The Big Adventure

Karmacat

How unexpected for them to answer your letter correctly :rotfl:

I'm all for slumming it in Barcelona and Monte Carlo - never been to MC, but I had a long weekend in Barcelona, and I described it then as Liverpool with sunshine - dozens of historic buildings, lots of open space, a big port, lots of good shops, and famous football teams :j

Goldiegirl

Karmacat wrote: »

I had a long weekend in Barcelona, and I described it then as Liverpool with sunshine - dozens of historic buildings, lots of open space, a big port, lots of good shops, and famous football teams :j

That sums it up really - plus a bit of Gaudi !

gallygirl

Goldiegirl wrote: »

That sums it up really - plus a bit of Gaudi !

I missed the Gaudi in Liverpool - blinded by the fake tans probably

Karmacat

Oi :rotfl: Liverpool has the most Grade I listed buildings in the country outside of London, thats the sort of thing I mean

We're dead posh, innit

Goldiegirl

As I've never been to Liverpool, I can't possibly comment :rotfl:


But it's on my list of places to visit - In the 1970's I was a Liverpool supporter ( mainly due to Kevin Keegan, and his perm:o) so it'd be nice to see the city


There was a very hard frost outside this morning, which still hasn't disappeared, so I'm using the day to catch up with more washing, and I'll probably try and get up to date with a few surveys.


I've already managed to sell two eBay items I listed yesterday - I love the Buy It Nows

Goldiegirl

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a review of the year, so I thought I'd post it here, so I've got a permanent record, and I know KC wanted to read it! :rotfl:


Be warned, once I start typing this sort of thing, I can't stop, so it is quite lengthy!




Part One




Review of 2014


At the start of the year, our plan was to retire early, around September 2015.In order to see if this was feasible, we decided to try living on a ‘post retirement budget’ throughout 2014.


Our income for the purposes of this budget was the pensions that we are currently receiving.I had to make adjustments to reflect that we would be paying less tax after retirement, and also had to make adjustments for us having two cars at present, and for using petrol to get to work.


I made provision for all our regular bills, allowed £325.00 for food (our monthly average in 2013) and the £530 left over was for ‘general spending’.


There were some points that I wanted to achieve, which I wrote down on a piece of paper. I’ve managed to find that piece of paper, and can list the points here.


1-All day to day living expensesto be found from pensions currently being received.


2-Save at least £1500 each month


3-Reduce amount spent on food,to a figure below 2013 average (£325)


4-Build up store cupboard, using offers at supermarket whenever I see them – then we can use the reserves after retirement


5-Use vouchers and cashbacks whenever possible, wait until sales for purchases


6-Reduce energy consumption.


7-Continue to de-clutter.

Goldiegirl

Part two




Results





1-Achieved.All the bills have been paid from pension income.The £530 per month ‘general expenditure’ allowance has been achieved.The monthly average spend in this area is £406.14, or 76% of the allowance. We did have some unexpected expenses such as paying for some private medical treatment, solicitors fees for drawing up our wills and dental treatment.These came out of the ‘contingency fund’.But, as we consistently under -spent each month on General Spending, there is leeway for the unexpected.





2 -Savings – Goal of £18,000 achieved by end of November





3-Average expenditure on food per month was 246.56 or 74.5% of last year’s totalThis was achieved by shopping at our normal shops of Sainsbury’s and M&S, which are the most convenient for us, but we shopped more carefully.See also point 4 below.But, overall, achieved a reduction since 2013


4-Build up store cupboard – Achieved – we now have a stash of toiletries, laundry products, loo rolls, herbs and spices, not to mention tinned tomatoes.If we hadn’t built up these supplies, our monthly shopping bill would have been a bit less


5-We were pretty good on the vouchers and cash backs.Where ever possible, we tried to get a little added value on our purchases, whether it was a cash back offer or an additional points offer, or a money off voucher.But we didn’t always wait until sales to buy things!





