How much to live on

MarthaKL

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81942304#Comment_81942304

Change to a cheaper SIM only deal - I have free texts, calls and a hefty data allowance plus I can use the plan in lots of European countries. I moved from an EE 12 month contract to a much cheaper rolling monthly deal with Smarty. I get a bigger data allowance and the cost hasn’t gone up in the past three years.

Have you thought of replacing the battery in your IPhone? It’ll make a big difference based on my experience.

louby40

Looked in Lebara and it's definitely the way to go. Will move over to them when my contact finishes with Three in May.

Nebulous2

I had my last day at work yesterday - they gave me a decent send-off, almost but not quite made me question why I was doing it. That's me officially fully retired.

I've been monitoring expenditure more closely than I usually do in the last 3 months, and it all looks good. Some savings will follow from retiring, save on fuel, union subs and professional registration fees. I'll also have to reduce or stop payments to my SIPP as the maximum allowed now will be £2880 a year.

I disinvested from equities about 6 weeks ago, which was lucky. I was increasingly feeling that the level of risk I was invested at was more than I was comfortable with. Much of it was in VWRP. We sold out at just over £128 and it is currently at £123 so it hasn't dropped as much as some of the more aggressive tech holdings. Money is now in a STMMF with a much lower level of risk and has made over £500 in the last 6 weeks.

Organgrinder

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81944514#Comment_81944514

Congratulations! I wish I'd disinvested!!

However I won't need to touch mine for at least 5 years and maybe never so I'll sit tight.

louby40

congratulations on your retirement 🤩

Organgrinder

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81944156#Comment_81944156

While I remember Mozillion have some great deals if you're prepared to pay upfront. They call it pay monthly plus.

80gb of data works out at £6/month made up of a £75 upfront payment then £3/month for 24 months. There's other tarrifs too if you need more or less data. No price increases and roaming.

On another note, I've sorted a snowboarding holiday over the new year period. I was astonished at the prices on Booking.com. So I looked on the tourist sites for Austria. We've ended up booking a small B&B in an area with over 210km of pistes nearby. Not ski in ski out, but the free local ski bus stop is outside the hotel. Absolute bargain. €420 for 5 nights including breakfast. We have a small apartment with cooking facilities if need be.

Flights to Munich £350 including the seat reservations which I detest paying for. Trains from the airport to the main station and then onto the village we're staying in will be about €84. There's only 3 places to eat in the village but one served pizza for €10 and a beer is €4.50.

I looked at all the tour operators too. Cheapest I could find for the same duration (different area) was £1620 (accommodation, flight and transfer). I'll be paying just under £800. I don't mind paying a bit extra for a tour operator but double is just bonkers (in my opinion).

Farway

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81945738#Comment_81945738

I hope the flights & bookings hold, with the news there were reports of lots of operators busy upping prices, fuel surcharges & cancelling routes

Organgrinder

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81945992#Comment_81945992

It's a pretty busy route and a major airline so should be ok. Got my travel insurance in case.

sheilavw

I was with EE since having a mobile in approx 2006. I had purchased my own phone and was paying just over £10 a month with EE. I got notification last year that it was going to over £15. I've always rung up and got a new deal so I did so again. They weren't interested. I moved to ID mobile and got same allowances for £7 ish a month. Ironically, they piggyback off EE

Organgrinder

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81946629#Comment_81946629

I'm with ID. They use Three not EE. Coverage is great as it also used Vodafone infrastructure.

My deal is up at end of April and there are better deals elsewhere. That said I just looked and ID are offering me £7/month for all my needs.

So might well stay.