Spending no more than £12,000 on everyday living in 2018

[BixieThoms]

Me and DP are starting to turn our attentions very seriously to early retirement. We're some years off yet but we're working towards it and thinking about what life will be like when we get there.

In 2018, we've decided to have a practice run on the money front and see if we can bring in our yearly everyday living expenses at less than £12,000 for the year.

We're not including our mortgage payments or what we pay on commuting in this because those costs won't exist when we're retired.

We've worked out that all of our "necessary" bills (not including food shopping) come in at about £400 per month:

Gas/electricity: £60
Council Tax: £95
Water: £23
Phone/Internet: £55
Gym: £40
Dog grooming: £30
Beauty Stuff: £30
Birthdays/Xmases averaged out per month (other people's presents, not me and DP buying for each other): £40
Home Insurance: £10

Monthly total: £383

I say "necessary" as some could be cut but this is how it stands at the minute. That leaves us about £600 per month for food shopping and treats. So, about £150 per week

To try and achieve this, we've got three aims:

• Try and bring in a weekly shop for as close to £40 as possible

In the past, we've had online shopping delivered twice per week (with a minimum £40 spend each time) and have spent an average of about £90 per week on shopping. This year we're going to have cheaper meals whenever we can and try to concoct meals from bits and pieces we've got left over from previous weeks. We're also going to cut down on buying sparkling water (currently costing us about £80 per year and generating lots of plastic waste).

• Shop around for best prices on bills In the past we've been lazy and auto-renewed for basically everything. This year, we've already saved £250 on our home insurance by swapping provider We're looking at energy providers over the weekend and will call our internet provider when our contract is up to see what they can do for us.

• Start accounting for every penny At the end of each month, we're going to download our statement and see exactly where our money's been spent so we can map where it's all going and if there are any ways we can trim this back. Where we get cash out, we're going to account for where this went too. For me, this means avoiding "popping" into the £1 shop where I can very easily spend £10 on basically nothing.

In November, we should have a pretty good idea of how well we've done and we'll use this to set a Christmas budget. We've never had a budget at Christmas before and normally spend £200-£500 on each other. However, we can still have an amazing Christmas on £50 or £100 each so we'll see how much we get

February spending came in at: £515 (ish)

Shopping: £260
Takeaway: £40
Energy bills: £63
Internet: £55
Gym: £40
Dog grooming: £57

So, total for the year so far: £1,075

March might be a bit of a killer- council tax and water bills will arrive and it's Easter in early April. We go all out at Easter but this year we've got a £150 budget

Also started reading Countdown to Tranquility blog which I'm enjoying. Nice to read one written by a woman too

I think you are doing well. Keep it up! I will check out the blog.

What about cars? Petrol? Car Insurance? MOTs? prescriptions? Contact lenses? To name a few?

OP - I just looked at your thread wondering how you're doing, so thanks for the update. Interested as we might be in the same position in a few years. Has it been hard? Every month will be different, ups and downs, so it'll be interesting to see how you get on.

Eager for your match update now I have read the thread!!!

I’m waiting for the March update too. Genuinely fascinating thread and I wish we’d been able to do the same.

Very interesting thread. We're retired and I thought lived frugally, but we spend way more than £12k p.a. Husband retired early so his state pension doesn't kick in for another five years. He manages on his occupational pension, I have two work pensions (one private and one public sector) and my state pension. We both have savings and remains of lump sums from pensions. I can still manage to save some more from my income, husband obviously can't - we split the main bills equally between us plus joint amount for food. (Our largest bill is definitely council tax - just gone up 6.3% grhhh!!!) Our finances apart from this are, and always have been, completely separate. Works well for us!! I think this is a good exercise for OP to do, as we often say we can't believe where our money went when we were working, we must have taken our eye off the ball.

Great thrwad !
Just a thought though-you dont wear glasses etc now but most people do by 40s/50s/60s .
Are you really never going to have car ?

Following with interest!

I have had a few payrises with work but keep putting the excess either into shifting to be gradually more part time (currently 80% hours so 15 weeks off a year) and adding more into my pension (now sitting at about 20% of gross). I’m mid-twenties so at a significantly earlier point and once I’ve finished my training I will be able to afford to up that saving to approx 50% if I work full time, and 40 ish if I do 4 days per week.

I think the thing is that I don’t generally feel deprived by being frugal. I love reading, working in my garden, going for walks, and loads of other free activities. I like to go on holidays and things but even those can be done cheaply when you have time to plan.

The key thingy for me about financial independence is that then I could (and likely would) choose to work, but I could do a day or two days a week at the CAB or with another voluntary organisation, and it would be my choice whether to do that, or some consulting work or whatever.

I said in the OP, we're not factoring in commuting as this won't exist when we retire. We don't have a car.

So is the intention to never go anywhere that isn't walking distance? Or are you considering leisure transport as 'free' at the moment because you're using the season tickets you have for commuting? I don't think it's realistic to imagine you'll spend literally nothing on transport.

What about socialising and clothes?

Not a dig, am genuinely curious. I'm around your age and easily spend £200 a month on socialising and £150 on clothes, shoes etc.

Just in the past week some 'random' expenses have been;

Train ticket to see friends (I don't have a car) -£20
Drinks in the pub £15
Top from Primark - £10
Running socks - £13

How do you account for all these things?

going I’m not the op so am a reasonable amount younger but I tend to: buy clothes second hand a lot of the time (better for the environment anyway), find primary is fine for socks, and I’ll often have people over for a a not-fancy meal, or suggest we meet up to go for a cycle or a walk, or round a museum etc, so save there. I do go out for lunches and dinners and drinks - I probably spend £70-£100 on that. Clothes, I bought new socks from primark this winter (lots so I think £7.50) and some new leggings (£12) and then I’ve had two second hand jackets and a pair of suit trousers (£18 total - Hobbs and jaeger), three second hand jumpers (£14 total - 2x fatface, one joules), a second hand scarf (£1), second hand top (£6 - joules) and I think that’s it for this winter, except reheeling my boots for £15. So that totals £44 for the season.

My “fixed” expenses only come to £750pcm inc the mortgage so if I assume I’ve paid that off then it goes up to having £700pcm to play with even after paying house and car insurance. (Obviously would only be £200 if I assumed I was living on half of £12k though, which would be bloody tight!)

Sorry, £64 this season, about £11 per month.

I know lots of people are forced to live in less than £1000 pcm but I think I'd be quite depressed at the idea of having to do that forever.

Limited holidays/treats/day's out. I'm struggling to see the attraction

I'm enjoying the thread ...update?

OP, we'd love an update, even if last month didn't work out so well. We all have different needs and it's a question of whether you personally can live within your budget.

How’s it going OP?

I think it’s killed her

@ifonly4 has it? Or maybe you have wisely decided to frugally cut down on mumsnet!