First Steps to Solvency

alt80

@enthusiasticsaver ha yeah definitely too many figures flying around welcome to my world lol. 

Doubt the extra cash will be going on my lifestyle probably will dress the wife. 

@ladyholly when you say you allow yourself the £10/w does this count stuff like coffees out/ entertainment etc or is that all separate. That’s something I’m a bit confused about on here lots saying their spends are stupidly low, so are mine personally but lot of these people are living on a lot less cash so basic logic says must be spending less on ‘life’ if they’re not in debt or paying debt off.

@theoretica think everyone puts themselves priority number one if they’re honest lol no different to anyone else there imo. 

When I make my mind up to do something, I tend to do it just how I am. Possibly another way my brain isn’t wired right idk.

@warby68I know a fair few guys in property like the type you’re talking about too - drive a shed / van everyday their choice I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that just not for me. Ultimately I’m a proper car guy whereas not sure your husband is from what you say not that there’s anything wrong with that it’s up to him, his choice. X6 made me laugh though never understood why someone would choose one of those over a RRS?? (Serious question ha) not gonna lie whenever I used to see the mid spec German 4x4s - X5/X6/ GLC/ GLE etc used to say to wife they wish they could afford a Range Rover or daren’t pull the trigger only reason to buy one lol. I’m sure a Bentayga owner probably thinks similar about RR owners haha always another level. To me if you’re buying a German car 100% it’s a coupe or don’t bother just my opinion ha. 

I really don’t want an electric car, I’ve thought about it, tried to force myself to seriously consider it but I can’t do it. Last hoorah for the car these next 20 years imo I’m not losing out on that.

Not sure what you consider ‘high end’ car wise really but I wouldn’t say a mid spec C coupe is ‘high end’ - that’s the front runner. Still have fleeting thoughts about saying !!!!!! it and buying a used AM V8V though. Likely won’t but I could make it work which makes it harder to do the right thing and let the money head win.

ladyholly

It does include the odd tea when I am out but tea is often cheaper than fancy coffee. I do not like coffee at all. A trip to the theatre. Cinema etc wouldn't come out of this. To be fair I go out very little even in normal times. My excitement each month normally is vising my very elderly  bil which including 2 changes takes about 3 1/2hours each way on the train.  Obviously I haven't been down for a while now. As I have said before we do have a fairly low income being retired and pay out about £200 a month on dog insurance and we have a bank loan as our conservatory was falling down. I have just paid the last of our credit card but am throwing everything I can at the loan. We don't have holidays. Partly due to cost but mainly because one of the dogs would be devastated if I left her. She is a rescue and is terrified of the world unless I am around. She has been on Paul Ogradys for the love of dogs 3 times. Once before we got her, once after and on his latest series of what happened next.
I think what you have to do is decide what is important to you and thin if I buy 7coffes a week that costs whatever do I get that value in enjoyment. If the answer is yes then that's your answer if no then a decent machine in your office might be better. Only you can decide what is important to you and cut your cloth accordingly. Sorry for any spelling mistakes I am using my phone as dh is on the computer. 

getmore4less

There are a lot of numbers flying about, I kind of remember the basics but forget some of the dates so have to look them up.
(redoing that spreadsheet a bit help retain and I can still look at that)

At the higher level its pretty simple though.

£8kpm net for the foreseeable is there to play with,.

Where it comes from is not that important, cost to business to create that £8k is whats important as there is quite a bit of tax on ~£100k py net  even when a lot is dividends

IIRC £1.7kpm  of that comes from the BTL side so could be swapped back over to main over time as that improves.
All of the freed up costs through the tax restructure of the delivery of net could stay in as retained(wife's allowances and car through business)

The sensible car through the business is no brainer, it makes other things happen quicker got to be in the 5y plan.

You don't have to scrimp like some have to and some want to.
Could I manage on £25pm probably but I am not going to, that will cover 3days down the pub once allowed out again and I will be going more than once a month 3 days in a row, my coffee out budget is Zero, if off the beer(rare) then I might substitute 

Don't get confused by others allocations some make no sense like..
Cost of post for selling on ebay is part of the cost to sell and should not be in  any other  "spend" category.


You have all yours allocated now so any analysis should be looking at distribution changes rather than cutting out any more..

There seems to be some poor productivity going on with you going round and round scenario going nowhere keeping you "working" late, same going round and round the personal its only going to change a bit from now on as priorities change.
I can see why the wife is not happy.

I can hear your staff now,  hay Jim,  Boss has done more of my work again he was at it at 8pm last night doing my stuff,  I can go home on time again Friday and see my kids after being to the pub.......

 

warby68

@alt80 you do have a way with words. Nope, not a 'proper car guy' not even a half hearted car guy but not aspiring either, not sure why you thought he might be but I knew you'd have a laugh at X6 and don't mind giving you a free smile. He literally bought it on a whim one day. Mind you, you're not a car guy either by any definition I know, they go under the bonnet and don't buy new. You just like a certain spec of car from what I can tell. I like some of your choices but not RR - never out of the garage and big and ugly. Did have one briefly years ago. If money were no object, yes we'd probably blow a good bit of it on cars. My dream would be to be able to change car quite frequently and try more of them out and yes AM would be one and for some reason I can't explain I really like Maserati. I'll be honest though my knowledge of cars I can't afford is minimal - just what's turned my head on the road mainly so looks based I guess. We have a friend who's had all sorts of things just for a year or so - I think he leases them for quite short terms. You never know what he's going to pull up in. He has some paid for solid family vehicles  but just has the lease thing as his reward and some years doesn't even bother depending what he's got on the go. 

