The march to financial freedom

millionaire_in_training

Freezer dinners are such a life saver when you feel under par. Hope you feel better tomorrow x

Ali-OK

Sounds like a good plan to me SS. Decluttering is really therapeutic, I did loads over the Christmas period last year, though alot of it is still piled up in the garage for car booting :eek:

I've finished my clothes sort out (No. 11 on To Do list achieved) - one bin bag full for the charity shop and a few items unearthed I'd forgotten about. I do need some new underwear though, am down to 7 pairs of briefs and a couple of daily bras. Trusty Sparks & Mencer for those.

Totalled up the food shop for last year (in sig) - an average of £123 per month which isn't too bad.

Still trying to work out my financial goals for next year though. This is what I'd like to achieve:

1) - pay off remaining CC debt by end of June 15
2) - pay £10k off the mortgage (@ £2,500 overpayments)
3) - save £7k for April 16 to pay lump sum for the car (though this is business rather than personal debt I will probably lend it, but who knows if I will be able to drive distance/speed by then)
4) - holiday spends and associated costs (£800) for March 15
5) - finish garden - big cost here is artificial grass @ £2,200
6) - continue TT savings pot towards fasicas and soffitts (@ £1,800 needed)
7) - match PPP payments into ISA of £100 per month

Hmm...these are stretching goals. My overall goal that is top priority is to get well though.

beanielou

Yes your health is the most important thing.

Ali-OK

millionaire_in_training wrote: »

Freezer dinners are such a life saver when you feel under par. Hope you feel better tomorrow x

Thanks MiT - we're so well stocked now - 8 turkey curries, 5 chilli, 3 cottage pies,plus the ready stuff like pizza and meat pies (my weakness ). Got a batch of bolognaise still to make, plus I need to do the freezer inventories and get the meal plan going again.

Igamogam

Ali-OK wrote: »

I've finished my clothes sort out (No. 11 on To Do list achieved) - one bin bag full for the charity shop and a few items unearthed I'd forgotten about. I do need some new underwear though, am down to 7 pairs of briefs and a couple of daily bras. Trusty Sparks & Mencer for those.

If you dont already, take your stuff to Oxf*m - claim a £5 voucher for any item of M&S clothing you donate which will go a little way towards new underwear and register for tag your bag scheme with your nect*r card and get points on anything that sells - Oxfam can claim Gift Aid too - win win!

supersaver1000

Great plans Ali and thanks for reminder Igamomgram.

in_need_of_direction

Would you ever give yourself a break Ali? Maybe you should put have a lazy, indulgent day on your list.

Ali-OK

Igamogam wrote: »

If you dont already, take your stuff to Oxf*m - claim a £5 voucher for any item of M&S clothing you donate which will go a little way towards new underwear and register for tag your bag scheme with your nect*r card and get points on anything that sells - Oxfam can claim Gift Aid too - win win!

Thanks for this Ig, I'd remembered the Nectar points as registered last year, just trying to find the bag tags. Didn't know about the M&S items which is fab news as there are a couple of items from there too :j Will defo help towards new undies.

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

Would you ever give yourself a break Ali? Maybe you should put have a lazy, indulgent day on your list.

Does doing a jigsaw puzzle count? Haven't taken the cellophane off the box yet, but I did want to have at least one lazy day in my onesie during this break.

It's Mortgage Capital Payment Day :j early due to the 1st being a Bank Holiday - so £760 went out and I've just phoned the Spanish Bank to get it taken off the larger of the 2 parts. Sig updated and down to £122,940 with £10,504 paid off - wow!

Part 1 - still £24,000
Part 2 - now £98,940

Mini goal is getting the large part down to £97,500 as that'll take the interest to below £300 a month.

Ali-OK

Evening Diary,

Been an easy going day and I've done a 30 min relaxation podcast and 15 mins/4 miles on the exercise bike. If it's stress behind the being ill then both these are good for it. Slept this afternoon as well, eaten well, drunk more water and not done anything in a rush at all.

Took the bag to Oxfam and got 2 x £5 vouchers for M&S. Have to spend £35 to get £5 off but that's doable if I stock up on undies.

Got the inventories done for both the kitchen and garage freezers - we're going to eat well for months to come based on that and the food shop should be pretty cheap too in theory. So that's job No. 12 from the list done and No.13) I've meal planned for the coming week.

Sorting the study out is on the list and am forming a plan in my head for that, which involves moving the 2 book cases in there to the spare bedroom to give me some space to sort out the accumulated boxes of 'stuff' - some will be to throw out and some will be for the loft I think. I doubt I'll get that done over this break but breaking it down into bitesize doable chunks makes it manageable.

What else is left - batch bolognaise to make, get DS to finish thank you letters, get his haircut done, clean bathroom and cloakroom, then a full catch up on work stuff and 6 days to do it in, so plenty of time.

New Years Day will see the Christmas tree, decs and cards come down.

Ali-OK

A bit of a review of 2014....

Key Money Areas
A combination of £co, Qmee, P!necone, Inbox £s and eBay earnt me free money totalling £356.46

A total of £4,465 was paid off the Credit Card in 2014.

Overpayments to the mortgage totalled £2,101.65.

Sports car was sold.

End of year emergency fund £5,800 and Savings in other pots total £2,485.

Home
£640 on replacing the garage side window and door in uPVC and £400 on the washing machine. £160 on spare bedroom refit.

Kitchen, utility and spare bedroom redecorated.

£982.31 on the works in the back garden - gravel, grid system, sleepers, edging stones, hire items and sundries. To be completed in 2015.

Lots of small jobs completed by the DIYers - I don't have a total cost on those to hand, but probably @ £250 mark with insulation, taps, lead flashing, door bar, etc.

Health
I haven't kept a track of the number of prescription items this year at £8.05 a time :eek: That would have been a useful figure to have in order to work out if a pre-paid card would be cheaper.

Work
Office move - lent money to the business to do that, but all paid back to me now. New car moved to being a business expense. Increased income and overheads being covered.

Relationships
Erm...blank :rotfl:

It's been a year of some big changes, steady financial progress but health issues.

Thank you to everyone in 2014 for your help and support, thoughts and ideas, guidance and humour too. Here's to a great New Year, I hope everyone has a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2015 :beer: