More WIRE than FIRE, simplifying, saving and savvy spending

ShyAndRetiring

Humboldt said:

Morning @ShyAndRetiring, I have just caught up with your thread and found it to be an informative read.  Despite us all having different budgets, opinions, lifestyles, etc, I like the fact that on this forum we can still learn from each other, and offer support and kindness. We all choose our own paths, but it's nice to have some assistance when heading off in a new direction. 

In terms of budgets, I find that there is no joy in comparison, but knowing that I have enough for our personal needs creates a sense of peace for me.   I had never heard of the term WIRE until I read it on your thread, but I feel very privileged to have been able to attain this, and whilst it takes some effort, it is so worth it. Thank you for taking the time to share your journey with us.

Thanks @Humboldt for your kind words. I really want to post a bit more often, for my own accountability as much as anything, but comments and insights from others really do help, especially from those further along the path or heading in the same direction.

Agree totally that there's no joy in comparison (although it's interesting and i learn a lot that way). Definitely the personal comparison of knowing our income compares favourably (or at least adequately  ) to our own personal bills and anticipated lifestyle is the key comparison!

I hadn't heard of WIRE either it just came about because my retire early quest is motivated by having the well-being (and health) need to do so, rather than using the Financially Independent end of it, it just came together as a personal (and rather poetic) acronym 

You're right, being able to press pause, knowing there's enough in the pot to make it possible is such a privilege and is a pay-off for having worked so hard, planned carefully and made a few sacrifices and difficult decisions on the way to getting there. Thank you for reminding me of this and for your words about my own journey ~ I'll try to share more regularly, and visit others' threads more often, once the seasonal crazy and the work malarkey eases up! 

S&R x

ShyAndRetiring

It's thankfully the weekend and time for an update!

This week's been a mixture of working, getting back into circulation, trying to get back to normal and catching up with myself along with pacing a (hopefully) sustained recovery.

Spending

• A few extra spends from the health pot, but I guess that’s what the pot is budgeted for! Pot is adequate 

• Have looked again at budgets for next year and aiming for a careful start to the year. Have remembered that because we pay the Council Tax across 10 months but budget it across the 12 months, there will be a little extra wiggle room to help us in the first two months as we transition to not having my current income.

• Bought a jigsaw puzzle advent-calendar for grandkids (x2) for next year, reduced because we’re well into December, but will be perfect as a gift for advent next year.

Saving

• Had a good chat with a family member who is finding things a bit hard and wants to save for a holiday, so we are going to be spending / saving attribution partners for 2025, to help support each other.

• OH popped in the supermarket in our village, just as they were marking down the unsold bunches of flowers. They gave him a free bunch for me, truly lovely and money-saving too!

Sorting

• Sorted some Xmas decs - there are quite a few ones which will be nice for 2 smallest grandkids to have if their parents want them, so have put to one side for them when they visit for Xmas.

• Sorted a bag of items the pup has ‘outgrown’ - can’t believe the harness ever fitted him, he only wore it twice before he outgrew it! There’s a regular Facebook fundraiser auction for a local dog charity and they always need donated items, so into the bag and out of the house it goes.

Simple pleasures

• Getting back to family things, including helping the Older Ones, it’s been full-on but very ‘normalising’. It feels good to know that there will be a bit of extra time for this next year.

• Walking the dog in that hour before twilight … it’s been blissfully calm here and a real boost to well-being.

• Appreciating my flowers. A few years ago I had a project of growing flowers to cut for bunches in the house and for giving to others. This fell aside when work / care role overtook things, but having flowers in the house (especially at this time of year) and the joy of the unexpected gift has inspired me to try this again as a potential project / challenge to enjoy next year, and bring lots of joyful sharing too! 

Hope everyone is well, S&R x

Katiehound

Oh free flowers- that was a lovely surprise.

I'm just picking up on a couple of financial points.

Whilst you will have 2 free months this financial year from council tax you might want to change it to x12 for '25-26 because it will mean monthly payments will be smaller and also that would be a monthly DD for a bank a/c. I have a few accounts which throw out their dummy if 2 payments fail to go & then they keep the fairly small peanuts as punishment!

