Playing with fire

kaycastle

ShineALight wrote: »

Money In:

So, what have I learned in the first month of doing this diary? That we are able to have £1,700 of discretionary spending for ourselves each month and we are so lucky? That we wash money away without blinking? That we can do even better? And that there's a balance to find where life is for living too.

So true I'm really impressed with your progress so far for savings and all the efforts with spreadsheet and budgeting. :T

Loved the amazon spend discovery

You're going to smash your goals :j

Science_mum

Hi I thought I’d pop by as we are in a pretty similar situation (current mortgage 205k, similar income and 2 kids, we are late 30’s). Our employer used to take care of our pensions and we both didn’t start contributing till we were 27... because of extra degrees (we were are university for 7 years each). A couple of years ago I realised we were going to have to work till 68 to get a liveable pension and started upping our contributions gradually. We did it slowly as we just couldn’t absorb the change needed in one go, but every increase in income or drop in outgoings now goes to our pension first.

Windfalls, money made on the side and frugal savings is split into cash savings and MOPs. For us frugal savings have been the biggest winner. I gave up coffee shop coffee, pret/it’s lunches (I wince at what I used to spend), glossy magazines and bought fresh flowers. We all gave up frequent restaurant lunches, coffee & cake trips, and swapped expensive family activities for cheaper but just as fun ones. We decreased wine, takeaway, prebought desserts and ready meals. For money on the side I started selling stuff on gumtree and bank account switching, I tried surveys but didn’t make much cash for the effort
involved. Last year I claimed back a fortune on delay repay.

I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to do it.. just the right way for you and your family!!

I am so much happier now I am finding solutions other than throwing money at everyday problems and I hopeful we will retire by 60 with a comfortable income. It took 2 and half years to make all the changes and we are continually improving. Good luck with your journey Sci_Mum

ShineALight

Thank you soooo much for the post Science_mum. People on this forum are so lovely and supportive.

A couple of years ago I realised we were going to have to work till 68 to get a liveable pension and started upping our contributions gradually.

Yup. We just got there. Next to up contribs + save + OP.

I am so much happier now I am finding solutions other than throwing money at everyday problems and I hopeful we will retire by 60 with a comfortable income. It took 2 and half years to make all the changes and we are continually improving.

So much of what you said rings true for us and I hope we'll get to this point. In it for the long haul!

Small wins this week:
£60 saved on the car insurance (most of it by paying it all at once instead of monthly. 24.9% apr quoted to pay monthly. How do they get away with it?)
And we fixed our broadband, saving a princely £1.87 a month.
Matched betting: £32.77.

ShineALight

Quick update. Before matched betting came along, the only gambling we ever used to do was to always choose a horse each on the National every year...

This year, we picked the 1,2,3 (I know, the world and his wife had Tiger Roll down to win). Still, £32 to the good. DS went for Magic Of Light which came second at 126/1 as he 'liked the name'.
Ying!

However, Mrs S's car is in for its MOT and new brake pads and discs all-round equals £300+VAT...
Yang.

We sort of knew that was coming and, if it gives us 12 months of trouble-free motoring, is still cheaper than buying a car. Also, this year we've got emergency savings, so no credit card spend or dipping into an overdraft, phew.

This month is waaaay over budget, though.

greent

Ooof to the car bill - but well done to DS for picking the outsider to offset it! :T

ShineALight

Ooof to the car bill - but well done to DS for picking the outsider to offset it!

He's still labouring under the misapprehension that it's his money to spend how he likes...:rotfl:

ShineALight

Okay, dear diary, sorry for not updating in a few weeks. This one's a quickie - we spent nearly £5.5k in all last month.

Five family birthdays, four sets of car brakes, three school trips, two insurances paid in full, and one party for a little man in double figures.

We are around £900 overspent.

However, I remember this happened in April last year and I kinda gave in on the money-saving front for a few months, as we then went and booked a holiday and had a carefree few months. This year, I'm knuckling down - the possibility of redundancy at work is looming.