Eating the elephant

Seanymph

No speed cameras yesterday thank goodness, but a cheeky one hundred pound compensation from a holiday I complained about. The accommodation on our holiday last week was not as good as anticipated, so I complained.

On the out side mind you the car was forty eight pounds, but now has no door rattle so journeys will no longer be accompanied by Mr seas endless mutterings.

And, we have a grandchild heading, and said we pay for a new suite for the bathroom rather than baby things, a) because they are drowning in baby things already and b) because it needs doing and let's face it, we own the house still at the moment. So, five hundred pounds there I had overlooked.

Even so, the roof being all but sorted, I am left with a need to find three velux windows and try and write an understandable, French, letter to the mayor getting permission to put them in.

So, going out I have the, bathroom, velux's, but coming in, compensation, roof money, and mid next my week wages will clear.

That's the money - now, I have two dilemmas at the moment.

I work three jobs, would like to leave one, it's only four hours a week, but I also want the money. It's not too taxing, it's flexitime, from home..... but it's just a nagging stress, and I could do without it.

Secondly, I learnt this week that Amsterdam, a destination Mr sea has been banging on about for years, is only one hundred and twenty pounds return for a long weekend flying from our local airport in Norwich. The hotels though are about seven hundred for the four days. But I would like to do that for his birthday next May.

It's that short term gratification thing isn't it....

Seanymph

Mumbling away to myself pays dividends.

We won't be going to Amsterdam. I figured I'd rather put the £2,000 towards the Camper, and park up there for a fortnight and see everything.

So one dilemma sorted.

I've also been wandering about the boards, and with my newly determined stride went shopping with Mr Sea this morning, withdrew £50 and that was our spendies.

We stayed under too.

Bought some slimming world food from Iceland - and actually the burgers were very decent.

Stopped for a coffee, and a pot of tea for me, in a newly opened art cafe which was very good - and resisted cake!

So, all moving in the right direction there.

On the down side Mr Sea has said today that he won't be working the Summers at his job when we stop full time. Which just teaches me to make assumptions! To me it's a no brainer - he could work 10 weeks, and earn a third of his annual take home. We could park at the yard for free - and I could probably find temporary accountancy or secretarial work nearby.

Nope, apparently he's sick of it, would rather do four months a year somewhere else, would rather work full time for another two years and then not work at all (I don't understand that at all - we are obviously not on the same page here - I would rather do 2.5 months a year than 12)....

So my plans have just undergone a bit of a shift.

I was banking on our working the summer's to top up the accounts, then not dip into the travel fund quite so substantially, therefore managing more years before running out.

This takes some serious working out on my behalf.

I did my figures wrong in the first few posts - all the houses together are probably worth around £450k. I've tried to be realistic. Obviously though they will take time to sell.

We owe on the mortgage £68k.

£382k.

Mr Sea has just been googling muchly and the camper we like in Germany is £55k

£327k.

But then we wouldn't have a house to live in - so we'd need to buy one - say £200k.

Is that enough to travel on indefinitely? I don't think so - I reckon we'd have 5 - 10 good years, but then have nothing left. nada.

So, I need the 200k to generate income, topped up by seasonal working - to cover the travelling costs the rest of the year.

That must be do-able right?

BookWorm

Hello :wave:

I just wanted to stop in and say hello and that I have been reading your diary. You seem to have a lot of 'balls to juggle' and regretfully I can't offer any useful advice. However, I wish you the best of luck with your journey and I look forward to hearing more about the travel plans!

BW

getmore4less

As you have been reading blogs I would extract all the financial info you can and think about the planning side of travelling.

What's it really going to cost to start doing the miles/stays.
a super budget travel plan against one that includes more luxury, eating out, more fancy sites... will be quite a different total for the year.

If you want the property to work for you while away that may take some thought, a good renter may not be the same as a place you would want to live in when you stop traveling.

Seanymph

Thanks GM4L. You were up early!

We know we don't want to be super budget.

We don't eat out much, and generally when we've travelled before we have stayed at Aires which are cheap/free, but you need to book in every so often, and pay to get about.

OH says £12k a year, I think nearer £18k by the time insurances and everything else is factored in. But when we are close I will sit and be more accurate.

