Apprentice Fun-Frugalist's Finance Blog

June was 40% NSDs... this is lower than April and May but still pretty good. Can't think of a reason why it should be lower....

My average daily discretionary spend in June was Eur 15.14. This is also higher than April and May. April was about 11 Eur and May about 8 Euro. So it is a big increase. Yet I feel I wasn't a whole lot less frugal in June than in April/May. Obviously I was tho.

The only thing I can point to is that halfway thro May I started buying US dollars for my Peru trip in 2009. I buy $150 dollars every fortnight(payday) for approx Eur 99. So that adds Eur 200 to my monthly spend which is Eur 6.67 per day in June. That makes sense !!

I've thinking about a new discretionary spending plan:

At the start of the month, I give myself Eur10 for every day in the month in cash. Then every day I don't spend the full 10 I can add it on to upcoming days so I can treat myself if I wish. I might try it out in August.

Just back from a night out... am able to type this as I am sober as a judge ! :-)

I work in my home-town and an ex-colleague was back in town tonight so I went to a local bar & club with him and a gang from work.

Stayed on the non-alco beers all nite !! very proud of myself... spent Eur 18 so can't complain about that..

Didn't really enjoy the nite as I felt a bit claustrophobic... in that 99% of my work colleagues aren't from this town so its new to them but to me it's the same old same old..

Got chatting to a really cute local girl... but I made the fatal mistake of introducing her to my good-looking Spanish colleague !! That was me out outta the picture !! lol

So... all in all not a great nite... but I didn't spend much and I won't have a hungover...

& tomorrow is another beautiful day to do it all better !!!!

Got approved for a new CC - one that gives Eur 100 free credit when you make your first purchase... I only intend to use for Internet purchases and pay if off immediately so I'll avoid interest. When my current account is in better shape I will close it.

Also came across a thing that one bank offers in Ireland called a Credit Account. Basically you get approved for a certain amount of credit - in my case it would be Eur 13,000. You can drawdown it down via the Internet as it suits you and you can make repayments as it suits you also - you must pay 2 - 4 % every month but are free to make one-off payments as often as you wish.

The cheapest loan on the Market at the moment is 6.8 % - so I've applied for this over 4 years. However this new Credit Account will charge me 8.15% (approx) but I will be free to make additional payments anytime I want... 20 here, 50 there...etc etc. I am very tempted to go for this as it will mean I will have the money paid back in less than 4 years.

The only temptation is that you will keep drawing down money after you have repaid it ( like a CC)... but I am confident I can withstand it. I'm sure I could have it paid off in 3 yrs or less...

Oh.. happy days :-)

What do you think ?

Best place to start ? With the biggest I guess.... the Loan

Got a Loan from my Bank (Bank A) last March for Eur 13400 over 5 years at 7.7%. This, in and of itself, is a very competitive rate on the Irish market.

The Loan was to pay off an old Loan of approx 4-5K and to purchase a 4 yr old car for €8,700 - along with my 11 yr old trade-in. To cut a long story short, my father had to liquidate his company - a consequence of which was he had to sell his car to pay debt... so my family - 2 parents and 2 brothers - had only my old car to travel about in... which was fine for short errands or for me personally... but really being a "family" car meant more trips and longer ones e.g. to the Airport and reliability/up-keep of an 11 yr old car became a factor... to be honest, I also didn't like my mother put-putting about in an old banger and wanted to get something decent & respectable to ferry her about in....so got a Honda Fit as they're known in the US... a super little car.

Anyway I have a current account with Bank A that charges a Eur 9 Fee every month. Most banks have free banking so decided to change. However if I close the Fee-paying account, the loan interest goes up. So, decided to move loan as well.

Got provisional approval for the cheapest loan on the market at 6.8% - €13,000 over 4 years - with no associated fees or charges.

Then discovered a Bank Account (Bank B) that pays 10% Credit Interest on money in your current account up to a maximum balance of Eur 2000. Bank A pays like 0.15% Credit Interest... so applied to Bank B for a current account and in the process of switching... however Bank B has no branch in my home town - nearest is 40 min drive away so will operate another Free Bank account in my town in case I actually need Bank Drafts/Foreign currency etc...

