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”Continue reading “Blood Donation”Having just completed my 25th blood donation, I wanted to write a brief article about my experiences so far.
Giving blood is one of the most self-less acts you can do, giving the chance of survival to those in critical condition, or furthering research into life-saving treatments. It’s something I will continue to do for as long as I am able and I hope you will consider doing so as well!
This post will focus on my experience of giving blood with NHS Blood and Transplant in the UK. See www.blood.co.uk for more information. The process will obviously be different in other countries so do your own research.
Mr Way
Our name means a lot of different things to us.
In our quest for a simpler way of living we’re reducing lots of aspects of our lives. We wanted to create this post to give you an idea of what ‘A Way to Less’ means to us and how we are striving to improve our lives throughout this journey.
When people first think of financial independence, they often think you need MORE. More money, to be able to buy more things, to live a happier life. But throughout our journey so far, we have actually found that most of our happiness is generated through LESS.
An easy example of this is going out to restaurants. For some, this is a weekly occurrence (or more!). When something is done so often, it can quickly lose that ‘special’ feeling. It may sound obvious that going out to eat less will improve your financial position. What may not be so obvious is that it is actually likely to make you HAPPIER too.
We only eat out around once per month or two now. Because it is such a treat, we really look forward to each outing and plan it in great detail. When you apply this to various different activities, you soon end up much better off AND happier. A double win!
So without further delay, here are some examples of what our name means to us.
Continue reading “A Way to Less……. What?”This is the latest in the series of SavingNinja‘s Thought Experiment posts.
This is an idea to get bloggers to immediately respond to a question and all post their answers on their blogs. You have to write the first thing you think of and can’t pre-plan or do any major editing.
If you want to see previous versions see SavingNinja’s archives.
This is the first Thought Experiment I (Miss Way) have participated in so please take it easy on me!
So on to the question!
A different opinion is somewhat frowned upon in our clique based society, but some of the greatest minds of all time were outliers. They weren’t scared to go against the grain and stand up for what they believed in. So, for this Thought Experiment, I’d like you to reveal yourself: What opinion do you have that most of your peers do not share?
Continue reading “Thought Experiment 6 – Miss Way”This is the latest in the series of SavingNinja‘s Thought Experiment posts.
This is an idea to get bloggers to immediately respond to a question and all post their answers on their blogs. You have to write the first thing you think of and can’t pre-plan or do any major editing.
If you want to see previous versions see SavingNinja’s archives.
So on to the question!
A different opinion is somewhat frowned upon in our clique based society, but some of the greatest minds of all time were outliers. They weren’t scared to go against the grain and stand up for what they believed in. So, for this Thought Experiment, I’d like you to reveal yourself: What opinion do you have that most of your peers do not share?
Continue reading “Thought Experiment 6 – Mr Way”