Goals for the New Year

So one of the goals for 2017 is to spend some more time with these people ! We would also like to go on holiday together but in order to do that we will have to radically reduce the budget for things like clothes and entertainment. So, Mr Shoestring and I are not going to buy any ' new to us' clothes in 2017 unless we absolutely have too. We have plenty of clothes, including pyjamas, but might need some new shoes or underwear at some point, but we shall try very hard not to spend anything ! We usually buy at jumbles sales, make at home or use charity shops. MasterShoestring is going to do work experience in July with USAShoestring, so that air ticket is going to take all the holiday money. MasterShoestring is growing a lot and will need new school uniform at some point and new shoes, so it is not realistic to include him in a clothing fast.

The entertainment budget is very small, at £10 a month but we shall try very hard not to spend anything, as together with a clothing freeze, this should generate enough money for a cheap holiday, around £400 total cost. Otherwise we shall have to do a staycation whilst MasterShoestring is in the USA.

The other goal is to try and spend £2000 less than last year in order to live on £18000 a year. This is a practice for retirement and if we can do it should mean that I can study all year and not have to work. We have done this in the past and managed it, but I think it will be very tight and I might end up having to bring in some income. If we can manage it then we can reach early retirement next year which would be amazing !

We also have other goals like learning how to use our fancy digital camera for photos on the blog, get the garden in shape to be more self-sufficient and learn to knit socks, but details of all of those are for another day.

If you also have tight financial goals this year you might want to head over to Frugalwoods who are running an ultra frugal January campaign to show people just how much they could save towards their goals if they only spend on needs.

Good luck with your goals and Happy 2017 !