Have succeeded in paying off my CC (yeah !!) and at the moment am paying off two small overdrafts I have with Bank A. Since my Emergency Fund is so low and my current account is in Overdraft, I don't want to get rid of my CC in case of emergency... especially since my parents are worse off financially than me at the mo.... the plan is to have about Eur 1500-2000 saved up in my new Bank B current account (earning 10%) within the next 2-3 years and then close my CC - I reduced my CC limit to Eur 1500. My debit card will replace my CC at that point.

My current CC offers no rewards. In fact very few CCs do as the Irish market is still like a fat little puppy and is quite uncompetitive - very lucrative for the banks... however I applied for the following today:

Bank B's CC - gives once-off Eur 100 spending money when make first purchase.

Tesco CC - earn clubcard points with every purchase... these points are then converted into vouchers to spend in-store or on affiliated companies.

Sony CC - earn points with every purchase that be exchanged for certain Sony products.

Ideally, I will get Bank B's CC, spend the Eur 100 they give me...on flights for holiday with my mother in September - flights cost 170 so I'll get them for 70 :-) Then close Bank B's CC and get Tesco's CC so I can start earning Vouchers....

wow... what a proper little frugalist I am becoming...lol .... on a related note, my mindset has totally shifted into "how can I make best use of these financial companies and make them work for me". I used to afford them too much respect and feel happy when they accepted my applications.... my eyes have been opened to the almost "war" that's going on between these companies and me- and we're both fighting over who says where my paychecks go.....

Nite All

I am very happy with this.. up 4% since April... got off to a bad start in May but got back on track - 16 of the 31 days were NSD :-) I'm just gonna try to maintain it at this level going forward as I don't think life's little happenings will allow me improve it much.

My average daily spend on discretionary items in April was Eur 11. In May it was Eur 8.87. This is also a big improvement :-)

Well.... time to just feel good for a while !! :-)

Hope everyone has a nice wkend !!

The moment is here.... I AM CC DEBT-FREE !!

Well actually I've paid Eur 43 too much when paying off my CC so the CC company owes me money !!

This is a very serious situation but because I'm a friendly person I'll do the following:

Not charge any interest for 6 months....
Charge 10 % from 6 - 12 months....
Charge 20 % from 12- 18 months....
Charge 30 % from 18 - 24 months...

And if they dare miss a payment, I will of course charge a Eur 100 missed payment fee, add it onto the balance and increase the overall interest rate to 35 %....

that's just the kind of helpful guy I am....hehe

After about 5 years of always having a CC balance in the thousands, it is currently at Eur 42 !! Will be paid off in full by next Friday all going as planned :-)

Anyways, the big 3-oh next May - have been thinking about making a memorable trip to celebrate the cutting loose of the boy Shane and the welcoming of the man.

What I have planned is as follows:

Take approx 3 weeks off work end of April/start of May 2009.

Fly Dublin to New York - spend 2/3 nights there visiting family and friends.

Fly New York to Lima/Cusco in Peru.

Spend 3/4 days trekking on Peruvian horses (luv horses !! ) getting down n dirty in the Peruvian countryside - trying to breathe in as much beauty as possible.

Wanted to visit the famous Machu Picchu site - but then I have read on the net that it is being damaged by tourism so might not visit for that reason- jury is out at mo.

3/4 days white-water rafting - never done this before.

Then rent an apartment in Lima for 6/7 nights to enjoy the city culture and nightlife.

Then back to Ireland.

I want to have all flights, horse trekking, white-water rafting and Lima apartment paid for before I leave...without borrowing in any way. I also plan to have all spending money saved b4 I go.

How to do this ? Well, I have a savings account with Eur 270 in it for overpaying my Personal Loan (I got a Loan of 13,400 last March over 5 years at 270 a month - my plan was to save 270 a month so that I pay it off in 2.5 years). However when I listed out my monthly outgoings, looked at my spending diary since April 1st and looked at my normal salary income... my outgoings are actually higher than my income !! It must be the overtime I've being doing at work that is keeping things pretty balanced.

Anyway, no room for further savings. So basically I've decided to change the Loan Overpayment savings to the Peru savings.

For spending money, I am going to buy $150 dollars every payday ( every 2 weeks) so I'll have $3,300 spending money when I leave... which will be LOADS n LOADS..

