And so it begins: The Pig Vs The Mortgage

pinkypig

Hello 😀.  I’m going to attempt to organise my thoughts and ponderings as I feel like I’m going around in circles and it’s preventing me from moving forward.

I went back and read my first diary post to just reflect on where I was then and where I am now.  

First observation was how grateful I am that I found this supportive space.  It gave me the motivation and focus to change my family’s lives.  Being mortgage free has brought me to a place of security and contentment that I’ve never experienced before and has had a huge and positive impact on so many areas of my life.  

I no longer worry about my financial future and I used to worry about it all the time.  I own my home, it can never be taken away from me and if in the future  I need income or if the running costs prove to high I can sell it and buy something smaller.  

It’s also placed me in a position to help my children as they start to build their own lives.  One of the things I’m saving for is to give them a helping hand with buying their first homes and not having my own mortgage payment to make has given me the income to do that.

The list continues.  I’m in a position to boost my pension and make early retirement an reality and I have been able to reduce my working hours to get some of that life balance now rather than in years to come.  I love my job but it’s demanding and I like to do it well.  A shorter working week has given me the luxury of some me time .  I’ve never had that before and even as I start my third year of it, I still feel incredibly thankful.  By taking the pressure off and taking care of my health and well being, I also know I’m doing a better job at work. 

Finally, although I’m sure there’s more, organising and controlling my finances led to me controlling and organising other aspects of my life like prioritising my relationships, my home, my health routines, my garden and my home and work admin.  So, on reflection, life is good!

If anyone ever reads this and is thinking about starting a journey of their own - do it, it’ll be one of the best decisions you’ll ever make.

My big dilemma is that my focus is now is the next phase of my life which is retirement and I’m not sure if my diary has a home here as it’s MFW, not retirement planning.  However, for me, it still feels like the place I want to be and the place where I’m most likely to achieve my goals.  Luckily, I technically still have a mortgage.  As it’s an offset mortgage, I’m actually mortgage neutral not mortgage free as, on paper, I still owe £52,427 😱😱.  That, and my fear of the pensions board 😂, cemented my decision to stay put 😀

Now that decision is made, I have a home for my goals, plans and dreams so I just need to get them sorted🙄

Flipping heck, that was a deep ramble! Must get a wriggle on as it’s nearly 9.30 and I’ve done nowt! 

Happy Saturday 😀

PPx

Cheery_Daff

Glad you're sticking around! 😊😊

South_coast

Me too! I've not been ostracised yet, and I paid mine off last year 😳!

Karmacat

Along with South Coast, Suffolk Lass and I are both retired, paid off etc, and I've no intention of leaving SL went through it and decided to stay - the thinking is identical, honestly!

pinkypig

Awww thank you ladies, that is so good to hear.  

Did you make your hay box soup Cheery?
Karma, you are, as ever my early retirement poster girl.  You remind me that I will get there one day!
SC congratulations on your MF status  🥳🥳.  Glad you’ve not been cast out into the cold 😂
I must hunt out SL’s diary as I’ve read her comments on Foxgloves’ diary and she is so knowledgeable about pensions and investments which generally mash my head 🙈😂

pinkypig

Good morning 😀.  I never made it back last night - buried under a pile of marking.  I don’t mind this once in a while but it mustn’t become the norm.  I must get those work day routines nailed!

Other than that I had a nice, balanced day.   I woke about 6, sorted out the doggo, came back to bed with a coffee and caught up with some diaries.  I really didn’t feel like running so I did an online spin class an some yoga instead.  

I got a few jobs done, tidied the house, tidied the garden and filled the green bin and did a bit of admin and filing.  A little pile of clutter had developed in a kitchen cupboard and in the storage unit in the office so I cleared those away - looks much better!  I also found another two paperbacks for the CS.

I had coffee with one sister and a nice chat on the phone with one of the others and it was good  to catch up on their news.

I gathered some more blackberries when I was out walking the dog so half will be eaten this week and half will go in the freezer.   

