Time to Focus - Our best year ever?

noblet

Hello
Lurking a while and have decided that starting a diary will help me achieve my goals - I say mine, but the vision is for us as a couple - my husband and I (no little ones, apart from our beloved moggie). I'm mid 30s, and he is early 40s.

At the end of 2017 I came across a book - Your Best Year Ever, which has really helped me plan and focus on what's important in 2018.
One of my goals is to take charge of my finances - not just float along, not necessarily to live incredibly frugally - but somewhere to balance making the most of the opportunity & income. I realise we are so so fortunate to both be in good jobs and well paid.l work hard and have invested a lot (both financially and in time and energy) to get to the role I'm in - and I've never really had to seriously worry about money, but on the other hand I've always really just spent what I had and I wonder where it went....
My husband on the other hand has always been a saver - in terms of budgeting, well he just doesn't really spend.... :-D The fact that I'm now taking an interest in budgeting and allocating our resources to the best place is a novelty for him.

We're so fortunate in terms of our financial position that I've really hesitated about whether to start a diary - we are in a very good position - but I think like many paying our mortgage down would really help us have some freedom longer term. And I've realised that if I'd been more focused that past 5/10 yrs then we perhaps be in a different place now.

Beyond the mortgage - we do have quite a few things we want to do to the house, it's very dated and needed a lot of work when we moved in... of which we've done little in 6yrs! We'd both also like to start a family, we've just not taken that plunge....and time is ticking.

Other goals for this year - c25K to complete by June (got to week 5, then was sick.... restarted end of last year, got to week 7, xmas came and went.... so another restart needed...) - generally to be fitter and healthier and more confident to take the family plunge...; tidier more decluttered house; plan for my next work role.

So -
Joint income from salaries = £89k
+ additional small income from BTL
Fair bit in various savings pots, but probably not the most efficient in terms of interest so need to look at this.

We have no debt, car is 5 years old, had from new owned outright (barely use it these days)
Mortgage is at £147k, fixed at 1.3% for next 2 yrs.

Planning new kitchen, circa £15k I think... (need to price up), and general other decorating/house this year circa £3k.

Started YNAB!

I love reading all of your diaries - I hope not only this will bring me focus but that through sharing might also seek your expertise and learn lots!


May Goals:

1. Complete C25K (didn't run at all last week, so a challenge... but still manageable within May I think)
2. Volunteer expenses for year to date claimed
3. Ebay 10 things
4. Start trying to meal plan

bexster1975

Hello and welcome

I don't see why you shouldn't have a diary just because you earn well!

I think huge numbers of people do exactly what you have described you do. They work hard and spend their money " because they have earnt it". Fair enough I say. Tidying and decluttering will be an eye opener. If you can sell any clutter you should consider that and add this to your savings/mortgage OP pot.
I'm interested in two of your goals: to get in a better position personally to start a family and to plan for your next work role. May I suggest deciding which is most important right now.

In terms of getting a hold of your finances, do you have an immediate goal? Maybe enough to cover a maternity leave of 6-12 months? Just an idea.

Also, consider what needs doing in the kitchen. Often cupboard units are in pretty good order, but new doors and work tops can make a huge difference for little cash.

Best of luck with it all. It's a mental shift, but well worth it in the long run

Bexster

noblet

Hi Bexter, thank you!!
Indeed, saving an amount to allow some time away from work is important.
I'm aiming for 10k in the first instance as my "reserve fund" - be it for time off for family or if I had an employment gap (I'm not on a perminant contract), but really need to see what that looks like against expenses as I start to optimise outgoings.
So at the moment I have £8400 in my personal savings, so short term aim to take that to 10k.

I don't see those 2 goals as incompatible, but I do recognise that having too many goals can be a danger. I hope that by being in control of both the financial position any my health in the first intance opens more choices?

