Cheap Buckets!

I was sitting minding my own business this morning when my phone bleeped to alert me to a new tweet - "I've linked to you in my latest blog" tweeted Cheri @ CwtchCorner "I hope you don't mind!" Intrigued I clicked over for a look, and was instantly grabbed by the concept, not least because I too have never really had a bucket list - there are things I want to do, sure, but to me the idea of a bucket list always seems that if you don't want to skydive naked into the Grand Canyon, or do a tightrope walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge dressed as Dame Edna, you're somehow seen as "copping out" and not really doing it properly.... (Oddly enough, my good pal over at Wittgenstein's Watering Can blogged about being brave without being into Extreme Sports recently...)

Sometimes the things you do that really stay with you are almost incidental - if you'd thought about putting them on some form of "bucket list" or life list, you might well have done so, but opportunities come along and you simply take them without any real thought of perhaps achieving something of an ambition. Thanks to the company I used to work for, and Construction Industry Charity The Lighthouse Club, I had the chance a few years ago to take part in the inaugural "Lighthouse Run" a 2 day road rally from John O'Groats to Lands End. The entire company (well those of us who drove) were invited to put their names into the hat for a draw to select the lucky 4 to represent our company - to my astonishment only 4 of us stepped forward so I was in! It was a fabulous experience and regardless of the fact that people have run, cycled and even attempted to swim (yes, really!) before, I'm thoroughly proud to be an "End to Ender"

End to End Club

I started a list a few years ago of places I wanted to go within the UK - one of the first of those were the "Furthest Four" - the most Northerly, Southerly, Easterly and Westerly points on the British Mainland. The Northerly one was ticked off at the same time as the Lighthouse Run - Dunnet Head. Mr EH and I did the most Southerly together - The Lizard in Cornwall. I'd previously been to Lowestoft in Suffolk so that was the most easterly dealt with - so I'm just now looking for a reason to visit Ardnamurchan Point to complete the set! At the moment that one looks like it might be some way away - our spare cash is going to the mortgage and to fund our annual Hebrides trip, so it might be a while until we have sufficient spare funds to finish the set!  I wanted to go and see the Red Arrows practise at RAF Scampton - and ticked that off on the day we set off for our Holiday last year. A trip to Orkney was also ticked off thanks to the lovely OrkneyFlowers - we headed up there for Easter! The next reasonably budget "want to" is to see The Vulcan fly - it looks like it's going to cost us something, but we're considering going to the Dunsfold Wings and Wheels festival later in the year - if we make it that one will be ticked off the list, too! For me it's about seeing things and going to places, rather than doing extreme sports or scaring myself silly! Another adventurous type who I know has a similar list of "Would Like To's" is Jenni at A Cheerful Living Adventure - I wonder if she'll tell you about hers too?

Of course those of you who know us are probably wondering why I've not mentioned our big, proper, HUGE target - to move to the Western Isles! Well you see part of the deal with this challenge is that you have to talk about at least one "budget" plan, and one extravagant one, and while the Hebrides move isn't exactly extravagant, it's certainly not going to be cheap! Of course the very fact that we are overpaying our mortgage will actually mean we make a saving over time - you pay an awful lot less interest if you pay a mortgage off over a shorter time than the original 25 year term! At the moment ALL our "unexpected" money is going towards making our mortgage free date that bit sooner, so no prizes for guessing where any prize money would go if I won it! Once we're done with the "paying off" we'll be saving like mad for a few years more as once we're there there will still be the costs of finding somewhere to live, relocating ourselves and all the trimmings of our lives, creating income for ourselves, and once we are settled down there frequent trips back no doubt to see friends and family. Exciting, yes, and a bit scary too - in fact, almost exactly the things which I said didn't feature on my bucket list - fancy that!

Robyn

This post is part of a competition being run by those chaps over at MoneySupermarket  for bloggers to blog about their "Budget Bucket List" - why not go and join in?!