Clearing debts the anti-mustachian way

[Imma]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/dec/31/quitting-smoking-getting-out-of-debt-guardian-readers-resolutions-kept

"Cassie, 25, London: ‘I cleared my debt as one day I’d like to buy my own place’
On New Year’s Day 2017, I made the resolution to get myself out of the £5,000 credit card debt I had accumulated. I made a strict budget which involved going back to basics: I wrote down my weekly allowance and limited spending to food, travel and the gym. I decided to eat out only once a week and stopped having takeaways. I stopped kidding myself I could afford everything London has to offer and set the ultimate goal of one day owning my own place. Twelve months later, I’m a step closer.

I felt tempted to spend more all the time – it was like having a little devil on my shoulder. I’m a real foodie, so I think it’s good I’ve been able to hold back from eating out all the time or trying new restaurants. I did keep my one holiday a year and treated myself while I was away. It was the same with Christmas – I wanted to enjoy being with my family and not have any restrictions on the time we spent together.

For anyone trying to save money, it’s good to come up with a weekly budget rather than a monthly one as otherwise you’ll spend the whole lot in one go. Decide what’s really important and don’t completely cut out something you know you can’t do without – you’ll just find another way around it.

Not feeling the strain of debt on my shoulders every day has given me a lot more hope and focus than I thought it would, and it’s actually made me feel quite proud. I think 2018 will be the year of savings."


The good thing is: she did get out of debt and plans to save in 2018. Even though at this rate it will probably take until 2040 before she has a London-sized downpayment.

[Just Joe]

And the London downpayment size doesn't stand still either...

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Eating out once a week is not my idea of frugality, however it may be a good way to socialize and make business connections. At least she understands the relationship between cooking at home and saving money.

[Plugra]

Considering that the average American family spends 50% of its food budget at restaurants, 'cutting back' to one restaurant meal a week is real savings.  (Maybe the UK stats are different?)   And if she goes out for one lunch per week with friends, instead of several takeout dinners by herself, that's a solid improvement.

[Gimesalot]

I hate how people always use "being a foodie" to justify their crazy restaurant spending.  DH and I are foodies.  He's a chef and has worked in the restaurant industry for years.  We always run into "foodies" that want to talk about the lasted and "greatest" restaurant but then we we try to talk to them about food, they are clueless. 

[jinga nation]

I hate how people always use "being a foodie" to justify their crazy restaurant spending.  DH and I are foodies.  He's a chef and has worked in the restaurant industry for years.  We always run into "foodies" that want to talk about the lasted and "greatest" restaurant but then we we try to talk to them about food, they are clueless.

^ This.

All my "foodie"-claiming family and friends brag about the ambience, decor, price, presentation, etc. No one mentions the intricate details of the food. What cuisine? If fusion, what blends? How is different from traditional <culture> cuisine? How's the food? What ingredients? What gives the umami? The last one is almost always answered with "What's Umami?"

[newgirl]

Seriously. My brother in law and sister are FOODIES. FOOOOOOOODIES. I've never seen anything quite like it before. You know what they (mostly he) did? LEARNED TO COOK. lol. They never eat out. And his food rivals the best restaurant meals I've ever had. They eat like that every day.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Seriously. My brother in law and sister are FOODIES. FOOOOOOOODIES. I've never seen anything quite like it before. You know what they (mostly he) did? LEARNED TO COOK. lol. They never eat out. And his food rivals the best restaurant meals I've ever had. They eat like that every day.

No kidding. Most of the foodies I know meet this definition simply because it's logistically impossible to dine creatively and well, indulging most of one's culinary whims, in anything except a major city where there are lots of specialty chefs.

[MgoSam]

From a Mustachian point of view, I agree with eating out. That said, it sounds like this person has made some good strides in having better finances.

I also like the approach of having a goal and then writing down what you need to obtain it. Then in order to do that you mind yourself creating new habits and patterns that can set the stage for further gains.

For instance, I want to fight this year and so that means I need to train. I am at my gym 5 nights a week doing muay thai and BJJ, but I also need more cardio and strength training and don't have time in the evenings. To make time I'm getting up at 6 so that I can go to the gym beforehand. In order to do this I am going to bed earlier so that I am more likely to wake up and so that I don't lose out on sleep. To do that I need to cut down on TV and spend more time reading as I tend to sleep earlier when I do.

I believe it was in the book "The Power of Habit" that the writer talked about an overweight frequently unemployed overweight women with credit that decided to run a marathon and within a year had given up smoking, dropped a ton of weight and been working steadily for months.

[londonstache]

My concern would be that she appears to view cutting spending as depravation, rather than viewing it as reducing wastefulness and a productive exercise in its own right. I would love to be proven wrong, but I would be very surprised if her rate of savings isn't significantly slower than her debt clearance rate, particularly as the somewhat nebulous target of "save for a house deposit at some point to buy in London" doesn't appear to have translated to something like "save £5,000 in an ISA next year towards a house deposit", which seems more concrete.