It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!! 29 June 2019 at 2:14PM edited 31 December 2020 at 10:24AM in Pensions, Annuities & Retirement Planning 1.6K replies 226.3K views

Sea_Shell

badmemory said:

I tried doing an April to March spreadsheet & it just never seemed to work.  So now I have one based on the actual year and another that is perpetual, well until I delete the very old months.  Got to love those what on earth have you done type comments when you do the first deletion.  Love even more the Control Z that undos that.  I have three favorite keys, control Z obviously, F12 save as - I seem to do that a lot when I decide to juggle stuff & then delete it when I know where I am going & finally F2 start a new game.

I need to make a start on my 2021 spends/income spreadsheet, get it all tee'd up and ready to go.

Although our "income" is likely to be a few pence interest, cashback, surveys and some FB sales.   Might run to a fish and chip supper!!

Save as, clear all data, put the known bills in place, rinse and repeat.

Sea_Shell

Just updated our total DC pension pots for end November (I'm ignoring Monday😉).

Up £18k on October!!!   Wow.

Overall pot (Inc ISA/cash) growth, 12 months to date, 7.53%

Sea_Shell

We've come to an agreement to put the tree up on the 10th.   It would stay in the loft if DH got his way!!!

We've already bought the few bits we needed to buy and they're all wrapped, just need delivering.   It's going to be hard not to stop for a cup of tea!!

Extra foodie bits mainly sorted too, so just a last minute shop to Waitrose for some fresh treats required.

December is actually one of our lowest spend months!!!!   Only usually beaten by February (no CT)

Our main CC statement is literally 5 food shops and £20 of petrol.

MallyGirl

Gosh - how very organised. I haven't bought a single card or present yet, although I have ordered the turkey. We have a big fake tree for the room with UFH (a gift from the people who built the extension) but will get a real one when daughter comes home from uni at the weekend. We are going to my Mum's for a couple of days over the '5 day free pass' time but will have been isolating beforehand and daughter has been having weekly testing. Hopefully we will come back with plenty of spare leftovers as there's only 2 of them and I have bought a massive bird.
I have just had an email from our energy supplier saying we have built up too much credit and they are refunding us £430 this month so that is a nice surprise.

cfw1994

We like organised: well done SS 
We popped our tree up last weekend with a few lights....I was all for doing it weeks ago (heck, nothing else going on in November!), but was overruled 
Most gifts bought (including a few online over last weekend for bargains).
Lack of actual holidays taken means I've taken 2 full weeks off at Christmas - don't think I have EVER done that before! - as well as a couple of Fridays off - I'm treating this as practice retirement 
Interesting on the energy, MG - just checked our Octopus account - we've had a dozen referral fees (£600) over the year, but we appear to be almost a grand in credit     Probably ought to take some out!

SouthCoastBoy

Sea_Shell said:

Our main CC statement is literally 5 food shops and £20 of petrol.

 Our youngest daughter went off to uni this term so now it is just the two of us it is incredible how spending has dropped off a cliff. Makes me question if my anticipated £3000/mth is required in retirement.

Sea_Shell

Wow, those fuel credits!!!   

We're about £50+ in credit at the moment, but that'll be back in debit by March/April sometime.

MallyGirl

It gives you an idea of what we are paying though - annual gas & elec here is £2400 which wouldn't fit into your budget at all SS. And that is only heating some of the rooms - I am sure there is a little sauna somewhere under the floorboards which absorbs off the heat from the pipes (pictures mice in deckchairs wearing sunglasses).
We have also had 1 term of being empty nesters - I am still overspending on food as I just hadn't realised how much she ate!!

Sea_Shell

MallyGirl said:

It gives you an idea of what we are paying though - annual gas & elec here is £2400 which wouldn't fit into your budget at all SS. And that is only heating some of the rooms - I am sure there is a little sauna somewhere under the floorboards which absorbs off the heat from the pipes (pictures mice in deckchairs wearing sunglasses).
We have also had 1 term of being empty nesters - I am still overspending on food as I just hadn't realised how much she ate!!

Wow, that's some utility bill!!!   Our annual gas and electric is £720, for a 4 bed.

Have you got something big, old and draughty?   Windsor castle? 😉

Love the mice in sunglasses analogy... like in A Grand Day Out, when the rocket engine fires!!!😁

MallyGirl

Yep - detached Victorian place which is permanently cold enough to need me to wrap in a blanket when I watch TV. Officially only 3 bedrooms but really it is 4 and all the rooms have very high ceilings and single glazed sash windows. Mostly stripped floors or encaustic tiles. No cavities in the walls to fill. There are 19 radiators and I hate to think about how many 100s of metres of copper pipe under the floors.
Add in dogs that go in and out and in and out all day.
We will stay here for the first 10 years or so of retirement but I expect we will downsize at some point.