Ruby's Bought a House, Now I want to Own It!

themadvix

Love that DH is appreciative of how well you’re doing - it does feel good when you’re doing ok/much better actually than those with higher incomes than you. Very satisfying.

debtfreeoneday

I do find it interesting when some of our friends talk about money / savings / investments at how little they know or the crazy things they think. I had one friend this week telling me OPing on a mortgage was a waste of time and money. 😬

ruby_eskimo

Following on from the chats with friends, we've also been talking about our life insurance policies.  As DH has some health issues, our choices are very limited so we've been talking to a broker.  Said broker has been very insistent that we need salary protection in case we get sick "because how will you manage if you're off sick for 6 months".  He was quite surprised when I said that we both get 6 months full sick pay (yay public sector) but also that we have 6 months of mortgage or bills payments set aside (or 3 months of both), and if worst came to worst I'd raid the various savings pots and we'd have another £25k to fall back on.  I know he's trying to get his commission payment up but he did seem genuinely surprised that we've actually thought about things like this - and I'd rather put the £20 a month you want to charge me into my S&S ISA where it will give me a better return than what you're offering 😆

This week I've managed to make £20 on Prolific and earn a £5 starbucks giftcard on Microsoft Rewards and then work are giving us all £45 to spend on some vouchers which is very nice of them; just need to decide which company I want to cash them in with.  Can't decide between M&S or H&M as the choices are fairly limited 🤔  Also only have a half day at work today (in lieu of a Christmas do) so might pop to Aldi early to pick up a few bits (Christmas tree crumpets are calling my name 😆)

ruby_eskimo

Morning all.  Only 3 more working days of the year (including today) and I've hit a wall - wish I'd booked 2 weeks off instead of 1 but at least I have time off.  I was asked if I wanted to be redeployed again but while there's a part of me that want's to help, I need to actually put myself first.  And while not everyone has that luxury - this is only the second year in the last 14 that I'm having time off over Christmas.

Last payday of the year today and money shuffle has been done.  Feeling quite pleased with where we are and I'm confident that we can make some excellent progress next year.  With that being said, here are some rough goals for next year:

Money

- Overpay the mortgage by at least £5000: this is a bit of a stupid one really as DH's already said he want's to use some of his inheritance to pay a chunk off the mortgage and it will be more than £5000 most likely but still, it's a lot of money and a goal I want to achieve
- Max out the LISA: enough said
- Build the emergency fund to £10,000: I have a plan for this and think it's achievable, kind of
- Reduce my personal spending: I don't need new clothes, shoes etc. so want to try and reduce this category and increase the number of NSD's each month

House

- Declutter 365 items: I made a conscious effort to declutter this year and want to continue into next year.  There are still lots of things that can go, we're just holding on to for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON
- "Renovate" the Kitchen: this is the only room in the house we haven't touched since we moved in.  We don't want to rip it out, but it does need paining, new flooring and a new blind
- House to Home: basically finish all the odd little jobs that will turn our house into a home / haven e.g. replacing the internal door, finish painting the woodwork, radiators etc.

Personal

- Learn a new skill: Already signed up for calligraphy classes so will see how that goes
- Visit a new (to me) place in the UK: I'm lucky to say that I've visited a lot of our wonderful homeland but there are still places yet to be discovered
- Visit a new (to me) country: This one is of course dependant on external factors but I want to tick another place off the list
- Read 52 books: Definitely achievable
- Build healthy habits: Most years I say I want to lose weight but this year I've kind of changed my focus and thinking on this.  I've struggled to lose weight for about 15 years and while I'm not currently at my "lightest" I just want to be healthy and happy.  So rather than lose weight next year, I want to focus on getting stronger by working out at least 4 days a week, have daily yoga practice which will help with my flexibility and strength and mental wellbeing and get outside for at least 30 minutes every day.


I think those are the main goals and will stretch me in a lot of different ways.  There are some more personal goals that I have but will keep those between me and my journal (which is something else I want to be more consistent with in 2022).  I think the theme for next year is 'Consistency and Simplicity' with a view to 2023 being 'Maintenance' but we'll just have to wait and see how next year goes first.  Will be updating my signature to reflect these soon and hope to give monthly updates, if I remember.

South_coast

Ooh, "Consistency and Simplicity" - I like it 👍! I also like the focus on being healthy and happy. I switched my focus to diet and exercise this year instead of the more ephemeral "lose weight", and hey it's worked! Much better to concentrate on the actions rather than the outcomes, just wish I'd realised that sooner 🤦‍♀️!

ruby_eskimo

South_coast said:

Ooh, "Consistency and Simplicity" - I like it 👍! I also like the focus on being healthy and happy. I switched my focus to diet and exercise this year instead of the more ephemeral "lose weight", and hey it's worked! Much better to concentrate on the actions rather than the outcomes, just wish I'd realised that sooner 🤦‍♀️!

Same!  Would have saved me a lot of added stress!

debtfreeoneday

Same here. Less focus on losing weight, more on healthy eating and moving and I dropped 2 stone without really trying. 

ruby_eskimo

That's amazing @debtfreeoneday!  Fingers crossed I'll be saying almost the same thing this time next year!

Last day at work and only 1 more hour till I can log off and it's drrraaaaaggggiiinnngggg.  Once I'm done for the day I'm tidying away the work stuff, cleaning the desk and then heading out for a walk (still have a lot of podcasts to get through!) 

Tomorrow all I have to do is clean the fridge, get all the stuff out to defrost that needs it and then vacuum and set the table ready for breakfast on Saturday; it's the one day of the year where we actually eat breakfast at the table 😆  Probably won't be back before then so wishing you all a very merry Christmas and thank you for the support this year 🎄

themadvix

Merry Christmas Ruby! Hope you have a lovely time x

Fortune_Smiles

Merry Christmas Ruby.  Hope you have a fabulous time.

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Fortune x