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Queen Bee fighting for her Hive!

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  • Today's quick win - first payment received on a very small amount of money invested into a peer to peer lending site. First time using this kind of investment. Its no game changer but something a bit different to try. Relieved to get the first payment. 
    2025 financial goals & challenges!

    1). Mortgage (started Jan 2024) £106,630.42 / £122,400.00 Overpayment total: £904.60 (Inc Sprive yr 1 o/p £19.16 & £55.34 reg monthly overpayment) Equity 28%

    2). #7 Save 1p a day challenge 2025 £280/£780

    3). £2179.85/£3000 in Investment ISA (34/50 investments)

    4). Increase cash savings & saving pots

    5). Keep debt to a minimum.

    Favourite quote: 'Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gunna get!' Forrest Gump
  • This weekend is a weekend of celebration - my work has been very full on for quite a few weeks however it all came to ahead on friday as we have products going to market over the weekend! Last night I was bouncing & a bit happy on well earned prosecco. Today am feeling really tired. Been working very late nights, lots of last minute stuff to do etc and now its the post comedown tiredness. 

    Today we ventured on the train to one of the big sports shops. Youngest gets very cold hands in the winter and we needed to get the kids kitted out with hats and gloves. Normally I just buy the regular ones from the supermarket but seeing how cold the little one was last year we decided to invest in ski hats and gloves for extra warmth. So that cost me a pretty penny but they are happy with their lot. 

    We also went for pizza and did the weekly supermarket shop. Pizza was £40 odd and £47 was spent on food shop. OH paid for them this week. I did buy my annual treat of Baileys though :)


    2025 financial goals & challenges!

    1). Mortgage (started Jan 2024) £106,630.42 / £122,400.00 Overpayment total: £904.60 (Inc Sprive yr 1 o/p £19.16 & £55.34 reg monthly overpayment) Equity 28%

    2). #7 Save 1p a day challenge 2025 £280/£780

    3). £2179.85/£3000 in Investment ISA (34/50 investments)

    4). Increase cash savings & saving pots

    5). Keep debt to a minimum.

    Favourite quote: 'Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gunna get!' Forrest Gump
  • All the news of COP 26 has been weighing a bit too heavy on my mind this past week , we are pretty good environmentally wise but like most families there is still room for improvement. My biggest bug bear is the number of one use plastic bottles in the house esp in bathroom and kitchen so this is an area I would like to target next. So this afternoon while the kids were having kick about in the park I was secretly looking for bamboo toothbrushes, soaps instead of shower gel, soap bars to wash with. Also compostable sponges and cloths. I'd also like to find something better for the monthlies too. We get most of our fruits and veg delivered in a fortnightly veg box but would also like to stop the plastic bags on fruit and veg that is bought from the supermarket so going to make a change and try the local greengrocers. This will after all come at a cost which is a worry but it is the right thing to do. 
    2025 financial goals & challenges!

    1). Mortgage (started Jan 2024) £106,630.42 / £122,400.00 Overpayment total: £904.60 (Inc Sprive yr 1 o/p £19.16 & £55.34 reg monthly overpayment) Equity 28%

    2). #7 Save 1p a day challenge 2025 £280/£780

    3). £2179.85/£3000 in Investment ISA (34/50 investments)

    4). Increase cash savings & saving pots

    5). Keep debt to a minimum.

    Favourite quote: 'Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gunna get!' Forrest Gump
  • Queen_of_the_Hive
    Queen_of_the_Hive Posts: 1,197 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 8 November 2021 at 12:26AM
    Completely forgot to say... I made jam today!!! 

    Had a small glut of plums which needed using so bought some jam jars online, nice thick ones which will be re-used and used a simple jam recipe. The kids loved the smell of the jam and the eldest wanted jam tonight! It wasn't set though so he will just have to wait until tomorrow. Anyway chuffed with myself for the domestic goddess :)

    We also got two bags of pasta from one of the local shops. Went in to buy some spices and a big sack of rice and the shop assistant took pity on the kids and gave us the pasta. My two devour pasta like there is no tomorrow so this will go down a treat. Todays spends was £12 in the shop. 
    2025 financial goals & challenges!

    1). Mortgage (started Jan 2024) £106,630.42 / £122,400.00 Overpayment total: £904.60 (Inc Sprive yr 1 o/p £19.16 & £55.34 reg monthly overpayment) Equity 28%

    2). #7 Save 1p a day challenge 2025 £280/£780

    3). £2179.85/£3000 in Investment ISA (34/50 investments)

    4). Increase cash savings & saving pots

    5). Keep debt to a minimum.

