The Road to Financial Security

Pushkin

Habibiboo wrote: »

:wave:

Try to relax a bit Pushkin ... and I don't say that dismissedly or lightly, but advisedly and from experience because I do know how you feel!

Thank you for your supportive words Hab - reassuring to know I'm not totally alone. I am all to aware of my obsessive nature! I am cautious about putting money into savings accounts but then absolutely hate removing it once in there and it normally works ok.

You are so right though and it won't even be an expensive day out and DH has paid for our entry tickets.

Having said all that I will still do what I can to reduce the amount I need to withdraw from my slush fund

Right best get started with work - Monday wasn't too bad but to be honest I hate Tuesday's more - none of the new week positivity but still the thought of it being a long way til the weekend!

Pushkin

MORTGAGE BALANCE
£120,026 Aug-14
£118,716 Sep-14
£1,310 REDUCTON

SAVINGS
£19,826 Aug-14
£20,693 Sep-14
£867 INCREASE

SLUSH FUND
£2,251 Aug-14
£2,313 Sep-14
£62 INCREASE


SELLING/MONEY MAKING
£106 Aug-14
£116 Sep-14
£10 INCREASE

Put my lunchtime to good use today :T

Not too worried about the lack of growth in the slush fund as currently lots of big payments made or due to be made so just keeping that flat is an achievement.

This does highlight that I need to put more effort into selling/money making. Am still doing surveys but liking them less and less and am miles away from any payouts. Do have some old (unopened!) toys to put on £bay so need to do that instead of just leaving them on the side looking at me.

Overall quite glad I put that together and will track it now on 1st of every month. Right back to the lovely world of work....

Goldiegirl

Hi, just catching up on your thread.

I totally agree about batch cooking.

I experimented with this earlier in the year, and found it made a mess of the entire kitchen, and was a generally annoying experience.

What I do now, cook one dish at a time, but in mega portions. For example if it's chilli con carne, I'll make a huge vat of it, have some for dinner that night and freeze the rest in the right sized portions for future meals. It seems more manageable doing it this way.

I've also recently started on the survey sites. I've signed up to 6 in all, and will ditch four of them when I eventually reach a payout. The ones I'm going to ditch are ones who offer me surveys I'm hardly ever eligible for, or I spend about 5 minutes putting in details and then they tell me the survey is full:mad: I'll just stick with the two sites that suit me best.

Pushkin

Hi GG - yep I'm quite a messy cook and to be honest don't really enjoy cooking, but I do persevere every so often as it's cheaper and healthier. DH isn't overly keen on mince though which is my staple batch cooking ingredient. I have to be careful to only serve a mince based meal every 10 days or so or he starts moaning!

Pushkin

So yesterday the tree surgeons did their work on our long neglected and ivy covered oak tree. 4 strapping young lads who worked like navvies all day and did a fantastic job. l feel strangely delighted by having had it done and I didn't count that one as sexy spends

Garden although still a wasteland looks better and Mr P and I have discussed the need to get a company in to rework it so it's much more low maintenance. Unlike many on here I am not a gardener so we really only want a lawn and a patio with a few trees or pots around to provide some colour. It's shameful how neglected it is right now. I do feel positive though that we have started making improvements (or rather paying to have them made ).

Turns out the company also does fencing to DH asked them to quote for replacing 14 (ouch!) of our fence panels. Again a long overdue job but kind of makes sense to get it all done in one go, and why not do it sooner. It will look much smarter be less wind resistant and keep the dog in as she is on a constant mission to escape to the outside world through the dodgy fence panels.

So in summary, we are starting to spend the capital cash we have on our house investments, I am tracking it very carefully though and reigning DH in - have discovered he has a natural talent for spending. It just hasn't had the opportunity to be unleashed for a while. Will still carry on with my savings and aim to focus more on the small money making ventures - more £bay and plod on with the surveys (for now!).

Pushkin

Just paid for the tree surgery work, DH forwarded me the invoice last night and the cost is £180 more than I had on my spreadsheet. He had just looked at the first figure on the estimate which didn't include VAT. :mad:

Lesson learned here is probably to always check myself, now worried I sound like or am treating him like a child!

Hate my figures being thrown though as I am trying to track everything very carefully.

He did the same thing with the estimate we've just got for the fencing only that was over £500 VAT he had 'missed' from the total cost.

greent

Pushkin wrote: »

Biggest bugbear is there is no on line facility so any over payments/balance checks need to made by phone which obviously I can't do. Still I know the balance as of May and the monthly payments so I can use a spreadsheet and then reconcile when the annual statement comes in December. I guess because C&G is legacy and doesn't offer new products they have a reducing customer base so there isn't much investment into things like this new fangled internet

I know I'm going back a few pages here, but I've just played catch up on your diary! You can make OPs via online banking to C&G - I do. We have an increased DD with them for our regular OP and then I just send them £5/ £20/ whatever as I get it from ebay/ cashback etc via online banking


Also, if you have a current account with Lloyds you can view your mortgage online (or at least I can) xx


Hope all your spending settles down. Your asbestos situation sounds a nightmare with regards to the companies concerned! :(xx

Pushkin

Thanks greent! - whoops I've managed to put all my replies within the quote boxes! Will try and update colour to point it out better.

greent wrote: »

I know I'm going back a few pages here, but I've just played catch up on your diary! You can make OPs via online banking to C&G - I do. We have an increased DD with them for our regular OP and then I just send them £5/ £20/ whatever as I get it from ebay/ cashback etc via online banking

Hmm that is very interesting! Part of my bug bear is that mortgage is solely in husband's name and I have to rely on nagging him to call C&G then report back to me. Frustrating since I work from home and would have the time (& inclination) to be all over this!

Will mention it to him as the mortgage advisor he spoke to said it wasn't possible - of that what he told me anyway!:rotfl:

Also, if you have a current account with Lloyds you can view your mortgage online (or at least I can) xx
Sadly I don't bank with them.


Hope all your spending settles down. Your asbestos situation sounds a nightmare with regards to the companies concerned! :(xx

Yes I think we have sorted it out simply by cancelling the new front door! Every so called expert we have spoken to says asbestos is fine as long as it isn't disturbed. This at least buys us the time to research it more.

Pushkin

I have just tried to do 5 surveys only to be told they've reached their quota or I don't meet the criteria but this only seems to happen after several pages & minutes of effort.

Not feeling the survey love today.....

Pushkin

In zombie state today as have been up all night watching the Referendum results - I love all the live coverage so took the day off work so I could watch it. Do the same for general elections too - saddo that I am:rotfl:

Trouble is it was all pretty quiet til about 3am so I had a lot of time on my laptop. Started looking at pension calculators and am now worried about my pension.

Read on here that the recommendation is to pay half your age in % terms into your pension fund. Well I only pay 8% and I ain't 16 - company matches it so thats 16% total but sadly I"m not 32 either.

I have always paid 8% since I started my pension in 1997 and just assumed I started early enough and that the £value would rise with each pay rise so it would look after itself.

On the one hand I worry I am looking for things to worry about (if that makes sense) but on the other I think I do need to do some real sums. Maybe something to do after I've had some sleep!