The Piano Diary

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,
Up early today, I need to get a lot done, I’m working from home so that will reduce the distractions. I have dipped below £65K with an overpayment of £100. Mortgage balance is £64,980.42p. I think I will celebrate each £5K milestone as I reach it, that means there are 13 to go. I can see how these overpayments from small savings and windfalls could be really motivating. I have used The Frugal Fairy’s idea of the marble jars. One jar has one lonely marble in it and the other has 65 marbles which will be joining it as fast as possible! I’ve decided to slightly rebalance and reduce pension contributions from 40% to 30% and have set up a regular overpayment of £200. Earlier this week I went in search of more savings and managed to save £437 per year from switching energy and about £40 per month from switching broadband and TV. Once these come through I will use the savings to increase the overpayment. OH thinks its really funny how I get so excited by all this and thinks its my hobby, which I guess it is, or at least one of my hobbies.
Have a great day all!

glass_half_full

Dear diary,
I took my grade 3 piano this week. I had a few extra lessons and my teacher helped me to get ready. It went ok, but I made a few mistakes in the pieces due to nerves. I think I did enough to pass anyway, we’ll see.
Two more weeks to go at work and then I am off for 2 weeks, can’t wait.
Budget is going ok. Have agreed present budget with OH for each other and for DS and we are going to stick to it. I’ve joined the 2020 Mortgage Free Wannabes thread, thanks to Julicorn for setting it up. I am aiming to pay the maximum 10% I am allowed under my current deal.
Have a great day all!

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,
I seem to have settled into a weekly update on this diary, possibly because I usually work from home on a Friday as today. The new broadband is up and running, slight blip yesterday whilst we were without it for the afternoon whilst OH was working from home, that was a mess up by me, but all was sorted when I got home. So far it seems to be faster and less glitchy, here’s hoping it stays like that. The TV box arrives in a few days. It should save us around £40 per month overall. Switching does involve a bit of disruption but companies rely on us not bothering. Another side benefit was that the new provider offer a free virus software so I could cancel my paid for one. Interesting I’m noticing how companies make it awkward or difficult for you to switch off their services.
Recently I noticed how our number of subscriptions have been creeping up on various things so I went through all of them this week was surprised by how many we have and how much we were spending. I cancelled a number including a digital newspaper sub and a couple of software subs. The newspaper made it difficult to cancel, transferring me to a team of people trained to keep you. I have to admire them, they are good at their jobs, they try everything to keep you, finally offering a crazy discount, but I stayed firm and cancelled.
Christmas decorations going up this weekend, and we are going into town to get some presents and visit the German market. Looking forward to seeing DS when he comes home.
Have a great day all!

savingholmes

Well done on shopping around - that was a big saving - and on cancelling subscriptions. You sound like you are doing really well.

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,
Up quite early today, quite a few final arrangements to do. All presents are bought but need to get some more food in!
Hi Savingholmes, thanks for your comment. I think for me there is a relationship between how much time I spend on moneysaving and making progress. I have had a bit more time over recent months and I think that has helped me to get things done. For example, all this switching is quite time consuming and I think sometimes its easier to leave things as they are.
I got my grade 3 piano result this week and I passed! :j Really pleased as I was only 4 marks away from a merit. I would quite liked to have got a merit, but I realise that this would have taken more consistent practice. I am going to keep going anyway and find time to play each day. Its one of the hobbies I want to do more of when I have more time.
Picking up DS from Uni later on today. Looking forward to seeing him!
Increased mortgage payment of £1250 has reduced the mortgage to £63,800. I have moved another marble across in the glass jars!
2020 Goals
1. Pay off the car – this will be March 2020
2. If all goes to plan, I will increase the mortgage payment to £1500 next year when the car is paid off so the annual payment will be £17,250. This will reduce the mortgage to £46,700 by this time next year. Going under £50K is a psychological milestone.
3. Build up a decent amount of savings. I’m aiming for £10,000 to give us a real buffer.
Holiday 2020 – we are planning a trip to Sweden. We haven’t been to Scandinavia and really like the idea of seeing that part of the world so need to budget for this.
Have a great day all!