This will mean spending Eur 200 more per month than I currently am so I'll have to look into where I'll get this.... it's just occured to me that I won't be paying approx Eur 45 CC interest anymore :-) so that'll help.... more Overtime I guess... if it's going.

Details aside, I really feel I will get a lot from this trip on a personal level... so I consider the saving effort worthwhile and a positive thing as I can focus on improving the things in my life that money can't buy....

Would love to hear from any of you that have been to Peru/ South America with any hints/tips....

Guess I'll have to dig out the Do-it-self Learn Spanish tapes !! lol

btw... I'm also interested in learning to dance the Salsa in the near future... does anybody know if the Salsa is big in Peru ??

Got my car serviced today... was expecting to be paying anything up to Eur 500 but it only cost Eur 145 !! Yeaaahay !

Had to travel to a neighbouring town to get it done so it was sort of a day out:

Spent Eur 10 on haircut, Eur 4 on tea and scone, Eur 20 on groceries for the house and got Eur 20 of petrol on way home. Not frivolous spending... well maybe apart from the tea and scone :-)

The local court was in session so spent half an hour there observing an interesting case about a man who was caught driving with no insurance... love this real-life stuff... glimpses in other ways of being.
Saw a heroin addict being remanded in prison - he actually wanted to stay in prison. Before he was called to the stand, I knew he was an addict... the sunken eyes with the dark patches underneath... and only a young man... such a pity.... makes me realise how lucky I am.

Also today made first payment into a new savings account I have started for future accomodation expenses. Basically my idea is to pay the same amount I pay in rent into a high interest savings account every month. I have no desire to buy a house at this point. The plan is by doing this...I will never have to worry by having a roof over my head.. because effectively every month I am paying for a month's rent in the future and with the power of guaranteed compound interest it will grow into a sizable fund in say 20 years. At that point, I could nearly buy a home outright or travel the world renting as I go.... ahhh Freedom... I love the smell of it :-)))

This was gonna be my 4th NSD in a row... however my colleague is running in a mini-marathon and she brought in her sponsorship card so I gave her Euro 2.... wow I sound like a right old Mr Scrooge !! lol ... I know it is for a good cause :-). I only think twice about it because I was on course to beat my NSD record (4 days)

Cashed in my Regular Savings Acc and received Eur 1894. Today I transferred all this to my CC account via Internet Banking. When it arrives in my CC, my new balance should be less than 100 coz I made a Eur 50 payment a few days ago....soooooo

I AM LITERALLY WITHIN DAYS OF BEING CC DEBT FREE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

On a roll at the mo.... made it though the weekend without spending anything.... & I always find it easier to have a NSD on a working day as there is less time/opportunity to spend.

I know I will have to pay to have my car serviced on Thursday so I'm gonna try hard to keep Tuesday and Wednesday NSD as well...

If I do, that'll be a record - 5 NSD in a row !! :-)

Quiet enough evening today... had no plans made for this weekend. The main reason is because I have my car booked in for a full service next Thursday and this may cost anything up to EUR 500 (with Main Dealer).

I don't mind spending money on servicing as it will hopefully mean that it will give less mechanical problems - I intend to hold onto this car for as long as possible.

Anyhow, after walking my two dogs today, I just drifted around the house and felt a strong urge to drive to McDonalds and get a nice takeaway to perk myself up.... but then I remembered how poorly I am doing so far this month as compared to last month in relation to No Spend Days.... so I made some toast instead !! :-)

Pretty happy that the NSD thing helped me stop comfort-eating... for today anyway !! hehe

Amazing weather in this part of the world !! The hottest its been all year !! :-)

Well it was my B-day last Friday -29- so went out with my brother and a friend for a few drinks... only spent about EUR 14 the whole night but ended up more drunk than I intended/wanted to be... something to do with a friend buying me double vodkas I'd say !! Anyway hungover on Saturday.

Yesterday off to the West of Ireland for a night in Achill. Spent about 4 hrs walking, enjoying the beautiful scenery and taking photos. Went out to dinner. Out for few drinks (help me sleep in a noisy hostel !!). This morning out for a nice walk on the beach... nice breakfast out and home.

Total Cost: EUR 68.25

Am pretty happy with this. I think I got good value for my money... also visited somewhere I'd never been b4.

