Only freedom will do

edinburgher

I can understand not wanting to lose money Brodiebobs, I take it you probably bought at the peak? Our next door neighbours in the old place did that, paid £6k more than us 5 years earlier for a smaller, less attractive flat. They ended up becoming landlords as well...

There is a good Monevator article called something like 'Coping with the guilt of losing money' and while it's a good read, it's based on investors in stocks and shares, not houses. The problem with houses when you pay too much is that the debt is leveraged, so you're on the hook for the full amount regardless. It's also a positive when you see house price growth, as a relatively low 'buy in' nets you all the profit.

edinburgher

It looks like our investments have been on a tear - they added as much as I earn from my real job yesterday!

I realise that there are just as many down days as up days, but I'm hoping that the cumulative effect of lots of sensible decisions (large regular payments, low fees, a diversified portfolio) is starting to gather some sort of momentum :j In 3 years time, my current pension pot should be doubled - a day like yesterday would have seen me earning considerably more from my investments than my job! That's exciting stuff.

LadyGnome

Great investment returns. Looks like all the groundwork is starting to pay off.

AlexLK

LadyGnome wrote: »

Great investment returns. Looks like all the groundwork is starting to pay off.

Definitely second this and should provide a brilliant motivator, Ed. Well done.

As for all relatives having jobs I forget most of us don't have ancient parents. :rotfl:

edinburgher

Declaring a savings target of £2,323.41 for 2017 (weirdly specific I know, enough to fund DD's pocket money and 2% of our gross salaries for 2018's ISA season). Have paid my woeful £29.51 after fees and postage from the recent blender sale against this. So £29.51/£2323.41 (1.27% of the way there) :rotfl:

This money will largely have to come from side hustles, so something to aim for.

misscousinitt

Love the phrase 'side hustles' - might have to steal that one :rotfl:

MCI

edinburgher

I think I read too many American blogs MCI!

£0.72 added to savings from TCB payout.

earthgirl

love the very specific savings target Ed! Its about the same as ours, but I'm not as clued up as you!

edinburgher

Thank the Lord there is only one more week to go for grocery shopping before we get paid again! The long month and extra time off over Christmas mean that we have already overspent by more than £100!! :eek:

Like El, I'm trying to get our grocery budget under control, but the freezer is still heaving with bargains. I managed to use all of our frozen food and a bunch of weird food cupboard purchases over the last fortnight, but if I see a deal on something we'll definitely use (say meat or freezable dairy), I will always take it.

Delicious cassoulet with reduced sausages, a hunk of leftover pork rind from pulled pork (nicer than it sounds!), black eyed beans, shallots, celery, chopped toms and beef stock simmering away in the SC :j

We've had a few productive chats about the finances and have committed to the following short term actions to get things under control:

• Clear balance on short term spending CC at month end (we always do this, but there's always a 'hangover' because spends are only recorded once a month
• Use debit cards wherever possible (only spends going on CC are Mrs E's train tickets and any emergency groceries she picks up)
• Change my spreadsheeting approach so that, while dynamic updates to budgeted amounts are still calculated, the actual budget lines are fixed. So we'll know when something goes up, but choosing to change the budget line will be a manual process. Groceries to be the one exception, but I'm working on this line
• No further increase to our unsecured credit. Avoid paying off the current stuff for as long as we can get it at 0% interest/0% fee
• All spends must come from a budget line/pot, so if a pot is short, something else must take the hit (a la YNAB?)

Happy weekend peeps :coffee:

elantan

all spends must come from a budget line/pot, so if a pot is short, something else must take a hit ...

i'm trying this one out for size myself for the next few months ed, have noticed my overdraft ( which wasnt used for a good year atleast till recently) is being used every month, gonna have to try and pay this down