Mortgage freedom/FIRE diary

Poppycat1

We have two new family members, Winston the fuchsia and Tom the tomato.  Winston will hopefully have a twin brother shortly, if I can get to my usual garden centre tomorrow.  There was only one available when I went to a different garden centre than normal today.  Which was on the way back from an Olio collection.  I had a bit of an anxiety issue in the garden centre.  I was fine going and parking up but as I went in it started.  I don't understand why, I love garden centres.  On of my cats (Bob) seem to sense that there was something wrong, and sat with me for ages when I got home.  (He is back so struggling to type.) 

I have been very successful with the Olio pickups today. About 12 tins of soup, beans etc, onion chutney, gravy and stock cubes from one person.  8 packets/boxes/bags of frozen vegetarian steaks, burgers, pieces etc., loaf of bread, French stick and some dahl from someone else.  Tonight, I received a Pret humous and chipotle wrap, egg sandwich (DS2), two acai and almond butter bowls and various pastries.  Wrap eaten for tea with a packet of crisps and I'll have one of the bowls for breakfast tomorrow.  I left plenty for other people to get.

DS2 thinks we should try and live off what we get from Olio for the rest of the month.  I thought it was a great idea until I realised I hadn't collected any tea bags or diary free milk (tea available but too far away to make it worth it.).  But I do think that we could go some considerable time without visiting a shop or only for very basic supplies.  We have lots of fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables.

I completed a couple of surveys last night and once they are approved I will have £5.20 to request.

Poppycat1

Winston's twin brother has been collected, he said he had to bring three of his friends .  They are on the windowsill waiting for bigger pots.

I popped in to work today to take the medical certificate, try and log on to the computer (passwords have run out) and my manager was there.  Had a great chat, I am lucky to have such an understanding manager.  Stopped off on the way for an Olio collection of some Tesco's granola squares which I left in the tea room.  On the way back I went and saw DS1 and took him his Christmas presents his grandparents left last week and a few bits from Olio that we wont eat.

No more has been paid off the mortgage but it is payslip day Monday and payday on Thursday.  A largish overpayment should be made Thursday.

Got teabags from Olio, so just hanging on for diary free milk, lol.  Prolific have been pretty good recently and I have enough for payment but will wait for another £3 odd to become payable.  I spent the £10 Waitrose voucher yesterday on oats, vegan mayo, marg x 2, baked beans x 4, jam, lasagne sheets and cream crackers.  Received the free food magazine because I have a Waitrose card and thought I was getting a free newspaper.  The one a chose was not included (i) in the offer.  I did email them and they are sending me a refund on a card.  It's on the other side of the city and I don't go there much.

I have been reading a thread on here in the over 50's section about how much you  need to retire on.  It's interesting reading because most that you read says that you need vast amounts.  But I'm sure I could live of quite a small amount after the mortgage is paid off.  But there are people on there that are living off quite small amounts.

At 68 - I have this last tax year and next tax year and I will have a full NI record to entitlement me to state pension at 68.  That I good amount.  I also will have whatever is in my NHS pension.  Only three years paid in to it so far which is around £800 pa.

At 60 - I have a civil service pension that is currently standing at £3,800 pa with a lump sum of around £11,000.

At 55 - I could take out a small SIPP of £1,400.  I wont do this but will add to it.

Mortgage is hopefully going to be paid off when I am 53, just over 3 years time.  This is going to be a real streeeeeeetch and I may not make the target.

So between the time the mortgage is paid off and I retire I would like to do a few home improvements, new kitchen and bathroom, some new electrics in most of the rooms and decorate and re carpet.  There is a small chance of a smallish extension for a larger kitchen/eating area.