I am planning to take more Saturday nite holidays to parts of the country I havn't been b4. If the weather is good, I might consider bringing a sleeping bag and sleeping in the car... less noise and cheaper... I'd probably get a better night's sleep.

I'd love to show you photos of Achill but I have a film camera and so will have to wait till the film is all used up and then get them developed. Can scan them onto the computer at the point. Thinking about getting a digital camera but will wait until I have extra money available in my current account - God knows when that will be !! lol

One of the places I have in mind to hit is the summer-long Lisdoonvarna Match-Making Festival... should be a lot of fune!! :-)

April was first month where I tracked my expenditure down to the cent...

14 out of 30 days were No Spend - really happy with this as a first attempt... hope I can keep it up !!

A pair of trousers and money spent on Nights out were my biggest discretionary expenses in April.... I really don't buy clothes very often so I'm ok with buying the trousers but there is definitely room to further improve on the Nights out spending.....

Bank Holiday next weekend.... and is also my birthday next Friday... so decided to spend a night somewhere new....

Have told myself I will visit Achill Island on the West Coast of Ireland for a few months now... so next weekend it is....

I am generally careful when shopping around for hotels etc... and they always nearly double their prices on Bank Holiday weekends.

However booked a bed in a hostel on Achill Island for €17 !! Great Value...

Will drive to Achill next Sunday morning... spend the day walking/ sightseeing, get changed, out for dinner, to the pub for the night and come what may, out for breakfast the next morning, 3/4 hours walking again, then home.

Can't wait. It is supposed to be great craic down there.

Also got €40 today for a CD player I had in my old car !!

Got paid last night and paid €300 off CC. Was only intending to pay €150 off but I reckon I entered an instruction to pay €150 twice in error on my Internet Banking.

Ah well... better spent there than elsewhere... :-)

Sent letter to my Savings Account Provider today to close my Regular Savings Account on its 1st anniversary (3rd May). I'll be putting all that money (approx €1900) towards my CC.

Soooo... should have CC paid off by this time next month !!

My best friens's GF was away in England for the weekend so I headed up to Dublin yesterday to hit the town with my buddy... havn't seen him since Xmas

Had a great nite... We met up with another friend of ours, my buddy's brother and his brother's GF.

The whole trip to Dublin cost me about €110 broken down as follows:

Haircut €10 (havn't had one of these in about 9 months... bought my own electric clippers for €29 last year and have been trimming it myself... saves me €9.50 a month) however decided yesterday to have it cut professionally as I wanted a more sylish look.... as opposed to the number 3 all round I can manage to give myself )

Road Tolls : €5.40
Takeaway at friends house: €15
Taxi: €10
Alcohol: €70

There were only 3 of us in the round.... My best friend always pays his way... in fact I have a job sometimes getting him to let me pay for things (I've always been fiercely independent). For example, I parked in the city centre while we went into town...me for a haircut and him to buy suits... as soon as I put the parking ticket into the payment machine, he had put money in to pay the €6 before my hand had got to my pocket.... this is such a change from the lesser "friends" I sometimes ferry about who disappear or go silent and stare at their feet at payment machines :-) As I said, I'm fiercely independent and am generous with my friends, but don't want to be seen as a soft touch either.... I guess one of the ways you can tell who u're real friends are is by how readily they part with their readies !! :-)

I really enjoyed the trip... 1. I got to catch up with my best friend. 2. I had a good night out surrounded by other young party-goers. :-)

Got chatting to 4/5 women... including two Americans !! one from New York and one from California... Met two wonderful Irish girls from Dublin. One of them was really nice.... a cute red-head -early 20s... when her friend robbed my drink (as Irish girls like to do... in a playful way but knowing that the man will usually let them keep it anyway... he is usally too embarrassed/ chivalrous to ask for it back)... she made some remark to her and took it from her and handed it back to me .... also when her friend started talking to another group of men, she had to accompany her (girl power !!)... however, she came back over to me and explained that her friend was chatting to the other guys and she had to follow.... SO NICE.... I told her she didn't have to explain herself, she could do as she wanted and that she was a lovely girl ... Was kicking myself today that I didn't get her number... had quite a lot to drink last nite... my buddy and I always do when we go out together ( met in college)... If I was sober, I'm sure I would have got her no.

