Breaking Through, Travelling On

Hello :wave:

I think a few people on this board know me already, from the dfw board :D

I really need the focus of an mse diary - debts are all paid off, except for about 40% of a French mortgage - but income has been declining, and is currently pitiful. And without a diary, I've lost focus on getting the best deal for the things I *do* need to spend out on, like insurance, and Christmas train tickets, that sort of stuff. So I've come back properly :D after pootling about on other people's threads, and on general threads too, to be fair :o

The focus is so that I can replace lost income - so that I can have a holiday of my choosing, for instance - and stopping digging into my savings for ordinary living expenses would be nice too :T:money: Its also so that I can get my pension up beyond "miserable penury" - its kind of urgent, as under the system that lasted till about 15 years ago, I'd be retiring at the end of this year :eek: But I'm not, sadly. The aim is to retire in July 2016, when my younger sister retires, with a reasonable pension.

One complication in earning more is that between arthritis, energy issues and the need to stay available to what clients I have, I can't / don't want to, take a second job. So more income has to be through other work - patchwork, portfolio, call it what you like (I know I do ;)).
2023: the year I get to buy a car
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  • Karmacat
    Karmacat Posts: 39,460
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    And that was my post 17,300! Oh my word!

    Anyway, here's the list, this is what can make me the income and pension I'm aiming for:

    - house and garden maintenance! Its always unexpected to me, but its always there :rotfl: I need it for my standard of living, and to maintain and increase the value of my investment. Growing veg and fruit will help things too, and I'm learning about foraging, which is amazing. And when I retire I want to rent out the house, buy a van and pootle around Europe admiring the scenery.

    - check my outgoings - I've gradually got worse and worse at this since I finished my last dfw diary. Must do better.

    - maintain ability to do current paid work. I'm a counsellor, sure - but this bit is more about getting the tax declaration in and the tax payment made, the professional re-accreditation work done, next year's reaccreditation started, professional insurance at the right level, that sort of thing. The behind the scenes stuff.

    - the French apartment - it'll be paid off in about 4.5 years - its never, ever paid for itself, and was possibly the worst financial decision I ever made, but its done now, and when I do pay it off, I can choose to take long holidays there (its near Chamonix :) ) as well as rent it out.



    - I'm starting up a website – its taking much longer than I thought, and I'm wary of mentioning it in case I break rules, but friends have said that the rule on here is about not touting for business – and I'm certainly not, I'm working on the content – still – its taking much longer than I thought it would.


    - One of the really fun things about the website is thinking about what to sell – a dear friend wants to buy a scroll saw, what kind of stuff can he make thats relevant to my themes? What can I make that people would want to buy? How can I make it in quantity, given the arthritis?



    - How can I attract people into the website? Seasonal giveaways, maybe – so I've been having great fun designing a colouring in page, one version for children, and another much more detailed one for grownups. I love that.


    - I'm writing a novel :) I intend to be the next John Wyndham (famous SF author, famous in the SF world, anyway).


    - I'm **still** hoping to trade – but I'm not going to mention that regularly, anybody who knows me will know that I've been rabbiting on about the blasted trading for years, literally years. I can't seem to get it going yet, but its the only real failure I've ever had in terms of achieving what I really want to achieve, so I'm going to keep going. But quietly.



    That'll do. Details later.
    2023: the year I get to buy a car
  • Welcome to MFW :wave:

    Best of luck with your plans

    MWCx
    Mortgage at highest (April 2008): ~£195,000
    Mortgage-free: January 2021
    Retired: June 2022 (186 months early!)
  • Karmacat
    Karmacat Posts: 39,460
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    Thank you MWC!
    2023: the year I get to buy a car
  • rtandon27
    rtandon27 Posts: 4,515
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    :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
    :jKarma's got a new diary!:j
    :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

    :T:T:TWelcome Back!!!:T:T:T
    4 YEARS 10 MONTHS DEBT FREE!!! (24 OCT 2016)
    (With heartfelt thanks to those who have gone before us & their indubitable generosity.)
    ...and now I have a mortgage! (23 AUG 2021)
    17 YEARS 5 MONTHS LEFT OF 20 YEARS
  • gallygirl
    gallygirl Posts: 17,228
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    Good luck Karma, good to see you here :T.
    A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort
    :) Mortgage Balance = £0 :)
    "Do what others won't early in life so you can do what others can't later in life"
  • Karmacat
    Karmacat Posts: 39,460
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    **beams happily**

    :hello::hello::hello:

    Its good to be back!

