Prosperous soul in the making

savingholmes

jwil said:

I'm hoping to finish the book today

How exciting. Hope you like the climax and how I ended it. I put in a sneak preview of Book 2. Having people like you read Book 1 is encouraging me to finish Book 2 so I plan to do some writing on that today. I know the direction of the story - I just need to finish writing it. 

I'm itching to make payments to my CC but the only way I could would be by reducing my EF so I don't want to do that. Yesterday I was playing around with compound interest calculators - definitely in the camp of investing to become mortgage neutral rather than just paying off the mortgage. Still debating future split between pension and ISA. I'm trying to encourage DH to throw all we can into investments / pension once the debt is clear so that we are free from having to work/work full time earlier. I want more time to create art and write. He likes the idea of working the land in some form - even if initially it's as a volunteer somewhere like an NT property.

I'm thinking of buying 2 weeks extra holiday again when the option comes around in April. It's done as salary sacrifice pre-tax so while there's a pension impact - the impact on take home pay isn't that great. It's part of buying 'freedom' now so a good investment in my terms - and potentially an investment in my writing. For the time being I am planning for us to continue living here as it's likely to give us the lowest 'cost' base in terms of mortgage and travel to work in the short term. If we stay though I am tempted to sort out some of our windows and our backdoor as despite double glazing (from 2001) they are draughty and my kitchen and lounge in particular struggle to warm up.

I have some silver curtains that are nice and long somewhere - and some blue ones. I'm tempted to try and get them converted to eyelet curtains so we can use them more easily. Might explore that too. I'd then be tempted to use the blue ones in the main bedroom and the silver ones in the lounge as I hate my current curtains in both!

mark55man

as you know, I'm keen on combining the desire to be able to pay off the mortgage, without actually paying it off (I would get penalties), and using my pension fund as the saving vehicle. 

Just be careful as not all pension vehicles are as flexible as you may need when it comes to taking it out, and there are tax implications of withdrawing taxable money from your DC (aka money purchase) pot.   Specifically, you can take the tax free element without subsequent restrictions, but if you even take a penny of taxable income it can restrict your ability to pay in subsequently (research Annual Allowance (£40K) and MPAA (£4K)) 

forgive me if you know all this, but its very complicated!!

savingholmes

Thanks Mark - our intention would be to move some of our pensions to ones that have flexible drawdown options. I'm aware of the danger of triggering the MPAA but happy that you shared it on here. 

Well today I have batch cooked soup, spag bol and am in the process of cooking a roast beef dinner. Hopefully that will keep us going for a few days. I put really random elements into my soup but it seems to have come out okay:
Half a pack of sprouts
4 parsnips, 4 carrots, 4 potatoes, 4 leeks
1 onion and 2 peppers (both fried off first with olive oil before adding) 
tin of baked beans
tin of tomatoes
garlic, salt, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, allspice and water, chicken stock cubes
DD even said if I blitz it in the liquidiser she'd eat it as she liked the taste if not normally the individual ingredients - that's huge for her.

I've asked DH to clean up the kitchen. It didn't go down well but such is life. It is DS's birthday today - and I want us to sit down and have a meal as a family. Seems reasonable enough. I am back at work tomorrow (from home). Very sad. At the same time structure is good - and it will give me some social again - even if it is via video. Hoping cleaner comes this week but not sure she will.  We need the help. Before I go to bed I could do with making the living room look respectable - or I'll not be able to work tomorrow. Hopefully with the batch cooking and separating into portions - it will make the week a little easier. 

I've been trying to wean myself off so much junk food - so over the holidays bought strawberries and sliced pineapple, mango, melon etc as well as bananas, apples and grapes. Trying to give myself a bowl of fresh fruit a day. I've not had as much milk / porridge though so that has caused a glut of milk. Oops. Next food delivery comes Thursday. Plenty of food to get us to then. From then on aiming for twice weekly deliveries if I can get them at £40-50 a time - to get back on track grocery budget wise. At least c19 has knocked the habit of just nipping to the shop on the head - although I must admit I bought the cans of crisps from Am**** as I fancied them. A couple come tomorrow. I've got a long way to go before healthier eating is entrenched that's for sure!!!

Hope you are all doing okay and that your return to work isn't too traumatic. 

DancingInTheRain

I'm another one considering investing to become mortgage neutral using S&S ISA. It's a bit of an ongoing discussion with DH at the moment. As you know we make small overpayments to the mortgage at the moment but something in me holds back on the thought of paying larger amounts as I just don't think it's cost effective compared to potential returns on investing. Given our mortgage is relatively small I think it's worth the risk.

Oh, I've just bought your book too! X

savingholmes

Good luck whatever you decide with investing. I plan to dip my toe in the water with V'gd index funds. 
Thanks for buying my book - if you love it - tell your friends and please leave a review. 

Tahlullah.H

Great book Savings.

Tx

savingholmes

Tahlullah.H said:

Great book Savings.
Tx

Thank you so much for your feedback. I agonised over the beginning and ending in particular. So glad you liked it... Someone has left me a 5 star review - not sure who - but whoever it is thank you very much. I need about 15 reviews for the star rating to show when I do a paid promotion of my book as part of getting the word out about it... I've been blown away by the support on MSE about it. I hope some of my work colleagues also take an interest and download it when I share it with them this week... Some people at Church also interested... although what they'll make of it I'm unsure.

DD has been revising so not offered any help with front room - however DH helped me in the end. I've done some washing and he's  tidied the kitchen. He wants me to leave the xmas tree up a bit longer so I will. 

savingholmes

Well the debt-busting has begun. £48 gone out in normal minimum payment to the target CC. 
DH and I took pooch for a brief walk earlier. Inspired by people buying/reading my book I've done some more work on book 2 in the series. I found my work phone and put it on charged... Now I just need to fall asleep very soon so I can get up while it's still morning!

savingholmes

Well I got up for work okay but am struggling to focus - as I just found out a close friend at work has the virus. They have underlying conditions so have exercised caution all year... Upset - as much as anything else - that there's nothing I can do for them... More grateful than ever to be working from home though...

savingholmes

I made it through the day. Worked an hour less than normal - but I can catch up. I've updated l1nked 1n and FB about my 5 star review. I've also asked work to publicise about my book in a newsletter. You never know where future sales could come from. I wrote some more of Book 2 last night and plan to write some more tonight. The writing sites say the best way to sell Book 1 is to publish further books so that's my ambition.

I had homemade soup for lunch. Think I will have leftover roast beef dinner tonight. Exciting! I've also done 3 loads of washing and packed and unpacked the dishwasher twice. What that said about my boredom level today I'll leave to you to work out... I have one more CC payment due to go out before mid month payday but that's not until next week. I claimed some expenses today and sorted a prescription. It all helps.

For all those others out there that started back today - hope it went well and that whatever tonight's announcement brings it doesn't cause too much chaos for you. DD is hoping her exams next week get cancelled... DH is still off until at least Wednesday - jealous.