What I meant by 'high end' was relative to what you can actually sensibly afford at the moment and what fits with possibly adding a fun car back in a few years.  I know £60k/£70k is the bottom of the food chain to you though lol. Neighbours have a C class coupe changed religiously every 2 years. I don't know why, it never goes anywhere - seriously the mileage must be less than a 1000 pa.

ladyholly

Getmore4lessenow
Thee way I spend my money on postage may not make sense to you but it does to me and helps me overpay the bank loan which has to be a minimum of £10.00 so a £3.20 post cost would probably just get lost in general stuff or I would think I had more more than I have as it could be weeks before I had another amount.
As I said to alt you cut you cloth the best way for yourself. 

alt80

Don’t think I’ve been helping myself yesterday and today obsessing somewhat not really helping myself ha.

@getmore4less tax restructure has helped and going forwards any more tax savings will be retained. My plan is to slowly swap to wholly drawing from main - no major plans have changed. I don’t even know what I’m trying to achieve keep going over same ground I don’t suppose create work for myself half the time - something to do to avoid family idk. 

Car do plan to sort something say goodbye to the BMW when we can actually go and look at cars again so that’s in the pipeline. Can’t really click and collect a car - appreciate the dealers are trying to do this but going to have to live with it for a while. If it was the same model that hadn’t been changed I’d be open to that but I’ve never owned the model I’m looking at. 

Not even sure why I do look at what others are doing sometimes think maybe they’ve got it right and I haven’t afraid of losing the game ha but not really helping myself spending a load of time on it either I don’t think. Definitely a poor use of time when I think about it rather than obsessing I’ll own up to that 100%. I tend to do it at night when it’s that or watch a film or something that just doesn’t really engage me.

Lol you’re probably right re some staff, you did make me laugh mate can hear a few of them now saying something along those lines too.

@warby68 haha say it as I see it lol. 

You’d mentioned something before about you lot as a family liking cars I think. 

I’m not that type of car guy you’re thinking of. Possibly more a driving enthusiast iyswim def like cars to have a good spec, nice interior, big engine 6cyl+ (harder and harder to get as time passes). Admitted I am a bit of a badge !!!!!! not even going to lie about that lol and yeah for my sins like my Range Rovers. 100% best everyday/ family car ever made imo. Got the Bentleys etc higher in the pecking order 100% and not saying I wouldn’t if I could but they’re def a bit crass in their own way. Always think likely to attract too much attention idk. I like the Italian supercars too def a few in my dream garage but I’m not desperate for one like I am for an AM time in my life I should have done it by now really. Good for you if you can take or leave cars, I can’t live with some runabout.

Know a few people similar re leasing on shortish terms. I tend to keep my cars a bit rather than move on quickly. 

@ladyholly sorry but what you’re saying makes no sense whatsoever if it does to you that’s all that matters really though. 

RelievedSheff

I was going to say you are a badge guy not a car guy but you got in there before me 🤣🤣🤣

Onebrokelady

There's no point in comparing yourself to others on here who are living on entirely different incomes and with different priorities, it's whatever suits you and how you like to live or whatever you can get away with while still paying off the debt
At the moment I could be paying more off my debt but I wouldn't be able to sort my house out,I've chosen to try to do both at the same time. I could also cut my budget to the bare bone and not have my £80 a month spending money but I want to go back to my horse riding because it's makes me happy, I would go without food before I would go without horses, it's just different prioritise for different people 

warby68

I waffle on for ages but @RelievedSheff nails it in one line   🤣🤣🤣

getmore4less

alt80 said:

Don’t think I’ve been helping myself yesterday and today obsessing somewhat not really helping myself ha.

@getmore4less tax restructure has helped and going forwards any more tax savings will be retained. My plan is to slowly swap to wholly drawing from main - no major plans have changed. I don’t even know what I’m trying to achieve keep going over same ground I don’t suppose create work for myself half the time - something to do to avoid family idk. 

Car do plan to sort something say goodbye to the BMW when we can actually go and look at cars again so that’s in the pipeline. Can’t really click and collect a car - appreciate the dealers are trying to do this but going to have to live with it for a while. If it was the same model that hadn’t been changed I’d be open to that but I’ve never owned the model I’m looking at. 

Not even sure why I do look at what others are doing sometimes think maybe they’ve got it right and I haven’t afraid of losing the game ha but not really helping myself spending a load of time on it either I don’t think. Definitely a poor use of time when I think about it rather than obsessing I’ll own up to that 100%. I tend to do it at night when it’s that or watch a film or something that just doesn’t really engage me.

Lol you’re probably right re some staff, you did make me laugh mate can hear a few of them now saying something along those lines too.
.....

I don't do as many these days but have been over 100s of SOA (even before MSE) over the years and there is no magic missing trick everyone forgot to mention.

Your SOA has been picked over by enough people that have enough experience to capture the essence of the guidance needed.

For the most part you have been a good little boy and got where you need to be, not everyone agrees with all your choices but as you used to remind the wife its your money you prioritise where its gets allocated(good that this is now a shared prioritisation)

Reality is there is very little left to create massive savings and you don't need to try the feed a family of 3 for £20 a week or take a flask and sandwiches when out on jobs(even expensed it is still your money) 
I can't see the point in trying you like eating nice stuff at home and like the cafe culture for your work breaks.

On the planning  it is now full of the stuff you want to do, even the wife's allowance is something you want to have in there . should it be a bit smaller or a bit bigger you can spend hours on just 


You have the best tool available to make any differences that might be there, your brain, now you have it back.

Think about every spend carefully, from that £2 coffee(or are they £3 these days) to that next project purchase in the £100k's 

The day will come where you get satisfaction from every spend you will have come a long way from where you were a year ago.


OK I will pick up on this point.
something to do to avoid family idk.

I understand this is challenge

I think you need to drop everything to be with your son every night, missing a bed time is no longer acceptable behaviour for you as a father.