What are peoples thoughts?  I'm thinking that I could retire around 60 if I don't overspend.  Or maybe a little earlier but get a little part-time job.  Maybe stay at the hospital and see what is the minimum hours they would accept.  I think the lump sum could last me two years.

greent

Something like exam invigilating could be an alternative as a top up. Not regular hours - there's definitely a seasonal element to it - although it's not just May and June and can pay (here) between £10 and £12/ hour. I probably get 3k / year from it, sometimes more. You get lots of free time and usually don't have to work all sessions (although being available for all of the may and June exams is definitely preferred ) x

Poppycat1

@greent - that sounds like a great idea.  Never really considered it, I suppose I thought that you would have to be a teacher/ex teacher for some reason.  I regularly get 'down' for approximately 3-4 months of the during Winter, despite loving the season.  Some years are worse than other years.  So working May/June would be ideal, I will start to look in to it.  I live in a fairly large university city and there are lots of high schools.  Thank you @greent.

I think at today costs £6,000 - £7,000 pa is fine.

£1,200 - Council tax
£360 - Water
£840 - Gas/Electric
£420 - Broadband/Mobile
£1,200 - Food
£400 - Car/Home insurances
£500 - Fuel
£200 - Gifts
£1,000 - Cats food/worming/vets etc - Some years would be more/some less

Total - £6,120

So if I could earn around £3,000 pa that would allow for some little treats/clothes/plants.  I'm not in to expensive holidays, I like to go off on my own and stay at a camp site.  But I do like the idea of a little camper.

South_coast

Looks good - love that the cats cost almost as much as you spend on food for yourself 🤣!

Porridgecat

Exam invigilating can be a handy little extra job. The school I teach at is always short of people, and as greent says its not just May and June, lots of schools have mocks in Nov, Dec and also now in March and the BTEC type exams are scattered all over the place. 
I also had a little chuckle to see how much you budget for the cats - we always say about ours that children would probably have been cheaper.

Poppycat1

I didn't even think about it being a lot but I suppose it is.  At the moment they are still young, fit and healthy and passed the initial stage of neutering etc but they will all get to old age fairly close to each other.  Bob actually slept in my arms, upside down, like a baby for around two hours whilst I watched Comic Relief this afternoon. 

I haven't collected on Olio today but most food eaten was from there. 
    Breakfast: Almond pastry for me, banana sandwich for son.
    Lunch:  Humous and salad sandwich and crisps for both of us
    Tea:  Wicked vegan lasagne, salad for me, spaghetti on toast for son - tea not eaten yet so may change.
    Snack:  Tea, choc biscuit for me and Yum Yum for DS2

The only things that didn't come from Olio is the margarine for the banana sandwich and toast,  choc biscuit (Mum) crisps and milk for my tea.  I think this thread might become 'what I do with my Olio collections'   A bit short on fruit and veg today but we do make of for it on other days.

I excited to think that I could do the exam invigilator work.  

Chiglepig

@Poppycat in 'normal' years, Universities also often need invigilators too. There may still be some in-person exams for this year in practical subjects, but I know most of ours are on-line in May.

Poppycat1

@Chiglepig, thank you.

I spoke too soon about the Olio collections.  Someone has put 20, 2kg bags of potatoes on and lots of large wholemeal baps.  I'm collecting two bags of potatoes and 4 x 4 wholemeal baps.  The baps are the same I usually get and have with bean burgers.  I'm thinking burgers in buns and potatoes wedges for dinner tomorrow.  Maybe shepherds pie for the freezer.

greent

At the 2 schools i work at there are only 2 ex teachers - the rest of us have worked in banking, front line retail, the RAF, the police, admin in various places, as a fireman, a journalist, a tax inspector, a nursery nurse.... all sorts! 

In 'normal' times I will have a couple of days work in Sept on Y7 SATs and a Maths challenge (from memory) , a couple of days around Oct on language speaking mocks, Dec is a couple of weeks on mocks, Feb a couple of days on language speaking, March 2 weeks on mocks, April more mocks and then May and June GCSE and A levels - and then maybe a week and a bit on some more internal exams at the start of July. Schools obviously vary in their timetables and I am very flexible in what I  can do and am happy to work by myself and also act as a scribe and reader so I work probably a lot of hours compared to some others. Definitely worth looking at as a top up x