Diary of a home owner wannabe (my 6 year journey)

giblet1979

Hi PFTP,

Only found your diary today and have read from the beginning

Very inspiring, and I will subscribe if you don't mind. Love your determination!

Gib x

Dobbibill

pennyforthepot wrote: »

I know that I could go and get a job that pays more than my cleaning and decorating but it's important to me to have the flexibility to be around my kids whilst they are still at home so I certainly am not feeling hard done by. I know that I will instill into my kids the importance of paying off their mortgage as soon as they can and encourage them to save a portion of everything they earn from a very early age. If I can teach them the Holy Grail of Compound Interest then I will be happy

PFTP x

That is such a good lesson to teach your kids. To not see them struggle through life like we have in our younger days will bring you so much joy :money: To have the wisdom and the youth is such a blessing, I hope they appreciate the knowledge you pass on to them. This is the lesson I want to pass on to my kids too

pennyforthepot

giblet1979 wrote: »

Hi PFTP,

Only found your diary today and have read from the beginning

Very inspiring, and I will subscribe if you don't mind. Love your determination!

Gib x

Thanks for subscribing giblet1979 - it spurs me on to know that you guys are keeping an eye on me - it keeps me on my toes it's a long road trip - another 5 years and two months to go. :eek:

PFTP x

pennyforthepot

Dobbibill wrote: »

That is such a good lesson to teach your kids. To not see them struggle through life like we have in our younger days will bring you so much joy :money: To have the wisdom and the youth is such a blessing, I hope they appreciate the knowledge you pass on to them. This is the lesson I want to pass on to my kids too

In theory it sounds great - in practice I'm not sure I would have listened to my mum when I was just starting out :eek:

PFTP X

pennyforthepot

Managed to drag myself out of bed at 6am this morning to go for a run after a 2 week absence - no Commonwealth medals for me - it wasn't a pretty sight!

Really lazy day yesterday - I had no energy to do anything so my admin will have to wait.

Busy week this week. DS and DSS2 are off to Cambridge to visit friends for a few days so I'm taking them to the nearest tube station (which isn't very near) then off to declutter my friends dressing room which is knee deep in clothes and is actually a spare room but you can no longer see the bed :eek: Then I have to pick DD up from Gatwick flying back from her holiday with a friends family at 2am along with another girl. Her mum asked if she could come with me which is fine but as I only have a mini and they both have large cases it could be a squeeze! Another friend who I did some cleaning for when I was saving up to get married has asked me to go over and do some cleaning on Wednesday as her cleaner is away and she has friends to stay. I really need to finish off some decorating at SILs but I think it will have to wait till next week.

Not much spent so far this week although I did give DS some spending money for Cambridge - hoping the first week of August brings more money in than goes out

PFTP X

edinburgher

I would like to read some from the UK but haven't found many that I rate. Any suggestions?

I quite like Retirement Investing Today, doesn't seem to be updated quite as frequently as some of the others.

Most of the PF bloggers that I read have had an edge that allowed them to reach financial independence sooner.

• Get Rich Slowly - author sold the blog for a tidy sum
• MMM - relatively low cost of living areas, may have worked (professionally) as a contractor, couples that with his wife's realtor skills to good effect
• ERE - oddly logical, enjoys living on less
• Simple Living in Suffolk - no kids

So what's your edge? I know that you're not paying rent on a London property in the traditional sense (it comes from investment returns, right?) As I've said before, those investments would buy you a character property in several parts of the UK! London remains nuts - a one bed flat one door over from the one we used to rent in Bromley is going for £250k, a *studio* in Westminster around the corner from where I used to work is going for 10x my earnings when I worked there!

Is there any way you can factor in your returns from other sources to estimate your future wealth? I know it's a complicated situation from what you mention in passing, most cleaners/decorators can't save £10k a year/don't have an accountant.

Also, I'm very much convinced that just about the only decision that you can choose that will make a guaranteed difference to your future prosperity is to spend less. Investment growth, health, future career, all out of your hands to a certain degree. In that respect, your focus on frugality in an expensive place is spot on.

pennyforthepot

edinburgher wrote: »

I quite like Retirement Investing Today, doesn't seem to be updated quite as frequently as some of the others.

Most of the PF bloggers that I read have had an edge that allowed them to reach financial independence sooner.

• Get Rich Slowly - author sold the blog for a tidy sum
• MMM - relatively low cost of living areas, may have worked (professionally) as a contractor, couples that with his wife's realtor skills to good effect
• ERE - oddly logical, enjoys living on less
• Simple Living in Suffolk - no kids

So what's your edge? I know that you're not paying rent on a London property in the traditional sense (it comes from investment returns, right?) As I've said before, those investments would buy you a character property in several parts of the UK! London remains nuts - a one bed flat one door over from the one we used to rent in Bromley is going for £250k, a *studio* in Westminster around the corner from where I used to work is going for 10x my earnings when I worked there!

Is there any way you can factor in your returns from other sources to estimate your future wealth? I know it's a complicated situation from what you mention in passing, most cleaners/decorators can't save £10k a year/don't have an accountant.

