Spend less, save more

Spend less, save more

budgeting shopping money personal finance

Hello. While we are on the subject of money and budgeting, I'll continue along these lines. A question from one of our readers on yesterdays post.......

Sorry if this question is being nosey but I will be going into retirement with just the basic state pension and I was wondering how you have managed to build up savings to replace large items such as your car. I would like to have some savings as back up in case anything major needs replacing.

Hi, not nosey at all, it's a question everyone will be asking at some point in their lives. What happens when the wages stop and the pension starts? How will I manage? What I can't do is to advise on pensions. I happen to have a small private pension because the company I worked for at the time, around the mid 1980's, advised us all to pay into the company pension. I did so along with everyone else. I worked there for five years, and promptly forgot about it after I left, until about twenty odd years later. Luckily It was a large national transport company which was still in business, albeit under a different name. I must say, it was a nice surprise to find that out. 

It's inevitable that a persons income will be reduced on retirement, except for the very rich of course, but I am talking about ordinary working folk here. I don't know how far off your retirement is, but something you can do is to find out exactly how much pension you are likely to receive, and use that figure as a base line, and start living on that amount before you retire. Anything left over can be put away into a separate account to start your emergency fund. This will give you a head start and be a good challenge to prepare yourself for any changes you need to make. 

It would be a good idea to go through all your wants and needs, and to weed out anything that is in the wrong category. As I said before, wants and needs are subjective and exclusive to you. It stands to reason that you might have to modify your needs and shift some of them over to wants, because you will not be getting as much money coming into your bank account. 

Some of the things you have been used to buying might have to be dropped. Your lifestyle expectations, may have to be modified, you might have to lower your sights. Getting into a routine where you unconsciously open your purse, or click on an item that you want to buy from a web site, will be a hard habit to break. What you can do is delay buying something that you want, for 24 hours, then think again, and ask yourself do I really need it. 

I have collected a lot of stuff throughout my life, and I now find I don't need any more. What I already have will hopefully last me. There may be an instant where something packs up and will need replacing, but if it only looks a bit dated and it aint broke, I don't need a new one. 

Anyone who is coming up to retirement age needs to take stock of their lives. There will have to be some tightening of the belt, some deliberation on what they can do without. It's a bit like de cluttering, sorting out a cupboard or drawer. 

My goodness it sounds like a lot of doom and gloom, doesn't it. Can't afford this, can't afford that, have to stop going to dancing or gym, have to give up the weekly meal out, no more shopping trips to town. If you are in the mindset that you get pleasure out of spending money, you will struggle. You will be miserable, you will sit at home and feel sorry for yourself, skint, no money to spend. 

When you retire you will have less money, but you will be gaining a lot more time. Time is more precious, more valuable than money. Time lost will never be replaced. Look at this new chapter in your life as the time you start living, and a good life is not about how much money you have. You will have to modify your lifestyle choices, but you will have more time to enjoy life. 

Ooops, going away from the question here. How have I managed to build up savings to replace large items like a car? I keep a car for about 3 - 4 years. I will need to have around  £6,000 saved to buy the car I want. Over 3 - 4 years, that's doable. 

My thrifty and frugal living ensures that money builds up in the bank, because I don't spend it. Simple as that, I DON'T SPEND IT. I work out what I absolutely must pay for, then I work out if I can afford some treats, and what is left only gets spent when something needs replacing. I don't call it savings, it's an emergency fund. I don't have any long term savings. A year ago I needed a fridge freezer, I had the cash to pay for it. Coming up I have my car road tax and insurance to pay, the money is there waiting. 

Someone asked a question once on MSE, what do you do with any spare money? The answer is, no money is spare, it is all earmarked for something. 

I am disciplined enough to NOT SPEND any money left over. Another way of doing it would be to put aside money for emergencies as soon as it has been paid into your account. Squirrel it away somewhere, it is not for spending, save it for emergencies. 

I hope that has given you food for thought. Thanks for asking. Don't worry, you will manage. 

Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

A plan for 2017

A plan for 2017

budgeting shopping personal finance reflections on life

Hello. Does anyone remember this book, for a while it was my bible, I studied it often, trying to absorb as much information as I could. It came out in 1982, I had been trucking for six years and I did have it all.   

Picture source Amazon 

Love, success, sex, yes, but money, not so sure. Yes, I had enough money, but not loads of it. I had enough to get on the housing ladder, but it was a struggle in the beginning when every penny I had went into the house. I thought I was the bees knees, the dream job, own house and car, plenty of opportunity to meet boyfriends, oh yes, life was good. 

It was quite early on that I realized that there was a difference between what I needed and what I wanted. I needed to have a roof over my head, but it didn't need to be modern and fashionable. I needed a car to get to work, but it didn't need to be flashy or new, anything with four wheels and an engine was ok. I needed clothes, some of them were new, but I made them last a long time, I didn't need to replace them until they wore out. I needed food to keep me alive and to nourish my body. I didn't need to buy expensive food, my mum taught me how to cook the basics. And so it went on, I was categorizing everything that came into my life, putting things into boxes, do I need it or want it? 

I have noticed from reading forums and suchlike that everyone's needs and wants are different. All well and good if you have the money to pay for it all. But if you have to make your money last from one pay check to the next, then it would be beneficial to constantly review your needs and wants list, because it changes over time. 

Some of my needs and wants are still the same, I still need a car because I value the freedom it gives me. So, for peace of mind I prefer not to drive an old banger which might break down. My car is now changed every so often and I save up for it. I still don't need a fancy house, new clothes and expensive food, so I decorate my house with second hand, and shop in charity shops and bargain hunt my food. 

I definitely have everything I need, and I seem to have pretty much what I want, or do I? Well, it's nice to have dreams isn't it. We can all aspire to a better lifestyle, to bigger treats, and a few luxuries. But what if we don't have the money to pay for it? This is where the needs and the wants come into play, not losing track and getting carried away by all the nice things around us which we see and want. 

For instance, I would like a campervan, wouldn't that be great, take off anywhere with my bed just behind the seat. The adventures I could have, wouldn't it be marvelous. But hang on a minute, have you seen how much they cost? Mega amounts of money which I haven't got. Spose I could save up for it, but it's going to take a long time. Spose I could sell my house and buy one, have thought about it, but what happens next. Time is getting on and I don't want to spend the rest of my life in a campervan, and once I have sold my house I will never get on the housing ladder again, it will have to be renting, and have you seen how much rents are these days? I did live in a small caravan for about a year and it wasn't very nice in the winter. No, my campervan will have to stay in the wants for now, and may never be bought.  

So, it is the end of the year, the point of this post is to encourage you to sort out your needs and wants for 2017. Make a list, you will find over time that your priorities will change. If you have money to spare each month you might find that you can afford some of those wants, but if money is tight, you might only be able to buy the needs. If you are always skint you should look at your lists and move things around. The wants will have to stay where they are for the time being until your financial position improves. If there are needs which you can't afford they will have to be parked in the wants for the time being. 

If you are living beyond your means you need to stop buying wants, you can't afford them, unless you do something to increase your income, take on extra work or change your job. Of course if you can write a book like Helen Gurley Brown, then you will be quids in. 

That's it folks, the end of the year. 2016 has been pretty good for me, I have no regrets. Let's all try and make 2017 the year we take control of our lives. Tomorrow we start afresh, what's gone is gone. We start  walking, we start looking after our bodies, we start prioritizing, we start enjoying the rest of our lives. This isn't a rehearsal, this is it. 

My very best wishes to you. Happy New Year.

No need to go mad just because it's Christmas

No need to go mad just because it's Christmas

budgeting shopping cheap food food personal finance vegetarian

Hello and Good Morning. I've just had a good laugh. There is an article about me and how to save money at Christmas, in iNews, a budget daily newspaper. The journalist Katie Grant rang me yesterday for a chat. I usually get requests at this time of year asking for my money saving Christmas tips, but when I reply, I don't do Christmas, they usually give up and look elsewhere for their story. Katie stuck with it.

