Category: Finances

Monthly Spending – March 2022

On By A Way to LessIn Caribbean Adventure, Finances, FIRE, Monthly SpendingLeave a comment

Summary 

Welcome to our March spending post! Our total spend for the month was £3,231 or $3,974. 

This is where things start to get interesting! Half way through March we moved to the Caribbean. The majority of our spending from that point on will be in $US. Because we’re a UK blog and we still think in £, we’ve decided to report our spending in both currencies. This also means it’s easier to compare to previous months. 

On that note, we’re in for a rough ride. Our expenses are going to be significantly higher than they were in the UK. The country we’re living in is very expensive, but there’s also no income tax which helps! There’s 350 days of sunshine too….. 

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Monthly Spending – January 2022

On By A Way to LessIn Finances, FIRE, Monthly SpendingLeave a comment

Summary 

Welcome to our January spending post! Our total spend for the month was £1,907. 

Starting 2022 in positive fashion, with a return to our sub-£2,000 months. We’re aiming to move to the Caribbean in March, so our spending will be changing dramatically soon. For our last month or so in the UK, we’re aiming to spend as little as possible in preparation! 

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Monthly Spending – December 2021

On By A Way to LessIn Finances, FIRE, Monthly SpendingLeave a comment

Summary 

Welcome to our December spending post! Our total spend for the month was £3,756. 

Ouch! 

This month was significantly above average, but not without good reason. 

First and foremost, we’ve been spending more in preparation for our big move to the Caribbean. We’ve both bought new clothes – out with the winter gear and in with shorts and t-shirts! Both of our laptops were also very old so we decided to get one between both of us. We didn’t scrimp for a change and spent £800 to get a higher spec – fingers crossed it was worthwhile! Other electrical items also needed renewing, such as Mrs Way’s straighteners, Mr Way’s electric razor etc. This is a combination of replacing old items and also the voltage being different in the Caribbean so some things won’t work there.  

Once we arrive, buying these things would be much more expensive, so it makes much more sense to sort it all out now, even though it means such a painful total for our last month in 2021! 

As well as that, we’ve paid a car insurance renewal this month. As we’re moving very soon, we’ll get a rebate on most of this though. 

Anyway, on to the December spending post where you can see more detail on all of this and more. 

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Annual Spending – 2021

On By A Way to LessIn Finances, FIRE, Monthly SpendingLeave a comment

Summary 

Welcome to our annual spending post! Our total spend for the year of 2021 was £26,466. For context, this is for 2 adults plus a baby and includes our wedding! 

If you’ve been following our monthly spending posts, you’ll know how this goes. Throughout 2021 we managed to keep our spending pretty low considering we got married in July! 

 We’re really happy with the total as it’s only just over our £2,000 per month target. With the wedding thrown in there as well as an additional family member since July 2020, we’re really happy. 

It was always our aim to spend minimal amounts on Baby Way in the first few years, and so far we have achieved this. 

See below for a more detailed breakdown of our 2021 spending. 

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2021 Personal Review – Mr Way

On By Mr WayIn Caribbean Adventure, Coronavirus, Education, Finances, FIRE, Mental Health, Optimisation1 Comment

First and foremost, Happy New Year to you all! Hopefully 2022 brings you health, happiness and prosperity. It’s time for my 2021 Personal Review – so much has happened this year! 

Happy New Year

Unfortunately, the blog has taken a back seat because we’ve had so much going on in our lives. Fingers crossed we’ll have more free time to spend on the blog soon, because of the decisions we’ve taken throughout 2020 – keep reading to see what I’m referring to! 

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Monthly Spending – November 2021

On By A Way to LessIn Finances, FIRE, Monthly SpendingLeave a comment

Summary 

Welcome to our November spending post! Our total spend for the month was £2,219. 

Firstly, we’re sorry for how late this post is. Work permit applications for our new jobs have taken up a significant amount of time and stress recently. We’ve also been selling our house. This hasn’t left much time for much else, including the blog! 

As mentioned above, we decided to sell our house. We didn’t want the hassle/stress of maintaining a property in the UK while trying to set up a new life elsewhere. It might not be the best financial decision, but certainly isn’t as clear cut as many suggest (“house prices always go up” etc). 

We’re aiming to write several posts documenting our move process in the coming weeks and months. Fingers crossed we’ll have more time for this in the new year!  

Anyway, that’s a brief update, now back to the November spending. 

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Should We Rent Out Our Home?

On By A Way to LessIn Caribbean Adventure, Finances, FIRE2 Comments

With our impending move half way across the world, we’re trying to decide whether we should rent out our home!

The advice of most friends and family is to keep the house and rent it out.

Mr Way’s instinct is rather different with the temptation being to sell up and start afresh.

We write this article in the hope that it aligns our thought and helps our decision making, but also in the hope that some of you might have some advice to pass on!

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