Budgeting in retirement

BoxerfanUK

Marine_life wrote: »

I actually rely quite heavily on the mysupermarket app and try and wait until items are on special offer and / or buy at the cheapest supermarket.

Snap Love that app, use it frequently.

ratechaser

The short answer for me is that whilst I know Mrs RC will budget (as that's what she's like), if I felt that I HAD to budget then we probably don't have enough to retire on :-)

jimi_man

badmemory wrote: »

As an aside, I love Aldi, everyone at my local one is friendly & actually smiles! A lesson maybe my local Tesco should learn although they are getting better. As for the centre aisle, well that to me is a way of seeing if something you haven't considered before may be worth trying. My dehumidifier is a good example. I also prefer to put my shopping back in the trolley & repack later than having stuff almost chucked at me packing them in a hurry & discovering I have put a kg of potatoes on top of something fragile.


It is all down to your perception of things.

You are maybe lucky in your store choice that people are friendly. I only have the experience of the ones that I have been into near me.

I’m sorry I just don’t agree with the centre aisle. Oh it’s a clever idea, putting stuff there that is seemingly essential and yet something that they can maximise profits on and it targets the impulse buyer extremely effectively, as you’ve demonstrated.

I was persuaded by a friendly assistant in Sainsbury’s to try out some scan system that you carry with you and so put the stuff straight in the bags in your trolley and then you never have to get them out again until you get home. Personally I much prefer this, it means I can pack the stuff how I want (which tends to be how you pick it in the first place - cold stuff, fresh stuff etc etc) and don’t have to unpack it again.

However I accept that everyone likes different things. I enjoy cooking and food preparation and by definition eating, and I don’t buy ingredients just because they are cheap. I tend to go to butchers, fishmongers and delicatessens a lot anyway though of course that is hardly money saving as it’s usually very expensive.

As you say it’s all down to your perception. For inexpensive ‘fuel’ then yes, Lidl and Aldi are unbeatable and I fully get why people go there.

blue.peter

jimi_man wrote: »

You are maybe lucky in your store choice that people are friendly. I only have the experience of the ones that I have been into near me.

badmemory's experience is not unique. I also find that the staff at my local Aldi (Salisbury) are friendly and smile a lot. They do seem to be a lot happier in their work than staff at the other supermarkets. I do find it quite a striking contrast.

(Having said that, I don't use Aldi a lot - mostly because it's further away than the others. I have to go past Waitrose, Sainsbury's and the small city centre Tesco to get to it.)

JoeEngland

jimi_man wrote: »

You are maybe lucky in your store choice that people are friendly. I only have the experience of the ones that I have been into near me.

I’m sorry I just don’t agree with the centre aisle. Oh it’s a clever idea, putting stuff there that is seemingly essential and yet something that they can maximise profits on and it targets the impulse buyer extremely effectively, as you’ve demonstrated.

I was persuaded by a friendly assistant in Sainsbury’s to try out some scan system that you carry with you and so put the stuff straight in the bags in your trolley and then you never have to get them out again until you get home. Personally I much prefer this, it means I can pack the stuff how I want (which tends to be how you pick it in the first place - cold stuff, fresh stuff etc etc) and don’t have to unpack it again.

However I accept that everyone likes different things. I enjoy cooking and food preparation and by definition eating, and I don’t buy ingredients just because they are cheap. I tend to go to butchers, fishmongers and delicatessens a lot anyway though of course that is hardly money saving as it’s usually very expensive.

As you say it’s all down to your perception. For inexpensive ‘fuel’ then yes, Lidl and Aldi are unbeatable and I fully get why people go there.

Sainsburys charge a lot even though you may have some conveniences like the scanner which is not available in Aldi or Lidl. For me shopping at Lidl makes sense as the minimum saving compared to Sainsburys is around 10% and for some products is 50%. For many products we've found Lidl to be as good as or better than Sainsburys, and we got p****d off with Sainsburys fruit and veg going off quickly. Admittedly we don't make elaborate meals most of the time and can get most of what we need from Lidl and Iceland.

Ceme3000

My retirement ,12 months ago at the age of 52 was initiated by redundancy and I am seeing how it goes in choosing not to work again.

I am naturally frugal, always have been, so don't keep a detailed budget, but I do keep a spreadsheet showing my total spend each month, and my total 'worth' I.e. savings, investments and total DC pots. It's satisfying to see that thanks to the stock market in the last year my investments have gained so that I have effectively lived for free and am 10% up on where I was a year ago.

So far so good......

AlanP_2

Ceme3000 wrote: »

My retirement ,12 months ago at the age of 52 was initiated by redundancy and I am seeing how it goes in choosing not to work again.

I am naturally frugal, always have been, so don't keep a detailed budget, but I do keep a spreadsheet showing my total spend each month, and my total 'worth' I.e. savings, investments and total DC pots. It's satisfying to see that thanks to the stock market in the last year my investments have gained so that I have effectively lived for free and am 10% up on where I was a year ago.

So far so good......

Do you look forwards in your SS as well as backwards?

The last year has been good for investments as markets have risen, they won't every year.

Terron

I have never budgetted or kept a speardsheet of my spending. If my bank account is low I spend less.Apart from a few times after moving house I have avoided problems by doing so. I pay my credit card off every month and have done so for over 40 years.
As my income went up when I was young my spending did not increase at the same rate. When I lost my job I cut my spending. Now I have some pensions on top of my BTL income I have been splashing out a bit.

DT2001

I thought budgeting was a financial plan for say 6 - 12 months.
Terron in post 49 IMO budgets because he adjusts his spending to his bank balance.
So returning to the original question, I do not think budgeting is a dying skill it just evolved from differing pots on the mantelpiece to computer spreadsheets.
If you like close monitoring or are on a tight budget then monthly completion of actuals etc has a place.
I tend to just do a vague check about every 6 months, as we’re in the run up to retirement (as my OH still enjoys work). My budgets are split between basics and pleasure and we’ll probably not spend everything so I’ll continue in my slightly slapdash approach.
As we’re heavily reliant on investment income until I’m 72 and OH gets her SP my focus will be more on income than expenditure.

The follow on question about budgeting skills is surely, what action do you take when there is a variance and at what level 5%, 10%...... up or down?

Ceme3000

AlanP wrote: »

Do you look forwards in your SS as well as backwards?

The last year has been good for investments as markets have risen, they won't every year.

Absolutely! I am well aware that one day the funds could suddenly be worth 30% less or even more, and potentially take a few years to recover.