From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Humdinger1

Dearest @Greying_Pilgrim please, oh pretty please, keep posting! So many of us on here are swimming against the tide of consumerism that destroys people's ability to feel that they are allowed to make a different decision, if taken to its logical conclusion. No disrespect to anyone who feels sucked in or just wants to do it a different way. I agree things are getting harder and that you might decide to future-proof your finances, whether by rejigging pensions, maybe thinking about some sort of income earning opportunity. But it doesn't have to undermine your values. You're splendid; keep going love Humdinger xx

Moneywhizz

I'm another reader/lurker on your diary who would miss your daily thoughts on your diary even though, being older and retired, my life is different to yours. You might think your diary is just about your ordinary day to day life but it is full of wisdom and inspiration for others who are trying to manage on a tight budget. It would be a real loss to the forum if you decided to leave. Great to read that your hubby is at least open to exploring ways of being able to retire earlier. I am sure LG would be delighted to have him around more.

peb

You make me smile.

I thought of you when Lidl had boxes - noting the avocados

I think of you when pegging out (though that hasn't been for a while)

This now sounds stalkerish so I'll move on..

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

I stand before you, well, humbled. Well humbled.

Thank you - thank you for taking the time to post such thoughtful, kind supportive words for me and Fam. Greying.

The sentiment about being in the right 'home' that came through your posts does help - I think much the same as DFW was a wonderful place to even when not actually in debt, the ethos and way of being/living definitely made it the place to hang out - yes, with my tribe 😁 MFW is equally as friendly and supportive - and speaking personally, much of the ethos, tips, tricks, ways of being is just what mse'rs use to bash down their mortgages - all whilst navigating 'life', and yes, life looks different for all of us. I love the camaraderie 'everyday' - and whilst I may be in danger of phrasing this badly, the breath of experience, facing all manner of life and sadly, death, experiences, and/or ill health amongst posters, means there is unlikely to be anything that we face, that someone hasn't already dealt with. And of course, MSE'rs are always the first to offer up help and support. Yes, we're all individuals with multiple differences, but we're also human with multiple core similarities.

This thread has recently passed 500 pages, which, in "Ye Olden Days" triggered a new thread. Possibly because of hosting capacity, on a techie level. But I also wonder if there is some ingrained factor that every 18 months/2 years or so, you perhaps need to reassess, have things changed, are you still going in the right direction, are you still the person you were when you started out, or have you now got 3 kids, whereas you were young free & single, and out clubbing every weekend when you first hit "Post Thread" 😁

The premise of this thread to begin with was to save up for replacement windows for our home, which wasn't quite what we 'wanted' size/location(ish) wise, but was what we could afford to purchase at the time, when the housing market was crazee. I'll admit that we came from a bad place (financially) after renting for more years than we'd ever intended, but the notion of not having incomings = outgoings every month was novel, and I wanted to get to work making any pennies I could save work for us. Saving for the windows was a harder process than I anticipated, and took longer. However, save we did, and in the end the windows/door were a huge chunka money, but we had saved sufficient to have the work done - and thankfully all in one go too, which for anyone living with any type of reno project, will know is huge.

Although there are 2 "projects" still outstanding with the house (well, there are multiple things that need money spending on, but I'm meaning more big/structural type endeavours), I'm conscious that DH is flagging at work. It's not the company he joined a few years ago, and it's becoming a stressful, physically and mentally demanding daily grind. DH is in the last segment of his working life, and doesn't need this on a daily basis. But of course, he's got the 'hunter gatherer provider' gene strong, and takes his family support role incredibly seriously.

So, is "earlier" retirement more important than a new kitchen/landscaped garden? Yes - although there are ways of getting a new kitchen/flattened garden that aren't necessarily dependent on oodles of wonga, nor hiring contractors. But is "earlier" retirement achievable? That's the bit we've to work on. I suppose you start with what it might look like, and then work back to see what that costs. I mean for example - DH is not going to be hopping on a world-wide, year long cruise, as we will still have LG in school, and DH wants to be in our lives and active for as long as possible. If we didn't have LG then for sure I'd be suggesting the cruise option…. 👍🤣

That's what I am going to be beginning to explore whilst still funding life, and fun in the present. I'm certainly thinking we will need to "live" consciously in retirement spending level mode for at least a year - so that we've got some idea of what the 'bridge' number might be. The advantage of test runs is that you can still accommodate events (planned or unplanned), as they crop up. I'm not all about sack cloth and ashes - I'd tolerate it personally, or maybe if it was just adults in the mix, but I'm not prepared to subject LG to going without, just to gain 6 months of additional retirement for DH. But do I think we could live leaner? Yes, there are things that I'm not doing at the moment that I could tighten up on and it would help our finances, so that's a starting point - tightening up, not cutting out. I'm not sure when that will transform into a new focussed diary, but I'd certainly be delighted for any MSE'rs to join me, with their help, support and life experiences.

I have already been spoilt this Valentines day - LG gifted me a little chocolate that their teacher had handed out to all the class 🥰 and DH and LG had gone on a 'secret shopping mission' last weekend, and secured a bar of very nice, sea salty dark choccie for me 🥰 I will share 😁

The washing machine is on, DH's workwear is in the machine. It is dry with us (huzzah!) and we have sun, but I suspect with no breeze, and a cold air temperature, the washing is unlikely to dry on the line. I'll give it a go, of course, but suspect the dehu will be out.

