Busy Mee's Last Leg

Suffolk_lass

I was wondering if you had doubled the Lidl offer by registering on Mr Mee's phone too - others on here suggested it.

themadvix

Great progress as always Busy Mee!

 It sounds like your son made the right decision, even if it was a tricky one to make.

savingholmes

Congrats to your son. A DB pension is worth a lot - as well as the extra time back.

edinburgher

Thanks for the tip re. Lidl app and well done to your DS - DB pensions are worth their weight in gold. My DB pension accrues at 1/49 of my salary. To create a sustainable income stream with a DC pension would cost a lot more (Say a £100 salary = 100/49 = £2.04 pension. In a DC pension, this income might cost £2.04 * 25 = £51.02 to replace) As you'll typically pay under 10% of your wages into a DB pension (unless you're minted), I've always thought of it as a 50% pay rise. Gross simplification and I'm sure someone will savage the maths in a minute

Suffolk_lass

Actually I agree with you @edinburgher - back in the days of Margaret Thatcher's conservative government we were assured that our pensions justified paying us between 17% and 30% less than the market rate for IT Professionals. I would love to see the treasury assessment for today. Not so much salary inflation but vastly different grade assessments as a way of keeping valued staff

Busy_Mee

Thanks for the maths Ed, I was struggling to explain to DS why the new job with a higher contribution of 9.35% into a DB pension was better than the old job with a 3% contribution+ employer contribution into a DC pension. He is just looking at a decreased net pay.  He believed me and took the new job but the maths helps.

Bit of a win at the outlet mall on Sunday. I was commissioned to buy new shirts for DS for his new job. M&S outlet had 50% of all their men's wear and some yellow sticker items and I managed to get five shirts for £32.50. I then had some jeans to return £15 and £16.00 in M&S reward vouchers ( including the out of date one) Total to pay £1.50   I am hoping they are not too fuddy duddy for him, but they are all slim fit and I guess most work shirts look alike.

I also managed to retrieve the £5 Lidl voucher with a top up shop on Tuesday. That will be the last grocery shop of the month as we have an early pay day tomorrow because of the bank holiday.

I have received a pay rise (1 %) not exactly vast but backdated to April. Works out to around £50 a month which was a nice surprise. I wasn't expecting anything this year because I am on temporary promotion. 

The tilers have arrived. They were rained off on Tuesday but managed to rip up the old deck yesterday and start laying the tiles. We are having a new system, that is used more in Europe, where the tiles are laid onto adjustable plastic turrets rather than on hardcore, sand and cement. This should work better for us, as the deck is effectively a roof terrace above a large room beneath. The system looks very effective and solid and we have not needed to carry quantities of hardcore, sand and cement through the house to it. I am hoping they get finished today as there is more rain forecast for tomorrow. 

I'm off to the hairdressers tonight to get my hair coloured. I learned during lockdown that I do not need to get it done every month and am now trying every other month. I'll probably need to go for a trim in between as my hair grows quickly. But over the year it should save around £200 

It is pay day tomorrow so I will be back over the weekend with the August update. Where has the month gone.

Busy_Mee

August Update
An early update, as payday was yesterday because of the bank holiday. I am paid on the last working day of the month. I am really pleased with our finances this month, largely helped by 2x £100 H@lifax switching rewards. This has to be the quickest and easiest switch I have ever made. It has meant that I was able to chip another £500 off the IO mortgage. Anyhoo the scores on the doors are as follows:

Repayment Mortgage.        £42,512.42
IO Mortgage.                     £160,000.00 
Total Mortgage.                 £202,512.42

Reduction.                         £2455.89

Ring fenced savings.        £213,000.00

Increase.                            £500.00 (Virgin ISA interest)
Savings less Mortgage.     £10,487.58. (Forever fund) 

Odds and Sods account.        £43.16
Principality.                          £1250.00
Mortgage.                            £1500.00
Total.                                    £2793.16

I am really pleased with the finances this month, but I really need to focus if I want to achieve my goal of reducing the IO Mortgage to £150 k by the end of next April. This means paying £10k off in 8 months.  

I am already budgeted to pay £1000 a month off the IO mortgage and need to find a further £250 a month.  I have decided that I need to start funding the £125 a month into the Principality regular saver from cash flow, rather than the odds and sods account. That will give me a fighting change of saving £250 per month in odds and sods. Not a lot if you say it quickly 

It has actually stopped raining here but it is quite cool. The tilers are currently finishing the deck off and it is looking great. I can't wait to get it cleaned and the furniture and pots out there. I hope everyone has a great Bank Holiday weekend. 

Suffolk_lass

You are doing really well but! - I would personally have to tackle that £512.42 in your repayment mortgage - just because I like a nice round number.

My tidying total this year is just over £1800 so far this year and I now only round to £10 whereas it was £100 when I was working. You can do it.

Hope your weather is better than ours (although we do have blue skies it is cold!)

LadyGnome

You are making amazing progress. I think for me, knowing I was building a forever fund would be a huge psychological boost. 

savingholmes

The tiles sound lovely. I'm sure it will look amazing once it's all finished. Finances looking good as ever.