My 5 year plan

fatrab

Morning!

Still having problems with my back. I've booked another chiropractor appointment tomorrow but I'm thinking if it doesn't settle down after this I'm going to have to go to the docs and possibly take some time off work to rest it. I've been trying to keep active but it's not getting any better. My body has fallen apart since I got into my 40's!!

We went shopping last night and bought some healthy but cost effective meals. Aiming for 4 NSDs this week and then 5 per week going forwards. If we go shopping on Sunday and Thursday and I fill the car up on a Sunday there shouldn't be any reason to spend on other days for a while. I'm staying alcohol free for the next 4 weeks and along with the healthy eating and whatever slimming world has up it's sleeve, I'm hoping to get the weight loss off to a flying start.

I had a good look over my finances yesterday and I've come up with a few things to focus on....

From October I should be able to comfortably pay an additional £500/month off my debts. I'm re-mortgaging £58k and I can pay 10% per annum without penalty, so if I set up a regular overpayment of £480/month in year one then reduce it each year so that I don't go over the 10% allowed it'll mean that by the end of year 5 I'll hardly have anything left to pay.

I want to have £6k in the emergency fund by the end of 2019. I'm hopeful that the next big project will start early next year so any extra earnings will be going straight into the emergency fund. No more frivolous spending just because I'm earning more!

I also did some car insurance quotes yesterday as my renewal is due on 3rd Oct and I'm delighted at the prices! £274 fully comp for business use with protected no claims! I will be paying this IN FULL and will never make the same mistakes as last year ever again. Will be following the advice on MSE and buying the insurance 3 weeks before it's due so might even make a further saving (I hope!!). TV licence also due Sept so that'll be 2 more things crossed off this year's plan.

Virgin media is the only remaining issue. I think I'll phone them tonight as I'm now within my cancellation period.

I have found some new motivation this week. September - lets do this!!

[Deleted User]

Well done on all your planning - sounds like you have some great goals!

I thoroughly recommend Slimming World. I've lost 3 stone with it so far - taken me 15 months because I do mess around a lot, but it's not something I could have done by myself. Going every week gives me a great sense of accountability that stops me from mindlessly bingeing!

Homegrown0

Motivation is screaming out of your post, Rab! Long may it continue!

Good luck with Slimming World, i feel that I never go hungry on it and still get to eat some tasty meals just by adapting the way that I cook so hoping you find it worthwhile. There's a fair bit of meal prep involved but we tend to make lunches on a Sunday for Mon-Weds then on a Wednesday night for Thurs/Fri and it means we don't get stuck in the trap of buying lunch.

My car insurance is also due up so you've just reminded me to go on and do a comparison.

fatrab

I have some news from Mrs fatrab's situation....

She received an offer on the house yesterday evening. Nowhere near home report valuation or what she'd hoped for but at least it's a start. I think there will be some negotiations today. Will keep you posted!

Also, she has a meeting today regarding her voluntary redundancy, so we'll see what comes out of that! Today could be a very eventful day....

I called VM last night to cancel my contract, but I'll need to call them back tonight. After 20mins on hold I got through to a very helpful person and after a great deal of "offers" and haggling, I decided that what they were offering still wasn't good enough. So she told me that the next step was to arrange a call back from the outbound call team who had better deals available. She put me on hold to make the referral but unfortunately my house phone cut out while I was on hold!! So I have no idea whether the referral has gone through

And I thought the house phone had just ran out of charge but no, the bloomin' handset is knackered so I'll need to go buy a new phone tonight too!!!! Typical lol

Slimming world is held on Saturday at my local church hall so will let you know how it goes, but I am definitely giving it a shot. Moguline I have just under 3 stone to lose too but I want to lose it by Xmas! It's not going to be easy but it is do-able. I've done it before, just didn't keep the weight off afterwards.

Hope you get some good quotes Hg0!

jwil

Good luck with Slimming world.

Great news about the flat, hope something happens today.

Homegrown0

Got all my fingers and toes crossed for positive negotiations to get you a decent price and successful sale of your wife's house!

[Deleted User]

3 stone by Christmas is 2.6lbs. It's a lot - maybe aim for 2 stone by then?

It's doable though, and men tend to lose quicker.

We have people in our group who've lost 7 stone in a year, so it's possible - I'm just slow.

fatrab

Well yesterday's events were a mixed bag, the house is sold but Mrs didn't get accepted for VR.

This leaves us in a predicament with childcare as she's being forced to move offices and won't be able to get home in time for nursery closing, but we'll worry about that when the time comes.

As for the house sale, didn't get quite as much as she'd hoped for but it's one less thing to worry about. Just need to have a reshuffle and combine our finances going forwards. Will be doing a combined SOA from October once the sale is complete and we'll see where we stand then. It doesn't affect my plans for the rest of this year, but next year will need to focus on paying down any of our remaining debts - in order of highest interest first of course!

Right, enough about money for a while! Weight loss! That's the hot topic for now, so no booze and smaller portions are my starting point. Been bringing work to lunch all week and eating sensible sized portions. Looking forward to Saturday's SW meeting. I'm in the right frame of mind to do it this time!

[Deleted User]

You can do it! I meant 2.6lbs per week, of course haha!

Great news on the house sale!

Homegrown0

Great news on the house sale! Hope it all goes through smoothly.

In terms of your wife getting back for the little one, some childminders operate a more flexible policy and will arrange for a later pick up, rather than the standard 6pm closing that most nurseries do. Not ideal but might be a solution?

Alternatively, is your wife's work open to flexible working? i.e. taking a shorter lunch break to get away 20 minutes earlier in the day, or dropping 30 minutes from her working day and dropping her pay slightly? Or maybe coming in earlier/ staying later one day per week so that she can get away early the other 4 days? Lots of employers are open to flexible working these days so hopefully she can come to some arrangement with them.

Keep up the good work on taking healthy meals with you to work! It's the only way that I can eat remotely healthily is to take pre-prepared food to work. Otherwise it's just junk!