    Favourite quote: 'Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gunna get!' Forrest Gump
  • Drawingaline
    Drawingaline Posts: 2,988 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I use reusable/washable sanitary protection. Works well, but I used cloth nappies with all my kids so used to it in a way. I have also just signed up for a trial of some eco friendly cleaning products, hoping they may be suitable for my work too. Would like to scale back on the plastic use there. The only thing I haven't changed is washing liquid. I don't like the capsules, I use the liquid, and I have had bad skin reactions to lots of products in the past, so stick with the one I know I am good with. Also using liquid means I can eke the bottle out longer, I use way less than suggested, so a bottle will last a long time, with a capsule you only have as many washes as number of capsules. 

    I think we all have to just try our best, in ways that are easiest for us and hope the people at the top actually manage to sort the rest. 
    Debt free Feb 2021 🎉
  • I use reusable/washable sanitary protection. Works well, but I used cloth nappies with all my kids so used to it in a way. I have also just signed up for a trial of some eco friendly cleaning products, hoping they may be suitable for my work too. Would like to scale back on the plastic use there. The only thing I haven't changed is washing liquid. I don't like the capsules, I use the liquid, and I have had bad skin reactions to lots of products in the past, so stick with the one I know I am good with. Also using liquid means I can eke the bottle out longer, I use way less than suggested, so a bottle will last a long time, with a capsule you only have as many washes as number of capsules. 

    I think we all have to just try our best, in ways that are easiest for us and hope the people at the top actually manage to sort the rest. 

    Thanks @Drawingaline. I too did cloth nappies which I bought 'well used' as a trial to see how it would go and ended up going the distance with them with my 2nd. Bought one or two new ones to replace the very knackered ones but this worked well. 

    This week I have had a mini breakthrough with OH. He is a bit older than me and so from a generation with a different mindset on things and he can be a bit stick in the mud. However this week, he has agreed to some smaller changes such as showering with soap rather than shower gel and will give bamboo toothbrushes a try. I've also seen some alternative soap blocks for washing the dishes and some compostable cleaning cloths and sponges I wouldn't mind giving a try. 

    On the finances front - yesterday was the 13th of the month which is accounts review day. The figures were much rosier than expected, mainly from stock market investment gains. So savings is up, pension is up and I have paid off another 1% from debt repayment. I still have the big bill from my holiday and other big expenses to pay. This comes out end of the month so my wage this month is not going on much more than credit card debt and the monthly bills. However as my credit cards are now on their new months I don't expect to have big expenses this month. Christmas expenses is separate and I have a separate pot for that so anything bought will come out of that. 

    The other little win was receiving first peer to peer loan money repayment. I signed up for a peer to peer lending account in Sept time and invested a £100 to see how this works. Anyhow the payment of £2.68 came through a couple of weeks ago. So we will see how this goes and maybe if the payments continue to come in I may make a second loan lend of £100 to another business. I have no expectations of this route of investing rather just curiosity and a good bit of luck. 
    2025 financial goals & challenges!

    1). Mortgage (started Jan 2024) £106,630.42 / £122,400.00 Overpayment total: £904.60 (Inc Sprive yr 1 o/p £19.16 & £55.34 reg monthly overpayment) Equity 28%

    2). #7 Save 1p a day challenge 2025 £280/£780

    3). £2179.85/£3000 in Investment ISA (34/50 investments)

    4). Increase cash savings & saving pots

    5). Keep debt to a minimum.

    Favourite quote: 'Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gunna get!' Forrest Gump
  • Hello Sunday, 

    No big updates for this week, have been finishing off the Christmas shopping. Majority of gifts are bought secondhand and I have been sensible in my purchases. 

    Gone back to surveying sites having not touched them since September so now have a couple of quid in the pot. I normally aim to have £20 a month from them so I have some catching up to do :)

    Recently have been following a guy in Y T  and he does some good content on pensions so and the most recent inspiring one was with regards to looking at how the pension is invested and what level of risk we are prepared to take. So with that in mind I have made some changes to one of my pension pots and will look at the others as I need my money to work as hard as it can for me :) 
    2025 financial goals & challenges!

    1). Mortgage (started Jan 2024) £106,630.42 / £122,400.00 Overpayment total: £904.60 (Inc Sprive yr 1 o/p £19.16 & £55.34 reg monthly overpayment) Equity 28%

    2). #7 Save 1p a day challenge 2025 £280/£780

    3). £2179.85/£3000 in Investment ISA (34/50 investments)

    4). Increase cash savings & saving pots

    5). Keep debt to a minimum.

    Favourite quote: 'Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gunna get!' Forrest Gump
  • Hello Tuesday, 

    Diary was due for a well deserved update. So yesterday was monthly finances review and in all honesty it was down to the wire whether I was going to be up or down on the savings front depending on stock market performance and so yesterday wasn't the day I hope for. It was down slightly so I was down £74.54 which given this month I had to eat big into savings to pay big credit card bill that wasn't too bad. 

