10 years to go .... maybe, with a fair wind

Lauraebrad

And happy 2023 to you too @savingholmes ... I love listening to an American podcast called the Lazy Genius, who always recommends starting small and not going into things with a desire to change everything.  A hard lesson to learn but does seem true that small incremental changes, and better decisions, do make a bigger and more sustainable difference in the long run.
Onwards with 2023....

savingholmes

I will look into that thanks 

Lauraebrad

Already mid-Feb and the year seems to be running away with me.  We're into half term up here now so potentially a bit of a spendy week, but it's in the budget so hopefully all will be well.  Annoyingly with 9 days to run till the end of my credit card billing period (the time I budget for) I only have 46p left from my household/groceries allowance.  Luckily I'd over-budgeted a few other things so have some flexibility, but it's just another sign of the times that it's crept up from £150/month to £200/month and even that now doesn't seem to be enough ..... 

Over the past 3 moths I ended up doing 7 additional paid work days, from an agreed 6.  Also a lot of other extra hours that won't be paid - just accrued as leave.  Unfortunately though, as this isn't something we're in the habit of doing, my boss didn't process it properly with HR so I've not actually been paid any of it yet!  I'm itching to know what it'll add up to and therefore how to split it - between the mortgage and the holiday fund.  I also suspect as it'll all come in one month's pay packet now it'll probably mess up both my tax and small amount of remaining child tax credits.  Hey ho. 

Looking now at how to fund some holiday time in the summer as well as keeping on track with the mortgage OPs.  We're hoping to get away to a cottage with my mum for a week and also maybe (fingers crossed/budget allowing) go to Slovenia for a week by train.  Just need to find the cheapest way to do that.  The small one will turn 11 in the summer so this is the last summer where he'll still qualify for a free Interrail pass so thinking I might be able to utilise that again like we did last summer.

We were in a nearby (highly desirable) village yesterday afternoon, and I said to the small one that I'd love to live there one day.....  He asked whether we could afford to live there if we sold our house, so of course I disappeared into a Rightm*ve wormhole.  Of course I already knew the answer!!  Turns out I could possibly afford a third of a teeny, tiny house.  Good job that I do actually like where I live right now!  A good reminder though to be thankful for the roof that I already have over my head and that even if I don't pay it off as soon as I like it'll remain affordable .... quite a privilege these days.

Onwards to look for a few items to declutter and try to sell to raise another £20 or so to take Feb's OPs to £300.  Happy Sunday.

savingholmes

Good luck with your holiday plans. 

I fall into the RM wormhole often but each time it tells me I am very lucky to live in the space I do.

Lauraebrad

So a bit jump forward for 2023's OPs.  I finally got my pay for extra time worked, and in combination with March's lack of Council Tax and water bill I've managed to finish paying off the first chunk of £1,200 OP for the year.  I was tempted to go harder and use all the extra pay towards it but have kept some back for the holiday fund - which is a good thing as my mum has now started sending me links to holiday cottages   

I've re-drawn my little house overpayment-ometer ... with a small £600 OP shed for the remainder of this year.  I don't want to lose the OP habit, but am happy to ease off a little and put my money into other pots for a while

Lauraebrad

Goodness, I didn't realise it had been so long since I'd posted.  Not a lot happening, that's probably why!!  As for everyone, life continues to be more expensive, but as I work in Local Government and our pay deal hasn't yet been agreed there's no sign of any sort of pay rise to fill in the gap!

I'm continuing to rack up the odd £20 or so OPs from Pr0lific and Sh0pp1x as well as bits and bobs of interest, but most of my spare cash is now being diverted elsewhere.  

Unfortunately the decking in my garden which had been worse for wear for years finally rotted and collapsed.  In doing so, the fence that had been resting on it also fell down.  So all of that needed to be replaced.  It wasn't really optional as the area of my garden that the decking covers has loads of old tree stumps and concrete foundations all over it so needs to be covered to be usable.  So that's had to come out of some long term savings that I had (my New York fund!!).  I'll try to pay myself back but it's going to take a long time I think.  To make matters worth the springs then went on the car.  So, all in all not a good time for the OPs!

