Busy Mee's Last Leg

Busy_Mee1

I am slightly late with the August update as we were out all day yesterday at a lovely family wedding. It was a very small affair with all our family, just the ceremony and a lovely meal in restaurant afterwards. No frippery but a very personal and loving affair and just shows that you can have a wedding for what I guess would be under £1500. I spent the day taking photos ( no official photographer) and I was really pleased because I got some belters :T


Anyway on to the August Update and I feel like I am back in the game this month:

Savings August. £1,500
Total Savings. £71,650
Repayment Mortgage. £64,829.53
IO Mortgage. £169,000
Total Mortgage. £233,829.53

Savings offset Mortgage to. £162,179.53 :T

Savings:Mortgage. 30.64%

I am really pleased with this and particularly pleased with a nice round number of £1500 saved this month. I might have shuffled a small amount from the emergency savings to round this off on Friday :rotfl: OCD moi ??

I am now bracing myself to pay for my car in September which will mean losing £6k from the savings. I am surprisingly OK about this as it feels like a positive step towards retirement and we will still have enough in savings to pay back the repayment part of the mortgage should we need to do so. I will also be gaining an extra £192 a month because there will be no loan repayment, but I have decided to channel this into separate savings to cover the annual bills (car and house insurance and car servicing) which seem to scupper us every year.

I have locked the spending fairy back in her box and I am determined to have a good month in September to get us back on track. I would like to get the savings back up to £70k by Christmas. :T

Beanie you are the absolute star :A

greent

'Consciously considered choices' - I think that sums it up well

Busy_Mee1

I have been missing in action again, partly due to the busyness of RL and partly because we have been away on holiday. The holiday couldn't have come at a better time for us, I felt like I was practically crawling on my hands and knees towards it. And it has been just what the doctor ordered, a very relaxing holiday in a very unspoiled part of the Med....lots of sunshine, sleep, exercise and healthy eating. I feel like a new person

In financial news the spending diary is looking good this month ( yes I know we have been away but I did leave DD stocked up) I will do a detailed update after the weekend.

In money saving news :

I stocked up on teabags, cheese and biscuits at Lidl (weekend deal) before we went away.
I bought sun cream and tresemme shampoo and conditioner in Poundland- both great products and buying shampoo and conditioner all in one saved on weight.
I just took one ladies deodorant on holiday ( just fresh smelling not girly) for me and OH to share, again saved on weight.
Bought Boots meal deal in the airport instead of buying airline food
Took travel kettle, tea and coffee for our room and kept the fridge stocked with drinks from the supermarket.

All in all it has been an inexpensive break and we have investigated some cheaper/ better accommodation for next year if we can get the Sleezy Jet flights cheap enough.

I will be back later in the week with the spending diary and monthly update :T

beanielou

Glad that you had a good break
Just what the Dr ordered!

Suffolk_lass

Good to see you back from your hols. Ours feels like a slightly distant memory, except for the remaining monster credit card bill with will be paid this month to clear the hotels and meals!

try_harder

Sounds perfect Busy Mee1. All sounding good as always keep up the good work

Busy_Mee1

A late September update, I feel a bit like I am losing my focus with the diary and am wrestling with myself to keep on posting.

I think the problem is that this is the back sliding month, my savings have actually gone down because I paid the final payment on my car and so the update is a bit negative. I was surprisingly OK about withdrawing savings to pay for my car ( this would normally require a general anesethic and a week in bed to recover :rotfl: ) I do feel like this a positive step towards retirement, I now own my good quality, low mileage car outright and unless something untoward happens it could be my forever car

Anyhoo here are the September figures:

Monthly savings. 000000000zeronadanothing
Total savings. £64,500
Repayment mortgage. £63,909.55
IO mortgage. £169,000
Total mortgage. £232,909.55

Savings:Mortgage. 27.69%

Phew now that is out of the way let's focus on a few positives


I now have £192 a month freed up from the car loan to save towards the annual bills,
I could still pay off the repayment part of the mortgage and still have 500 quid to spare :rotfl:
Spending in September was a low £950 but we were on holiday for a week
We spent £58.83 on groceries a week,
I got a backdated payrise in my salary.....was expecting about £150 but got £400 :j


Mr Mee only has 13 months left to retirement and intends to start a proper countdown next month. I need to now try and refocus and have a frugal October and get back to saving as much as we can.

themadvix

I'm definitely feeling a bit of a motivational slump at the moment Busy Mee, so don't think you're alone.... your figures are still fantastic! And great news on the backdated payrise!

greent

We did the same earlier this year, Busy - it's a wrench seeing that savings balance go down - but it *is* a positive change overall :T

Busy_Mee1

I am tiptoeing back in, in the hope no one notices how long it is since my last post.

I have no excuses really, just that real life just took over and my money saving exploits have been a bit dull. I lost my diary mojo because it all felt a bit repetitive.......work....elderly parents and saving money on the groceries. Ho hum but that is my life

Any hoo I am back, mainly because I have missed you all, but also because we are now less than 12 months away from Mr Mee's retirement and we need to make these next few months of full salary count.

Mr Mee's retirement is becoming very real now, he is literally on the countdown as he was given a little chalk board for his birthday that counts down the number of days left until he retires. He has moved mentally into the departure lounge :T

I, on the other hand, am still undecided about when I will retire. I can afford to go anytime from April 2020 (age 56) but at the moment that feels a bit too soon. I am enjoying work at the moment and Mr Mee will have only been retired for a few months at that point. I think I need to give him a bit longer to get into a routine by himself and this will also give us a bit more of a phased approach to the drop in our income . This of course could change if I get fed up at work, but it feels really good to have that choice. That is thanks to my diary on here, and the support I have received, that has given me the focus to get our finances sorted :T

As part of my retirement planning I decided I wanted to get involved in more charity work and I have been appointed as a trustee for a charity, which has been both interesting and horrifying in equal measure. ( horrifying because of the lack of governance and cavalier attitude to HR matters). I think I can definitely add value but I am not sure that I will do this long term.....it feels too much like my normal work and completely detached from the people we are trying to help.

I think I would rather do something where I can see the direct benefits to the people I am helping....but I realise that is a bit selfish because my corporate skill are of more value. Anyway I have made a commitment which I will honour for at least a year and that will give me time to think about what I want to do.

In other news I have started a weekly yoga class, which I love, love, love and it is at our local community centre, which is very handy. Miss Mee has been coming too which gives us some great quality time together.

The younger Mee's are both great. DS has started another university course to supplement his qualifications (he gets this funded, so free education :money:) He has also got his garden landscaped, to which we also chipped in some funds.

In financial news we have carried on saving a regular £1500 a month and will have replaced the money I took out of our savings to pay for my car by January 2019.

I think that is all my news for now but will be back later with my updated figures x