The Road to Financial Security

Pushkin

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you too Shala Moo - were you wild and exciting last night? I was in bed by 10 and not a drop of alcohol passed my lips.

Met up with friends at a Nat Trust property near Guildford this morning, good walk with the dogs followed by a spot of lunch at the cafe. Certainly blew the cobwebs (and hopefully some germs) away.


Have emptied my money making account (total was £369) transferred the balance to a cash isa. Target for money making this year is £240 or £20 each month. I didn't achieve this last year but it should be doable so will try again.

Tomorrow I will take down the Christmas decorations which I know is early but am itching to do it and want the house back in decent order ready for when I start work again on Monday.


Health Wealth and Happiness to everyone in 2016!

Luckyinlife

369 is a great amount Pushkin where does the making money come from ?

Pushkin

Hi Lucky in Life - money making is a mix of things I've sold, cash back from purchases made through tcb and surveys I have done. It was around 17 months worth of effort. I set up a separate account to put that money into otherwise it just disappears in with everything else!

Luckyinlife

Ohh i see that is great tho great idea to put it in another account as well money is to easy to spend

Pushkin

Right some targets for the next couple of months:

Sell next batch of cds
Continue with surveys - aim to get next pay out by end Feb
Sell something on 3b@y (need to get back on that particular bicycle)
Properly track grocery spends

Having just looked at Christmas spends it was ok in that thanks to nectar points which paid for the Christmas food shop I managed to do all of the spending without dipping into savings. Credit card for January is huge (north of £1,000) but with some juggling and spreading I am going to try to cope with this also without withdrawing from savings....

Pushkin

Car Insurance renewal letter came today - increase of £53 on last years, did a compare on the internet and found one nearly £100 cheaper. Rang provider and they reduced the price to within £10 of the other quote so for ease I chose to stay with them. Sick of dancing this particular dance every time an insurance policy comes up for renewal. Should have changed provider as I may have been able to get cash back but bit of laziness and some peace of mind easier to stick with the devil you know.

Supermarket shop done - went in and DS came with me so was slightly higher than planned and I somehow was persuaded to buy DS a bacon sandwich from the coffee shop :eek: Now at the point where I pretty much have to bribe him to spend time with me.

Two loads of washing put away, DH did ironing while I was out (what an angel) 2nd load of washing now in the machine. Chicken in slow cooker for dinner.

And that is it - back to work tomorrow, festive period over time to earn some money and lose some weight!

Pushkin

First day back at work - always an odd day and after such a lengthy break will take a few days for me to get back in the flow

Finances updated as all standing orders from 1st of the month went out today.

Mortgage now down to c £97,368 - will get annual statement end Jan so will have more accurate figure then.

Savings target for end of 2016 is to get to £52k (currently stands at £37k).

Also need to crack on with getting the house stuff finished, still have some money left over in a separate account for that and need to:

Get lounge redecorated/carpet cleaned/new curtains
Kitchen - new hob/new sink/new floor/redecorate
Main Bedroom - new wardrobes/new carpet/redecorate
Hall/Landing - redecorate

Not sure there is enough left for all that but see how far we can get.

Frugalfamily3

Happy new year Pushkin. Just caught up with your diary. Well done on all your saving etc. Reading diaries like yours keeps me motivated, although I do lapse a lot!

I hope your work day wasn't too stressful. For me the thought of going back to work is worse than the going lol

amycool

I've just been catching up with you. We have an NT pass now too, which is exciting!

Hope work wasn't too bad. My OH looked so sad to be going back in! He worked from home over Christmas and hates the commute.

Your savings are great! Hope you achieve all of your plans for this year!

Pushkin

Hi Frugal & Amycool - thanks for the comments. Financial security is something I crave - have had 2 bouts both of around a year when DH was unemployed and it was horrible. I know we are lucky in that we both have quite well paid jobs & there is spare cash each month, I still find myself valuing each penny more and more as I get older and do appreciate the position we are in. Although the trade off (for me)is that I continue doing a job which I'm not exactly happy in.

First cash back of the year paid into money making account today - £10.92 - cash back for joining NT! So glad to get the ball rolling on that one.