    One really good piece of news already this evening is that I've done much more than I thought of the accounts work for the submission thats coming up in a fortnight's time. V happy about that :D

    Night'night all :)
    2023: the year I get to buy a car
  • ZTD
    ZTD Posts: 24,327 Forumite
    :hello:
    Karmacat wrote: »
    And when I retire I want to rent out the house, buy a van and pootle around Europe admiring the scenery.

    It's strange, a lot of people want to do that when they retire. A guy at work retired to do that. Hopefully you'll get to do it.
    Karmacat wrote: »
    - I'm writing a novel :) I intend to be the next John Wyndham (famous SF author, famous in the SF world, anyway).

    What attracts you to John Wyndham?
    Karmacat wrote: »
    That'll do. Details later.

    Plenty time.
    "Follow the money!" - Deepthroat (AKA William Mark Felt Sr - Associate Director of the FBI)
    "We were born and raised in a summer haze." Adele 'Someone like you.'
    "Blowing your mind, 'cause you know what you'll find, when you're looking for things in the sky."
    OMD 'Julia's Song'
  • skint_spice
    skint_spice Posts: 12,573
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    Happy new diary KC, I hope all your plans come together and July 2016 doesn't seem that far away really so not too long to go now!
    Mortgage End Date: Apr 36/Aiming for Aug 28/Current Nov 35

    Mortgage OP 2024 £1500/7000

    Mortgage balance: £53705

  • Karmacat
    Karmacat Posts: 39,460
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    edited 17 January 2014 at 8:35AM
    ZTD wrote: »
    :hello:
    :hello: :j
    It's strange, a lot of people want to do that when they retire. A guy at work retired to do that. Hopefully you'll get to do it.
    I'm sure I will. Already done it on a small scale, travelling by train and staying in hostels, for a couple of months. I can do more! And I've already rented out places I've owned when I've gone off and done different things, I've done that twice. Its just putting the two together :)

    And I gotta tell you, Z, I don't think its strange :D eminently sensible, is what I'd call it :rotfl: I'm dead logical me :D Spock's my favourite, not Kirk :rotfl:
    What attracts you to John Wyndham?
    I found his books when I was about 14! I love apocafic, always have, books, fanfic, films - you known I like Larry Niven too :)
    Plenty time.
    You said it right there :D I have to get a builder in to work on the pointing (rainwater is surging through one wall in an unbelievable way) and while he's doing that, I'll be working on the structure of the garden. Can't plant anything in this rain and this clay soil, so its about setting things up, and getting rid of the weeds that nearly took over when I had my virus last autumn.
    Happy new diary KC, I hope all your plans come together and July 2016 doesn't seem that far away really so not too long to go now!
    Thank you Skinty :kisses3: Its not long, is it! I plan a relaxing summer here, then pootling about being productive and seeing to stuff for my mum and other family, then in spring, I'm off. That last long trip I did, I was in Greece when spring got under way, and I was already booked to come home - I really want to see the spring flowers bloom on Mount Olympus, see them right the way through this time :)
    2023: the year I get to buy a car
  • Karmacat
    Karmacat Posts: 39,460
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    First victory to report :j

    My house insurance is due this week ... I've stuck with a very small firm up in Yorkshire for about 4 years, since it was recommended by my professional organisation - it had been really hard to get a good premium because I have counselling clients at home. This year, it was time to bite the bullet, so I went through Martin's linkie to confused.com - mid range policy from Admiral (a FTSE 100 company, so *fairly* safe :D) came up a lot less; talking to them upped the price a bit - I believe strongly in full disclosure with insurers, so I told them about the fence blowing down last year, and installing a 2nd toilet upstairs (the bathroom is downstairs) ... and about several clients being in the house (one at a time).

    Result! A saving of just over £90! I'm really chuffed it was that simple, but horrified I hadn't done it before :rotfl:
    2023: the year I get to buy a car
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