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
Tag Archives: Goals
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
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#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.
January tracking & goals update
Yay, the longest month of the year has ended. We get paid before Christmas day in December. That, coupled with January’s 5 weeks, always meant that it was a broke week to ten days at the back-end of the month traditionally.Last year, I had already borrowed money from at least one source by this point. In light of all the depressing news in the world right now, I’ll cling onto this positive. I could have gone on a couple more weeks into February without being paid. Continue reading
20 (not-so-frugal) days | #ufm2017 update
I should probably stop saying that I’m taking part in the uber frugal month challenge. Nothing about the last 10 days (since my last update) is particularly frugal. It’s been weeks one and two at my new job so there have been many lunches with colleagues. I’ve also struggled to manage my energy in the afternoons and succumbed to the temptations of a coffee and lemon drizzle pick-me-up at my nearest Benugo.
How sucking at being frugal still trumps being a spendthrift
I’m 15 days into my uber frugal month and I’m going to be honest, I’m failing. I suppose I’m not just failing, as my last update showed, I’m failing hard. I’ve taken Ubers, I’ve bought clothes, I’ve bought lunch and takeaway repeatedly. I bought an awesome pair of yellow sneakers that I totally adore but given that it’s been raining a lot, they might not have been the most practical purchase. Essentially I’m pretty sucky at being frugal.
Diary of a reforming spendthrift 