That’s it – we’re back! (Actually, we got back at the end of August but we’ve been kind of busy….)
Over 6 months in the planning, our Africa trip was over in a heartbeat. We saw incredible wildlife, stunning scenery and got to meet some inspirational locals. It was truly a life-changing experience for both of us. We’re so happy we got to make those memories together.
Continue reading “We’re Home! Africa Snaps”Back to reality this month as we tried to settle back into our routine. If you didn’t know, we went to East Africa for all of August and got engaged in July, so it has been all change!!
We break our main expenses down into broad categories starting with the big 3; housing, food and transport. Everything else falls into the entertainment category, with any large inclusions explained in detail.
Continue reading “Monthly Spending – September 2019”Over the last few years we have gone through the process of optimising almost every aspect of our spending. One of the biggest changes has been to our food shopping bill. We managed to cut our bill by more than half!
Food shopping is one of the biggest items in most people’s budgets. If you can manage to cut this in half like we did, it can have a huge impact on your ability to save more. All of these savings can really add up and help you to retire earlier!
Continue reading “How We Cut Our Food Shopping Bill In Half”Welcome to the first in the series we’re going to call the Frugal Four! We wanted a way to share the frugal tips and tricks we’ve picked up over the years. The aim is to provide a brief summary of a few little hacks we’ve enjoyed using in the hope it inspires you to save some money yourselves!
Without further ado, here goes!
Continue reading “Frugal Four – Episode 1!”This was a strange month for spending because we were in Africa for almost the whole month! We had already paid for the vast majority of the trip in advance. You can see the damage in previous spending posts!
Continue reading “Monthly Spending – August 2019”Do you plan to leave an inheritance? What about receiving one – do you factor this in to your financial plans?
Inheritance is a divisive subject and people have very strong opinions on what ‘should’ be done. In this post we will explore what inheritance means to us and how we plan for it.
We will split this into two parts; leaving and receiving.
Continue reading “Inheritance”There was a lot going on this month – we even got engaged!!! Excluding the engagement ring and the £500 spend on US dollars for our Africa trip this month’s underlying spending was very much in line with our monthly averages. An annual insurance premium increased our usual housing spend slightly but we were broadly in line with our expected totals.
Continue reading “Monthly Spending – July 2019”As we keep saying on this blog, our general approach in life is to CHALLENGE EVERYTHING!
Because of this, the topic of engagements (and more widely, marriage) is one that immediately makes me feel unwell. The whole process is drowning in so many ‘customs’ and expected behaviours . Many of these come with a large financial impact which really challenge my frugal tendencies!
Something that should be a celebration of your love for each other can easily become an incredibly stressful time. You can find yourself constantly trying to please anyone who might be offended!
That is why I wanted to write about my experience proposing to Miss Way. Hopefully this helps others in a similar situation.
I was determined to make our engagement a special occasion, while still meeting our frugal habits. By following a few simple steps, I think I managed that!
Continue reading “A Frugal Engagement”Soo…we have exciting news! We got engaged!!!!
After just less than 6 years of being together, Mr Way asked me to marry him and I said yes!
So I’ll be asking for lots of frugal wedding advice from like minded FI enthusiasts!!
Continue reading “All Change!”This month was slightly over our ‘normal’ spending of ~£2,000. We had an annual membership fee to pay, as well as a couple of big outlays for our Africa trip added to the total. See below for more detail!
We break our main expenses down into broad categories starting with the big 3; housing, food and transport. Everything else falls into the entertainment category, with any large inclusions explained in detail.
Continue reading “Monthly Spending – June 2019”