I came out of my hotel room and walked with swag to the hotel reception to checkout. I was proud of the fact that I’d come in massively within budget and had more than enough cash to settle the additional charges for my hotel room. The receptionist hands over my bill and all I can see is a bill for £1067(!) when I’d been expecting to pay for the one £23 breakfast buffet meal that I’d charged to my room. My eyes popped but I tried really quickly to cover the alarm bells. We usually get hotel bookings made centrally so that no one has to settle such huge bills on their personal cards but it appeared that someone had forgotten to do so. Continue reading
Author Archives: luxuriouslythrifty
Love. Death. Time
I watched Collateral Beauty earlier and Will Smith (how is that man still gorgeous at 50?) plays a character who loses his young daughter. His major postulation is that there are only three abstractions to life. Three things that unite all of mankind. The desire to love. The fear of death. The wish for more time. Continue reading
Focusing on the journey instead of the destination
I named this blog “Diary of a reformed spendthrift” after I had the epiphany that I had been living a life of financial irresponsibility. It’s past tense and alludes to the fact that I’m a finished product, that knowledge of my previous state of mind would automatically propel me to the destination that I seek – one of luxurious thrift. My previous posts on failing my ‘£1 a day on food’ challenge and my extremely spendy February share my frustration at my seeming inability to spend in line with my aspirational budget. Continue reading
Unnatural frugality
It’s two thirds of the way through March and I’ve failed [yet again] another challenge of mine. I went 18 days before I capitulated and spent £15.75 on a Sunday roast after a hard game of football. This roast dinner came right after a work trip to Milan where I was able to indulge (courtesy of my company) on some rather splendid meals with my colleagues. I had no will when hunger struck to wait till I could go home and cook something. These aren’t excuses, just facts.
My ‘one day’ list | A gradual transition to ‘one day’ from today.
How many times have you thought about doing something, or read about someone else’s achievement, and thought “I want to do that, but I’ll do it one day”? I bet it happens a lot. I’d even bet that it’s happened once this week. With the number of things and people and skills I admire, I’d argue I experience this at least once a week. It’s otherwise known as the bucket list but I haven’t used that term because apparently that’s a millennial thing and apparently I’m not a millennial. Continue reading
#givinguplazy – update 15.03.17
I’m over halfway through the month and so far March is looking a lot better than February was. It’s super challenging trying to spend £1 a day given the haphazard nature of my days, splitting my life between my place and my girlfriend’s on different sides of the river, tons of socialising and a massive appetite. It’s also challenging trying to do loads of exercise and sport and get out of bed early when I feel so exhausted a lot of the time.
Full details of why I’m giving up lazy
Continue reading
#givinguplazy
I’ve had a rather interesting first full week of giving up lazy. For those of you who are new to this blog, I wrote about my outrageous February spending. I had a lot of takeaways. I got Ubers a few times. I didn’t cycle in spite of the fact I got my new bike nearly a month ago. It was outrageous, shameful and unsustainable. I decided on Shrove Tuesday that I was going to give up [being] lazy for Lent. Continue reading
February update | a saver’s nightmare, a spendthrift’s heaven
I went for a quick drink with a mate of mine that I haven’t hung out with for ages. She wanted to know about love, and work and life in general. Somehow we got onto the topic of aiming for early retirement. Her response was a sigh and “you bloody millennials and believing that you can retire early! The only way you can retire, is to keep working till you’re 65.” She’s worked in finance her entire career and has no faith in bonds, stocks or property as a vehicle for long term passive income. She might be right but the only way we can find out is if I keep aiming for FIRE so I’m not giving up yet.
You can view my 2017 goals, or read my January review too. Continue reading
Draft 2: liberty within 12 years
I had a conversation a couple of weeks ago with one of my more frugal friends. We used to live together and she was my saving grace when I needed someone to help me manage my finances. Let’s call her Sasha. Sasha lived in the smallest room in our 3 bed house, paying less rent and owning the least amount of stuff. She shops at Lidl – she swears by their cheap organic produce – and cooks a lot of her meals at home. She spends only on what matters to her – food, relationships, craft beer and travel – and buys good quality clothes and shoes in order to get durability and long wear out of them. She shops for deals and has a decent source of passive income. In our conversation, she revealed me that for the last 2 and a half years, she’s been putting away 50% of her salary in her pension.
Keeping up with Yoko*
*Which is not her real name
In the personal finance blogosphere, there is a general derision for any desire to keep up with the Joneses. We are encouraged to chart a different path, embrace different choices and follow the road less travelled. I’ve also recently read an article, possibly from the Our Next Life blog, about how this conversely sets a different kind of target. FIRE enthusiasts are keeping up with a different kind of Joneses (perhaps we should call them the Smiths who seem an altogether more frugal sort). This morning I saw a Facebook post. My friend Yoko is coming back to London after months of travelling. And it got me thinking. Whilst I might eschew living like most people, I definitely want to live like Yoko.
Diary of a reforming spendthrift 