And yeah - the kitchen really does need to go..... it's beyond tarting up I'm afraid :-( but that's ok, we'd planned to do that when we bought the house but after 6yrs running out of patience with it falling apart and really poor layout. Thanks though - it's helpful to consider options!!

noblet

Progress I've made in last few weeks on identifying areas to reduce spend without reducing impact on current lifestyle -

1. Started YNAB - one budget for my personal finances (where does all my salary go after bills ...) , the other for joint bills/ savings.

2. Through analysing direct debits in YNAB - realised that my gym payment which I never used was really silly - cancelled (£50 a month) and opted for pay as you go option, changed to a budget line of £30 a month, which would be circa 5-6 visits a month.... and have not yet been.... against my other goal of being healthier not a huge success! but at least not wasting gym payments.

3. Cancelled direct debit for eye care (contact lenses) - no longer wear them!! (£3 a month saved)

4. Stopped monthly recurring payment of DropBox - also have microsoft365 (with one drive) - don't need both! Saved £7.99 a month.

shirlgirl2004

Good luck I'd definitely be looking to either pay down the residential mortgage or maybe paying down the BTL would be better as with sec 24 there won't be a tax advantage to having a BTL mortgage and I assume the BTL mortgage rate is higher.

noblet

Thanks shirlgirl - to be honest, we need to sit down and look at the implications of sec24... the BTL is on interest only, I'm not sure of the rate as other than support on managing tenants, husband deals with it all (it's all in his name, it was his place before we bought together, he does the accounts etc). Something to work on understanding better.

Spent a fair bit of time sorting out bank accounts -

Moved my current account (salary paid in here & personal spends) to FD, with the incentive for moving & also far far better service so far
Moved our joint current account to the Spanish bank - for cash back on the mortgage payment & bills (and moved my mobile contract to also come out from this account)

Realised I was being charged on foreign transactions (I am in European cities for work regularly) - so took out a credit card with no fee for these.

Have set up the regular savings at 5% for 1 year with each of the new current accounts to take advantage - so that's £500pm in total going in (£300 max + £200 max limits), which is far far more than I was saving before, so need to be disciplined...

Also increased payments to my personal pension by £50pcm for new financial year, which have been on the low side (slight pay increase this month) - and then realised I've not been claiming additional 20% tax relief from HMRC for last 18mnths for being higher rate earner..... so hopefully a cheque arriving soon! I believe they owe me £2100 based on my calculations. If that's right (and they give me a cheque for that amount - or will this year's tax payments be reduced...?), will put it into my savings pot to take it to £10k target for rainy day fund, and £500 into a pension payment.

noblet

In other news - we've water coming in after the terrible rain here last 2 days :-(
Roofer coming out on Monday, but not long since the whole roof was looked at. Hopefully not a lot of work - and the place needs to be redecorated anyway...

noblet

Weekend update -

Returned DVDs from library - going to get dvds more often, didn't actually realise they had them until last week.

Letter from HMRC on Friday, cheque for £720 on the way for the 16/17 tax year :-)

Resisted lunch out yesterday and ate left over chilli - very tasty! Away with work this coming week so not just good ££ but also healthwise - need to cut down on meals out.

Took out a discount card at local leisure centre for £30 for the year (which was plan after quitting gym) to save 25% per visit and had a swim on Thurs - restarted C25K today (from week 6). I've got so unfit both were a challenge, but feeling better already.

Finished off making a little quilt for my new nephew, ready to be posted.

Task for the remainder of weekend is to catch up on work expenses claim to get the money back in my account.

Happy Sunday everyone.

JennyP

Hi Noblet,
Am enjoying reading your diary!

From what I understand, landlords still get 20% tax relief on mortgage interest so if you're a basic rate tax payer it shouldn't make too much difference though because it's calculated in a different way, the change itself can push people into the higher rate band.
I found this page had a good explanation:
http://www.tmwdirect.co.uk/support/tax_relief_changes

Hope you get your roof sorted. We just had a quote for the work we want doing on our new house. Enormously shocked at the price!

noblet

Hi Jenny - thanks
The BTL is entirely in my husband's name, he's a basic rate tax payer and will need to look at it. I'm already asking him a lot of finance questions right now, so I'll go easy on quizzing him about the BTL accounts a little longer while I get other things in order..... thanks for the link, I've passed it on.