So lessons learned:

1. GET OUT MORE.
I've been living like a monk for too long now. Up until now, I've kinda fell into the frugal-means-denial of pleasures-means-no fun. While I have cut my spending drasically (started a spending diary on April 1st and record every cent), I also want to make the most of every healthy day I am blessed to receive. I am young, free and single. I want to live life to the absolute max.

2. STOP DRINKING WHEN YOU ARE OUT.

A. To be honest, drinking does nothing for me. In fact, when I drink too much I lose the ability to speak !! haha. I am a much better conversationalist when sober/just lightly oiled. Isn't it so hard to know when to stop drinking when out in a bar !! A famous Irish playwright, John B Keane (who was also a publican), said "you've only had enough alcohol when you've had a little too much" !!

B. I know everyone gets hangovers after a night of drinking but I think I am particurly susceptible to a sort-of minor depressive/lethargic episode lasting for 2 days after... alcohol definitely has a depressant effect on me. Hangovers also mean sugar-cravings, mean chocolate, mean bad day for toning up body !!

C. With hindsight, I can see that I used alcohol to self-medicate my social anxiety/ shyness when in college. I am over that now. I don't need it now.

D. It is an expensive habit. I have a receipt here showing a Jack Daniels and Coke.... guess how much.... €7.90... rip-off.

E. The fundamental essence of why I, as a young single man, go out is to meet and talk with girls I find attractive. I can do this better without drink on board. I want to bask in and savour my anxiety when approaching a cute girl... I want to feel a whirlwind of butterflies in my stomach when I see her eyes light up while talking to me... I DON'T WANT TO DEADEN THESE FEELINGS WITH ALCOHOL. These feelings of nervousness, excitement "oh God, I think she likes me" are pearls of life. I'm going to focus on spending only what I need to get talking to cute girls... decent clothes, tidy personal grooming, a few cheap soft-drinks/juices... thats it. The rest is free. As are all the best things in life :-)

Sorry for writing such a long post... but I am only coming out of my hangover now...(have been drinking water all day and urinating like a racehorse !! lol) and hangover = slow, drawn out actions :-)

How much money have you spent on buying drink for ladies that you have just met in a bar or nightclub ???

In my case, over the last say 10 years, I say I could go on a very nice 2 week all-expenses trip to the Seychelles with that money !! lol

Anyways, us Irishmen have it drilled into us that it is courteous/ gentlemanly to buy drink for the women in your company. I think it grew out of the fact that my mother's generation were expected to give up work ( in fact they were forced to resign from Government job) when they got married. Therefore, they were financially dependent on men for a social life.

However, Irish women today are liberated, employed and kicking the men's asses in the education stakes. They are happy to take the place of men in every area of life apart from ordering drinks at the bar !! lol

This is no joke - many women I know will go out on a Saturday nite with €10 in their purse - the price of 2 beers or 1 cocktail - and chat to strange men who will buy them drink after drink - with no intention of dancing with or God forbid, the forward so-and-so, "I can't believe he just asked me to kiss him" kissing him.

Men of the world unite. Put your hand in your pockets and leave them there !!

I have observed that the more a man defers to a woman... one example of which is buying her drink.. another is acting like a gentlemanly guard dog who has been neutered... the less chance he has of making out with her that nite.

The guys who actually pay the women the least attention.... who make the woman feel as if she is lucky to be talking to him and not vice versa... these are the guys who you will see dancing the George Michael Smoochie sets. :-)

Anyway, this isn't a dating advice site - apologies if I have gone on too long.

The point is 2 weeks ago... I started chatting up 2 girls,called over my friend and they actually bought us drinks !!! A First !!!

First of many I hope :-)

To give a short background to the financial side of a night out on the town for a 20-something in my home town in Ireland - if you leave the house with €120 in your pocket and the next morning you find €5 you are doing very well !! haha

Our social life tends to revolve around drink. However, the major damage is done by a seemingly harmless system of replenishment called the Round i.e. you buy a drink for everyone and everyone buys a drink for you - you take turns. To not fulfill your duties and buy your round is probably the very very worst thing an Irish man could do - seriously :-)

To cut a long story short, I'm extracted myself from the round system and will only buy drinks for very close friends and relatives... who I can bet my life on are as eager to buy for me as I am for them. In a weird way, I think people respect you more when you bestow your good will upon a selected few rather than all and Sundry.

