Money is not my God. I don’t want to be the richest person in the morgue.
I want my freedom and my choices to be made on preferences unrestricted by money.
We each make our own choices with money and here are some of mine:
- I pay my credit card off in full every month
- I don’t buy coffee out the house (unless on holiday or it’s a long day away from home)
- I (mostly) limit eating out to holidays
- I save 50% of my income
- I try to not buy much stuff
- I don’t get status from paying five times more for designer brands
- I pay my mortgage down
- I happily pay for experiences and especially love travel – this is my biggest annual expense
- I don’t do ‘small treats’ because they add up to a lot of waste and limited upside
- I buy what I want and don’t always buy the cheapest
Each month you should pay yourself first. Put as much as you can into a stocks and shares ISA. Then pay your mortgage (I think you should buy and not rent though there can be exceptions to this). Then pay for essentials. And limit ‘additional’ spending to 1 or 2 % of your net worth.
If you combine the above, you should gradually increase your net worth and therefore the amount you can ‘enjoy’.
There are lots of blogs explaining how to be better with money, my two favourites are
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/blog/
It is an interesting and fun way to spend time finding cheaper ways of having a ‘similar’ experience.
For example, there is no better restaurant than a bench next to the River Thames or a blanket on a green.
Spending money does not make you happy, the experience of the moment does and often that can be free/cheap.
I wish you good fortune! Built on a powerful and sustained money strategy.
MrsSlimmer 