2020++ - smiling and waving and looking so fine

mark55man

Sorry haven't updated on diet/meals - slightly getting into a rut, but still enjoying it.  Day 1 was Tuesday

* Day 1 - Breakfast: L/O Tagine - Lunch: Smoked Salmon & Salad - Supper: Sausage & Celeriac mash

* Day 2 - Breakfast: Scrambled Egg & Salmon - Lunch: Protein Shake - Supper: Hunter's Chicken & Pak Choi

* Day 3 - Breakfast: Bacon & Egg - Lunch: Ham Salad - Supper: Bacon & Broccoli Fry Up

* Day 4 - Breakfast: Pear Porridge - Lunch: Tomato & Pepper Soup - Supper: Steak and Salad 

Will try and be more inventive for supper - something new from the book

alt80

Real shame re the student accommodation. There are definitely a mix of landlords; I always try to be fair and my litmus test before letting is 'would I live here' not necessarily about choice but if I had to would I. Unfortunately there are still the old style 'slumlords' around giving the rest of us a bad name.

mark55man

That's a good test - could have done with that attitude

Blackcats

Hello Markman  - really enjoy your diary and Your post about the aggregation of marginal gains really struck a chord - in fact its inspired me to adopt a slightly different attitude to my plans over the next few months.  I've been thinking about that article all day.  Thank you! 

mark55man

@Blackcats - that's kind of you to say so - I am sure you will manage to achieve your goals - for me any plan can be improved with a little bit of tweaking

Weekly Focus (Long Standing Goals)
Weight:- Weighed in today - 2kilos down so now at 225lbs or a little over16 stone.
Money:- Going well 65 days not overdrawn as expected just ender £400 in the black
Also Money - Gave my pensions a good inspection and tweaked a few things but back on the back burner until next tax year

New Focus  

• Steps / Keep fit - Lots of time outside but gentle ambling rather than vigorous striding
• Improve house environment (clean/fix) - normal chores plus reorganised laundry room to fit a spare fridge in
• Personal / Hobby - not really, but this week more reading,board games, and time outside and not on Laptop
• less procrastination - eat more frogs more often (save/make) - monthly finances and next month prep.  but have list of actions growing that are not getting attention - will need to spend a long lunch on them next time I'm home

mark55man

Pay day today + rent day from the kids.  So may regret it later but have just paid off final balance (about £700) on CC1.  That leaves car loan at about £1.5K and CC2 at about £8K which I should be able pay off a bit quicker now CC1 is dealt with.  This year would be a huge stretch but the unexpected repayment from my bro might be the decider.  We'll - for me its more important to keep in the black (avoiding 40%) than to repay a 0% card early. 

It just would  be so nice though.  I need a think !! 

alt80

Brilliant news! 🥂

savingholmes

Well done on getting rid of a debt. Always nice when another one bites the dust. Great too that you have tweaked your pensions. Sounds like you are well on track currently for your goals.

mark55man

Thank you - yes like getting rid of a bad smell from the drains - the world is a better place this morning

mark55man

mark55man said:

Pay day today + rent day from the kids.  So may regret it later but have just paid off final balance (about £700) on CC1.  That leaves car loan at about £1.5K and CC2 at about £8K which I should be able pay off a bit quicker now CC1 is dealt with.  This year would be a huge stretch but the unexpected repayment from my bro might be the decider.  We'll - for me its more important to keep in the black (avoiding 40%) than to repay a 0% card early. 

It just would  be so nice though.  I need a think !! 

Spent some time at lunch on this.  Basically I am about £4K short of paying back this year, even if quite aggressive on budgets. so I think that's too much unless a bucket of gold gets left at the front door.  Even getting to £4k involves using my EF and my what I call magic money sources  (expenses, allowances, dream of dreams bonuses ...) even with that I will be short.  However, an incentive to have a cheaper christmas - I may suggest postponing it until lockdown is over which i think will be March    

So more realistically (Unsecured) Debt Free Day will be 31 March.  The mortgage will be years after that, so
* UDFD Day - 31 March 2021
* DND - 30 April 2024  (stretch target 31 Dec 2023)

DND is Debt Neutral day - I already have spreadsheeted overpayment options and the lender will not let me OP enough to meet the target  (too late to the party).  My approach and my preference therefore will be debt neutrality - ie DND is achieved when savings, EF, and ISAs (but not pension money and assets like cars etc) are valued over the mortgage balance.  At that point I will decide whether to pull the trigger and become MF (will want to avoid fees and charges), but will probaly choose to tootle along paying the mortgage off slowly from my DND pot and not day to day expenses.  But that's a long way in the future