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

Lauraebrad

Wow another 3 months has flown by.  Work has been off the scale busy, and with the small one getting older, my evening time after he’s in bed has shrunk significantly.  Combined with working some extra on my days off, I’ve somewhat neglected the MSE life.  In particular I’ve had little or no time for making any extra funds using Pr0l1fic etc.  On the upside I will get paid (at some point) for extra time at work.  I think that extra pay will go towards next years adventuring …. 

I had my bay window and front door painted a few weeks ago so it looks all shiny and lovely, but has wiped out my house maintenance fund for a while.  There are definitely signs of a few more things around the house I’m going to need to start saving up for soon.  Fingers crossed my boiler can limp through a few more winters, but had a bit of a scare the other day when the control panel stopped working.   Fortunately it came back on later … magic or maybe the gentle (metaphorical) kick I gave it. 

Spoke to the small one’s dad earlier, who tentatively raised the suggestion that we should perhaps get around to getting divorced.  We’ve been separated very nearly 10 years so this would be entirely reasonable, and actually I think on reflection would probably feel quite freeing.  I think we’ve both been putting it off partly to avoid rocking the boat, and partly to avoid the potential cost.  He’s between jobs at the moment so I’ve given him the job of looking into how simply, and cheaply we can do it.  Interesting times.

Anyway, first weekend of the school holidays.  4 weeks of work and juggling to go, and 2 different holiday weeks so time to fine tune the budget.  We don’t have a lot of plans other than getting away.  When I asked the boy what he’d like to do he suggested going sunset spotting - which we did last night (a stunner) - making pasta, and choosing a new recipe for tea each week.  At least those all seem quite achievable!!

Enjoy the summer all!

savingholmes

Wow the divorce part sounds a big decision. How are you feeling about that over all? Your biggest risk is financial - if  you don't have a separation agreement in place - and he's out of work. Is he dependent on you financially in any way?

debtfreewannabe321

I paid £50 I think for my ex and I to divorce. We only did it a few years ago and had been separated for several years already. It was a 'clean break' divorce I believe. 
I kept the house and gave him some money from it when I sold it. He got to keep his pension in tact. We didn't get a financial order but you probably could cheaply. We did it during lockdowns and trying to get hold of anyone for advice was near on impossible so we just did it anyway without. 

beanielou

I did mine just before lockdown  ~~ £100 quid each if I remember. WE had a seperation agreement years ago.

Lauraebrad

Thanks for the voices of experience @savingholmes @debtfreewannabe321 and @beanielou .  To be honest we aren't reliant on each other financially in any specific way and both happy to make it as simple as possible.  We do share some of the small ones costs (guitar lessons, scouts subs, school shoes etc) on an ad hoc basis but no maintenance or anything, and I could manage without that if I needed to. We remain good friends.  I know I was cautioned years ago that I currently do better out of our arrangement than he does, but I'm pretty confident that isn't an issue.....  Will see what he comes up with.  I think after all this time living and financing separately we are both happy with our arrangements.
  

Lauraebrad

September - season of fresh starts and the end of summer.  Also my favourite month.  It’s been a spendy couple of months since I was last on here, with a couple of great UK holidays and other school holiday entertainment, not to mention new school shoes etc. 

Had an unexpected, and slightly strange, windfall of money - which I’m still mentally processing.  I was saying ‘no’ to it, but it was already in my account.  Obviously, it’s led to some classic over-thinking about what it’s role might be.  So, I ran some calculations on the mortgage OPs.  As far as I can ready reckon, if I take out a 5-year mortgage product at my next renewal about 1 ½ years from now, I would be done by the end of that.  This is based on my current levels of OP/ saving and assumed increased payments on a new product.  Given that, I don’t think I will want to use the windfall to OP the mortgage as it doesn’t really need any additional OP to meet my goals, and I would lose the newly gained flexibility.

So instead, I think I’m going to allocate 90% in to a savings account (4.6%) and the other 10% to help me to sort various niggly things out around the house (broken printer, wonky pergola and child’s knackered mattress I’m looking at you!).  The 90% in savings can sit there until needed - potentially answering the question of how do I afford a new roof / car at some point in the future….. 

In other MSE news, I’ve increased the holiday spending regular saver to £100/month after looking over what we spent this year.   At the moment it’s heading into a Prinip@lity BS 8% reg saver.  Adding up holiday spends was somewhat revelatory.  For anyone who’s interested and my own benchmarking for next year:

1 week in Wales (with my son and mum) cost £953.67.  That includes covering  ⅔ of all costs (food, fuel, cottage, treats, excursions).

8 days in Scotland (me and son) cost £754.66.  That includes fuel, ferries, 2 nights hostel and Prem1er 1nn, some food - but no accommodation for the 5 nights we stayed with friends. 

Mini-break to Rotterdam (3 nights)(me and son) cost £572.73 - ferry (2 nights), 1 night hostel, food and treats etc. 

I’ve been looking over the diary for the next couple of months.  The only word to describe is hectic, so I want to take a bit of time to plan out how to manage it so that (a) I don’t end up over-spending on the wrong things in the name of convenience and (b) make sure there are enough treats in there to keep me going.  This all runs alongside a couple of podcasts I’ve listened to recently which have reminded me about the long term risks of ultra processed food and the need to get back to thinking more clearly about what we eat.  To be fair I think we probably eat pretty well for a modern family - pretty much all from scratch.  But there are a lot of baked goods, and quite a lot of bacon/sausage/chorizo etc based meals.  The small one has added green beans to his repertoire now he’s 12 but need to work on getting a better range of veg ….. Whilst not busting the budget.

On that note, off to the greengrocers.  Happy September all.

savingholmes

Nice to have a windfall. Also good to be on target with the mortgage. Getting those niggly jobs done will be a weight off your mind. A positive holiday can be memory making and lighten the mental load too.

LadyWithAPlan

Lovely to have a windfall that you can use as an EF and do some little things. 
I am eating a few less sausages, meatballs, bacon and processed meats and buying more pork joints, chickens etc. Less often reduced in shops but much better for the health...

Lauraebrad

Mid November already - time flies!  The last couple of months have been off the scale busy at work, and definitely answered the question “would I want to work full time” with a resounding NO.  The overtime as well as back pay from our payrise that has now been agreed with the unions will be mainly going into the 2025 holiday fund to make sure we have enough for some adventures.

On the mortgage OPs, they’re trundling along nicely.  I’ve got 1 more month to go of investments for the year so currently at £1,100/£1,200 with that.  From my ‘bits and bobs’ challenge I’m currently at £1,460/£1,200 so looks like this year by the end I might be £300 up on my target which would be great.

I’ve had so little time recently for surveys, smaller wins which is frustrating, although I suppose overtime is probably more profitable!  Hopefully that won’t be for too much longer though as we move to a calmer period at work, and I’m not sad.  This year has reiterated the importance of the work life balance and 3 days is definitely my sweet spot, although I realise that’s a massive privilege.  My neighbour recently emigrated and let his house.  My new neighbour who’s renting it is paying nearly 3 times in rent what I pay on my basic mortgage which really puts into perspective just how much people’s circumstances can differ despite what it might look like on the outside,

It’s a sunny day and I’m off to pick up groceries from round and about, as well as getting some pizza dough and bread started.  Then to try and regain some order in the house.  Happy November all.

savingholmes

You are doing so well with clearing down the mortgage.