Paid off the £31,000! BUT - still scrimping!

Seasidegal58

Thank you everyone for your kind posts. . SA - I was so sorry to read your post - how awful for you.

Over a week since I last posted! Must do better in 2020!:eek:

So what's happened:

Party - I really enjoyed my cousin's 60th after all my doubts. DSis finished all her jobs and her OH was well enough to attend after all. When we all shouted ' Surprise' at my cousin she looked so shocked we thought she was going to turn right around and walk out! However it was only shock and she really enjoyed herself! There was also another surprise for everybody when her OH announced that they would be getting married in 2020 - after nearly 25 years of living together!:eek: So all in all a good time and a wedding to look forward to as well!:)

Next day though I felt like crap as I didn't get to bed till after 1.30am and had to up at 6am for work!:(. Luckily as it was Christmas Eve we all left work just after 12.30pm and I could go home! I was due to meet some friends later but fell asleep when I got in and missed all their texts and phone calls!

Christmas - I went over DSis's on Christmas morning. Little nephew didn't get to sleep till 3am because he was so excited and woke up at 8am!:eek: DSis and OH looked absolutely exhausted! It was a nice day though. OH's sister joined us for lunch and on Boxing Day the rest of OH's family came over so it was a fun day.

I got some nice pressies - I'm very lucky.

On Friday I went home and hit the card shops in our high street. I bought all next year's Christmas cards, money wallets, bottle bags and wrap all at half price!:T. The only cards I couldn't find were the more personal family cards. I'll also get my stamps when I go back to work before the price of second class rises again!

Scotland and New Year - on Saturday I flew up to Inverness to join DD and her OH at their Scottish abode for New Year's week. I had an hour delay on the flight but apart from that the flight was smooth. The weather has been rather rainy and windy here on the NW coast, but today was clear. DD and OH went off to do some climbing and I had a nice day reading my book next to the big living room window looking at the scenery every now and again. Last night they had some climbing friends round for dinner and DD made some delicious vegan courses. LTer on tonight we're going round to one of the neighbours to see in the New Year.

It's also the end of SCRIMPY WEEK 1 - JANUARY today and I have have £34.20 left in Ad Hoc spends.

So it will be the end of 2019 tonight and the dawning of a new decade. I can't complain too much about the last decade - I cleared my massive debt and cleared my mortgage - helped tremendously by starting a diary on this board and helped even more by all the lovely posters - one of which has become a real life friend - and I do hope at some stage I will get to meet more of you all.

I've been thinking about goals for next year. I've one big MSE idea but will post more about this tomorrow - the first day of 2020. I'm not going to go mad with resolutions as I don't tend to keep up with them if I have too many - just one or two.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable NY Eve - however you want to celebrate - and I wish everyone a prosperous, peaceful and healthy new year and decade to all.

See you on the other side!:beer:

HairyHandofDartmoor

Happy new year SSG _party_

Munchin

Happy New Year SSG. I'm looking forward to reading what your MSE idea will be

doingitanyway

Happy New Year

Seasidegal58

Thanks guys!:)

2020 MSE RESOLUTION

I've been mulling over the run-up to my retirement which is April 2021, and have decided it would be a good thing to start to live on the equivalent of my retirement income to prepare me for the inevitable. It won't be the exact amount as (a) I won't be able to obtain an exact figure of my final salary income yet, (b) who knows whether the government will play around with my State Pension income, and (c) I havent decided yet whether I'll put my DC pension into an annuity or open a SIPP on retirement.

I've worked out an estimate and the spare cash left over in my monthly salary will be added to my monthly pension transfer cash.

This means taking a good, hard look at my outgoings again and adjusting my pots on YNAB.

I'm conscious that I'm still frittering away on certain things because I can afford it at the moment, but feel it's time to try and pull in my horns more. For example, one of my worst frittering is coffees and eats out. Also books (either on kindle or paper books).

So I'll be starting in earnest from the end of the month, but will monitor the rest of this month as well to try and scrimp more.

OTHER RESOLUTIONS

I'm not going to bother too much here - just making an effort to carry on with the plant based diet and try to exercise more!:D

SCRIMPY WEEK 2 - JANUARY

The start of the new week. I've got £50 per week for the rest of the month in Ad Hoc Spends but have decided to cut this to £20. The extra will be transferred to the pension.

I have made one purchase today which is a ticket to a vegan exhibition next month which DD and I had already decided to attend. I said I would get the tickets - £15 each, but there was a two for one offer so only £15 spent from the Entertainment Tickets pot.

As I'm in Scotland till Saturday I've hardly spent anything as the weather has been iffy and apart from a few walks and a Hogmanay evening last night at the neighbours I've not been out. DD and OH took some wine over there and I didn't have to take anything.

DD and OH are laying insulation at the moment and don't need my help so I'm having a chill-out again.

Debsnewbudget

This is a great idea. I did it when I was thinking of leaving my job as every month I lived on half my salary meant I could finish a month earlier.
You can use any savings towards larger purchases when you eventually finish work.
Go for it

HappyNow

Happy New Year SSG.

I think it's an excellent idea to try living on your anticipated retirement income.

Also don't forget about the Pensions Board on this forum if you need any info. There are some absolute pension experts posting on there and they were so helpful with me when I needed to run some options past them.

Sun_Addict

Great idea SSG I can retire at the end of January 2027, seems like an age away but it will no doubt fly by :eek:

Happy New Year xx

Seasidegal58

Debsnewbudget wrote: »

This is a great idea. I did it when I was thinking of leaving my job as every month I lived on half my salary meant I could finish a month earlier.
You can use any savings towards larger purchases when you eventually finish work.
Go for it

Hi debsnewbudget!:hello:

That's very helpful. It's good to know that others have done the same. I've got my emergency fund in place and do have other savings put aside for decorating as I want to do this later in the year.

HappyNow wrote: »

Happy New Year SSG.

I think it's an excellent idea to try living on your anticipated retirement income.

Also don't forget about the Pensions Board on this forum if you need any info. There are some absolute pension experts posting on there and they were so helpful with me when I needed to run some options past them.

Hi Happy! I have posted before on the Pensions board. I agree with you - the posters on there are extremely knowledgeable and helpful and not at all snotty or sarcastic - unlike other boards!

.

Sun_Addict wrote: »

Great idea SSG I can retire at the end of January 2027, seems like an age away but it will no doubt fly by :eek:

Happy New Year xx

I think you'll find it will fly by before you know it SA. It has for me - it's funny but if I think of my retirement date I feel that the time will drag up to it, but this last year has flown by so it probably won't!:)

in_need_of_direction

I cut back on my spends when working my notice period pre self employment. I now pay myself less than a third of what I previously earned as we discovered we could manage on this along with dh’s salary. It was a bit of a revelation just how much we were wasting