The hardest challenge yet

elantan

so weve all survived, things happened as I expected them to, but onwards and upwards.

I'm on call today and so far the phone hasn't rang, I know I dont earn money unless it rings but if it rings then it means someone is gravely ill, and I would rather that not be the case.

In the meantime I have taken OH bank card off of him and put my card ( along with OH's ) into the safe, I have one card left in my phone case which I've transferred £250 to, I am going to lift that and that is all we will have to do us till January 15th.

I've tried talking to OH about it all and he goes on and on about how he wants to retire then when I mention it he talks about how we need to live in the now and we should spend what we want on food etc ... I've sat down and had a look at our master finance chart and we should realistically have enough for a holiday and buying anything for kayaking and hill walking, we should also have enough for insurances etc.... but we never have money for these things and the reason why is our food/drink/ takeaway spending

And I've had enough, so changes are happening

boultdj

Hope your OH get's on the same page as you soon, the holiday sound's a very nice alternative to over spending on the food.

elantan

boultdj wrote: »

Hope your OH get's on the same page as you soon, the holiday sound's a very nice alternative to over spending on the food.

I hope so too... he will need to if we are to achieve our goals.

elantan

One call out last night so I lifted the money on the way back home, money in tub, card in safe, gave OH £10 incase he needs to get anything ( emergency money) and were good to go.

Whilst I was in work friends were messaging OH and arranging a night out in the pub on Saturday, so that will be a wee test, the cards are deff not going, and I will decide an amount were taking, I wont be drinking so it will just be OHs lager money, and possibly food.

I have today off of work ( it depends on what time i get in from my on call if i have a day off or not) so will make some soup and prepare some food so that we have some quick go to foods and wont go for takeaways.

whitesatin

There's not too much point in me increasing my savings at my age but I am going to try and put more away each month for my 5 grandchildren. I don't have a great deal to spare but everything helps. I have had various savings for three of them for varying amounts of years, e.g. I've saved £20pm for my eleven year old granddaughter for ten years now, still stuck in that government scheme they introduced, £10 for the next grandchild, for ten years now too, still in that scheme. About a year ago I started saving £20 a month in an ISA for my almost 5 year old grandson but I've saved nothing for my eight year old and four year old grandsons so I need to put my thinking cap on to try and even all of this up, so that, at age 18 or so, they all get an equivalent amount. They have ISA accounts which I will try and pay into each month from January but I will also try to look for ways of saving over the year to help boost these amounts. I'll be watching for all of your ideas!

elantan

Hi Whitesatin welcome,

strange you mention savings, I was looking just yesterday at savings accounts, my nationwide 5% account will mature in a couple of months and I thought it a good idea to decide where to move to next, the savings rates are terrible just now, utterly terrible, you have to jump through hoops just to get 0.25% above inflation, I was thinking of maybe just spending money on things we want instead for a wee bit.

There is method in this madness ofcourse, we both love walking and kayaking and we need to spend money on our home, we have spent a fortune on our home over the years but need to spend a lot more, we have a very old kitchen for example and a very old boiler, both of which will be 40 years old next year, we have an old bathroom with the roof tiles ( not plastic but like the packaging used for packing electric goods, styrofoam ? ), we also still have wall paper on our bedroom walls.

So we have a lot to do, now we did contemplate moving abroad, that was our plan, get our pensions together sell our house and go away, we would have just over 1 million or so ( not saying that to boast hobestly) that was the plan, then the plan became a sell the house, rent a much smaller cheaper house and travel for 6 months of the year

So we went abroad, and looked at the various places where people stayed with camper vans/ motorhomes etc, and we both came to realise straight away that this life wasnt for us, so we sat down again and looked at our options, and weve decided were staying put, our home is perfect for us ( although it needs a lot of work done to it) we have a garden for me to grow veg, we have space to keep a caravan/campervan, we have views we love, we have space between us and our neighbours, were close to the local town and train station but far enough away that we dont get traffic from it, we have some great walks locally so were staying put. That also means we will have no where near the £1m in retirement we had hoped for. Instead we have a home that needs money spent on it.

That then meant we need to spend money on our house, we were just going to put a cheap kitchen etc in but now that were staying weve decided to put in what we want, what will work for us. As previously stated Mr El loves cooking, so a good kitchen for him to learn and enjoy, a walk in shower as we wont always be able to get in and out a bath etc, but all this costs money , hence the reason I was saving

elantan

So with all that in mind ( sorry it's a long story) I think for a wee bit until rates improve we will still be saving for retirement but we will also work on what I've decided to call a wish list

Wish list 2020 looks like
light weight tarp ( roughly £140)
gps tracker ( roughly £300)
alert system ( roughly 250)
sleeping blanket lightweight ( 225)
light weight sleeping bag( 200 approx)
lightweight canoe ( £2k or so)
spare bedroom floor
spare bedroom walls redone
spare bedroom cupboard doors
living room tables
karitek for kayaks
rucksack

now I'm not sure all the prices, and I will deff try and get cheaper or second hand if I can ( apart from sleeping stuff) but these are things we will get hopefully 20 plus years out of, and whilst we ain't gonna get any real interest on our savings, the things we need to buy to carry on our sports and get our home the way we like them will only continue going up in price.

Ofcourse that's yesterdays plans these can and probably all will change.

but having a plan gives me something to strive for, and will make me much more stricter with food and drink spends


so what's on your wish list ?

PipneyJane

Hi Elantan

I was just popping in to wish you luck with your DH and the “cash diet” for the next few weeks, when I saw you mentioned savings. Have you looked at Marcus? I think their current instant access rate is 1.35%. Yes, it includes a bonus but they have a facility that means you can swap your account to their latest rate, whenever you want.

HTH

- Pip

elantan

Hi Pipney,


Thanks for taking the time to reply, I think the crash diet will be a painful experience , but im currently up for the pain, not so sure about Mr el
I havnt looked at Marcus, but I've heard good things about both them and Starling.

Currently ( according to google) inflation is sitting at 2.48% so I'm looking for that just to break even and not lose money, but I'm also looking for more than that, the best I've seen is 2.75% but that's a hoop jumping exercise in itself.

will keep looking though

elantan

Husband just phoned in a panic, he cant find his bank card and wanted me to have a look for it, he was either blanking me when I told him or blocking it out, the games have began .....