Roof - actually, we had a heap load of work done last yr, full overhaul of the roof & found out we had 2 chimneys in need of serious repair, one had to be rebuilt... so was not pleased to have water in again!!
Thankfully the problem was found quickly, a slate which was 3inch too short!! apparently, the roofing felt was visible. Another small repair to neighbouring side - so that's all sorted and hopefully that's us again for a while
£160, cost to be divided by 4 properties so not so bad.

We're just back from a cheeky last minute break in Corfu, RyanAir & Air BNB. Not been abroad for a week holiday for ages (not at all last yr) so quite a treat. Never been to Greece before. Need to work out the full damage now we're back, but had been planned for. Swimming in the sea - can't remember the last time I did that.

Called Spanish bank this morning & increased monthly mortgage payments to £1000 (279.88 overpayment per month). We get 1% cashback on payments by D/D up to max £1k so seemed it was best to up the payments and get the cash back (we have at least £1200 in joint current account to cover the difference for next 4 months).
Total projected overpayment this yr will then be £2,239.04

Still figuring out our realistic monthly budget for the household so this is an adjustment in the meantime, based on what we have sitting in joint account with contingency factored in - while I track our actual outgoings.
Also need to consider the rates of overpayment on the residential mortgage, BTL, savings account interest.... etc. But feel better to know we've started paying down a bit at least and can adjust if necessary in due course as I get more organised.

Work expenses for Jan & Feb filled and were paid while away - £111 back. Will try and get March done in next couple of days.

We've both got complicated work/ family travel arrangements this week - so kitty has gone on her holidays to my Dad for 2 weeks rather than having her back then getting cat sitter for some days (also saved on cat sitter!). So this weekend a bit of house maintenance while she's out the way, painting over the water damage with some stain stuff then white emulsion on ceilings. Also will attempt to get garden fence painted since it's finally been dry for a stretch.

noblet

Right -back from holidays/ work travel and time to get back into a routine of sorts....

I brought back a bag of kumquats from Corfu - had a little marmalade disaster last weekend as first I overcooked it a bit and then the jars I got at T$sco at last minute (I know, no empties in house...) didn't take the heat, cracked and 1 cracked on filling and then broke with marmalade everywhere....
So, some very firm but tasty kumquat marmalade in a drinking glass we need to eat up - but a nice reminder of the holiday none the less! (and a bag of cracked jars to return..).

Kitty is home this weekend now we're back from work travel as well - just about talking to us again....

During the week I extracted from YNAB the amounts spent on the holiday which was pretty interesting - the week cost us around £1400 - with that split about 3 ways between the travel (flights & car); accomodation; & spending while there (food, drink, entrance fees.. etc). I've not done this before so it's useful to get a sense of savings for future trips...

This week I'll look at May goals and budget. In terms of goals from April -

1. Restart C25K - get out for sessions a week (even if I walk...)
Yep - did this :j I'm running (jogging slowly..) for 25 mins stretch which I'm pretty pleased with, and on week 7 of the programme (9 weeks total).

2. Get work expenses claims up to date (and complete on time for April)
Sort of - a mamoth effort, but still some loose ends to tidy up on some volunteering expenses.

3. Quotes for kitchen
Fail - too much going on with additional roof work & repainting from the water damage.

4. Monitor spending via YNAB and look for opportunities to save on regular costs
Been updating YNAB at least weekly, sometimes 2x a week. Definitely trimming back here and there - didn't spend on holiday clothes for example :T

Taken some photos for ebay, now just need to get on with some listing...
Also cleared out a good few backs of clutter/clothes to charity last weekend while moving things for painting. All in all going ok...

Have a good week everyone