Click on this link and see the story yourself.  Britains stingiest woman offers her advice.

Anyway, let's press on. I did my Christmas shopping last night at Tesco. The yellow stickers cost me £6.21, and it's all good food. The total shop was £40.78, and with a voucher for £8 off this brought it down to £32.78.

There were only two of us waiting for the final reductions so we got the pick of the crop. Tons of veg as usual, broccoli and spinach my favourite. I will be cooking some of this up later today and putting portions of stew in the freezer. I might not have to go shopping again until after Christmas. In fact I could stretch what I have in my freezer and cupboards until the New Year.

I had it in mind to write something here about Christmas spending, or not spending, but Katie beat me to it, so I will add a few more thoughts on what she has already written.

Utility bills go up in winter, heating and cooking cost more, to budget for that savings have to be made elsewhere. Budgeting is an all the year round activity, there will be peaks and troughs throughout the seasons. Think about what you NEED, what you WANT, and what you will NEVER spend your money on. Compile your own lists on what is important to you, and what you can do without.

I can do without Christmas, not important, but I like a nice car, need to pay for my pets, and I like to go away on holidays and day trips. What I don't need is to shop at Sainsbury's Waitrose, and Marks and Sparks. I don't need a television set, don't need a licence. Don't need to eat out, don't need takeaways. I could list whole rafts of things I don't need, and my do need list will be very short.

If you have a partner, you should sit down together and do this exercise, you need to be singing from the same song sheet. No point in one person frugally saving pennies everywhere, when the other is squandering  it all away. That will only cause conflict.

If Christmas is important to you all well and good, go ahead, but do not go into DEBT for it. It is an annual event and there will be another one on the same date next year. It won't hurt to cut back on the spending for one year, or if you are like me, you might decide you can do away with it altogether.

I find it very liberating that I have chosen not to join in. My brain is not cluttered with the worry of getting the right presents, buying the right food, sending cards, and generally running around like a headless chicken trying to keep up. I can sit back and relax and watch everyone else getting their knickers in a twist. You will not see a furrowed brow on my face, you will see a wide grin from cheek to cheek.

No more lectures, do what you like, but don't come crying to me when the credit card bill lands on the door mat. I will just say, I told you so.

I had a lovely email from Amy of Hard up and Happy. She had difficulty commenting on my blog, so I will copy and paste it here.

 Hi Ilona,

I just want to say a huge thank you for your support and kind words on your blog - which is ace by the way. 

It means a lot when people are nice, as it's my philosophy to be as kind to others as I can, unfortunately this isn't always returned.

I won't concentrate on the negative Nellies though, as the positive comments are amazing. If I can help a few families be happy with what they have then that makes it worthwhile. I would have loved to have responded to each comment on your blog and my website, I'm afraid for some reason I can't? The comments plug in on mine is playing up. Anyway enough rambling I wanted to seek you out and say a great big thank you. You have made me very happy. From one thrfiter to another Merry Christmas!

Kind regards 

Amy 

Thank you Amy, lovely to hear from you. 

I'm beginning ramble now, it's lunch time, and I have things to do. An idea for another textile picture is creeping into my head, want to have a play with some fabric. Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon. 

Toodle pip. 

Give Amy a boost.

Give Amy a boost.

blogging budgeting shopping money saving

Hello, I've just been reading a story in the Daily Wail, you know the one I mean, the Daily Fail. A thrifty mum is feeding her family on a small budget, and getting a lot of sarcastic, and nasty comments from the sad keyboard warriors who have nothing else to do all day. The same thing happened to me. Show the world that you are doing just fine and jealousy rears it's ugly head.

Thrifty mother of three. Read here. 

