We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Hope is not an Effective Financial Strategy
Options
Comments
-
I have not come across any PB wins this month among the diaries I read on here - and neither of us. I won four £25 prizes last calendar year, and two the year before, but all on the £10k bond.Save £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £4863.32 out of £6000 after May (81.05%)
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £1286.68/£3000 or 42.89% of my annual spend so far
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here4 -
I was disappointed with my £25 win this month. It seems I should be grateful for it! 😬3
-
SuperSecretSquirrel said:I was disappointed with my £25 win this month. It seems I should be grateful for it! 😬Save £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £4863.32 out of £6000 after May (81.05%)
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £1286.68/£3000 or 42.89% of my annual spend so far
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here4 -
No PB wins for me either. It’s been a ages since we won! I’m half convinced it’s loaded do you win loads at the beginning!DFW (08/08) £64,346.53 Gone (02/19)
MFW (08/08) £118k Gone (09/23)4 -
No wins for us despite £60k temporarily in the accounts4
-
debtfreeoneday said:No PB wins for me either. It’s been a ages since we won! I’m half convinced it’s loaded do you win loads at the beginning!
Payday today, so I shuffled a load of money ack to their rightful places and sent a massive 28p as an overpayment to round the account down. January is always an expensive month for us as we have 5 family birthdays, and 2 of them our own kids! So our Christmas budgeting generally extends into January.
We've also had some progression with pooch. He goes for a procedure next week. Cost wise its what i was roughly expecting (except for a bit of inflation I suppose). Half will be covered by insurance and the other half will come out of holiday money that we didn't spend last year, and are unlikely to spend again this year. It does mean that our premium bonds chances will slip ever lower though...
I've also sorted breakdown cover for Mrs SJ. Couldn't find a way for cashback to work with price, but we do get meerkat movies with it so we'll get it back in the end I suppose.MFW: Was: £136,000.......Now: £47,736.58......8 -
I won £50 on PBs this month
Hope pooch's op goes well xI am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soulRepaid mtge early (orig 11/25) 01/09 £124616 01/11 £89873 01/13 £52546 01/15 £12133 07/15 £NILNet sales 2024: £205 -
Hope all goes ok for your pooch.
we waited about 2 years for our first PB win and then won £525 last month!Nothing this month so all back to normal for us. I'm not hearing of many winners amongst people I know with them this month though.June 2025 - part 1 - £19,145 part 2 - £21,973 Total - £41,118 29 months to go!6 -
Well done to PB winners.SJ hope procedure goes well for pooch
Achieve FIRE/Mortgage Neutrality in 2030
1) MFW Nov 21 £202K now £174.8K Equity 32.77%
2) £3K Net savings after CCs 6/7/25
3) Mortgage neutral by 06/30 (AVC £22.5K + Lump Sums DB £4.6K + (25% of SIPP 1.1K) = 28.2/£127.5K target 22;12% updated 6/7
4) FI Age 60 income target £16.5/30K 55.1%
5) SIPP £4.6K updated 6/7/253 -
Enough of this PB misfortune talk, at least for another 3.5 weeks
Just a solitary TT this weekend of 65p. With much spends on the horizon with birthdays and dog procedures I'm very happy to have little going on! I've carried on getting rid of at least 1 item each day from the house. Progress is slow and small but it feels good to be doing something about the house at least.MFW: Was: £136,000.......Now: £47,736.58......6
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 350.8K Banking & Borrowing
- 253K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.5K Spending & Discounts
- 243.8K Work, Benefits & Business
- 598.6K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.8K Life & Family
- 257K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards