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Finally, after a year and a half of struggles and uncertainty, we did it!
It all started after the pandemic, when government spending drove inflation up. Until then, with just one income, our family of four could more or less make ends meet. We could afford at least one holiday a year and, on top of that, a trip back to Poland to visit family (we live in the UK).
But things quickly started to change for the worse. Energy prices, council tax, groceries—everything began to rise sharply. Month by month, we had less and less left over, to the point where we started dipping into our savings. And after buying a house, those savings weren’t exactly extensive.
I felt cornered, exhausted after nine-hour workdays, with no real opportunity to earn extra money. I knew I needed to come up with something. As a father, I wanted to be an active part of family life, not just “the guy called Dad” who occasionally showed up at home.
I’d often heard that it’s wise to “shop around” for things like insurance. When it came to car insurance, though, I was convinced we were already paying as little as possible, and I was afraid that making any changes might mess up our no-claims discount.
But I pushed myself to look at our expenses and realised that our budget was leaking. Badly. Money was pouring out like water from a broken pipe.
Looking back, I now know that my lack of action was mainly due to fear of the unknown—a fear that I’d ruin something that was at least sort of working.
However, the situation was becoming uncomfortable enough to demand action. So I started by taking stock of our expenses and making a list of areas we could optimise.
Here are a few things I managed to tighten up:
- Phone bills down by £312/year
- Car insurance down by £292.47/year
- Spotify down by £60/year
- Home insurance down by £87.7/year
- Closed unused debit cards, saving £48/year
That adds up to over £800 in yearly savings—or over £66 a month. But there was one more item on the list, one that had been my Achilles’ heel for years. We have a flat in Poland that has stood empty for over 13 years. I know—scandalous. I’d always been too afraid to let it out due to tax concerns. Besides, the costs were initially symbolic, around £50 a month.
But year after year, those costs crept up until they finally hit a “magic” £100 a month, and by the end, we were paying £110.
So, in summary, we were leaking around £176 a month, plus the hypothetical rental income we could have been getting from that flat.
I don’t even want to think about how much money slipped through our fingers because of this.
For the longest time, I swept this issue under the carpet out of fear of dealing with tax offices in both Poland and the UK. But eventually, something inside me snapped. I told myself it was time to stop being immature. After reading a few books and scouring the internet, the fear started to fade. The biggest “game changer,” though, was simply calling the tax office to learn how everything actually worked. My fear dissolved. Everything was suddenly clear and straightforward.
My (our) luck turned when I got a message from my nephew saying his friend was looking for a rental. Perfect!
It took a bit of effort since the flat hadn’t been fully cleaned up after a renovation that finished about a year ago.
First, I arranged a specific date with the potential tenant. We scheduled it two weeks out so I could buy the cheapest plane tickets. It worked out—the return flight cost me just £54. I made enough overtime at work to take two days off since I didn’t want to dip into my already scarce 20 days of holiday time and I was ready to go.
I flew to Poland on a Monday evening around 8:00 PM. By Tuesday morning, I was deep into cleaning and fixing minor issues in the flat. There was a lot to clear out, too. By the end of the day, I was totally knackered. I was absolutely shattered. That evening, the future tenant came by and said the place looked fantastic. We signed the tenancy agreement. I handed over the keys, and just like that, it was done! An extra £100 (after taxes) started flowing into our budget.
It took some effort, but we’re now bringing in an additional £276 per month. That’s a yearly increase of £3312. For that kind of money, we can definitely plan a nice holiday!
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