6-Reduce energy consumption – partly achievedOur gas bill for 2013 was high, mainly because spring arrived late in 2013.I was very keento reduce energy consumption.I’m going to illustrate this point in units used.


Gas- Units used in 2013 - 1869.Units used in 2014 – 1391A reduction!


Electric – Units used in 2013 – 2502.Units used in 2014 – 2770.An increase!


The winter of 2014 was mild, and I was careful about using the heating during the day.I’m not afraid of putting on a jumper..... but some afternoons I was frankly cold!I think I went a bit too far, as I don’t want to be cold in my own home. But it was a reduction!


Electric – I think the increase was due to doing more cooking, as that’s the only difference I can think of





7-De-cluttering – Ongoing, but slightly on the back-burner.In 2013 (the first year I kept count) I de-cluttered 380 things or batches of things.This year the figure is 170.

Goldiegirl

Part 3




There were various things other things I tried, some successful others not.





MSE challenges .


I decided to take part in various challenges to help me along the way. The ones linked to savings worked, and I’ve achieved what I wanted to achieve. I also took part in the clothes challenge on the DFW board. I set a maximum of £300 expenditure on clothing for myself. The end figure was £193.40. I’m surprised to have achieved this. Not so useful were the NSD challenges and the Don’t Buy Any Books Until I’ve Read What I’ve Got challenge. I found the NSD challenges too restrictive and my life is too short to read books I don’t really fancy, when there’s so many other books out there I want to read. The last two challenges were abandoned after a couple of months.





Gadgetry


I invested in a bread maker, a yoghurt maker and a slow cooker. The bread maker has been fantastic. I’ve barely bought a loaf for the whole year – I’ve made nearly all my loaves, rolls and pizza bases. We eat a lot of yoghurt, and make our own from sachets, which has saved a little money each time. Also making our own when we need it means we don’t fill up the fridge with pots of shop bought yoghurt. Slow cooker is marvellous, I’m using it more and more.


All above count as successes





Spending diary – done for the whole year – very helpful.


Household diary – has helped me feel in control of what I’ve done and what I need to do - success.


Meal planning – started, then stopped. I do a rough plan in my head, but could do better


Batch cooking. – tried doing multiple meals of spag bol, chilli con carne and cottage pie, all in one session. Made me irritable, so I stopped. Instead, I make one mega sized pan when required, eat one portion and freeze the rest. This suits me better.


Grow your own – we’ve always grown tomatoes, but this year tried a few more things. Courgettes wildly successful!


eBay – carried on eBaying, selling my stuff and a lot of my friends things. Can be hard work sometimes, but extra money is pleasing.


Surveys – started with the survey sites. Can be even more hard work than eBay for low return. I’ve dropped a couple of sites and just concentrate on the ones that work best for me.


Competitions – Thought I’d try and win things to sell. Even more hard work than eBay and surveys put together, with nil return. Dropped quickly


TCB & £Co. Signed up to both, but haven’t bought much online – but they are there to be used for the future.


Reviewed savings and opened some high interest bank accounts. Also opened Santander 123 to act as our bill account, so can take advantage of cashbacks. Only done recently, but will pay off next year.





Something unplanned for – I was diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease. But with a low sodium diet and a reduction in stress I’m feeling very well and the moment and have been free of vertigo since 1st August. Lesson learned – you don’t know what’s around the corner.





To sum up – we’ve done what we set out to do, prove to ourselves that we can live on our current pensions. Because of this we have been confident enough to bring forward our early retirement to the end of this year. Suddenly finding I have a chronic illness also confirmed in our minds we were doing the right thing.





It’s been a memorable year and I’m looking forward to 2015.

Karmacat

Thank you Goldie :T:T:T

I love that you list both what *did* work, and what didn't. I feel like copying it into one Open Office document, and sending it to my sister - she could retire this year, not next, I'm sure, if she pulled her finger out. Even if she didn't, actually.

Thanks again :kisses3:

greent

What a good review, GG


x