Anyway had a great week this week € speaking. A colleague left my place of work last Friday so we had going away nites Thurday AND Friday :-) see how bad us Irish are. Thursday nite bought a beer for the person leaving and only had one coke myself - damage €6.50. Friday nite - out for about 4 hours and spent €17.20. I am so proud of myself for cutting my spending so drastically.

This hasn't been a sudden change - have been working on it for a couple of years now

AND

I LOVE HAVING HANGOVERS THAT ARE LESS SEVERE AND FEW AND FAR BETWEEN... :-)

But the crucial thing that has made it work has been the seismic change in my attitude to buying drink for the ladies... in fact this is deserving of a post of its own :-)

give me a min

My cousin's daughter made her First Holy Communion last Saturday. Was a great day.

Her dad organised a whole day celebration - i.e whole day in the pub. Anyway was on camera duty when my camera's batteries died. Off I went to the nearest bargain store in town - €3.99 each. Yesterday happened to be passing the battery section in the major international "cheap" supermarket - same batteries - €10.39 each. Wow !! - how can this be justified ?? Or is the average consumer so ill-informed and/or lazy as accept €10.39 as the going price and throw them in the trolley ?

€10.50 to get photos developed - Film camera - I know I should get digital camera but I honestly don't use the camera that often so I'll wait until I have the spare cash if I really want one.

Going to give the negatives to a member of the family on the other side - to get reprints as required.... save me spending a small fortune getting copies for every one :-)

Little Man... I know you are in for a major trauma with the whole birth thing about to happen - your future Mama is beginning to question the whole "keep-it" decision while waiting for the epidural to kick in & your father cannot go for a few pints after watching the Irish national soccer team beat England 1-0 because he has to go to the hospital and pretend he'd rather be there waiting in the canteen.

But listen, let me save you a lot of heartache and distress by saying the following:

1. You are perfect at this moment.

2. The only 4 things you will absolutely need when you hand in your notice at your current abode are: air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink and a safe place to sleep.

3. Having feeling good inside as the status quo is a product of your outlook on life and cannot be bought.

4. Your current abode is in matters of size, decor, fashionability and function exactly the same as everyone elses was at your age. When you complete your life-journey, you will not care very much for your physical accomodation. Every abode you occupy in the meantime is a choice of varying degrees and NOT an indication of your worth as a human being.

5. One of the most important relationships in your life with be with a thing called "mooh hoho ney". "Mooh ho ho ney" is not your reason for living - nor is it a fellow human being. It is there to enable you to live your life in accordance with the social mores you find yourself in. You are it's master. Tame it before it bites you.

6. Mother Earth loves you. She breathes life into everything everyday. She's breathing life into you right now. She wants you to live a full and happy life. Please allow her to live a full and happy life also by taking her needs into account when you have the choice to. She loves non-wasteful people.

7. You are a complete individual human being. There are many many many others like you. You are no better nor no worse than any of them. Please don't seek the approval of those who withhold it for their own reasons. Please be generous with praise for those you admire - particularly those younger than you. Buying drinks for sullen relatives you hardly ever see, buying sports cars to impress female human "10s" and signing up for a mortgage to impress the Joneses all cost money. Saying "I hope you know I think you are a wonderful little girl" to your cousin's daughter is free and of infinitely more value.

8. The true price of anything is how much life you exchange for it. Anything you may possess/ desire outside the 4 necessities (now..at which point did I explain the 4 necessities to you ?? C'mon you know this... don't roll you eyes at me.. "2". Good Little Man. Well done). Anything outside these necessities is a luxury. You can hand back or sell luxuries when you have used and are tired of them. You cannot ask for a refund of the amount of life you exchanged for them.

9. Look around you... Please... go ahead.
Feel around... all warm and gooey isn't it. Well believe it or not Little Man... This place that jump-started that little heart of yours is most likely to break it in two. It is also a financial danger of nuclear ferocity. I know you won't understand this now buddy......it won't cost you anything to take off from the runway lined by your mother's legs but, My God.... listen boy...don't say you weren't warned.....

be careful what you do to enable yourself to make a landing at another airport.... is all... nod nod.. wink wink...

More of that later buddy.

10. This advice is free. Until you reach 21 years of age, remember that free advice - with no strings attached - is the only advice worth listening too.

Best of Luck Little Man :-)