So this is the opposite of the thread started a week ago. So where are frivolous and where does the spare money go?
You know, only the other day I realised I have disposable income and quite comfortably. I always think of myself as skint but haven’t had less than 4 figures in my bank account for 5 or 6 years, constantly going out to events, days out, the pub, eating out etc. have subscriptions to all the tv providers. Brand new car, own my house, decent holiday every year. I like to try and budget month to month, and it always seems to come up short and has always given me the feeling I’m skint and I’ll be tight as a ducks arse, discarding all my profligacy as just the cost of being alive. It was only very recently when I sat back and thought, hmm, hang on… that I realised just how much money I piss up the wall. I do have a good time though. Still won’t buy a round either.
We invest in Index funds and add to our pension. I don’t intend to carry on working past 55. My wife is younger than me so will carry on working for another 6 years. We have no debts good jobs. We are very fortunate.
Fortunate to a degree, but I bet you've also taken time & effort to invest in yourself, made some smart decisions and basically 'got your **** together' (sorry, hard day, and haven't got the energy to think of a better phrase!).
Holidays is my main one, I'll buy a daft car every few years and regret it few months later, sell it and stick with the company car. Eat out way to much, invest in the markets etc. My aim as GE said is to retire at 57 for me as that's when I can access my pension. I do often look back at the end of the month though and wonder what the hell I've done with my money as I'm pretty fortune to have a great job, fantastic pension payment from said job, company car and lots of other benefits etc. The Mrs hates the way I waste money..... Unless it's on her of course and then she'll grumble that I waste money whilst saying how much she likes the new trainers etc haha
Not really. I took my 8 year old grandaughter to Hornsea yesterday, she's a lioness to be. I have three daughters of my own, now all adults and I regret missing them growing up because I always seemed to be at work, so time with this beautiful 8 year old is precious as well as priceless. So yesterday, we walked on the beach collecting pebbles, and chatting, then I tried to teach her how to skim flat pebbles in the sea. We then raced each other on the sand. We walked along the prom and I sat and watched her have an ice cream. Then we decided to come home and stop off for a walk near the river Hull at Tickton and go for a nature stroll along the river bank. We finally came home and we played football in the back garden until her mum picked her up when she left work. Cost of a memorable day out? £4 for the ice cream ( it was a waffle, she ordered it) Time with your kids and grandkids is far more precious than money in the Bank. Sound advice from one who knows.
Absolutely this, Time is more important than money You can get more money but you can't get more time. There was something about the more money you have, the bigger the TV and the further away you sit from it.
Lovely response, and hope the thread continues along this path. However that’s not what the thread is asking (nor were the first few responses going that way).
We have well below average household income. I was just saying there’s a difference between being skint and actually being skint.
I don’t have any spare money at the moment, teaching doesn’t pay much and the pay rise we are about to get comes out at about £50 a month, which doesn’t really touch the sides. It would, if we didn’t have to pay a grand a month for childcare. Eldest is about to go to school, so that knocks that down to £600, but we just had to remortgage at the end of our deal and that payment has now tripled to about £550 a month. If I do have any spare money after putting some aside for the kids, I usually put it into my tattoo fund. Annoying because I was saving a few hundred quid a month for investment purposes, no point at the minute. Can’t really do anything about it, but thankfully my children don’t need much to be entertained and are happy with an afternoon at the park or a trip to grandmas.
It’s interest only, it’s only a two bedroom terraced house, so it was only £180 a month. Ah, I did a **** fat fingered maths. £550 it is now.
Leisure by William Henry Davies What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night. No time to turn at Beauty's glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began. A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare
A worthy discussion, if someone could look at historical data on the proportion of income spent on accommodation and food. I think accommodation has keept fairly constant at about 25 30% and food has dropped from 30% + down to near 15%.
House prices have absolutely skyrocketed over the last 5 years and food prices have followed over the last year or two. Wages haven’t gone up anywhere near as much. And minimum wage and benefits for those struggling the most have barely twitched. There are plenty of people out there for whom accommodation + food = 100%+