If you have a Nationwide account remember to be very active in the first 3 months of the new year even it means putting and taking, rinse and repeat... and so on. There's the potential for share pay out later in the year.

There are a lot of helpful folk on these boards who will try to keep you on the straight and narrow... if that is what you want!
Best wishes 

Organgrinder

I'd also add, be open to new ideas. New ways of saving and new ways of generating additional income.

Since deciding to go part time 18 months ago I have honestly made quite a few thousand pounds through taking advantage of offers or taking advice from others.

Eg.
Bank switching about £1200.
Stoozing about £1000 so far.
Using higher rate tax pension rebate £1600.
Quidco about £200.
Wealthify £575.

That's over £4,500 in 18 months and all the result of people posting on MSE for which I am very grateful.

Lots of other savings to be had too, eg my mobile phone bill is now only £5/month, my broadband £16 and I'm on I believe the lowest fixed energy tarrif.

I'm far from wealthy, although Mrs O and I should end up with a combined pension of around £50k with savings of about £100k. My parents were very much working class and growing up there was never much to go around. So this extra income is very much seen as a bonus.

We are fortunate that we live in a relatively cheap area and our disposable income is higher than average. But we holiday abroad 3 times a year and pack weekends etc in. This is what the MSE money allows us to do and as a result I see no reason to change my habits as it gives us a very nice lifestyle.

Humboldt

Hi @ShyAndRetiring go you buying reduced advent calendars for next year! So nice that you and a family member are going to support each other in your financial endeavours for 2025. It would have made my day to be given free flowers, just reading this in your post made me smile. I love the way that you categorise your posts.  I use a similar method and find that it really helps me focus on the positives.

Re: the credit card chat.  We gain points when we use our credit card, which can then be exchanged for shopping vouchers.  I would add that, we always pay the credit card in full at the end of each month.  The majority of our Christmas grocery shopping will be paid for via vouchers gained from credit card spends throughout the year. As @Organgrinder says "free money".

Savvy_Sue

Humboldt said:

Hi @ShyAndRetiring go you buying reduced advent calendars for next year! So nice that you and a family member are going to support each other in your financial endeavours for 2025. It would have made my day to be given free flowers, just reading this in your post made me smile. I love the way that you categorise your posts.  I use a similar method and find that it really helps me focus on the positives.

Re: the credit card chat.  We gain points when we use our credit card, which can then be exchanged for shopping vouchers.  I would add that, we always pay the credit card in full at the end of each month.  The majority of our Christmas grocery shopping will be paid for via vouchers gained from credit card spends throughout the year. As @Organgrinder says "free money".

I did the same last year: saw a lovely wooden Noah's Ark advent calendar reduced and decided to buy it, because I am a very proud Grey Tarnty. It has only just been passed on, and apparently Grandma saw the same thing and thought "no, I can't just indulge every whim for my adorable grandchild." She may be willing to restrain herself, but I don't have to be! 

ShyAndRetiring

Katiehound said:

Oh free flowers- that was a lovely surprise.

I'm just picking up on a couple of financial points.

Whilst you will have 2 free months this financial year from council tax you might want to change it to x12 for '25-26 because it will mean monthly payments will be smaller and also that would be a monthly DD for a bank a/c. I have a few accounts which throw out their dummy if 2 payments fail to go & then they keep the fairly small peanuts as punishment!

If you have a Nationwide account remember to be very active in the first 3 months of the new year even it means putting and taking, rinse and repeat... and so on. There's the potential for share pay out later in the year.

There are a lot of helpful folk on these boards who will try to keep you on the straight and narrow... if that is what you want!
Best wishes 

Thanks @katiehound ... I've never considered swapping out my CT to 12 months instead of 10 and it would certainly make sense that way. We already pay by DD but making the change for 25/26 CT would be sensible given the finances of that year (and the expectation that the 25/26 CT in general will of course increase, by quite a bit knowing our council)! I've put a note in my £££ planner to remind me 

Yes, we're also with NWide and get the bonuses - because it's a joint account we each get £100 so the account had a free £200 boost this year, which was fab! 

Thanks for your good wishes, I hope to read more threads over the festive break and make the most of the collective knowledge and experience around here, thank you S&R x

ShyAndRetiring

Organgrinder said:

I'd also add, be open to new ideas. New ways of saving and new ways of generating additional income.