Amy has a blog, Hard up and Happy, and it's quite good, nice ideas for thrifty food. She is a happy mum with happy kids. Let's support another thrifty blogger and give Amy a boost, and post a comment on there. It will make her smile and show her that we are on her side. Stuff the nasty people.
Thanks a lot.

Thanks for popping in, and your nice comments on Bugsy. He has eaten a little and is now sleeping.
We'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Shopping haul and a job to do.

Shopping haul and a job to do.

budgeting shopping recycle

Hello. It's looking like it might be a busy day, so I'll fire this one off super quick. Last minute decision last night, go for the yellow stickers at Tesco. A good haul, all with 75% off. The man with the ticket machine said not so many people come for them now, it used to be 90% off. This saving is fine by me. Other foodstuffs were bought as well. No need to go again for another couple or three weeks. 

My friends in the next street are downsizing, moving up north, and they need to get the house cleared. There are four single bed bases to get rid of, no one wants them, not even charity shops. The council will take weeks to come and pick them up and they don't want them lying around in the front garden. The plan is that I  dismantle them and salvage any timber that might be useful for other projects and take the debris to the tip.

Must get on with the job. Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Money matters

Money matters

budgeting shopping frugal money saving

Hello. My Saturday musings. It's very easy to get into bad habits. Lapses of concentration, following the crowd, taking your eye off the ball, daydreaming, and drifting along in a robotic way can cause you lose track of the many alternative ways of doing things. There is a thin line between going on automatic pilot, and becoming obsessed. with sticking to how you have always done it.

My money saving efforts have become routine over the years, they are embedded in my personality. Being mindful of how much I spend and what I spend it on comes naturally. It takes no effort at all to take care of my needs first, and if there is anything left over, I have money for a few wants. This is how I have always done it.

I have a few food items on my needs list, and thankfully they are also good for me, like coffee, eggs, bananas,  vegetables, and cheese. Everything else is what I would like to eat, but could manage without it. My eating habits are generally very good, steering clear of anything that might do me harm. My self control while out and about near shops is very strong, I ignore all advertising and don't do impulse shopping.

So, my money management skills have held me in good stead, I am at the point where I can relax a little. I can afford to move a few of the wants into the needs category. But this is where I'm struggling. This line down the middle is not moving. My good habits of spending frugally are blocking my way, and are in danger of becoming bad habits.

An example. I have been putting the heating on for an hour or so, just to take the chill off. But, I still sit here with a dressing gown on over my clothes. Then I get hot and instead of taking the dressing gown off I  turn the heating off. I have it in my head that I don't need to spend money to keep warm.

Another example, I still save my bath water for flushing the toilet. I don't need to because I can afford to pay my water bill. But it doesn't seem right to pull the plug out and let it all go down the drain when it could be put to better use. And it doesn't seem right to flush fresh water down the loo when there is an abundance of grey water available.

Another example. I could afford to eat out, but I can't see the point in paying over the odds to sit in a noisy place and eat god knows what with other people, when I have delicious healthy food at home.

So you can see that my good habits are becoming a little bit restrictive in a way, and are in danger of becoming bad habits. Maybe I ought to be working towards becoming more flexible.

Last month I had a letter from my small private pension provider. Basically they would like to get rid of me out of their system. They offered me a lump sum, quite a sizable lump sum, to pay me off. I have been receiving a bit from them for the last ten years and it has been a nice little top up. Before I retired it was what kept me going, along with a couple of small jobs. I have had a word with my financial adviser, aka my best friend Carol, and I have come to the conclusion that as I hope to be alive in twenty years time, I would be losing out if I was to take the money and run. Hmmmm, I could splash out on some luxuries, or one big luxury, but I can't think of anything I need. I could probably spend it on the house, but that has never been a priority with me. It's still standing, is weatherproof, and it doesn't have to look like a show house. So, for now I will carry on as I have been doing and in ten years I will be the winner as I carry on receiving the pension.

It's 'orrible outside, raining. I will do my three miles later but it's not worth going anywhere else. So on with the sewing. Thanks for popping in, enjoy your Saturday. We'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Do not despair, make it a challenge.