So my small steps towards big successful strides were;

A good sleep 

Two (🙄🙄) coffees in bed 

Drank some (but probably not enough water)

Cheap, healthy eats ( porridge for breakfast, HM broccoli soup for lunch and LO pasta bake from the freezer with some salad for dinner).  I also had a large bowl of air popped popcorn while watching Virgin River 😀. OH is away and you can tell I’m flying solo for a couple of days 😂

Made spicy lentil soup 

Made healthy ice cream out of frozen squishy bananas.

Sorted out and found homes for two piles of tut.

Did some filing and sorted out a few of mum’s admin things.

Tided the garden, filled the green bin using some of the cuttings mountain - still a huge pile left 😱

Washed and air dried the dog beds.

Had a bubble bath.

Did spin class and 20 minutes yoga.

Finished my marking ( but not writing assessments because as you know, marking those tends to take so long that I finish just in time for them to do the next one 🙈).

Today I’m going to see my sister, have coffee with DD and then use the rest of the time to get ahead for the week which is really busy (I’ve got after school meetings every day this week and no admin time 😱).  I’ll get the admin time back but unfortunately the planning and preparation doesn’t wait so it’s just going to have to be head down a**e up for the next two weeks 😂

Have a happy and thrifty one 😀

PP x

South_coast

pinkypig said:
So my small steps towards big successful strides were;

Ooh, I like this 😀😀😀

pinkypig

South_coast said:

pinkypig said:
So my small steps towards big successful strides were;

Ooh, I like this 😀😀😀

Thanks SC.  That’s one thing I have learned - all those little steps, which in themselves seems insignificant, really add up to a big difference, even if it’s just a difference in your mindset 😀. Also on a lazy day you still feel like you’ve achieved something 😂😂.  

Hope you’ve had a lovely weekend x

pinkypig

I thought my financial diary could probably do with some financial news 🙈

I’ve started with the simple ones so for September my budgets will be ;

£150 grocery.  This is for two of us although OH is away for part of some weeks.  This includes dog food, toiletries and cleaning things.

£50 personal to be spent on whatever I fancy 😀

£150 fuel.  If I keep at the lift sharing this is doable even at today’s scary fuel prices.

September is going to be about putting things in place that are going to serve me well in October and beyond.  I’m going to start by doing a £0 balance budget which I’ve never done before. I always have budget categories and put my savings away first but there are no real consequences if I go over as I just transfer a bit from short term savings if I have a spendy month which is not good and certainly can’t happen in retirement.  It’s not a huge problem as grocery is never really over and the worst overspending on personal is £10s of pounds not £100s but even so it would be good to get into good habits.

I am aware that I am in a very privileged position where I live thriftily through choice not necessity and many don’t have that luxury.  However, I do need to make sure that my hard earned cash is not dripping away through poor planning.  I  think my problem might be having a credit card.  I always clear it each month so never pay interest but having it just makes spending so easy!  Next month I’m going to do a £0 balance budget and will try using a debit card instead.  This way I can’t spend money that isn’t there. I also need to ensure that addition costs are taken from the right budget.   I’ve had an annual spends pot for a while now and I put £450 a month into it so there is enough in there  to actually start taking annual spends out.  

So, that’s how I’d like the admin to run.  The next step is to actually do it.  I’m going to do a £0 balance budget for October carefully so I don’t miss anything that is going to derail me in my first month!

The other, much bigger task I’m going to ponder is how much income I would like in retirement and how much I would like to have in savings (emergency fund, house repairs, car replacement etc).  Once I’ve done this (probably helpful to know what I’m aiming for 🙈😂) I can move onto looking at where I currently stand and what I need to do in the next two years.  I’m not sure if I’ll retire at 55 but I’d like to have the option.

I’m going to tackle these in small chunks because A. It makes my brain hurt and B. It needs to be right !

Wish me luck 🤞🤞

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, all good things here! I love reading about your small steps, as well as your bigger plans 😊😊 Lovely to have the option to retire at 55 too if you can (I'd like that too!) 😊😊