Heyhey's journal

[wolf]

Hi heyhey! I had a look on your charts. Your controlling and tracking is a great tool to improve. You should do that again. IMO, I think it will help you to get back on the ERE track. And don't forget that you have a much higher SR compared to the average people. You have the mindset and if you focus on consumption reduction/optimization and income increase, I am sure that you will improve things within the next 10 years!

[Bankai]

Saving 40% on low income is a respectable achievement. I'm in a similar situation in terms of income, NW and targeted ERE stash. Can you share your expenses for the last 18 months? Also, what's your total equity in your house and how long do you have left on the mortgage?

[heyhey]

Thanks, Wolf and Bankai. I'm kind of semi-independent now - I'm self-employed, I don't have a job. If my income suddenly went to zero, I might need to get a job for 7 or 8 years, but probably not more. This is because I am in my late 40s now and I could live on the UK state pension which I will get from age 70, so I only have to cover the years until then.

The equity in my house I think is around £275K and I could realise £100K of that by selling and buying in a cheaper area of the country. That is part of my plan for whenever I start to need the money. Right now I might as well stay where I am and let the house continue to increase in value. I have about 6 years left on the mortgage and it is not a large amount.

The expenses I can share for sure but it will take me a while to type it up for all of the months. The totals for the year Jan-Dec 2017 are:

Year 2017

Expenditure total: £10,252
Housing: £3028
Utilities: £1389
Insurance: £311
Groceries: £2234
Household: £372
Health/personal care: £603
Transport: £193
Car repairs & tax: £462
Entertainment: £1027
Clothes: £55
Gifts: £506
Misc: £71

Groceries and Entertainment are the main areas where I should be able to save significant amounts.