. Shampoo? You dont need it, soap is actually better. If you look at the ingredients you will see lots of unpronounceable ingredients and they charge you a hundred times more for it. Some of those ingredients are suspect to say the least, some implicated in cancers and even hair loss. I make soap myself, but even if you were to buy it, I guarantee you wouldnt spend anywhere near £40 a month on it.

Body cream? Make it, from shea butter, coconut oil and some scent. 10 minutes work and it's completely natural. Makes as much as you want for pennies.

Sanitary products? Again, the hype is terrible on these items. Wads of disposable paper isnt the only way to solve the problem. Research moon cups and fabric pads. Both of which work superbly and are (over the long term) far far cheaper. Personally, I find a combination of a mood cup and a soft fabric pad to be about the most comfortable way to manage even post partum.

Toothpaste. You would not believe the markup for what is effectively baking soda and peppermint oil and water. It *might* have additional products, but do you know what they are and why they are included? Do you really believe the manufacturer has your best interests at heart?

When you actually start to question what you have been *taught* by the media for the last couple of decades, it makes for some very unpleasant realisations. We as a society have been cheated and lied to for generations. When you step outside the norm, you suddenly realise just how much this has all cost us, not just in money.

lindsaygalaxy

Have you checked entitledto.co.uk for your mum? Is she claiming the benefits she can? I only ask because I think you will be doing your mum a better service to teach her how to survive better on her own than to top her up every month.

Blogger

lindsaygalaxy wrote: »

Have you checked entitledto.co.uk for your mum? Is she claiming the benefits she can? I only ask because I think you will be doing your mum a better service to teach her how to survive better on her own than to top her up every month.

I think she is already claiming whatever she can... I am assuming as it is not possible to survive just on £240 but I guess this is helping her to meet the ends meet, but I will ask her in case she is not. Thanks for advice

FireWyrm This is very different topic open to long discussion. One can argue why does anyone even need anything? We all survived somehow without most of what we have these days. Why even get a house but there are few things which people do in every century. I understand what you are saying about the making own shampoo creams etc but there is refinement process involved which i cannot perform on my own at home and would not even have a clue where to start. I do not think I am brainwashed by media, Boots offer something which I like and I pay for it. If I get same product cheaper somewhere great but the need / want to buy a shampoo is there regardless. I think that sort of savings will require fundamental change in lifestyle which is out of my reach at the moment.

theoretica

Toiletries - have you tried using less? I used to dollop out shampoo into my palm and then realised 1/4 the amount or less got my hair just as clean.

FireWyrm

Blogger wrote: »

FireWyrm This is very different topic open to long discussion. One can argue why does anyone even need anything? We all survived somehow without most of what we have these days. Why even get a house but there are few things which people do in every century. I understand what you are saying about the making own shampoo creams etc but there is refinement process involved which i cannot perform on my own at home and would not even have a clue where to start. I do not think I am brainwashed by media, Boots offer something which I like and I pay for it. If I get same product cheaper somewhere great but the need / want to buy a shampoo is there regardless. I think that sort of savings will require fundamental change in lifestyle which is out of my reach at the moment.

Fair enough, but I still think this is one expense you could address and cut by an order of magnitude to give you additional leeway in your already stretched budget. None of these processes that I quickly outlined are difficult or classed as alchemy and almost any person given sufficient motivation can turn their hand to these crafts.

We're all brainwashed...like it or not. I know what goes into these products, can make them myself and still find them somehow in my basket occasionally. Consumer advertising is driven by some very clever psychology and it takes a fundamental change in perspective to outwit it.

I also still believe the Gym is a massive drain on your finances. Is there no chance of a smaller, perhaps less well known place to exercise? Or perhaps a different type of exercise all togther? One that doesnt cost you over £1200 a year.

oopsadaisydoddle

I don't normally post on what people spend on because I know everybody's circumstances are different. What I do believe though is you 'cut you cloth to suit your pocket'. If you really want that house then you will have to make some sacrifices. You are justifying all of your additional treats like your coffee, gym choice, clothes - that is fair enough - it is your life. But at the end of the day, if thise things mean that you can't save as much as you like for your house then you have to decide which you want most.

DH and I have debt as you can see from when we bought our house (new boiler and other things that added up) and also a bit of overspending. We have set ourselves a debt plan and decided to stick to it and our debt will be paid by this time next year. This plan still leaves us with a pocket money allowance which is quite good and TBH, we could probably cut back a lot on that and otner things. However, at present we are choosing not to. If we did we could renovate our house much more quickly (it needs everything doing). As i said though, it is our choice. I would love my house to be done tomorrow but I feel the need to have a life too.

You have to decide what the best choice is for you.

I also agree with FireWym...although I don't practice what he/she(?) preaches so to speak, there is a lot to be said about homemade things. Even a tub of aqueous cream with some oils would double up as a lotion.

Good luck though!

debrag

Blogger wrote: »

FireWyrm


Council tax- yes, correct. this is only a one bedroom flat we are renting and it is the lowest band.

We live in a small 1 bed flat and its £101 a month, our rent is much less than you though.

Blogger

oopsadaisydoddle wrote: »

This plan still leaves us with a pocket money allowance which is quite good and TBH, we could probably cut back a lot on that and otner things. However, at present we are choosing not to. If we did we could renovate our house much more quickly (it needs everything doing). As i said though, it is our choice. I would love my house to be done tomorrow but I feel the need to have a life too.


Good luck though!

I agree and this is what I am actually worried.. House = no life for several years. Really want to know how other people are managing hence stumbled across this place. I do not think I am sucked in consumer culture and even gym is not really extravagant but perhaps for some people it is. I guess it is also about the priorities and health is No 1 priority for us hence it seems like I am justifying it. As you said everyone makes their own choices in life but I would not be the one who would sacrifice health for anything. I see people every day running with their backpacks around the block and I am thinking, why are you damaging your knees and back on this concrete and breathing in all the pollution on the main road. Is £60 per month really that much to keep healthy? Maybe it is for some. I used to work with some woman who ate cheese sandwiches every day in an attempt to save for Christmas presents whilst being 6 months pregnant...Whilst I applaud her dedication for me the effort could not justify the benefit. I want to save money but not on expense of our health if it makes sense. Coffee can go and it probably will in time. We are in our twenties and life is no more fun :(:( i think i will just have to do this. Period.


FireWyrm
Probably there are but they are not obvious. As soon as the contract end approaches I will look around what else is out here. Our area is London Bridge where we only found 1 YMC type of gym that was very crowded as we visited. We do weight training mostly which seems to be problem area in most places. No place in tiny flat for that sort of training.. There is free gym at one of my work offices. I will be working from there in 8 months time so might use the gym there if open late. Normally work place gyms close at 7 which is pointless but we'll see. Right now it is too far to travel to.





theoretica Excellent advice! Thank you!!! I have very long hair and I could really use that extra squeeze. I think what I could do is to transfer my shampoo & conditioner in different easy to use container so most of it is used. I did not think of that before! Thanks!!!:T

Blogger

debrag wrote: »

We live in a small 1 bed flat and its £101 a month, our rent is much less than you though.

Maybe it depends on area.. honestly I have no idea how but the £66 is definitely the correct figure. :think: