To ask is it possible to have a good , by choice frugal life - anyone done it ?

[Ohmahgaws]

i do not meannto be insensitive re col .. it has affected us too and the below decision s.

Dh and I are early 60 s.
We both worked after graduating in public services jobs , which we loved .

When we hit our late 50s .. we decided to give up our careers and now we both do cleaning jobs for minimum wage x2 days a week .

We have occupational pensions. As I worked pt after dc born , mine is £ 480 pm and dh is 1.5 k .

We downsized and went to live in the country in a small house.
We did so in the basis that if we did not like it , we would move back to our old city which we also loved . So far , we love it 4 years in .

we live very simply and mostly soend our money on going out to local gigs and drinking as well as we help dc out when we can .

dh looks ten years younger .

I feel bad sometimes that we are not working in those high pressure jobs we did before and that we have gone from a joint income of 73k to less , between us, than a full time minimum wage job as it means that we are not building income and cannot pass it on to dc .

i also miss - occasionally.. going out for meals , holidays abroad . .. we need to be mindful of our income at all times really . And missing spluging occasionally ! I also kind of miss saving . .. the ability to do so ( we have 30k and no mortgage .. and it womt be increasing)

has anyone else made this lifestyle choice - i mean as a actual choice - to live simpler no holidays abroad etc and if so have you found it sustainable in the long term?

Are your occupational pensions on top of your minimum wage job?

If they are, I think you'd make about £7500 a year each, so £650 per month each (£1300 total), plus another £2k in pension, so £3,300 a month.

That sounds like a pretty healthy income to me?

Obviously if it's just minimum wage 2 days a week each that is substantially different.

No . Its 2 days w week each .

Sorry not full time min wage jobs . 2 days a week but short days . With pension on top.
One of ky questions to myself is should we be earning more as we have the capacity to do so either in ft minimum wage tyoe jobs or jobs like our old careers because we can .
I mean are we being foolish not workimg more and saving more by living a simple life .
i am interested in hearing if anyone else has done similar and how it panned out in the longer term.

it seems to be a choice between this simple easy way .. that means no more saving , local holidays, no abroad trips
v
the choice to earn double , work more , have savings, holidays

interested to know if anyone else has a similar way of doing things

If you own your own home with no mortgage/rent, that will help your finances significantly.

If not, then I think you’ll massively struggle.

I have a similar plan for the future

Just me, no kids

But my main worry is healthcare. How many hours are you working? I'd probably work a bit more but in something better paid. There's a happy medium, it doesn't have to be full on rat race, you have no mortgage.

Gigs and drinking can be quite expensive.

Depends on what type of lifestyle you want, if you want that ability to splurge now and again and the money you have now doesn't allow it then work more 💁‍♀️

Noone can really say if your life is too simple it all depends on what you are happy doing.

And your children will be earning their own money. Sorry but I wouldn't personally be working full time just to give them money. There is more to life.

I am planning to slow down work once my mortgage and NI years are done becuase I only need enough money to go on a few holidays but I can earn enough without working 5 days a week. People might say thays foolish but I like a better balance for myself. Because you never know when its your time and I won't be thinking I wished I worked more.

It sounds like your net is c.3k per month. That sounds ok to me with no mortgage or dependents and a small house. I think many (possibly most) younger people on a much higher gross will have far lower disposable income than that due to mortgage, childcare etc. That's certainly the case for me.

My concern if I was you would be what happens if you have large unexpected bills e.g. significant expense with house which isn't covered by insurance. You may be able to earn significantly more now but won't necessarily be able to do so in ten years time. So, assuming that your monthly income is sustainable month to month but that you can't save much from it, the question is whether £30k savings can cover all the large expenses which aren't in that monthly budget for the rest of your life.

You only get one life, is there some sort of middle ground so upping your hours or getting a less stressful role back in the Public sector and still enjoy your holidays and meals out whilst still young and healthy enough to Galavant?

I'm here because I'm interested in the question.

I guess my question to you is how will you fund things like a new-to-you car, a boiler breakdown or central heating blowing up, refitting the bathroom for the rest of your life? We can all do without holidays, but it's not realistic to imagine they will be your only substantial "big" expenses long term. Or are you including these things in your budgeting but just not counting the money for them as savings?

It sounds like you have a great balance OP. Why work a more stressful job that risks diminishing your health and quality of life? If you really want to up your income maybe find a second side hussle just in case col means people can't afford cleaning services, or diversify into decluttering as a random example. Your DCs will also have a better life knowing you are happy, well and setting them a good example for their future.

For context, DP and I are in mid and late mid life respectively and each could earn more but chose to do what we love and not do crazy hours. We have a small house and are working to be mortgage free in 12years instead of upsizing. We both feel our health is work more to DC than a big inheritance.

If you have £3k pm and are mortgage free, I can't see why you can't afford to eat out or go on holiday, £30k savings is a good amount.
Life is for living not worrying about passing on wealth, your DC will get your house.

