Back to basics with pavlovs_dog: the £6k sprint

pavlovs_dog

1% Challenge - the little things make a difference

January Total = £76
£10 Gumtree, £66 P!necone

Cumulative total = £76/£1050 (7%)

pavlovs_dog

Happy new year all. We spent the night with friends sharing wine, cake and laughter. I hope that sets the tone for the next 365 days :beer:

Another productive day:

* set up my new laptop from Santa Claus

* took advantage of a 'we miss you' offer from Spotify (3 months for price of 1). This takes the sting out of staying after school to climb Mount Markmore.

* took advantage of a sale on SB to cash out £25 via Paypal. This will go towards the 1% challenge when it clears. Based on my normal earning rate, I should be able to cash out another £50 if the offer runs for as long as anticipated.

* Missed the window with the First Save fixed rate product so plumped for currrent table topper which is Paragon Bank. £10k fixed for a year at 2.1? ish percent.

* switched our gas and electrickery. Used Uswitch via Quidco, which should result in £30 cash back. Our new deal claims it will save us £200/year against what we currently pay British Gas.

* researched best buys for phone and broadband ready to negotiate with Sky tomorrow. I hope they will give us a good deal to switch our landline to them and drop the cost of our tinterweb.

* paid council tax using cashback credit card. The next 2 months are free.

* used a card I had in my card box to send to a relative instead of buying a new one

*subscribed to some finance blogs that have proven to be informative and thoughtprovoking



Tea tonight will be a HM veggie curry from the freezer with YS indian snacks. On my to do list for this evening:

* plan meals for week and write shopping list for tomorrow
* mark 1st reading question on my foundation tier mock exams
* mark crossover reading question (both tiers)

edinburgher

Happy New Year PD, sounding super productive and motivated

Sorry for being an infrequent visitor, I'll try and improve that!

pavlovs_dog

First day off in 12 days thanks to a residential trip with yr9 last weekend. Nice to have time to catch up with myself, I'd reached the point where I no longer knew if I was coming or going!

Today is a day to get myself/ my life in order and tomorrow I need to blitz some school work. Made a small OP.

1% Challenge - the little things make a difference

January Total = £128
£10 Gumtree, £66 P!necone
£50 Swagbucks + £2 Christmas scratchcard win

Cumulative total = £128/£1050 (12%)

smallholdingsister

£66 pinecone? Wow!

pavlovs_dog

smallholdingsister wrote: »

£66 pinecone? Wow!

Yes I had a good spell with them last year and allowed the money to accumulate. Things have dried up somewhat since then. Am currently very close to payout on yougov which will be another £50.

Suffolk_lass

Just a little nudge to remind you to update your target in MFiT T4

Not sure you've been there for a while but I see you have been busy

SL

pavlovs_dog

Thanks Suffolk lass. Target updated - we aim to go from our opening balance of £103,797 to £75,000 in 3 years. Our built in OPs will do the bulk of the donkey work, and I have £4500 to find to top it up - 1% challenge, here's looking at you!

* We've struck a deal with Sky - landline, broadband & basic calls package for £20.70 a month - £15 less/month than we were paying when we had our landline from BT. That should go through within the next 2 weeks.

* Amended our static OP by £100 to reflect my payrise.

* fixed a plumbing leak without the need of a plumber. 3 cheers for FiLs!

* on track to cash out another £25 from SBs at the end of the month.

* healthy surplus in our current account will pay for car repair and holiday spends without any need for shuffling £s.

This week I need to sort out travel insurance and breakdown cover.

pavlovs_dog

Forgot to mention...

The interest on the new mortgage works out around £8/day, meaning our static OP saves 51 days of interest. While we still have a long way to go, the balance seems to be falling faster than ever before. The cumulative effect of small actions done regularly over time is beginning to become very obvious.

smallholdingsister

Well done Pavlovs and especially for not spending the payrise.