Downshifting

Downshifting / Downsizing to a simpler & better lifestyle

Find us on Social Media..            

Some oversights when home budgeting after downshifting

It's easy to remember the bigger overheads, but...!

Before your downshifting day it's a good and wise idea to sit down and work out a budget for the first year. I did, but to be honest I made a hash of it because I didn't account for many things.

What things? It's simple to calculate the big ones like Mortgage / Rent, Council Tax, Food, Car, regular Direct Debits for home electricity and gas etc. At the same time it's not that difficult to work out how frugal you can be with these things and budget a little lower on some of them, especially food by growing your own, petrol can be reduced by cycling, switching the thermostat on the heating down and wearing an extra jumper etc.
You don't have to reduce everything, it's a balancing act, some more than others and so on.

But what we can do is to easily forget either the unseen expenditures like the car breaking down, the PC blowing up or any other service type things. That's not all though, we need to look at more....

If you have Children

This came to light the other day when I was having a conversation with my daughter, two Birthday Party invitations arrived on the same day. I asked how many Parties my two Grandchildren go to a year and the answer came back as "around 30".
What is the cost of this? It seems that all the Mum's try and keep the present to around £8, then there's the Birthday Card, then the petrol to get them there, so you're looking at a minimum of £10 per Party, so it's £300 per year, or averaging £6 per week. Add to that the cost of your own Children's Party, it seems the average there is a min. of £100 = £400 per year. Frightening, if you're working on say £10 per hour 'take home', that's over a weeks work going on that alone.

Then of course there's Christmas and that can cost a ridiculous amount. With all good intentions of keeping spending down, there's always that last week before the big day where you think it would be nice to have this, that and the other!

Treats and Holidays

The occasional treat and indeed a holiday should be budgeted in if you can, it's pretty imperative to have a break and get away for a few days if possible, even if it is just spending some time at a member of the families house.

The problem with taking time off is that's it's a double loss. You need the money to have the break and you're losing money by not working, so even if a four day break costs you say £400, the total amount could amount to double that.

Pets

I've three cats and the Chickens. Luckily they all seem to have been pretty healthy to date and Vetinary expenditure has been quite good with just the odd visit after a fight or tummy bug. But they're all still either young or middle aged. Sooner or later I know they're going to get something wrong and hearing other peoples woes, I am not looking forward to that!

A {Pet Insurance therefore is a pretty good idea, but make sure you get a good one, it's worth really shopping around, not everything is covered by insurance, so go through the small print and ask lots of questions before parting with any money.

So beware! It's too easy to go into a downshifting experience with rose coloured spectacles! Saying that, it is most important to go in with a positive and confident spirit. There's always going to be worrying things at the back of your mind, but see that as being healthy and sensible - just don't let it get on top of you. Keep smiling!!

              


Balancing the Books


Things you forget about

Downshifting
Articles

_____________________

The most important people to keep happy in a downshifting experience are your family ___________________


___________________