Since deciding to go part time 18 months ago I have honestly made quite a few thousand pounds through taking advantage of offers or taking advice from others.

Eg.
Bank switching about £1200.
Stoozing about £1000 so far.
Using higher rate tax pension rebate £1600.
Quidco about £200.
Wealthify £575.

That's over £4,500 in 18 months and all the result of people posting on MSE for which I am very grateful.

Lots of other savings to be had too, eg my mobile phone bill is now only £5/month, my broadband £16 and I'm on I believe the lowest fixed energy tarrif.

I'm far from wealthy, although Mrs O and I should end up with a combined pension of around £50k with savings of about £100k. My parents were very much working class and growing up there was never much to go around. So this extra income is very much seen as a bonus.

We are fortunate that we live in a relatively cheap area and our disposable income is higher than average. But we holiday abroad 3 times a year and pack weekends etc in. This is what the MSE money allows us to do and as a result I see no reason to change my habits as it gives us a very nice lifestyle.

  Thank you @organgrinder ... I do try to take advantage of free £££ and opportunities, you've certainly done well in the last 18 months!  I think I had about £450 in bank switches over the same period of time, but last time I looked I was out of options for the tie being. I'm hoping for something from the LLoyds group in the new year as I don't have any accounts with them currently. One of the accounts / pots I'll be drawing down from during 25 will be suitable to use as a switching account down the line, so I'm ready for a switching offer when it comes around.

I've not tried Quidco although I use TopCashBack for most online shopping, I think I have about £40 to cash out but I'm leaving it till next year in case I need it. I'll investigate Quidco and see if there's anything I can do there which I don't do already, thank you.

  Your £££ numbers look good and it's great that your area is a cost-effective place to live. Our area is pretty expensive, but we live simply within it all, so we can opt out of the expensive stuff without too much hassle. Wishing you well with your retirement and holiday plans, sounds like you have all bases covered. Thanks for sharing, it really helps, S&R x
  

ShyAndRetiring

Humboldt said:

Hi @ShyAndRetiring go you buying reduced advent calendars for next year! So nice that you and a family member are going to support each other in your financial endeavours for 2025. It would have made my day to be given free flowers, just reading this in your post made me smile. I love the way that you categorise your posts.  I use a similar method and find that it really helps me focus on the positives.

Re: the credit card chat.  We gain points when we use our credit card, which can then be exchanged for shopping vouchers.  I would add that, we always pay the credit card in full at the end of each month.  The majority of our Christmas grocery shopping will be paid for via vouchers gained from credit card spends throughout the year. As @Organgrinder says "free money".

Hi @humboldt thanks for stopping by and for your kind comments. Yes, it helps me to break things down, I can focus much better on them that way 

Well done for your credit-card voucher Christmas, that's a great move. I was reading something else about doing Christmas for free and think it might make a fun  challenge to see if I can do my 52 week savings challenge using 'free' money. We'll see, but thanks for inspiring me further with that, I appreciate it! S&R x

ShyAndRetiring

Savvy_Sue said:

Humboldt said:

Hi @ShyAndRetiring go you buying reduced advent calendars for next year! So nice that you and a family member are going to support each other in your financial endeavours for 2025. It would have made my day to be given free flowers, just reading this in your post made me smile. I love the way that you categorise your posts.  I use a similar method and find that it really helps me focus on the positives.

Re: the credit card chat.  We gain points when we use our credit card, which can then be exchanged for shopping vouchers.  I would add that, we always pay the credit card in full at the end of each month.  The majority of our Christmas grocery shopping will be paid for via vouchers gained from credit card spends throughout the year. As @Organgrinder says "free money".

I did the same last year: saw a lovely wooden Noah's Ark advent calendar reduced and decided to buy it, because I am a very proud Grey Tarnty. It has only just been passed on, and apparently Grandma saw the same thing and thought "no, I can't just indulge every whim for my adorable grandchild." She may be willing to restrain herself, but I don't have to be! 

Hi @Savvy_Sue yes, very pleased with the jigsaw advent - how lovely that you've been able to do something similar. It's great to keep a bit of cash by for making the most of bargains when we find them, well spotted I hope the little one loves it, S&R x