    I started this year with £6709 debt and savings £42k, i'm ending this year with £2702 debt and just shy of 44k savings. This year from Feb I started to track my various pension pots. I can see this has grown this year and I have also been in the position to up my contributions too. 

    This year I have been a bit more bolder in where I stick my money. At the beginning of the year I was majority cash in savings accounts but have shifted more into stock and share ISA, became a landlord and dipped my toe into P2P lending. Crypto still have no clue about but I have loved watching many videos on YT on multiple income streams, investments, pensions etc so in 2022 I plan to delve more into this too. 

    Hope everyone is well and enjoying the run up to Christmas. 
    2025 financial goals & challenges!

    1). Mortgage (started Jan 2024) £106,630.42 / £122,400.00 Overpayment total: £904.60 (Inc Sprive yr 1 o/p £19.16 & £55.34 reg monthly overpayment) Equity 28%

    2). #7 Save 1p a day challenge 2025 £280/£780

    3). £2179.85/£3000 in Investment ISA (34/50 investments)

    4). Increase cash savings & saving pots

    5). Keep debt to a minimum.

    Favourite quote: 'Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gunna get!' Forrest Gump
  • Good Morning diary,

    Hope everyone had a good Christmas and NY. Mine was good, fairly quiet but nice.

    I've just done some sums and I'd started tracking my various pension mini pots (of which there are 5) from Feb 2021 and upto the end of the year with stock market moves and payments into a couple of them they have grown by 17.6k :) so chuffed with that. This year I hope to top that to over 20k growth but we will see how that goes. The biggest learning for me though has been realising the value of compounding. The oldest pension I have had was an old works one which I now use as a personal one and this one has been going for many moons now so seeing what has been paid in and what it is valued at it makes me greatful for paying something into a pension from the start of my working life. Just wish I'd realised the same could have been said for S&S ISA as I am a relative latecomer to that. However one good thing which I did do last year was to add a lot more of my cash savings to S&S so hopefully in the next 5 years or so the compounding effect will come more into play.

    So after my last diary entry I was paid which enabled me to pay more into debts etc so now 79% of debt is paid off and am sitting on 1.5k remaining on 0% balance transfer. This is due to be paid in full by end of July. I have been reviewing my financial situation on the 13th of the month for well over a year now. This is just an indicator I use to compare how well I am doing and so this has been fairly flatlined in 2021. I did end up minus £1239.06 on my reported figures for 'saving 12k in 2021' tracker but actually comparing this time last year to now with the debt reduction taken into account I am 5.6k better off which I will most definately celebrate and actually just not having the worry of the debt around my head is a good thing. My other major financial plus point was using some money from divorce to purchase a property which I now rent out. Purchasing the property happened in January 2021 and by April it was tenanted. So far, its going well and this is earning me a little bit of an income every month which tbh I have ringfenced for future expenses, tax etc. The property itself has on paper increased in value. I tend not to count this though.

    So whats the goals for 2022?

    The big one is making the final few payments on the outstanding debt and getting myself to a position where I earn and spend the same or even save some money.

    My big ambition would be to buy a home where I live but that is really a pipe dream. Like many I'm completely priced out of the area now and actually having to cast my net far and wide as the space versus cost in relation to current circumstances mean its not on my side. I am however on the flip side, going to start investigating whether I could buy another small BTL is possible. So thats something in the pipeline. I see this as a longer term stepping stone.

    As a person I have hopes for 2022 for more social contact with friends, make new friends and try new things. Solely WFH & social isolation has had a negative impact on my mental health which I am now working on by "getting out there more". Simply put I miss people. It is humbling to know that I am not on my own with this though.
    2025 financial goals & challenges!

    1). Mortgage (started Jan 2024) £106,630.42 / £122,400.00 Overpayment total: £904.60 (Inc Sprive yr 1 o/p £19.16 & £55.34 reg monthly overpayment) Equity 28%

    2). #7 Save 1p a day challenge 2025 £280/£780

    3). £2179.85/£3000 in Investment ISA (34/50 investments)

    4). Increase cash savings & saving pots

    5). Keep debt to a minimum.

    Favourite quote: 'Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gunna get!' Forrest Gump
  • Drawingaline
    Drawingaline Posts: 2,988 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Social isolation has been awful. I am the worst at following up meeting people. I have a lot of people I have met, really wanted to spend more time with, but life and family get in the way and they drop off the radar. I have a group who chat via messenger a lot, but we rarely meet face to face. 

    I understand the being priced out thing. We had to leave the south coast in 2007 as we just couldn't afford the jump from a flat to a house. We moved back to my home town which has been great for work and the kids schooling, but it lacks heart. It's just a bit soul less. But 45mins from London and the coast so convenient, and we have been very lucky to have bought and sold at the right times. 

    Anyway, happy new year.
    Debt free Feb 2021 🎉
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