FIRE friends & family

barnstar2077

On the topic of living a frugal life now to pay for a better life later.

I wouldn't say I don't spend money, because I definitely do, but I spend it mostly on seeing friends for lunch or a cuppa more than anything else. Mainly because every time I think about buying myself something I can't help but see it as potentially delaying my plans to retire early. Or worse, I think about how many hours of work I did to pay for it. It becomes a lot harder to buy luxuries when you say to yourself "Would I do five hours at work if all I got at the end of it was this new gadget/toy?" The answer is almost always no!

I just wish my eyes had been opened earlier. But that is a pretty common feeling though I guess. Most people who could go back to their 18 year old selves would do things differently.

As far as batch cooking goes, I'm not much of a cook, but I always do a job lot of pasta when I make it and put the rest in the fridge and consume it over the next few days. Just because it saves time.

Silvertabby

Like Silvertabby, I make my own burgers.
You know what goes into them and I can add different herbs and flavours. Posted by Pollycat

Exactly. I use the Lakeland Ltd burger press and waxed discs - makes a constant size/shape, and easier to separate once frozen.

I know it's probably different now, but I can still hear my late mum saying NEVER buy mince - it's 'poor man's meat'. She worked in a supermarket in the 1970s and 'mince' was all the scraps/skin/sinew/fat of whatever meats were left over.

fred246

I don't think batch cooking is a very good example of something that makes your life rotten. My wife is a fantastic cook. She didn't work so she cooked a meal and we all sat down as a family every night. Very happy times. She always said it wasn't worth trying to cook the right amount of food. She always did more. The extra was frozen in meal sized pots. I used to drive them mad at work with the smell when I microwaved them. They would have paid £4 for a rotten sandwich and I had a gorgeous meal.

fred246

We always went away on the same 7 weeks holiday every year
October half term
Feb half term
Easter 2 weeks
Whit
Summer 2 weeks.
We always went away. Mainly in Europe because somebody in the family was always learning a language. We always had a great time but never paid a fortune. Some friends recently asked us to go away with them. OK we agreed. Then they told us it was £10k for a week. We just couldn't do it. Not because we couldn't afford it but because we expect so much more holiday for the money.

fred246

We have been Lidl shoppers for at least 20 years. My wife used to live in Germany and was always happy to shop there. She used to say things like "a potato is a potato. Whether it's from Lidl or Marks & Spencer's it's still a potato". We used to go and the car park was empty and no one in the shop. It's all changed now. Can't get a parking space now.

Triumph13

fred246 wrote: »

We always went away on the same 7 weeks holiday every year
October half term
Feb half term
Easter 2 weeks
Whit
Summer 2 weeks.
We always went away. Mainly in Europe because somebody in the family was always learning a language. We always had a great time but never paid a fortune. Some friends recently asked us to go away with them. OK we agreed. Then they told us it was £10k for a week. We just couldn't do it. Not because we couldn't afford it but because we expect so much more holiday for the money.

Yikes! We had 5 weeks in nice holiday cottages across France and Spain this summer for less than half that! I can't imagine wanting to blow £10k on a 1 week holiday.

atush

We arent all that frugal, we had lobster from dinner last Saturday (but i buy it local and cook it myself so 2x gourmet meals for 15 quid),

What i have found is, since my last sprog left home a month ago, my shopping bill has halved. One reason is i still cook the same amount of a meal like Spag bol, or braised lamb and instead of having one small portion leftover, i have a meal for 2 for the freezer. So am buying less food even for 2.

german_keeper

This is exactly what we are struggling to quantify. Eldest moved out July, middle one spends about half her time at the boyfriend's house and even the lad, nearly 17, spends a lot of time out and about. We have done our sums in terms of the mortgage being paid off but also definitely seeing big differences in the food bill. Probably not enough evidence yet but I reckon the energy and water usage down a lot too. Happy Days!

Pollycat

fred246 wrote: »

We always went away on the same 7 weeks holiday every year
October half term
Feb half term
Easter 2 weeks
Whit
Summer 2 weeks.
We always went away. Mainly in Europe because somebody in the family was always learning a language. We always had a great time but never paid a fortune. Some friends recently asked us to go away with them. OK we agreed. Then they told us it was £10k for a week. We just couldn't do it. Not because we couldn't afford it but because we expect so much more holiday for the money.

Hard to comment without context u.e. # of people, quality of accommodation etc.
But this time last year we were in Bali for 3 weeks.
Flights with Singapore Airlines.
B&B accommodation in a small boutique hotel (which is very difficult to book because of repeat customers).
£2k for 2 people.
Maybe your friends who thought £10k for a week was OK are the type of people who drive Mercedes, BMWs or even Porche.
And spend every penny they earn.
And don't have a cat-in-hell's-chance of retiring early. :think:

cfw1994

fred246 wrote: »

We always went away on the same 7 weeks holiday every year
October half term
Feb half term
Easter 2 weeks
Whit
Summer 2 weeks.
We always went away. Mainly in Europe because somebody in the family was always learning a language. We always had a great time but never paid a fortune. Some friends recently asked us to go away with them. OK we agreed. Then they told us it was £10k for a week. We just couldn't do it. Not because we couldn't afford it but because we expect so much more holiday for the money.

10 grand....for a WEEK :eek:
Was it a trip to the Antarctic?
A week at the top of Taipei 101?

We had a monster US month-long trip some years back....east coast, west coast....very memorable time with the kids, but the whole lot was only just over 10K.....