Planning and budgeting. Budgeting and planning.
Welcome to life in your thirties. There is never enough money since it just goes straight back out the door.
There is a big argument in politics this week about the recent interest rate hikes form the banks which have almost doubled in the past year and how savings rates are still on the floor.
It makes no sense that the banks are charging twice as much to loan out money but are not giving any extra to the people providing the money in the first place.
My $10k in the bank is earning nothing every month but losing value every week that it's sitting there. On the other hand the bank are making hundreds a month off that same money.
It's crazy.
At the moment we are focused on two big events happening in the next couple of years. A new house and a wedding.
The new house is going to set us back about 459k and the wedding another 50k.
That's a lot of dosh and big loan that we're going to have to take out. Since we already have a mortgage on a small house at the moment it's a bit complicated but I'm going to view and old house in the area this week that could be renovated.
It's 235k and another 150k would make a nice job of the site. I would rather a ready to go house but there are none for sale around here right now.
Either way it's about saving every penny for the next year or so and try to make these things happen.
If we could get the house sorted this year it would give us some breathing space for the winter to save as much as possible.
It might sound silly to watch the pennies but that is how you make the big numbers happen. Cutting out that $10 from your weekly shopping and it's $520 into the pot.
Cancel that Spotify subscription and it's another $120. Cut out a few date nights and you have $500 right there. It's just as nice to go for a walk and a coffee. Movie night in. It all ends the same way regardless.
I should get a big jar and keep taking photos every week as it fills up from all of the spending that we cut out. You wouldn't feel a few thousand euro over the winter just by making a few small cuts.
Then the other side of the coin is to earn a little bit more when and where you can. Most of mine will be online but there are always short jobs for cash if i have the time and energy.
Even before that I can make sure to post on hive every day.
I spent the weekend rearranging my splinterlands cards for more rental income. It took a few hours but should pay off once land goes live and my higher PP cards become more valuable.
Keep adding to my HBD savings account every week and build funds that way. Compound every account and have it producing some returns every day.
You can earn more money or spend less but it's the combination of both that is really powerful.
That is what will help me achieve my two big goals in life right now. That and my fiance as well. She is coming around to a better way of thinking now that she has the same tow goals in mind.
Less shopping, more saving.
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Yep. It was nice spending money when things were good, but now I'm reassessing - especially as we are going to UK in 2024 and it's 51 cents to the pound. Fuck, well, I did that in 2001 and travelled for a year on 3000 bucks and the aussie single parent pension for six months of that before it was cancelled. I never ate out at all. I carried food around in a shopping bag. Best year of my life.
Goodbye Spotify, goodbye all the streaming services except for Netflix that I skank my sister in laws password, goodbye all the things I wasn't paying attention to but sure as hell are now.
I have this AWESOME bank account that has a 'maybuys' function. You put in the URL of the thing you want to buy, with the price (eg the DJ Mavic Pro 3 drone I want). You work out how much you can pay over time, say $100 a fortnight, and they work out how many weeks it'll take, and then take out that amount until the money is saved. When you save it, you withdraw it and buy the thing, or if you change your mind at any point, you just swap the money back to your account.
I love it.
And I decided to save the $35 i was spending on coffee every week. 1155 bucks so far this year. THe trick is having willpower to resist. We've said it's okay to have a coffee out as LONG AS YOU ARE SITTING DOWN TO ENJOY WITH FRIENDS. So the little clause there helps.
Maybe I should put this in a post.
It can be done. It's just not that fun to do it.
But in the long run it's amazing to achieve bigger goals than a coffee. You have the right idea by cutting out the small stuff and it will pay off for the future. 51 cents to the pound is severe so you will need every cent of it.
I've never heard of a "maybuys" function before. but it sounds like a useful tool for budgeting. I have a change jar on my account. Every time that you use your card it rounds to the nearest euro and puts the loose change in your savings account. Our one goes towards the wedding and it all adds up over time.
Very useful information! Thanks for sharing.
In my country, we have heard lectures on how to manage our spending wisely so as not to spend beyond our earning but most of us lack the discipline to go about this.
It's really useful but it will require discipline for anyone to follow suit. Good luck friend.
You can say this again and again. We must be very intentional about regulating our spending and ensuring it always falls below our earning.
Good luck on your upcoming projects.
It's about looking after those small details.
We can earn a bit extra online so if we budget at the same time it can lead to good things.
Best of luck with the house hunting man. I'd be inclined to be very patient to though and not rush into buying the wrong house. Make a list with herself of things you really want that are non negotiable and then start looking. Doer uppers can get very expensive very fast especially with materials and labour prices how they are.
I'll tell you one thing though, the auld euros are not stretching nearly as far as they were, so everyone is going to have to tighten their belts a little and you've some excellent tips here on ways to start 👌
We might have to leave it until next year with the banks. Going to view this house tuesday but we haven't been saving regularly.
We have the money put away but they want regular savings. Hopefully a better option comes up later and we are ready to jump straight in.
The euro's don't last long anymore. Hungry kids burn through most of them.
Stop man we're the exact same the cost of everything seems to be just going up up and there's no end to it, so come the end of the month there's a little to nothing left for any discretionary spending. I see Holland in Germany both going into recession as well so I'm sure we're not too far behind along with other nations so I think there's going to be more inflation, interest rates going up, cost of living going up all of that good stuff but if you have cash in the bank that could be a good time to get a good deal over the next few years in terms of housing so my advice will be patient and wait for the right one for you guys. Don't rush into buying the wrong house and pay particular attention to location. I know people who built or bought in the wrong location and ended up regretting it so just make sure that the location is right for you guys maybe rent in the area you're thinking about buying in first to make sure it's suits.
Add time and patience to the mix and you'll be rich in no-time :)
Hello friend, very useful information shared. A friend once said that humans spend more that they earned and that is really true, that's how life is but everything can be managed with a little discipline. Good post there!
Earning is difficult but spending is very easy, anyways budgeting will help us make good financial decisions
It's how much you spend or how you spend...👍🏼