A Journey of Many Pounds Starts With a Single Penny

LadyGnome

Hard water is alkaline and alkaline plus a wax or oil is what you use to make soap.  The risk with using hard water is that some of the wax saponifies.  I sometime make my own soap and I may have a go at a soap with some beeswax in it but you can't add much to the soap mixture before it causes the mixture to thicken and go hard too quickly.  I am also going to try making a hand cream at some point when I get around to it. (i.e. I'll still be talking about doing it in 3 months time  )

Suffolk_lass

I made a simple castille soap a couple of years ago and it is great for when you come in from the garden, but basically it was caustic soda in water, mixed with oils and then cured.I do think the one I made with coconut oil is better and will make it again. I plan to make candles with beeswax in preference to soap, and have bought a couple of simple moulds

LadyGnome

First OP of the month today of ... wait for it...£5.  I cashed out £30 so it's £5 for each of the 6 pots I am running.  I have another chunk of money on its way from Prol1fic so that will fund the next OP.

LadyGnome

I think candles sound like a lovely idea.  They would make great gifts too.

LadyGnome

I have been doing a bit of financial reorganisation.  I had an old small shareholding in a large corporate that was taken over and the shares have now been converted to cash.  So I have taken that and some savings and opened a S&S ISA for the year. I was waiting until the shares had been cashed to open it up. I work on the principle that once something has gone into the investment pot it should stay there so I wanted to reinvest the cash ASAP before I got the urge to spend it.

I also worked out all my crazy stretch goals of all the things I would like to achieve financially, supporting family etc. in the next 10 years or so. I like to think big so apparently I need just under £1.833M    I guess that will keep me busy!  It's going to be fun seeing how close I get.  My view is that if you don't write it down and aim crazily high you hold yourself back.  I know by aiming for it I will get closer than if I don't make it a hard number.  Not all of this is savings some will be investment growth and it includes paying off the mortgage and supporting the children through university.

P.S. I've just made £1.67 on PA so that's 0.000091% of the crazy goal done; I'm on a roll!

South_coast

And I thought I was thinking big by targeting a further £277k 🤣! Putting a number to it really does help though, knowledge is power and all that (plus I like checking in every month and seeing how I'm doing)!

LadyGnome

I've made another £3.80 on PA today so I am racing towards my target.  

Suffolk_lass

Nothing if not an ambitious stretch target there LadyGnome

LadyGnome

I am debating adding in buying a detached house in London (we currently live in a semi) without selling our current one.  That would take the total to c£5m.    

I am just going to check down the back of the sofa in case anyone has dropped £500k without noticing!

I did win £2.30 on the Euromillions so I am closer to my goal.

I know it sounds daft but I do believe that you sometimes need to put the crazy ideas and wishes out there to create a focus.  Wherever I get to, I know I will have achieved more by creating these goals than if I just focussed on small things.  It's how my mind works.

Suffolk_lass

Me too. I have what I refer to as my "smug filter" whereby I start to cheat myself when I think "I've got this!" - it's the same with diets too. Paying off our debts and mortgage, and having some savings with which to retire was a big thing for me. Not on the same scale as you though. Not by a long way.