'For now' I am going to increase the focus I started this thread with. Losing the mortgage, and the interest, seems logical as a first step to me.

To that end, and wandering about the boards, I am seriously looking at changing my current account. It looks like First Direct will earn me £100 for the privilege of having my custom.

Now strangely I am reluctant to take their £100, I find myself resistant to it. But the £100 would be a good 'bonus' payment this month.

So, I am chuntering that around my head this morning and will try and get onto it this afternoon if I can overcome whatever prejudice it is I have about changing my account.

In good news, we had the first strawberries from the garden yesterday, beat the birds and ants to them, and they are amazing.

Seanymph

I am a very brave bunny.

I not only now have a first direct account, and my existing current account will be closed on the 30th June! But also I have a brand, spangly new Tesco Credit Card winging it's way to me, which I intend to use for petrol and shopping, pay off as I go, and accumulate sufficient points on that I will no longer have to pay any Channel Tunnel fees when we go to France.

I feel a bit wobbly bizarrely - they seemed big things, although Tesco think I'm good for £5,100, it took 30 seconds and it is 0% interest for 21 months anyway - but I'm hoping I can transfer money into it online, to pay off during the month every time I use it.

But wow, changed account and got a credit card.

ourcornercottage

Someone else from norfolk :-) there's a lot of us on here!

Seanymph

Norfolk is an awesome place to be. I have been reading bits of your blog so I knew you were - I'm at the bottom of North Norfolk, so n ot too near you.

We moved here in 2003, and I will struggle to move out again I think. Although we keep considering somewhere with cheaper housing when we retire.

Seanymph

Three days of my life spent reading Mr edinburgher's thread has jiggled my thinking a bit - in a good way.

And musing on here has clarified things too. Which is super.

I am starting to look at budgets - and accounts.

And I've solved my second dilemma. The part time job i didn't want is going...

It went round in my head a lot - because it's turning down over £1,500 a year - and I want money! - but then everyone COULD do another job on top of what they do - and people don't, because you have to have some balance in your life.

Well, this one was my first and only job at one point (4 hours a week) and now it's my smallest job. So to lose it, and the pressure it brings, will be a good trade I think.

I am going out to lunch today with a group of, well, colleagues? We all do the same job, but work alone, for different employers - and gather once a month for a lunch. There are about seven of us (although we never all turn up) so I'm going to run it past them today and then hand in my notice.

So - two decisions in as many days, a new bank account, and I think once I've completed this process with First Direct I may well open a TSB to save up larger sums to put across to the S & S ISA - because I can't pay in small amounts so I'm not paying ANYTHING in until I have a big chunk.

I hit the debt free by being able to put away small bits, (Tilly Tidying really) until I got a bigger chunk, and I've stopped doing that because SS owes us money, so I've given him that account and he pays in bits and pieces and I don't use it.

So I haven't had a 'receptacle' for financial tidying - I'm going to set one up, because those little bits add up.

1. Hand in notice
2. Finish transfer to first direct to claim £100
3. Set up a regular saver attached to the first direct at 6% interest for the year, I have yet to work out how much focus to put on this - even after tax it is a higher rate than the mortgage, so I THINK I'm better off paying into this for a year, and THEN paying the money off the mortgage - but I'm not quite convinced yet, it flies against my instinct.
4. Cancel HSBC Credit Card (It's the only one I have - zero balance - and will be replaced by the Tesco one, which I'll need to remember to use).
5. Open an account to take small amounts as a staging post to larger deposits into the S & S Isa.
6. Work out a target for FI. (I have started doodling figures into a notebook rather than just rounding up sums in my head).

ourcornercottage

Seanymph wrote: »

Norfolk is an awesome place to be. I have been reading bits of your blog so I knew you were - I'm at the bottom of North Norfolk, so n ot too near you.

We moved here in 2003, and I will struggle to move out again I think. Although we keep considering somewhere with cheaper housing when we retire.

I was brought up in North norfolk right in the Coast, lovely. In fact interesting fact is that pat from eastenders lives in my childhood home now!

It's lovely to hear someone is reading my blog!!! There are often Norfolk related things I slip in.

Your plans sound fab, good luck.

Ps don't expect to leave norfolk, nobody ever does!!!