NO-vember – a financial experiment
Discussion
Presumably, you'll be eating Tesco Market Value and Sainsbury's Basics... and only buying other stuff if it's on 50% discount. Plus only using heating when you really cannot bear the cold.
Additionally, you should not use your mobile phone* nor cable/satellite TV as they are luxuries many pensioners might not be able to afford.
* - I'd make an exception to receiving calls as a PAYG with no credit can still be used to receive calls.
Additionally, you should not use your mobile phone* nor cable/satellite TV as they are luxuries many pensioners might not be able to afford.
* - I'd make an exception to receiving calls as a PAYG with no credit can still be used to receive calls.
Edited by Hoofy on Wednesday 10th October 09:36
£1250 a month is plenty of money to live on if you have no mortgage or rent to pay. I live a comfortable lifestyle on considerably less than that. I work from home so plenty of heating used throughout the winter.
Bills for everything including car insurance for 2 cars + Sky TV, broadband\mobile phone etc comes to less than £600 a month, leaving £650 for food and going out which we do at least once a week. If you want to set yourself a challenge knock another £500 off!!
Bills for everything including car insurance for 2 cars + Sky TV, broadband\mobile phone etc comes to less than £600 a month, leaving £650 for food and going out which we do at least once a week. If you want to set yourself a challenge knock another £500 off!!
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 10th October 10:49
Isaac, now you're retired, if you're not disabled and fancy a part-time earner why don't you do 15-20 hours a week with us as a private hire driver? It's open-shifted so you log on or off whenever you like and you should take home a tenner an hour. Good laugh to be had, gets you out the house, and pays a few of those little extras all pensioners really deserve. 
(old guys make the best drivers!)
(old guys make the best drivers!)anonymous said:
[redacted]
Sounds like a great idea - more people should do this. Good luck!I try to do this a couple of months a year but I really find that I am kidding myself.
The costs that usually get missed are:
- Car depreciation. (Unless you think you will die before your car.)
- Car servicing, tax, insurance.
- Holidays.
- Clothing.
- Home insurance.
In other words - it is possible to have a couple of frugal months and convince yourself that is what you can live off but in reality there are some chunky one-offs every year or every few years which need to be included!
I did a week not long back living on £30 worth of food as inspired by a Pistonheads topic. It was VERY boring, no treats and a lot of cooking big meals freezing and eating the same thing a couple of days later or for lunch the following day but it can be done.
My dad recently retired and he seems to be living a nice life, ofcourse he could be spending my inheritance and not just living off his pension but he gets by nice enough.
My dad recently retired and he seems to be living a nice life, ofcourse he could be spending my inheritance and not just living off his pension but he gets by nice enough.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
What about holidays / You havent said anything about ur accustomed lifestyle.You may be able to live on what you say above as the essentials, but how do you live at the moment ? The golf club membership , 2 weeks in Tuscany in the summer and a new Jaguar every 5 years , all im saying is that you will eb retired so more lieky to spend money on hobbies and will not want a drastic lifestyle reduction from what you are accustomed to just now.Glad i'm not the only one who does this - though i tend to do 0-ctober.
Struggling to come up with reasons not to go to various Drinks (female friends are the worst for whinging). Food-wise it's easier, as i just buy any 2 for 1 stuff.
Property maintenance was £7 - managed to fix a leaking drain pipe with liquid glass-fibre instead of paying roofer.
Bills, Monthly Travelcard, Mobile are all fixed (£400) - not much i can do about this for now - TV and Gym have been ditched so 0.
Petrol - cold rainy weather has but me off walking & public transport - used up over half a tank in less than 2 weeks (£35).
Struggling to come up with reasons not to go to various Drinks (female friends are the worst for whinging). Food-wise it's easier, as i just buy any 2 for 1 stuff.
Property maintenance was £7 - managed to fix a leaking drain pipe with liquid glass-fibre instead of paying roofer.
Bills, Monthly Travelcard, Mobile are all fixed (£400) - not much i can do about this for now - TV and Gym have been ditched so 0.
Petrol - cold rainy weather has but me off walking & public transport - used up over half a tank in less than 2 weeks (£35).
Edited by fido on Friday 12th October 10:18
To Issac all I can say you must live in a very large house and use a hell of a lot of resouces, you could sell the 6 bed and move to a smaller home to free up some outgoings and fill up the slush fund.
60 quid a month for water, is ouch, if your on a meter check for leaks.
Plus 720 quid for home insurance ,sell some gold maybe? Less to insure plus extra in the kitty.
Bullit
60 quid a month for water, is ouch, if your on a meter check for leaks.
Plus 720 quid for home insurance ,sell some gold maybe? Less to insure plus extra in the kitty.
Bullit
We made an art of smart food shopping when we were living on a shoestring a few years ago. It can be quite good fun and rewarding when you succeed 
One simple answer to getting your food costs down is to shop as often as possible and buy only what you need each time.
If you shop regularly in the evening you can get loads of deals on fresh stuff which saves a lot. Cutting down on meat forces you to get creative so you can learn some new stuff too... although we haven't been able to achieve this yet
Be very wary of special offers. The "buy more to make savings" type offer often means you pay the extra, believe you've got a bargain and then throw the additional stuff out, so you've essentially paid extra for nothing. If that makes sense
Being a rich country we don't half chuck a lot of stuff out. If you're a couple and you can't make a wheelie bin last a month I reckon you're wasting far too much.
One simple answer to getting your food costs down is to shop as often as possible and buy only what you need each time.
If you shop regularly in the evening you can get loads of deals on fresh stuff which saves a lot. Cutting down on meat forces you to get creative so you can learn some new stuff too... although we haven't been able to achieve this yet
Be very wary of special offers. The "buy more to make savings" type offer often means you pay the extra, believe you've got a bargain and then throw the additional stuff out, so you've essentially paid extra for nothing. If that makes sense
Being a rich country we don't half chuck a lot of stuff out. If you're a couple and you can't make a wheelie bin last a month I reckon you're wasting far too much.
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