The Road to Financial Security

Pushkin

Monthly Update on Figures:

Item MORTGAGE
01-Dec-14 £114,786
Difference -£1,310
01-Jan-15 £113,476
Difference -£1,310

Item SLUSH FUND
01-Dec-14 £3,741
Difference £441
01-Jan-15 £3,315
Difference -£426

Item MONEY MAKING
01-Dec-14 £166
Difference £1.57
01-Jan-15 £183
Difference £17

Item DOG FUND
01-Dec-14 £2,664
Difference £150
01-Jan-15 £2,814
Difference £150

Item CAR FUND
01-Dec-14 £1,400
Difference £700
01-Jan-15 £2,100
Difference £700

Item HALIFAX NISA
01-Dec-14 £5,020
Difference £870
01-Jan-15 £5,420
Difference £400

Slush fund took a big hit in December to pay for the trip to Germany (I hated taking the money out!) but managed in the main to pay for Christmas without withdrawing from it so overall am pretty pleased.

The money making account is really slowing up and I didn't make the £200 target by end 2014. Really need to get some motivation going and improve on this.

Will work on some targets for 2015 and post them later to try and keep me honest - I struggle though with how aggressive to be - need to push myself but I know if I go for too much I'll get disheartened - can't make it too easy though

On the positive side also have further plans for the house :T

My low spend January is already faltering - have remembered we threw the old wonky ironing board out before Christmas. Need to buy a replacement today or tomorrow - grrrrr.

Pushkin

2015 SAVINGS TARGETS

Total £40,000 (including S&S ISA)
Total as of 2 Jan = £25,313
To save = £14,687

Mortgage target = sub £100k
Jan 2015 estimate = £113,476

Pushkin

Finally faced the dreaded admin list today which seems to be mainly paying bills for various activities for DS. This school skip is constantly snowballing (like my joke there?) in cost. We've paid for the trip itself but have just had to pay for dry ski slope lessons and a fee of £25 for evening entertainment while they are away.(the mind boggles!) So far have only bought ski gloves so lots more gear to buy as well.

I just hope he enjoys it although if he doesn't I fear he would be too scared to tell me

My car insurance is up for renewal this month so I've been looking for a better deal and found one over £100 cheaper than what my current provider offered in their renewal letter. This is my real bug bear. Have been with current insurance company over 9 years, no claims in past 5 years and they want to increase my cost on the basis that it renews automatically and a high % of customers won't bother looking for a better deal and will just let it roll over.

I just don't get this business model whereby companies are only interested in new business and not retaining customers. I suppose it must make money or they wouldn't adopt it.

First 'normal' food shop arrived this morning - feels good to get back to routine. All Christmas decorations have been taken down and the house cleaned which also feels good.

Back to work tomorrow - I'm grateful that I work from home right now as I'm still struggling with this cold but can't contemplate the thought of taking the first day back off sick. It's a lot easier to cope with work at home when under the weather.

BookWorm

Hi Pushkin

I feel your pain re: car insurance. I've been looking at alternative renewal quotes today too. It's one of my least fave admin jobs :mad:

Hope you shake the lurgy off soon

Pushkin

Hi Bookworm

Yes I hate that loyalty is penalised rather than rewarded but pleased I can get a deal for a lot less than last year.

I think it's the time of year for lurgy and bugs, my sister had this at Christmas and passed it on to me, DH and my mother! - interesting Christmas present huh!

shala_moo

Sorry to hear you're poorly Pushkin, our household has also been hit by the lurgy.. I can't seem to shake it at all!

Hope you manage to get a good night's sleep ready for tomorrow x

Pushkin

Thanks Shala-moo - hope your's clears up soon as well - nothing worse than being ill while off work anyway!

Pushkin

Well 2 days into the work year and am resisting the temptation to count down how many more I have - I lie I have already created a spreadsheet so I can track how long until my next day off - sad but true. Hey whatever gets you through the week huh

Finally feeling like this cold is starting to go away and had the best nights sleep for about a week last night so am feeling so much better.

Very perplexed when looking at my BG account this month - last Sept I changed our tariff to fixed rate for both gas & electricity. This month the electricity direct debit increased by £7 from last month's. Looking at the forecasting it is set to this higher amount now. I am not particularly bothered as I think it will right itself and if we get too far in credit I'll claim a refund. However it seems contradictory to fix it for a year and then have the amount charged changed mid way through. Might give them a call when and if I have the energy.

I have just had a very positive experience with V0daf0ne. When we went to Germany last month I bought an international freedom pack for making calls while there. However all calls made while away were deducted from my credit with the international pack remaining untouched. I used their live chat feature - turns out the international pack is for calling abroad from UK not vice versa (lesson for dopey me there :eek:). Anyway they refunded the cost of the international pack which is pretty decent of them under the circumstances. Am certainly no fan of theirs but credit where it's due.

Pushkin

Moaned a lot about being cold today until a colleague in Canada told me it was minus 26 where she is. Maybe I have nothing to moan about. General feeling not helped by fact that cold still lingering and if anything actually feel a bit worse than I did yesterday.

Posted a birthday present which cost me £3.20 so a rare mid week spend day for me. However had notification from mysupermarket of a £1 payment which should come through in a day or 2 - I know it's sad but I get very excited about these little amounts I make.

Now we are getting back into our work/school routine again I need to plan some other money making bits as I've put no real effort in within the past month.

FacelessNumber

Hi Pushkin. In terms of the DD for gas / electric - the fixed rate only refers to the cost per kwh of energy. The DD will still change if you are using more, which after winter is normal! The companies don't like people to be in debit, so it should just sort itself out over the year. Hope this is helpful


FN