If you’ve got over £3K per month in income, and no mortgage, and you’re not yet drawing state pension, that’s quite a lot, OP. You should be able to afford a holiday, to add to savings or to eat out.

it seems to be a choice between this simple easy way .. that means no more saving , local holidays, no abroad trips
v
the choice to earn double , work more , have savings, holidays

I mean, this is a weird ‘choice you’re setting up - you could work 3 days a week each and have more money for savings, travel and holidays. You don’t need to work full-time or only 2 days a week - there’s plenty of middle ground. And presumably if you had higher earning careers before you both have more transferable (and therefore more lucrative) skills than just cleaning?

Thanks for explaining OP - I just don't think I get it, because it sounds like a fairly good sum of money to me.

£3300 per month each sounds like it should pay for most things pretty happily, tbh so I'm a bit confused as to why it's a struggle..

Bills (say £450 a month, or a bit more? Mine are £300)
Subscriptions at say £25 a month
Food at maybe £300 a month
Petrol and cars at £300 ? a month.

That's just under £1100. Even if those are unrealistically small costs, we could round them up to £1500 and you'd still have £1800 a month for clothes, eating out, presents, shopping, saving and holidays which actually I think should be enough for a pretty nice lifestyle?

It might be worth looking at what you're actually spending each month, because if things are feeling like you have to be very frugal on that income and without a mortgage you may have high costs somewhere you can cut down.

As a pp said, you aren't quite the simple example here.

You've no mortgage, and generally have the assets acquired through years working in better paid occupations.

You have 2k in pensions topping up your low wage.

This is not really "choosing the frugal life", its actually a fairly standard approach for people approaching pension age.

so you have no mortgage, no childcare fees, and a higher disposable income than most. What's the deal?

Not to denigrate cleaning but if you had fairly high paying graduate public sector jobs there are surely other, better paid retirement jobs you could have taken?

Many people I know in your position go for a couple of days a week consultancy or paid NED/advisory positions.

I am still raising children and we live very simply.
Comfy, but cheap clothing. Things we like, but definitively are not fashionable. We keep them till they break or are seriously worn.
No make up. No hair dye. No nail polish. No beauty saloon treatments. We cut our own hair and I dye my DD's when she wants to. But we keep moisterised skin and hair, sort our own nails and hair removal. Bath bombs as presents. Nice smellies.
Small house, but not short of storage for our family. Simple furniture. I decluttered progressively these last two years. Best thing ever!
We invest in the garden. Make it nice for sitting in after work and barbecues at the weekend. I would love to have a bigger one, but we will stay here for the time being.
Small, eco friendly car. Cheap to run and maintain. We keep cars till their end of life.
Finantially, we have a small mortgage pending. And that is all of our debt. No other finance. Small savings, but I would not expect to save much while raising children.
Holidays, we stay mainly local. Either day trips or short stays in UK accomodation.
Now, I do want to further my career as my children grow older and I have more time and space. Just for me, because I love to learn more everyday.
We are very happy in this setting. In the meantime we keep our health, for us is the best. Some time to spend together, share experiences and simple homely things.

I understand what you’re saying OP.

I am 55 and would like to step back from my £50k job to a £22k job. Would take early retirement from my £50k job to partly bridge the gap in earnings. Lump sum would pay off the mortgage and leave decent amount of savings.

But I feel programmed to earn as much as possible while I can, even though I hate my job and am stressed. Think it’s because my Dad was a builder in the 80s and I watched this proud man beg for jobs way below what he was worth to keep us fed and a roof over our head.

OP - your plan is working if your DH looks 10 years younger. I would vote to keep the ‘simpler’ life

It's a lifestyle choice, just that really, you have chosen this way of life and it's meeting your needs. It would be very difficult to get back into a high paying job even if you were forced to. You have downsized so presumably you have savings from this, plus the opportunity to take a lump sum tax free from the pension pot. You also have the state pension to look forward to. I'm thinking that you really need to make the most of these years.

Eh? With that income and no mortgage of course you can afford holidays and meals out.

Well, we did the same in our mid fifties and ten years later, we feel that it was a great decision. Both are still working part time in low paid jobs and we will receive our state pensions very shortly.
I’d say our sole regret is not having been able to save more for our DC. We have both been able to help them in practical ways though, DIY, childcare etc which we couldn’t have done otherwise without being completely exhausted.
We have also managed to go on short breaks abroad. Surely you could do this? Ryanair sometimes have return flights to all sorts of European destinations for literally £30 or less, though you can only take one small item of luggage. You need to book well ahead to get the really cheap flights, but assume you could do this and just avoid your work days. Airbnbs can be economical ( and very nice!) If you then live as you would at home, the cost of that break is minimal.
We aren’t really bothered by meals out, so can’t help with that one!

I think cleaning is a great choice of job i the OP’s position (semi-retired with the other 5 days off) as it’s active so you are effectively exercising while being paid!

I’m looking for admin jobs for my ‘step down’ to full retirement but I should choose something more active as I’m currently v unfit.

Small houses in the country are quite pricey! Also quite shocked such hugh pressure city jobs only grossed 73k between you. Me and DP are in our 30s and pretty much bumpkins and neither of us are hugely stressed by our jobs but 90k between us. High flying city jobs i assumed would be 100k each!