The hardest challenge yet

boultdj

Oh heck, good luck Elantan.

whitesatin

I spend too much on silly things like coffees, meal out, even scratch cards which is silly. But no more!

All the big things on my wish list will get done, house maintenance etc. We’re not great ones for holidays except city breaks. We almost moved to the coast four years ago but stayed put as we prefer to be near family. Might make one more move but that should free up money as we live in Hertfordshire and would downsize. So no more saving up for us, I’d rather the grandchildren had a little sum when they get to 18.

I certainly couldn’t put a wish list together for myself but that’s a good position to be in, I’m sure. It’s taken me a long time to get this sensible and I have a house full of stuff I can re-purpose rather than buy more.

elantan

sounds like your working towards a great goal whitesatin, I can relate with the coffee spending, dont get me wrong I dont go out for coffee to Starbucks etc . but I do appreciate a good coffee bean that I can then grind and make on my stove top, monday to friday I drink instant, weekends ( unless I'm working) I like to take my time and enjoy my coffee,

i paid £16 for 500g of Nicaraguan beans last week, that will also be stopping, will just yet some stuff from lidl or asda from now on, I'm hoping all these wee savings will mount up, and before I know It i will have bought something from my wishlist, and probably wouldnt even know the difference

maddiemay

elantan wrote: »

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 ?

Sounds like a good plan.

Perhaps list in order of needing to achieve (if applicable) and then doing a sort of snowball, either purchasing or commissioning an item and then moving on the the next (or putting the requisite amount of money away). I think the feeling of achievement might be motivating in itself, might even help to get OH on board.

Re the later post re: the "missing bank card", I swear that my OH has an amazing capacity of not latching on to anything that I say, from the most trivial "what we might have for tea" to the major "shall we do such and such to the garden, or book a few days away somewhere that is not in our caravan"

happydays89

elantan wrote: »

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

Just a thought.....rather than spend your savings why not put it into premium bonds.?

It’s in a safe place where your not tempted to spend it,you have a chance of winning every month.

elantan

Hi Happy days,

my friend suggested that as well as that's what she does, will have a nosey into it thanks

elantan

Hey Maddie may,

what an excellent idea, will give it some thought, I have a lot to think about, this is deff going to be a journey for me.


I'm starting to think men gather and make plans on how to stress us women out lol

whitesatin

happydays89 wrote: »

Just a thought.....rather than spend your savings why not put it into premium bonds.?

It’s in a safe place where your not tempted to spend it,you have a chance of winning every month.

I was delighted to receive a £25 win on my £1000 bonds last month. You have to be in it to win it and unlike the lottery you still have your stake.

newgirly

Hi elantan, I rememember your from the mfw board You have achieved so much already well done :T I feel for you trying to keep your dh on board with it all, mine also agrees with the theory of cutting back to overpay the mortgage but then has a habit of popping to the corner shop to buy junk food when he’s tired or stressed out. I guess we should just be grateful it’s food overspending not sports cars :rotfl: keep up the good work!

elantan

This is true he could be wasting money on so many other things....

So last night was the night our friends came over, they wanted to go to our local pub ( very old... slightly famous in the area) have something to eat and spend a few hours drinking.

I explained that we dont have the money so it was agreed they would eat before they came up, we would go for one or two drinks then back to ours with a carry oot.

With that in mind hubby made a lovely turkey curry which we ate, then friends arrived and went for the ." what take away are we having" ... sigh... so oh and I landed up sharing a take away only eating a tiny bit and putting the rest in the fridge ( hubby had it for breakfast)

our friends can really drink, we like them a lot but cant keep up with their drinking, so tend to just meet up a few times a year, we usually go camping and Kayaking with them, last night one of them was driving which was great as it allowed me to mainly just drink water.

we went to the pub... the guys had a pint each, us girls drank water, then back up the road where our delivery of wine ( that we ordered from the wine socoety) was made a huge dent into, I had two glasses of red wine then back onto the water, Oh had 4 glasses of wine friend had atleast 3 bottles, he couldnt even speak, he wanted to carry on but his wife took him home ...

This has made me question my relationship with alcohol, I dont think I drink too much at all ( weve previously had this discusion) but my relationship also with friends and alcohol. I can happily not drink alcohol and often will be the driver when we go places, but with some friends our relationship seems to be based around alcohol.

I think for my health and my pocket I may just not bother having any for a while, I think also if I'm to have any kind've relationship with our friends ( and I do like them a lot) then we have to change the foundation of our relationship to something more than alcohol, with that in mind I've suggested a hill walk, one friend loves walking up hills the other hates it as she says her feet get sore, but she really wants to do WHW and in order to do that she needs to get used to walking, add in a wee hill and your building up strength ...

This also helps with the challenge, its interesting how far into life's aspects these tendrils can travel

a wee bit of reflection can be a good thing