Tag Archives: roundup
Surround yourself with the right people and the rest is easy
Hey everyone, the weekend is upon us again!
It has been a lively week here on Money Bulldog so I hope you’ve been keeping up. The highlight of my week came yesterday when we were privileged enough to have our ‘Investing in Whisky’ series mentioned on TheGlobeandMail.com which drove some significant traffic to our site, so I’d like to say a big thank you to them. We’ve been mentioned by some amazing friends and websites in the past but as far as exposure goes this is probably the biggest mention we’ve had so far, apart from when Mr.CBB shares a post to Facebook of course, can’t help but see a huge jump in traffic then.
Keeping control by losing it!
We’ve talked many times in the past about the courageous leap of faith taken by some brave individuals who decide to put it all on the line and start their own business. The challenges faced by these individuals soon present themselves but these entrepreneurs don’t give up, instead they put endless hours of time into selling and marketing their business to others. For some that effort pays off and they find themselves with a nice little business on their hands, generating a solid enough income that is able to sustain them financially. Great, now you’re earning a living from your business it’s time to sit back and relax and get back to living, right?
Could you cope with becoming an overnight millionaire?
Well I’ve just been browsing a popular online news site and came across the story of the 84 year old mother of four from Florida who has just won the biggest unshared lottery prize in American history, $590 MILLION DOLLARS! Why they don’t just round it up to a Billion and have done with it I’m not sure but I think that many of you reading this post could think of a few ways to spend some of that money.
Could You Survive Without a Car?
As more and more people are being forced to edge toward frugal living, many of those people are also seeing the need to make tough financial choices. Some might be able to get away with just cutting back on little things like takeaway food, eating out or certain utilities. Others might have to go a little further and possibly start growing their own food brewing your own beer!
But what if you’ve reached the limits of conventional cutbacks and still feel that you’re way off the mark of financial break even, what then? Is that it, or is there more that can be done? Well, there certainly are more drastic measures that you can take to massively help your finances but the big question is, ‘how far you are willing to go’?
Life’s biggest expenses
Taking kids out of the equation, what would you say are the two biggest expenses that you pay for in your life? I’d say that the majority of people would answer that question quickly and easily in saying ‘my house and my car!’
Well it’s quite obvious that most people – especially if they have a family – cannot live without a conventional roof over their heads. Whilst it’s true that a drop in housing expectations could certainly reduce our outgoings dramatically, we do still need somewhere safe and warm to live. So, if we are going to say that one of the biggest financial outgoings in our lives is pretty much non-negotiable, what about the other one? What about our car?
How much does it cost to run a car in the UK?
After reading an article by a writer from The Telegraph discussing the average yearly cost of running a car in the UK, I’m going to play it safe and say that when you’ve included the cost of fuel, maintenance, insurance, servicing, breakdown cover, road tax and also depreciation/finance payments, then the average annual cost of running a car comes out at roughly £6000 a year. That’s £500 a month! I know that this is an average cost and you may not personally spend anywhere near that amount, but the chances are that you still spend A LOT.
But I Can’t Get Rid Of My Car, Can I?
This is where things really do get personal. I don’t mean that I’d like you to tell me your life story. I mean that the decision of whether it’s ‘really’ possible to get rid of your car is completely dependent upon your own circumstances. It’s important not to just casually toss the idea of selling your car out of the window, though, without first giving it an honest examination. If you think about the way your life is set up at the moment and try to make the decision based upon that, then your answer will more than likely be that there’s just no conceivable way that you could give up your car. Instead, take the time to consider whether there are any changes that you could make to help make car free living a possibility.
For example, if you currently use your car to drive to the supermarket, could you instead order your weekly food shop online? Or, if you currently commute to work and back each day, could you cycle to work instead? I know that cycling to work in the rain each day isn’t everybody’s idea of fun but if it could save you almost £500 a month, would that make the idea worthy of serious consideration?
Would I give up my car?
The only reason I talk so much about not dismissing the idea of giving up a car is because many of the arguments that I’ve mentioned here are one’s that I use myself. My initial reaction to the question of could I give up my car would be ‘Not a chance’. But could I? I mean, really?
If I were to change my lifestyle and circumstances a little, could those changes make a car free life possible? Maybe I should trial it. I’m really tempted to try living without a car for a month, just to see how I get on. Maybe I’ll hate the experience and wonder why I ever wrote this blog post. But maybe, just maybe, I’ll love the fact that I have so much extra cash in my pocket while also helping to save the environment in the process.
What do you think? Could you ever give up your car?
——————————————————————————————————————-
On another note here are 5 of my favourite posts from this week for you to enjoy over the weekend!
Fearless Men ~ What is Manliness?
Reach Financial Independence ~ Defining my dream, little guest house in Guatemala
Canadian Budget Binder ~ I Can Buy It, But Can I Afford It
Also thanks to the following site for including Money Bulldog recently.
Yakezie Carnival Almost Forgotten Edition – Money Reasons
Have a great weekend everyone!
Family Happiness or Financial Security ~ Which Would You Choose?
Well after 7 years of trying Mrs.B has finally got her way and dragged the kids and I over to the other side of the UK so that she can be closer to her family. Whilst I wouldn’t say that we’ve been dragged kicking and screaming (Well not the kids anyway) it certainly has been a tough decision and it’s one that has been hanging over our heads for a long time. Why was it so tough? What makes every decision so tough? Money!!
Those of you who read Money Bulldog regularly will know that I’ve spent the last 10 years of my life running my own business, a business that has allowed us to maintain a relatively good standard of living. When you’ve spent such a long time establishing a business and building up a very loyal customer base it can be tough to leave all that behind and start over.
The other financial roadblock we faced was what on earth to do with our house. Mrs.B and I have been married for over 6 years now and a good chunk of that time was spent renovating a house we bought just after we got married. When we bought our house the housing market was booming and not many people would have envisaged the financial crisis that, unfortunately for us, was just around the corner. As has been the case for many people who own their own home the ongoing housing market downturn presented us with some tough decisions to make, of which the main one was this. Do we stay in a house that we love and have put our heart and soul into renovating just because we might not see a great financial return considering the money we’d spent and the work that we’d put into the house, or, do we sell the house for less than we would ideally like to just to make the move across the country possible?