Before all the spending happened I'd already part committed to this years summer holidays so saving as hard as possible for those.  Train to Slovenia for some watersports and adventure action with my 10 year old.  Then a week in a cottage in Northumberland with my mum.

So will be on the look out over the next few months for any extra funds to fill in the holiday and decking funds rather than the OPs, and think I'll just use the 'bits and bobs' money for the mortgage. 

Lauraebrad

So June has arrived full of sunshine which is certainly making me happy.  We had a very low key half term, thankfully not too spendy other than a trip to buy some clothes for the ever growing small boy.  Fortunately managed to have several entirely no spend days playing on the moors and in the river. 

Logged on to my building society this morning to update the numbers and very excited to see that the mortgage balance now starts with a £4!  Actually £49,696 but I'll take that.  Skimming back through my old posts it seems I broke the £50k barrier just under 2 years ago in July 2021 so things are definitely speeding up. 

This month I've just managed to squeeze in a small OP made up of bits and bobs of interest, £b@y sales and Sh0pp1x etc but every penny counts. Any other spare money I have is still heading to the much needed holiday fund. 

Collected a car load of plants from my mum yesterday so now have to make time and space for tomato, squash, courgette, beans and chard.  I never really know how much is saved after the cost of compost etc is factored in, but you can't beat the taste of a home grown tomato!

Tonight's money saving is a frozen ratatoille from last summer turned into a bake orzo and feta for myself and a couple of friends.  Saving on petrol/bus/tram by meeting at my house rather than going out - not to mention the saving on food and beer!  I'm trying to be more intentional about when and where I spend money eating out (it's still a quite hefty chunk of the budget) and make sure it's benefitting my local area as well as my stomach.  That means local ice cream farm is a yes, but big chain coffee is a no no.  

Happy June MFWs!

Lauraebrad

Not a very MSE day unfortunately as the ballcock broke on my ancient / vintage cold water tank that feeds the immersion heater.  Household repair fund now down to -£10 so crossing everything that nothing else goes wrong imminently!  The only slight advantage was that in running off some water to be able to access the tank I did manage to fill a lot of buckets of water, watering cans and also refill my empty water butt so not all (water) was lost. 

Had another slight change of direction on my OPs last week.  So far this year I've been sending £100 per month to an investment account and everything else to the mortgage account directly.  But I've come to the point where the other bits and bobs are going to be reasonably small (see last post!!) and thought I'd cast around for somewhere better to put them without being risky.  Spotted a regular saver with N@tionw1de who my current account is with at the moment - max saving of £50 per month so not for everyone but it'll do for my little bits and bobs and with an interest rate of 5.25% it's way more effective than now paying it directly on to the mortgage.  Every little helps.  There's even a monthly prize draw for added excitement!

Off to L1dl now the heat has broken a bit to get the steps in and get some veg in.

Lauraebrad

Edging nearer to the end of term up here, and nearly the end of Y6 for the small one.  There's lots of end of primary school fun, Y6 show and transitions to high school so life seems to have run away with us a bit.  Next step is to start gathering all the uniform for high school which will be spendy, but I do have a small pot saved for it and will share the costs with the small ones dad.  It's a system that's worked well for us over the last nearly 9 nears since we separated - all big costs - such as recent birthday party at a bowling alley, and monthly clubs, music and swimming lessons get split 50:50. 

My new mini regular savings account is topping up nicely a fiver at a time.  It's the usual tiny bits and bobs - mainly Pr0lific, but also this month interest from my current account and a couple of savings accounts as well as a dividend from some shares I hold with Abund@nce. 

I had got very behind with recording all my day to day spends last month and as a consequence my credit card bill was over £100 bigger than it should ideally have been.  I can pay it, but it just means less surplus for saving into various pots for more interesting things.  This month (runs from 21st to 21st of the month) I'm keeping a much keener eye on all those top up grocery shops and not-quite-necessities.  Telling myself that this is the easiest way to make sure I've got the money to enjoy guilt free treats on holidays over the summer!

Happy July all. 

savingholmes

Caught up with you again. 

Sounds like you've had your fair share of ups and downs but come through them well. Must be great seeing the mortgage fall below £50K.  I'm nearly £140K north of that!!