Also, I'm very much convinced that just about the only decision that you can choose that will make a guaranteed difference to your future prosperity is to spend less. Investment growth, health, future career, all out of your hands to a certain degree. In that respect, your focus on frugality in an expensive place is spot on.

Thanks for that run down Edinburgher - its really helpful to have someone elses reflections. I'll have a look at Retirement Investing Today, I know most of the others.

I've been hunting around for my Edge but can't find it anywhere - maybe I decluttered it! I suppose my true edge is the ability to budget (and bulk purchase!) down to the last penny and in general stick to it so I suppose, as you say, reducing my spend and maintaining the level of additional income that I have earned over the last few months.

Thanks for the help Edinburgher - it's much appreciated.

PFTP X

pennyforthepot

Sooo tired today - got back home just after 3am this morning having picked DD up. I woke up at 8am and she slept in till 1pm!

As I'm in no fit state to do anything other than sit and veg (lost my purse in the house earlier and spent over an hour going through every cupboard, drawer, dishwasher, fridge oven and rubbish bin looking for it only to find it on the chair that my husband suggested I check, which I thought I had already done :mad:) I thought, after reading Edinburgher's response to an earlier post, I would go through my finances with a fine tooth comb to see if I could shave off any unnecessary spend.

There are only 3 potential areas where I think I could make any savings:

• HOLIDAY BUDGET - currently set at £550 per month but I will reduce it to £400 a month for next year. (can't alter till Jan 2015)
  
• ME/ENTERTAINMENT - seem to go over budget every month, mainly from going out with DH or very expensive haircuts! I don't have a massive budget for this - £150/month and it covers anything to do with expenditure on me, going out with DH and going out as a family. I definitely need to break this into separate categories to see if I can stay with budget
  
• KIDS BUDGET: this is a costly £400 per month and includes anything that I have to pay for in relation to school, extra curic activities and anything I wouldn't expect them to pay for with their allowance. This budget runs from September to August to fit the school year. The hefty costs include DS's programming course and badminton lessons, DSS2's school travel and school lunches which comes to just over £3000 per year and doesn't include any new uniform, shoes, trips etc. I am going to try and reduce it by £20 per month this year but next year it should be significantly reduced as DSS2 goes off to university.
  

My car costs are fairly minimal since I sold the Jeep. I still have around 14 months to pay off the loan (which I have at a very low interest rate off set by my savings interest rate). That will be £192 saving. I always compare my insurance, a friend does the service and our fuel costs are low.

I have just about got myself back into credit after a rather large gas and electricity bill over the winter period. Realistically our house usage won't go down much with DH and I both being at home every day. I will make sure I keep a close eye on our usage this Winter but it was on fairly low last year.I'm due to do a comparison in September so I may be able to reduce the amount we pay.

Christmas and birthdays again I am really careful. I buy things on sale and use my Mr T vouchers where I can. We do secret santa with parents and siblings so I have restricted the amount I buy for. I set a budget for each person and try to stick to it. I may have to be a little more careful with DH present as I do tend to spend more on him than anyone else.

Technology is a tricky one as if it was my decision I would get rid of BT internet - the kids mainly watch Netflix - need to talk DH round on this one once our contract is complete. Mobiles are an expensive 'necessity' in our household - apart from me with my sim only contract. I need to get everyone on my account as I think I am more likely to get a discount if I do. May take a little persuading for DH who is a bit of a tech freak. Possible savings here.

Everything else is fairly fixed. Can't get the food down any lower and council tax and rent are fixed.

Food for thought me thinks.

I've decided to do a challenge next week as I get fairly bored otherwise. A good challenged helps to keep me focused. So for 7 days I will be on the: Every Penny Counts challenge. Not a penny will go through my fingers unless it has to be spent and price comparisons have been done on it

Feeling sleepy

PFTP x

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hello,

I love the personal finance blogs too and particularly MMM. Like you I wish I had started earlier so that I could be in these advantageous positions, but there is no point worrying about hindsight. Really, it is just good that we have stepped off the money spending bandwagon now rather than continuing with it until the bitter end as so many people do.

It is good to learn from others, which is why I like reading the forums so much - there is a sense that we are all in it together!

All the best,

Squirrel

Goldiegirl

pennyforthepot wrote: »

The only downside to reading these blogs is that it makes me feel a little anxious over the amount of money I need to save to secure my financial freedom. Coming to the game so late is a real disadvantage - so many of these bloggers are in there 30s and even 20's (and most seem to have a decent salary to throw at their mortgage or savings) so at the ripe old age of 46 and no major career path on the horizon I start to get a bit jittery. Some of these guys already have a net worth of over a million £/$ already and are looking for 2+million to retire on :eek: A lot of them talk about the impact of inflation on current savings levels which again worries me.

x

It's similar to some of the figures that are bandied around on the pensions board of MSE.

If I spend too much time on that area of the board I start to feel anxious, as the sums of money that are discussed are way beyond anything I could have hoped to save, even if I'd started retirement planning at 16, and lived a completely frugal life for the following 40 years.

If we waited until we were 100% sure we had enough money to fund our retirement none of us would ever retire!

All we can do is our best - put by what we can, and learn to live economically, whilst still enjoying life to the full.

It's a big ask, but I take my inspiration from people on this board and on DFW - it's the real world, not a world beyond my reach