Cars…

To cut a long story short, we’re thinking of buying a Toyota Verso. They’re supposed to be super reliable and can easily reach 250.000-300.000kms. They’re very expensive second hand because the dealers now know how reliable they are. Well, it’s also a good thing they don’t devaluate that fast and are considered a very decent car. We were able to borrow one for the time being. It’s a 2006 version and it already has 238.000 on the clock and still going strong! Yep, we’d like one please! The “only” thing we have to decide is how much we’d like (errrrrrr….) to spend on a car. It depends on age and amount of kms already on the counter. We’re thinking about buying a relatively young car (not very Mustachian) and hope to drive it for the next 10-15 years or more if it gives us that (VERY Mustachian!). It’s going to cost thousands though….. 😦

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

November Is Going To Be A Disaster…

Yesterday our car broke down while we were driving on the motorway. The AAA-guy guessed the timing belt broke. Ehm….that’s an iron throne a car with only 85.000 kilometres on the clock and during maintenance in July the garage never mentioned this thing should have been replaced. Worst case scenario is that the whole motor went to smithereens and repair will likely cost us a couple of thousand. Ugh…

We feel like the garage should take responsibility here. It’s their job to replace things on time. This isn’t the first time things break down. I’ve been a loyal customer for over fifteen years. I’m seriously considering going to a different garage from now on.

We also talked about going car (care?!) free…but at this moment that’s just not an option for us.

Jeez, I hate these things!

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

P.s. Ah, that was a complainypantsy post! On the bright side…we have enough emergency fund to cover cost of the repair. The money was just sitting there in a useless savings account anyways…now some of those euros will be off to actually “do” something…I guess….. But seriously, I am very grateful we are able to pay for these emergencies straight up.

We Are Going To Increase Our Monthly Investments!

Yay, the hubby is slowly but surely “getting it” 😉

He proposed to increase our monthly investments by 66%. Wootwoot! I’d still rather go for lump sum…but as explained many times…it’s our money and not just mine. This way we’ll actually start investing our lazy euros sitting in savings accounts. We’ll start as of next month. Yay!

We decided to dump all that extra money into Vanguard All World (VWRL) with BinckBank.

Love,

Mrs Econowiser

54%! Very Proud!

Hi y’all!

October 2014
Mortgage: 32.64% (0.09% increase)
Emergency fund: 395% (3% increase, due to the closing down sale of the side business)
Stash (=EF + stocks): 15.75% (slowly getting to 20%)
Income to spending ratio this month: 54% (Now that’s the way to do it!)
Income to spending ratio this year: 61% (<60% here we come!)

I’m very proud of the 54%.

I expect November to end up around 60%, due to certain purchases we have in mind. In December I’ll fetch my end-of-year bonus, so we’ll definitely stay under 60%. All in all, <60% spending to income over 2014 should be achievable. Wootwoot!

How did you do?

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser