FIRE - how low could you go

Alexland

MallyGirl said:

My dogs cost a lot in food, insurance, complementary meds and vitamins, running a bigger car, kennels when travelling. They give back so much more

Our cat is fairly cheap to run and we don't have insurance as my wife grew up on a farm and learned an economical and final way to deal with sick animals. It's really her cat so I wouldn't complain although maybe she was joking - not sure. The main cost is the holes it digs in our carpets. We also have guinea pigs which the kids are quite attached to so I guess we would have to see about getting them fixed if they went wrong. Thankfully none of them ever seem to get sick and we know lots of children who seem happy to feed them when we go away.

jim8888

In terms of looking at a household budget, I learned the hard way that, over a year, I was spending about a further 10% on "unforeseen expenditure" on top of all my known expenses. So, if £2,000 was covering all the bills that I could see and budget for, there was always another £200 that just seemed to be spent on this and that. Maybe a slate had blown off the roof and needed repairing. Maybe two new car tyres were needed. Maybe we blew £100 on eating out with friends that we hadn't planned for. There was always something. And, as I'm finding in retirement, there still is!

bostonerimus

I've paid off the mortgage, but house costs are still the biggest item in my FIRE budget as real estate/council tax is $8k/year (about 6k GBP). For most people food is a large item, but I shop at a low cost supermarket, never buy takeaways and do a lot of baking and my monthly cost is around $160 (120 GBP).

michaels

DoublePolaroid said:

When you have your kids might be relevant. 

I’m 40 as is the missus. The kids are 4 and 0. We are fortunate enough that we could have planned to retire at 55 or even earlier. In fact we still could, but what would be the point? The youngest will still be at school, so we might as well carry on working until she’s an adult. We had the kids at the right time for us but if you’re trying to construct the perfect early retirement plan then having kids young enough that they’re (vaguely) independent before your target retirement age would be ideal. 

Whereas I am really glad I have been able to reduce my hours and work flexibly with kids at home so I can go and see all their school plays/concerts/football matches and be there to help out with revision and homework crises, if I was still working 45+ hour weeks for dollar I would never get these experiences back.  Sure the kids miss out on i-products and Florida holidays but as I don't do those anyway on environmental grounds it makes no odds.

michaels

QrizB said:

michaels said:

QrizB said:

£100/month seems a lot to me, insurance for our two cars come to under £400/yr even with a 17yo learner as a named driver (one Panda, one Nemo).

Who is the learner insurance with please, adding our 17yo learner seems to add £500pa to the lowest quote (£170).

The car's a 2004 Fiat Panda, I'm an early-50s professional with full NCB and the policy is £137 fully comp with the RAC via the Meerkats. Mrs QrizB is also named and had a no-fault accident a couple of years ago.

Turns out our 'runaround' although it only costs 170 per year for 12k miles a year is a group 20 hence perhaps why the learner driver quotes are so troubling.   Our second car, an old banger which costs similar to insure turns out to be group 35 so that is not an option either....

ex-pat_scot

relishy57 said:

Ibrahim5 said:

Has anyone mentioned getting rid of the pets? They're unnecessary.

Bit harsh, pets  give so much pleasure, companionship etc. My opinion was that of work hard for a good number of years to hopefully give you a good standard of living when retired. But also to enjoy the fruits of your labour as you go along otherwise why did/do you work so hard? My husband passed away at 65 and didn’t really get to enjoy his retirement but we had some good times before this.  Memories which are treasured now. 

also if you do it right then you can reduce your food bill temporarily, Depends on how large and stringy the pet is, I suppose.

cfw1994

hugheskevi said:

MallyGirl said:

Whereas I would be packing theirs!
My dogs cost a lot in food, insurance, complementary meds and vitamins, running a bigger car, kennels when travelling. They give back so much more

We found the perfect money-saving approach to Malamutes...we now look after our friend's Malamute most weekdays.

That just involves driving 1 mile twice a day to pick him up in the morning and return him in the evening, then no other costs asides from treats (he loves chestnuts)  We even look after him for a couple of weeks when his owners go on holiday, and he arrives with his own toys and food so that isn't any additional cost either.

Admittedly it all came about accidently through the website Borrow My Doggy - we used to walk him on a Sunday, but when COVID came round and we started to work from home we may as well have him with us rather than he be on his own most of the time with a dog-walker going round at lunchtime, especially as dog-walkers aren't too keen on Malamutes due to the size.

We've never had dogs (some allergies in our house), but DD got her fun when at Uni when her & a pal discovered Borrow My Doggy - regular walks for one that belonged to an elderly person, worked well for them all!

Lifematters

hugheskevi said:

MallyGirl said:

Whereas I would be packing theirs!
My dogs cost a lot in food, insurance, complementary meds and vitamins, running a bigger car, kennels when travelling. They give back so much more

We found the perfect money-saving approach to Malamutes...we now look after our friend's Malamute most weekdays.

That just involves driving 1 mile twice a day to pick him up in the morning and return him in the evening, then no other costs asides from treats (he loves chestnuts)  We even look after him for a couple of weeks when his owners go on holiday, and he arrives with his own toys and food so that isn't any additional cost either.

Admittedly it all came about accidently through the website Borrow My Doggy - we used to walk him on a Sunday, but when COVID came round and we started to work from home we may as well have him with us rather than he be on his own most of the time with a dog-walker going round at lunchtime, especially as dog-walkers aren't too keen on Malamutes due to the size.

Another way of sharing your life with pets at no cost to yourself is to foster. 

We foster with Dogstrust and have had some of the most wonderful dogs over the years. All food, bedding and vet bills are paid for by the shelter.  Not all dogs cope well in kennels or they just don’t have the space for them so they’re desperate for more foster homes. 

MallyGirl

We have certainly thought about fostering in the future. Daughter has already charmed the college cat into sleeping in her room to get her pet fix

Dazza1902

Ibrahim5 said:

Has anyone mentioned getting rid of the pets? They're unnecessary.

Blimey, bit drastic. My cat only costs me ten Bob a day..