Do not despair, make it a challenge.

budgeting shopping money money saving

Hello. We wake up this morning to more doom and gloom in the press, inflation is rising and we are all going to have to pay more for the things we need to give us the life that we aspire to. But wait a minute, not everyone will suffer, those of us who understand the difference between a need and a want, will still be able to adjust our finances to get the best possible deals. We know it's all down to juggling, and from the comments I get from my readers, most of us have got it about right, so this post is not aimed at you. 

What do you do when you can't afford to buy new clothes from a High Street shop? Answer, you go to a charity shop, a car boot sale, a rummage sale, a garage sale, accept hand me downs, swap clothes with friends, look on ebay and the free sites. 

What do you do when you can't afford expensive brand name foods? Answer, you try the shop's own brand, you buy the Value and Basics labels, you shop around in different places, you get to know the prices of everything you buy on a regular basis, you look for reductions, offers, and out of date reductions. 

What do you do when you can't afford your utilities? Answer, you check how many kw's you are using per annum and go on the comparison sites and look for a better deal. You contact your present provider and ask them for a cheaper tariff. You use less gas, electricity, and water by not switching things on until it is absolutely necessary. Flick a switch, turn a tap on, it will cost you.

Petrol is going up, how can you spend less? By driving correctly, not rushing about, no harsh braking or fast acceleration. Plan your driving by what you can see ahead of you. There's been many times when I have seen a bend or a junction up ahead and have slowed down by just taking my foot off the gas, when the car in front has approached it at speed, then slammed their brakes on. Remove all the clutter from your car, more weight uses more petrol. 

Shop around for literally everything. Think about what you need, then look in different places to get the best price. Give yourself time before you sign a cheque, open your purse, or put your card in a machine. Be very aware of what you are spending your money on. Absolutely no impulse spending, go home and think about it. 

Put a little money aside every week or month, into a savings account. Doesn't have to be much. One day you will need a new washer or fridge. Your car will eventually conk out, if you have planned and saved it won't be so painful when you come to change it. I've had my car almost two years, I started saving as soon as I got it, there will be enough in the pot when I come to change it. 

If you enjoy a few extras at Christmas, start saving on January the 1st. If you like a summer holiday, have a pot for that. Write a plan on a piece of paper, you don't need fancy electronic gadgets to keep track of your money, a notebook does the same job. The miles I do for my walking challenge are recorded on a calendar, I don't need a gadget for that. Pen and paper is all you need. Keep a spending diary, record every penny you spend, look back on it often. 

All this is common sense, and a lot of you who are a similar age to myself will know what I am talking about. It's the younger people who are struggling, those that don't get the benefit of savvy parents to teach them, which I feel for. 

Right, so what do you do when you are really struggling to make ends meet? All of the above, but what you don't do is BORROW. Loan companies know people will be struggling once inflation rises and gets a grip,  they will be increasing their advertising to reel in all those who don't know which way to turn next. The sharks are waiting for the kill.

Do not fall for it. MSE is full of posts from people who are in such a mess with their finances. They know they have been living beyond their means, and know they will never have a life if they don't try and do something about it. Borrowing is too easy. Spending someone else's money is too easy. If people can't afford to pay for something, how are they going to afford the repayments? Look at the figures below, found on a random web site. Borrow £3,000 to buy a car. It takes three years to pay it back. You will have paid £5,143 to this company if you borrow from them, and you will be left with a scrap heap of a car worth nothing.   

What did I do when I started driving? I bought a battered old Bedford van for cash saved. Changed it for another slightly better van, then worked my way up with more old vehicles. I went to car maintenance classes at the college to learn how to do the basics. And at long last after years of driving around in a vehicle which I could never be sure of it getting me there, I now have a decent car. 

So, don't despair if the cost of living is going up, try and keep one step ahead. Appreciate what you already have. Find ways of staying in control, make it a challenge, don't let the buggers beat you. There is Life after Money. 

Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.

Toodle pip