The Big Adventure

Goldiegirl

I've done the 'financials' for the last month, so thought I'd do a summary.


Food shopping
My aim is to keep below last years monthly average of £325. For the last accounting month, I came in at £295.21, or 90.83% of target. The surplus of £29.79 goes into the 'contingency fund'. A satisfactory result


Other spending.
My aim here is to keep this below £530, which is what my post retirement budget would allow. This came in at £398.47, or 75.18% of target. Surplus of £131.53 to contingencies. A meal out, a few coffees, gardening supplies, a steam mop and airport parking were included in this expenditure, so this result is very pleasing


Contingencies. £161.22 in. Out £240.00 paid to man for shrub cutting and house fascia cleaning. Net result -£78.78 Money well spent


Amount to savings £1760.00 Original plan was to save £1500 per month, so a good result here


So, to sum up, I think it was a good month

mouche

That sounds like more than a good month to me! You should give yourself a good pat on the back!

Goldiegirl

mouche wrote: »

That sounds like more than a good month to me! You should give yourself a good pat on the back!

I consider myself patted:rotfl:


I had another bout of bad tinnitus this afternoon. Not as bad as last Thursday, but bad enough. This time it didn't start suddenly, just softly at first, but built up in volume. It's back to a hiss now, which is manageable, but i don't like that it can strike at any time:(

I tried to keep busy, to divert my mind. I have quite a large postcard collection which I've been eBaying. I started the collection in the 1970's, didn't do much with it in the 80s and 90s, and started picking up more cards in the 2000's.

However, in the interests of de-cluttering, I'm getting rid of most of the cards, just keeping the most special ones.

Some cards have done very well. If it's an old card of a small village, it's quite surprising what people will pay. Although most cards sell for £1 - £2. And some cards just don't sell at all

So to keep my self busy, I pulled out the remaining cards that I think are worth at least one individual list, which I intend to get on eBay before the 99 p listings end. After that, they'll go into bulk lots with the other remaining cards.

It's a bit of a project, but I'm keen to get it done.

Goldiegirl

At the start of the year I embarked on some of the challenges on the forum, to see if it'd help me with my aims.


Some have been successful ..... others not so.


I thought I'd do myself a review of what's happened so far.


Sealed Pot - no much going on here. I use cards more often than cash, so don't have much small change to go into the pot. When I remember, I empty my purse, but not much goes in. Will continue with this, but not expecting much at the end of the year.


Virtual Sealed Pot - This is working much better - a sort of Tilly Tidy for savings, I do a transfer from my bank account each Friday. Should have over £200 by the end of the year, and will be some spending money for my cruise in December


Save £12000 in 2014. Well on track with this, definitely keeping going on this one.


NSD's - Been doing this since December, but I'm dropping out of this now. It doesn't make me spend any less, I just move my planned expenditure to other days. In fact I was beginning to find it all a bit restrictive, so this one's not for me


Not Buying Any More Books Until I've Read The Ones I've Got - fairly half hearted on this one. I've got a Kindle, so it is very easy to buy books. But I've restricted myself to Daily Deals and other low price offers, on books by authors I know, or books in specific genres that I like the most. I currently have 4 books on my Kindle to read, and 26 in my Kindle archive. I've come to the conclusion some of the books are in my archive for a reason..... I don't really want to read them! There's so many great books out there, it seems a waste to spend weeks reading things I'm not that bothered with. However, I'll attempt to read at least one from my archive each month, to gradually reduce it, and not buy more books than I'll actually read in a month - I average 4 books a month, so I'll try to keep purchases to 3 - 4 books a month


Completely Crazy Clothes Challenge - I was very hesitant about this. I'd never set myself a budget for clothes before, and although I wasn't profligate with clothes buying, I did buy things when I wanted. I didn't really know what figure to set myself, so I plucked out of the air the amount of £300 for the year. Currently I've spent £35 ! Really doing well on this, and it leaves me with scope to buy some things over the summer and autumn.




Today I've got some of the Easter 10 day auctions ending, and I hope to prepare a few more of my postcards for listing.


We popped out this morning, had a coffee courtesy of the M&S Premium club, and bought some Birthday cards in M&S while we were there. Got one free, as we had enough 'stamps' on our loyalty card:)

ljaneyr

Hi Goldie

I'm sorry you've been feeling under the weather, it must be such a pain to have that noise in the background or worse. Well done for last month's totals! A great amount to savings :T

Janey x

Goldiegirl

Thanks Janey.

For the last 36 hours the tinnitus has been at very low levels, sometimes not even noticeable, so it's been a lot easier to cope with.

I'm on holiday from work, and it seems very nice to be sitting here on the sofa, just relaxing.

Today is a significant date - if all goes to plan, we both hope to be work free by 1st May next year. Keeping my fingers crossed that it all works out.

Had a nice surprise yesterday. A few weeks ago we booked a cruise for 2016 ( so long ahead I can't even think about it yet!). There was a knock at front door, and there was a delivery of a hamper from our travel agent to say thanks for booking! We've got some luxury chocolates, biscuits, jam and chutney and a bottle of wine. Totally delighted with that, we've got some nice treats to have.

Today I intend to have another pottering around day. Got a bit of housework, and will get on with my eBay mission to get my remaining postcards listed. Will also go to the post office with my eBay parcels

Out of the eBay listings that finished last night, I had 10 sales, some going for more than I had hoped. Got a few more things ending this evening, hopefully another 4 will go.

mouche

What a lovely thing to look forward to - just a year left for being work-free. Definitely deserves celebrating with a few of those treat!

Pearla*Merle

Happy Work-Free Pre-Anniversary! You'll get there, you're going great guns!

Glad to hear the tinnitus has calmed down & what a lovely surprise with the hamper, yummy

Goldiegirl

Had another 8 eBay sales last night.

It just shows if things are re-listed often enough they will sell.

I don't usually have auctions ending on mid week evenings, but it seemed as if there were a lot of people around bidding. I might try midweek auctions more often in future.

I know I'm more relaxed when I'm not at work - I've been sleeping like a log. Mr Goldie left for work at 6.45 this morning, and I can't remember him leaving. I've just emailed him and he said he said goodbye to me three times, increasingly loudly, and I didn't even stir from my deep sleep!

Today is going to be similar to yesterday - pottering around, eBay prep, and general relaxation. I'd like to do some work in the garden, but it's a bit damp, and looks cold, so I'm going to stay inside.

misscousinitt

Well done with the April figures and how lovely to receive such a great gift.

Enjoy.

MCI