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Hi Elantan, I'm also planning for early retirement and trying to be more careful and thoughtful with my spending. I'd love to read along with your journey. What's your timeframe for retirement?
My downfall is eating out - friends and family tend to socialise by eating out. If I'm honest I'm fed up of spending quite a bit of money on restaurant food that is often mediocre. I've done better with my food shopping, buying sensibly and using leftovers or freezing but a careful week of food shopping can be wiped out by one meal out.
Can you suggest to organise the gathering at the house (people might take turn) and cook?0 -
There are only two of us, both retired, and we don't spend anything like £800 on food each month, although I shop mainly at Waitrose and our local butcher.
Do you keep a food diary; would this help?
Do you think your portion sizes are too large?
It does sound as though you buy top of the range meat and other foodstuffs. How about a few more veggie meals, which will cut the costs? Or trying some own brand/ lower level products until you find something you like?0 -
Good luck with your challenge, Elantan.
I'm sorry to be so dense, but what does F.I.R.E stand for?
Linda xYou never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have
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Hi Elantan, I'm also planning for early retirement and trying to be more careful and thoughtful with my spending. I'd love to read along with your journey. What's your timeframe for retirement?
My downfall is eating out - friends and family tend to socialise by eating out. If I'm honest I'm fed up of spending quite a bit of money on restaurant food that is often mediocre. I've done better with my food shopping, buying sensibly and using leftovers or freezing but a careful week of food shopping can be wiped out by one meal out.
Hey Blackcats welcome
we plan on retiring in just under 8 years if all goes according to plan, OH will be 60 and I will be 55, your more than welcome to join the journey the more the merrier I can so relate to the food eating out not being as good as home cooked, I much prefer OH cooking to any restaurant but I accept he needs a night off as well :rotfl: and yep one meal out can totally destroy my budget 
when do you plan on retiring ?Where do you normally shop and what are you buying? Branded or unbranded? Have you got any farmers markets nearby? What’s your storage capacity(cupboards and freezer)? Difficult to see where to make a dent without breaking down your shopping habits a bit more.
Hi camomile, we tend not to eat many tinned foods apart from tinned tomatoes, they get added into so much, we maybe have 3 tins of beans a year if were lucky ( usually when were away camping ) we dont use jars of pasta sauce etc either but will maybe use a jar of pataks sauce occasionally for a quick meal. we do use coconut milk but always try to get small cans as we would waste a lot if we only had the big cans.
we have a floor standing freezer as well as a fridge freezer, I have a dehydrator, and a vacuum sealer, I also have a canner so do try and save as much food as I can, and when it's on sale ( 10p turnips were a bargain) I tend to buy loads and store them for use at a later date.
I do believe my cupboards and freezer could do with a clear out tbh, maybe that's a thing to try and get on top of soon .
we use a lot of spices in cooking so my cupboards tend to be full of these kindve food staples.0 -
Wicked_Lady wrote: »There are only two of us, both retired, and we don't spend anything like £800 on food each month, although I shop mainly at Waitrose and our local butcher.
Do you keep a food diary; would this help?
Do you think your portion sizes are too large?
It does sound as though you buy top of the range meat and other foodstuffs. How about a few more veggie meals, which will cut the costs? Or trying some own brand/ lower level products until you find something you like?
our portion sizes are way way way too big ( so are we tbh) I've measured the size they are supposed to be and the husband just looks at it and goes nope not happening
I dont keep a food diary but will try and take a note here and see if anyone can think of anything ?
veggie meals would be good option, I think I should maybe try one a week to begin with so any suggestions welcome.
yeah I think we probably do eat at the higher end of food quality, I do try and go as organic as I can, maybe that also needs to change .
thanksGood luck with your challenge, Elantan.
I'm sorry to be so dense, but what does F.I.R.E stand for?
Linda x
Hi Litha, not dense at all ... you dont know unless you know and there is no such thing as a silly question
F.I.R.E is a movement designed around the concept of Financial Independence Retire Early0 -
Wicked_Lady wrote: »There are only two of us, both retired, and we don't spend anything like £800 on food each month, although I shop mainly at Waitrose and our local butcher.
Do you keep a food diary; would this help?
Do you think your portion sizes are too large?
It does sound as though you buy top of the range meat and other foodstuffs. How about a few more veggie meals, which will cut the costs? Or trying some own brand/ lower level products until you find something you like?
can I ask how much you spend on food takeaways and alcohol a month ... if u dont kind sharing ?
thanks0 -
Elantan, it sounds to me that you need a change in attitude more than money saving hints. If it is very important to you to go out to eat, have takeaways and drink alcohol regularly then that is what you can do. The price of that choice is to go on working until you drop.
If you really want to retire and have a less stressful life then you can do that. The price of that choice is to cut down the treats radically, pick up all the frugal tips you can here and in plenty of other places and work on changing your mindset.
A saying which has helped me enormously is....
Never give up what you want most for what you want at the moment.
The trick is deciding what you want most. Something is going to have to be sacrificed. Your dream? or your lifestyle?I believe that friends are quiet angels
Who lift us to our feet when our wings
Have trouble remembering how to fly.2 -
Based on my spending, I think you could half your at home alcohol spend, or at least cut back significantly without too much heartbreak - and I definitely agree with Pattypan's first comment - you've earned it so don't beat yourself up too much about spending it while you can enjoy it, not frittering, but in a prudent way. So my tuppence:
1) Wean yourselves onto cheaper wines- - Waitose for example have a fantastic range at £5.99 and
2) often have the 25% discount campaigns on six bottles (I think Asda has one of these going at the moment). Just be reassured that it's not extravagant to buy 6-12 bottles at £5.99 with an extra 25% off
Why am I in this handcart and where are we going ?0 -
You say you struggle with meal planning and shift work, why don't you give doing a double batch of your meal's on the day/early shift for a week and freeze half to have the week that you are pushed for time.
Good luck with your challenge.£71.93/ £180.000 -
Elantan, it sounds to me that you need a change in attitude more than money saving hints. If it is very important to you to go out to eat, have takeaways and drink alcohol regularly then that is what you can do. The price of that choice is to go on working until you drop.
If you really want to retire and have a less stressful life then you can do that. The price of that choice is to cut down the treats radically, pick up all the frugal tips you can here and in plenty of other places and work on changing your mindset.
A saying which has helped me enormously is....
Never give up what you want most for what you want at the moment.
The trick is deciding what you want most. Something is going to have to be sacrificed. Your dream? or your lifestyle?
I take on board what your saying and think you make very valid points which I do need to incorporate, but I do also believe that we shouldn't put off living today for a future several years down the line, I see first hand how lives can change in quite literally heartbeats and I talk to people and there are some recurring themes along the lines of regrets if not doing stuff, of not enjoying themselves more. I totally agree in that we are I have no doubt on one end of the scale compared to many, but I dont want to be at the other end either, what we need to work out is where in the middle we can sit, and that's definitely one of the reasons I'm here as I'm well aware of how great this board can be
thank you for your support0
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