I'm going to have the second 'waste box' avocado for my brekkie, and have a ponder as to what to put on the table for lunch (most likely soup), and tea (?)

Thank you all, once again, for popping in and giving me both your time, and your most wonderful support. It's super, super appreciated.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Moneywhizz and peb - I droned on so long, I missed your posts! And I've just noticed the time of the morning Humdinger was in here - hun, I don't have the heating on overnight - you must have been freezing!

DH and LG are off out 'shopping' again 🙄 However, at least LG is taking their WBD vouchers so maybe no money need actually be spent 🤞 I think DH might want to pick up a couple of bottled beers for the rugger this arvo - they've taken my n*ctar card anyway, so hopefully costs will be kept low.

I will peg out the wash just now, the sunlight is too delicious to miss, although I don't think it's strong enough to dry the washing on it's own. The breeze has picked up a little, but I think it's probably more of a 'psychological' peg out today - the dehu will probably do the heavy lifting.

I have had my avocado - it was ripe, but the stone had some sort of…… blemish? virus? and this had 'imprinted' onto the flesh a little, so I used a spoon to scrape off as thin a layer of discolourment as I could, and used all of the remaining avocado. But you can get blemished avocados having paid top price for them, so I consider my punt to have paid off.

LG had asked me yesterday about pancake recipes/ingredients, and apparently last night they had conspiratorily tried to rope in their dad for making pancakes this morning. I don't want to dampen any enthusiasm for cooking, but I did point out to DH that LG had asked about 'crepe' style pancakes, and these take an age to cook, but if we pushed the pancake making to Sunday morning, perhaps we could have the thicker style pancakes. The batter benefits from being made in advance, anyway. DH liked this idea, so we'll try and make it happen tomorrow morning. I have all the ingredients in, anyway.

Right, the machine is beeping at me, so I'll wrap up here, and wrap up to go peg out.

Thanks for popping by and being so interested in my daily doings 😉😂

Greying X

edinburgher

Happy Valentine's, Greying, I'm glad to hear that family Greying are making you feel loved 😊

In terms of thinking about Mr Greying approaching the tail end of his career, I strongly suspect that your frugality will be the superpower that will do a lot of the heavy lifting. LG growing up will lower your costs as well, once he becomes self-sufficient, anyway.

In terms of rummaging under the financial sofa, the following might be easy starters. No need to respond, I'm sure you'll have most/all of them in hand, anyway.

1. Get SP forecasts for both of you.
2. Consider paying to fill in any gaps to SP (less likely for Mr Greying, I suspect).
3. Make sure Mr Greying is making the most of any employer match that is available to him.
4. Scratch your collective heads in case you have any pensions lurking from other jobs earlier on in life.
5. Think about consolidating any small pots into a low cost SIPP or similar (unless they come with benefits such as guaranteed rates etc.)
6. Check fees on Mr Greying's work pension. You can usually transfer out of a work pension and keep it open, Mrs E did this when she hit £10,000 in her current pension because it knocks 1/3 off the annual fees.
7. Do a little reading about annuities. I read an article about them roaring back in part because of changes to inheritance tax, and rates sounded much healthier than they have done for a long time. Granted, the circumstances of those mentioned were different to your own, but that's to be expected for an article.
8. Perhaps an expensive outsider but would you have any interest in solar? It's a helpful proposition because it allows you to reduce your spend on something that will go up with inflation by purchasing a system with today's money. Granted, there's a capital outlay to begin with, but no reason why a solar system competently installed wouldn't last the rest of your days.

Greying_Pilgrim

ed - thank you. I must admit, like many, pensions bamboozle and scare me in equal measure.

I have a LGPS that is mothballed. DH has 3 private pensions, one 'live', 2 mothballed. He does not have a workplace pension, as his previous employer played sully boogers chopping and changing banking providers and the co. pension scheme was always the sacrificial lamb. His small 3rd pension is because the company continued it after he opted out. Because he hasn't consolidated these, the thought of opening 'another' with his new employer wasn't attractive - and employer contribution percentages were unlikely to be generous.

Annuities - hmmmmm, scary 😬I am willing to admit my financial illiteracy around pensions ☹️ See now - you wrote Annuities, and I immediately was thinking of AVC's - I am so dense 🙄

I will have to get more up to speed though, as I feel out of my depth, and DH is just scared rigid with this sort of life admin 🫤

Again - thank you for posting, I know that you're really up to speed with this type of stuff.

Greying X

edinburgher

A little free advice may help:

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise

As a bare minimum, he really should check about employer match and do anything needed to get the free money, it's essentially a pay rise. I realise that every pound is a prisoner and all that, but your future selves need help, too 😉

Anyway, I'll bore off now. Remember that the Pensions board is also helpful, even if a little intense at times!

Baileys_Babe

@edinburgher thanks for the information in both your recent posts it is relevant to us as well.

greenbee

Ed is right about pensions. It's worth paying in up to what your employer will match - and if it isn't performing well, taking it out periodically to put elsewhere.

As for solar, there are more grants available, so definitely look those up (the green/ethical board is a pretty friendly place for finding out more). Even a small and not particularly efficient set up will pay dividends, particularly as you are able to move some of your consumption to when the sun is shining (I'm having a VERY busy laundry day today!). While it might not cover all your energy needs, it can at least reduce them and help cut the overall day-to-day running costs of your home.