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,
I like this period between Christmas and the New Year, especially as I have a few days off so I can continue to unwind. DS had some friends over to stay last night and we decamped to my OHs parents house which is not far away. DS and friends seem to have had a good time and the house is unscathed (as far as I can see! ).

2019 Spend Review
I am reviewing last year’s overall household spend in 2019. I recorded pretty much every spend on YNAB so I can look back at all the categories. I’m not going to review every category, but a few key ones.
2019 Mortgage - £13,000 (balance outstanding around £64,000)
This should be £18,000 in 2020 as we overpay by £500 per month from freeing up the car payment by around March plus a few other savings here and there.
2019 Car loan - £10,000 (balance still outstanding around £7,000)
Should have paid this off by March 2020. We will then switch the car payment to OP the mortgage.
2019 Gas and electricity £1,800
This will be £1,600 due to switch in December.
2019 Supporting DS at Uni - £1,900
This will probably be similar in 2020.
2019 Dental - £1,700
I knew this was a lot but this surprised me. I had to have a lot done this year so hopefully this will be way down in 2020 should be £500.
2019 Broadband, TV and phone £1600
Switched this in December so should be £900
2019 Groceries - £6,945 - £578 per month
This is a lot but included Christmas. Still, this is an area we should be able to bring down.
2019 – Eating out - £1800 - £150 per month
This can and will be reduced!
2019 – Holidays - £5,000
This surprised me, it covered all our holidays and included paying to take DS and his GF with us for a week. We are planning a trip in the summer but overall should be around £2,500.
2019 – Petrol - £1,000
This is a lot less than previous years which would have been £3,200.
2019 – pet related - £1,000
Sadly we lost our cat this year. We are talking about getting another cat, let’s see.
Its interesting seeing the spends, YNAB doesn’t lie. There are a few categories that have surprised me, but at the same time I don’t want life to be all hair shirt, so I’m willing to put money aside to enjoy life as well. Overall I am happy with the general direction we are heading in. However, this review has showed me there is still plenty of room in the budget to make more savings.

Having a fund for ‘treats’
We received some money as a gift from OH’s parents for Christmas. I have opened a Post Office savings account with a cash card over the break. This money is for treats. Previously we put money like this in the joint account, but then it gets lost in the swilling around of money and we feel guilty spending on meals out etc. This way we have ring fenced some money just for fun. This is OHs idea and I think it is a great idea.

Bigger picture goals.
All the minor savings on the categories build up to the bigger picture of:
The budget is pretty much set for 2020. Main aims are:
1. OP mortgage by £6,400 reducing total to around £46,000
2. Pay off car loan by March
3. Save £10,000 as a fully funded EF
4. Increase pension back to 30% when 2 and 3 are done

Happy New Year to you all! :beer:

savingholmes

Congrats on passing your piano grade 3. Some great goals there too. Hope you are enjoying all the festivities.

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,
Well we have made it to the end of the first week back at work. It has been quite tiring, I nearly fell asleep on the train on the way home one day this week!
On the money front, I have opened a P*ffice account and transferred £860 over to give us money we can spend on more fun stuff without feeling too guilty. Will probably top this up to £1000. Whilst DS was home with us I encouraged him to open a LISA so that in 10 years time he will hopefully have a deposit for a property if that what he wants to do. I gave him a starter donation to help him on his way. I showed him how saving a regular amount each month, even if small, could grow to a large amount over time. I want him to develop good money habits early on! We also bought a couple of items of bedroom furniture to finally finish off the room which we had redecorated over a year ago but we wanted to wait a bit before we replaced it. Other than this, we are keeping within budget overall. These spends have impacted a little on the overall plan, but we are still on track to pay off the car by April this year which is our first major goal.
I’m trying to reduce the amount of waste and single use plastic we throw away. Small steps are being taken! So far I have made a few adjustments. I am using up what we already have and then when it comes to replacing things, I am looking for zero/low waste/plastic free alternatives
Its quite fun and may even be more economical overall I think.

savingholmes

Is the LISA still available - I thought it had stopped now?

glass_half_full

Hi Savingholmes,
Yes the LISA is still going, such a good deal for young people.