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Anon saves up (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/greentext@sh.itjust.works
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[–] 5 points 1 year ago (9 children)

I'd love to but all the logistics are overwhelming for me. What made your sabbatical so good? Was it easy to finance?

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

    Was it easy to finance?

    I mean... yes and no? I earned about £35k+ per annum between between 2013 ish and 2017 ish, and didn't spend much money on hobbies and such and being frugal. So I was saving money without trying that hard, and figured that about £16k was enough to take a year out to try to learn spanish and slightly change careers, if I spent about £1k a month.

    What made your sabbatical so good?

    The complete freedom, living on my own, being able to work on daily and long term goals. I lived in a town that was near london, so it was (kinda) cheaper, walkable, 1 h away from london so I could visit from time to time, and had a climbing center nearby.

    I took the time to get regular exercise, work on my mental health, learn spanish and just live at my own pace. I even travelled a little (I had a holiday I booked in 2017 for 2018 that I was going on anyway to visit LATAM, and Behold The Arctopus was playing live gigs again for the first time in 5 years, and obviously they were not coming to europe, so I went to NY for like 5ish days (3 days + 1 night + 1 morning). [EDIT : I also returned to my country of origin for a month to save money/drop off sentimental value things/visit family, and en route away from europe I visited Denmark to be with a friend for a week for the last time in ages]

    I’d love to but all the logistics are overwhelming for me.

    What logicistics are causing you issues? I stayed in the same place I was in while I was working, and all I had to do was quit my job. There's not much to do... oh. You must be from the US? Healthcare? Good luck with that shit.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    I have questions. How were you able to live for a year on 16K? Even if we disregard healthcare, that wouldn't even cover my mortgage. Let alone food, or especially travel and fun. You Were able to afford a phone? Utilities? Did you have any extras, like streaming services? I'm guessing you have the luxury of public transportation, so I can understand no car payments or gas and maintenance costs.

    Granted, I do live in the US. But I can't imagine everything is that much more expensive here. £16K is like, $20K right now, I'd live for maybe 2 months on that.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Let's see...

    16k is about 1,300 a month. I paid about 700 for rent, and 2018 was before the current inflation wave, so 1,698.95 in today's pound sterling, leaving me with about 600 a month

    I was on calorie restrictions as part of my "get/stay in shape" , and usually ate pasta, rice, eggs and protein powder, with vegetables whenever , small amounts of cheese and condiments/hot sauce. My usual goal for food budget was £10 a day.

    Other expenditures were internet, electric, water and climbing gym membership. That's it. I think I was buying CBD vapes at the time for my anxiety as well, but that was a more occasional expense. I can't remember how much those things were, maybe 40 for internet? I can't remember my mobile phone plan.

    No car, no subscriptions, or other recurring costs. NHS for healthcare.

    $20K right now, I’d live for maybe 2 months on that.

    You spend 10k a month?? I currently earn somewhere between 4-5K dollars , what do you spend that money on?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    I was thinking wrong. I was going off my salary rather than my take home. After taxes, health insurance, and retirement, it's about $6k.

    $1360 for my mortgage, which is really quite good as it's only 3.25%. Im pretty stuck in my house with current interest rates. $516 for one of my cars. $343 for one of my watches. About $300-400 for electricity in the summer, $80 for natural gas. $368 for car insurance. $168 for phones. $87 for internet. And $309 on a loan for some renovations. $30 planned parenthood donation. Typically about $40/week for gas.

    Amazon prime, Disney+, Spotify, Netflix, Paramount+. Idk what else. I guess the rest is just groceries, eating out, and hobbies.

    That's just the stuff I pay from my income, my wife and I never got joint bank accounts. She takes home about 3k, and she pays for our other car, which is $327, her student loan, which is $300, and childcare which is $295/week. Plus she puts money in the savings account.

    This discussion is making me think about the number of subscriptions I have, and the amount of expendable income I waste.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    This discussion is making me think about the number of subscriptions I have, and the amount of expendable income I waste.

    yeah, I have no idea why you're spending 343 on a watch every month. Also, this just re-validates my perspective that a car would just ruin me financially, and would have done so my entire life.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    Well, I could have just bought it. But it's a 0% interest loan. Same thing I did with my other two luxury watches, and it's almost done. Having a two year commitment to it definitely keeps me from looking at any more! I really like watches. It's probably my last one for a long time, anyway. Kids are expensive. $8600 for a watch over two years is cheap compared to $15k a year just in childcare. That's just one kid.

    You can have a car for a lot less, but we have relatively new cars and I opted for a lot of insurance for my own peace of mind. If we had any public transit options, we could get by with one car for sure. But there is nothing here. There is a city bus system that primarily caters to the low income, which is a great start. But it really only goes to like, the grocery stores and the urgent cares. Nowhere near our daycare, and definitely way short of the 30 miles to my office. We also have a shuttle bus that you can call for, that's only $3 a ride, but thats really just for the disabled and elderly. I'd say we have better transit than a lot of metropolitan cities I've been to, but obviously our society is completely car-centric.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Weird thing to wonder about how he can get by with 16k when you obviously have an insanely unnecessary consumption ¯_(ツ)_/¯

    "with my other two luxury watches" rofl

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    I mean, I am aware of that. But 16k wouldn't even cover my mortgage, let alone food and utilities. Adding up just the essentials, housing + food + electricity + natural gas + phone + water, I'm at 27k. Being in the US, I'd say car and health insurance are also necessities. So, you can easily add another 5k or 6k to that.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago*

    If we keep the currencies the same, I know you mentioned earlier that £16k is about $20k, so we're looking at about $7k difference over a year (I understand that car and health insurance are necessities, but that doesn't work in this comparison because OP doesn't have either so it shouldn't be included)

    That's less than $600 a month difference -- and one thing I can immediately point to is your electricity bill. It sounds like you have a family, whereas it seems like OP lived alone for that year. Speaking from experience (currently living alone also in London) my electricity bill is $67 a month, and my natural gas is $33. That's $100, versus about $430 in your estimation (so we're now missing $270).

    I spend a fiver for my SIM card each month and have a cheap phone I paid like $100 for three years ago, so my phone plan is $6.75 vs your $168, which may be for multiple people as you said phones plural, so we've found another $161, bringing us down to $109 difference.

    My water bill is $50, I don't see yours but I am going to guesstimate at a three person household being maybe $80? Either way, I think the difference here is likely to be made by groceries and toiletries, because you've got a family!

    My groceries/toiletries budget is around $470 a month. I could absolutely lower that to around $300 but work is killing me at the moment and I just need to spend more to make my life easier in the evenings.

    So, looking at a monthly groceries/toiletries budget (combined) - is yours at least $570?

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