My "Out of the Rat Race" adventure.

Pooky

What a pain you had rain (oh I rhymed!). We had lots over night but thankfully dry from about 5am. Hope you had a lovely time with DS2.

There_Is_a_Light

FIRE countdown is showing 460 days...

Totally crazy week at work but productive and it went very quickly. Feeling quite happy at the moment as I have been given 2 new members of staff who are very competent and nice people. Looks like this year might (fingers crossed) go smoothly.

Tidied up the budget this morning and updated all bank accounts. Unless I have a disaster this month which I am aware is always a possibility I should hit my savings target of £1500+ A big chunk of this (£500) is being poured into Mr Lights SIPP this means he benefits from the 20% tax top up which is free money as when he is in a position to draw it down he will be under the tax threshold. No brainer really.

The remainder is split into the following pots:

£400 Mr Light S&S isa (vanguard and L&G funds)
£100 S&S isa (Vanguard life strategy/FTSE all world tracker)
£300 1st Direct regular saver 6%
£200 - general cash savings

I am hoping that is approach ensures that I commit at least £1300 each month to the FIRE pit (paying yourself first philosophy) and gives a spread of investments and savings, some in cash.

Looking forward to a catch up over a bottle of wine with my best friend and then chilling out with Mr Light for the evening.

There_Is_a_Light

Had a lovely catch up with my bestie yesterday, sort of told her about the FIRE plans and she was really excited for me. Saved a bit of money by having draught lager instead of wine. Ended up at the Chinese takeaway after though Alcohol and food control do not mix well and left my jacket............I only had 4 halves of lager, total lightweight.

For the first time in my life I was stung by a wasp (I think). In the pub minding my own business and I brushed my hair off my shoulder and Owwwwwwww it felt like I had put my finger over a burning flame, swelled up straight away and it is still throbbing and swollen this morning. Didn't see the thing but I am assuming it was a wasp. What is the actual point of wasps?

Weather is quite bright and clear this morning so I shall be packing the car up shortly for the car boot sale that we couldn't do last week. fingers crossed people are in a spendy mood.

There_Is_a_Light

What a beautiful day it has been, sun shine all day here.

Made a nice little £55 profit at the car boot sale but spent £5 on a pair of lined curtains and 4 lovely cushions for the lounge. Mr Light and I have agreed that there is no possibility of us buying anything new for our home ever again. Why on earth would be pay £10 a cushion in N£xt or £30 for curtains when you can get it pre-loved for a fraction of the price. Between Car boot sales, Gumtr££ FB selling and Ebay everything can be bought (and sold).

We have given ourselves a mini mission..... DS1's room needs to be changed from a single room to a guest room with a double bed. Our mission is to do the whole thing in a money neutral way. It has a large triple wardrobe in there and a lovely single bed which we are aiming to sell. We can sell other things in the house to pay for this but the rule is that whatever we spend it cannot come from our regular funds.

I have made a start with a £3 pair of lined curtains from today's car boot sale and some large drawers which are in another room but are taking up too much space. Other things I need are:

Double bed with mattress
Paint and Wallpaper
Double Duvet set
Double Duvet
Lamp

Time frame is 3 weeks as we have guests coming in October.

beanielou

You can do it:)

Pooky

Good result at the boot sale!

It's amazing what you can find in the way second hand stuff that's still like new. I find that if I see something in particular that I like in a shop, a quick search online will normally throw up some preloved versions for a fraction of the cost.

It's also worth putting a cheeky message round to friends saying you'll be looking for a double bed etc, so many people have things sitting around that they're happy to get rid of. DD2 wanted a bike to get backwards and forwards to work, she was willing to go buy herself a new one but we asked around first - one simple message on FB and she had a bike within an hour, it had been sitting in someones garage and just needed a clean up.

There_Is_a_Light

Some great tips there Pooky, thanks

There_Is_a_Light

Very hectic and stressful day at work yesterday, rest of the week is shaping up for more of the same as we are having a mock inspection next week to reassure the governers that we are Oaf-stead ready. Sigh....

Everyone seems to be in a spin and I am trying to maintain some level of stability in the craziness around me. Intentions for today are to stick to my priority list and not get pulled away onto other things.

I may hide.....

TimmySaver

I hope your mock inspection goes well next week. It's crazy how much stress and anxiety the Ofsted inspections generate.

Very envious of your FIRE countdown. My wife just managed to get another 2 days of annual leave each year and we're hoping that she can drop to 3 days per week sometime in the future.

There_Is_a_Light

TimmySaver wrote: »

I hope your mock inspection goes well next week. It's crazy how much stress and anxiety the Ofsted inspections generate.

Very envious of your FIRE countdown. My wife just managed to get another 2 days of annual leave each year and we're hoping that she can drop to 3 days per week sometime in the future.

Hi Timmy and thanks for posting.

It really will make a difference if your OH drops to 3 days a week, Mr Light did that 2 years ago. I squish full time hours into 4 days which is tiring but worth it for a 3 day weekend.

Not long till every day will be a weekend:rotfl: Just need to keep focused.