Mortgage free by 2021?!

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Most of that book is on his blog, early retirement extreme, and although he is a bit preachy, as you say, it is all true. If you really want to save money, you can, it is possible to live on next to nothing if you are willing to make sacrifices to your creature comforts and social status. It is just a matter of how far you want to take it.
The example I liked was when he said that someone he knew wanted to save money so he gave him the recipe for home made laundry liquid which would save quite a lot over a month. Next time he saw the guy he asked how it went, and he hadn't made it because it seemed too fiddly. And that sums it up really - some people are prepared to work harder at moneysaving than others.

hiddenshadow

The greyhound would never accept a measly 1%. :rotfl:

We've shifted furniture around in our lounge and took the opportunity to put our couch cushion covers in the wash. Greyhound has discovered that the cushions on the floor make a much nicer dog bed than the several we have provided for him, and can usually be found looking quite smug/comfortable on a couch cushion. May have to factor in acquiring more couch cushions when we move (not planning on moving any furniture with us as we'll be renting and our furniture isn't really worth the cost to move).

hiddenshadow

Secret_Saving_Squirrel wrote: »

The example I liked was when he said that someone he knew wanted to save money so he gave him the recipe for home made laundry liquid which would save quite a lot over a month. Next time he saw the guy he asked how it went, and he hadn't made it because it seemed too fiddly. And that sums it up really - some people are prepared to work harder at moneysaving than others.

Indeed. That reminds me, I keep meaning to look into making our own laundry detergent - made it a few times in the US but borax seems to be avoided here so haven't actually investigated getting materials.

For us a lot of it is ROI on time. We earn quite a high wage between us, so our time is arguably pretty valuable. Granted, at the moment neither of us are monetising our spare time with freelance work or side projects, but we also value (and need) the mental break. So while we're happy to use things like sh0pitize and I'll do surveys, it's generally a debate for us on "does this spark joy?" (to borrow a KM phrase) for doing a MSE activity, unless it's a no-brainer (cashback sites, bank switches, passive stuff like interest-earning current accounts, etc).

Back to the hard-core FIRE in 8-9 years vs semi-retired-not-quite-FIRE in 3-5 conundrum. :rotfl:

hiddenshadow

Bought a knitting book on pre-order discount in USD, so another £14.60 to the offset pot.

Current balance: £136,025.37 - waiting on interest from T3sco and cashback from T$B so should definitely break into the 135s this month.

hiddenshadow

£6.22 interest from T3sco - not bad for not keeping the account full for the entire month.

Current mortgage: £136,019.15..so close!

hiddenshadow

No sign of T$B interest this morning (but at least that defers that surprise until tomorrow, I suppose?), but £6.60 paid in from Sh0pitize.

Current mortgage: £136,012.55

Sundaysgirl

Sooo close! Great progress

hiddenshadow

Thanks SG! Next month we're projected to be > £500 away from a thousands barrier so I doubt we'll have the same level of angst. Who knows, though, maybe we'll come up with £500+ over the course of the month. We are expecting a switch bonus from N@tionwide sometime.

shangaijimmy

Great figures as usual hidden! Big question is what month will you make 120's!

hiddenshadow

[STRIKE]Survey[/STRIKE] Spreadsheet says October to get into 120s and December to leave them, assuming we OP the money that's in n@tionwide when its 5% rate runs out in October, and DH gets a similar bonus amount in November as he did in August. Not bad given our initial goal for the year was to break into the 120s, not blow completely through them.

Of course our pension contributions will be lower than if we'd left our levels untouched, but I think 20% contribution is a good compromise. Not quite as ideal math-wise due to lost tax breaks, but better psychologically/cash-flow wise for us right now.