Babystep 6

warby68

Its good to check in and see you're still on top of things.
I wouldn't worry too much about not having many concrete plans - so much is up in the air. You still have a possible move on the cards as well.
Just goes to show that the good habits serve you well. You've had a big income drop and the same weird year as everyone but have still kept to the good money habits. I wouldn't blame you if you were a bit hacked off - all that work to clear £21k and then hamstrung by the pandemic but you're also taking it in your stride. Money stuff used to worry you a lot.
Personally, as long as there is no additional cost, having as many bills as possible on a monthly basis is an easy way of budgetting. I have everything monthly except the insurances and other car expenses, where there is a premium for paying monthly, but even those are covered by a regular monthly amount to save.
Good luck with whatever comes next.

ruby_eskimo

Those sound like some really sensible and achievable goals for the year.  I agree about the council tax, and the TV license doesn't charge you extra for paying monthly (it's what I've always done).  I've found that there's sometimes more hassle than it's worth trying to pay for things annually with some suppliers - e.g. our life insurance / critical illness provider does offer the option of an annual payment but you have to jump through so many hoops to get there that I just kept the DD going in the end.  Which reminds me, I really need to set up my direct debit for the council tax next year - we've been here 4 years and I still end up paying it manually each month because I always miss the deadline to set it up for the financial year!

BabyStepper

Thanks for dropping by, warby68 and ruby_eskimo, it's good to hear from you both. Yes, money used to worry me a lot and doesn't now, thankfully. I'm still fiddling with pennies trying to work out easier ways to do things, I like the idea of having not many DDs but it doesn't really matter. Thanks for the info ruby_eskimo about the struggles of trying to pay outright, it's laughable sometimes that companies make us jump through hoops to get a bill paid! You'd think they'd want our cash...

Anyway, I've got £165-ish left in my business account to build up the balance, not quite enough if I'm going to reach £1k by Easter. I need to get cracking on making new work but it's not so easy. It's all so unstable, lots of enquiries, lots of small bits of work but nothing substantial or anything that lasts. So different from before but I'm cracking on with it. I just reread my thread and remembered that my wage had dropped to £300 per month when the pandemic started so in the grand scheme of things, I'm doing alright. 

Given that drop in wage though, and the fact that me and OH have been treating ourselves to things like fancy new pillows, extra things to keep us busy at home, endless new slippers as they all wear through and various wee bits, the moving fund has not exactly built up very fast. In fact, it's tiny. In addition to that, it is almost certain that the move won't happen anyway. OH's boss said they'd know for sure next week and to be fair, they have been very good at keeping us updated. They are as uncertain as the rest of us. But it looks like we're staying put for now which saves us a whole load of hassle. I'm quite glad for that.

I am so fed up with this pandemic. I know there are many people in a worse position than us but honestly, I just want life to start moving forward again. If we're staying, I want to plan meeting up with friends and family, a nice new kitchen, a summer holiday, things to look forward to. I just don't know how to be in this new reality and it's dragging on forever. Brexit is looking like it's grim effects are finally being felt, and the future does not look great for so many. I just don't know how to keep myself cheery. I'm so bored and so fed up. I have watched more tv this last year than I have in a lifetime. I'm fatter than I've ever been and after noting what I ate last week, it's exactly the same as before. 3 good meals every day, reasonably healthy, the odd glass of wine at the weekend and the occasional chocolate splurge. It was fine before but apparently now I need to eat like a sparrow because I'm not moving around, at all, and my face is puffed up like a chipmunk.   

The next stage of my longer term financial plan included investing, as well as having savings goals for other things. After a good bit of research I've decided I'd be mad to start that now. The stock market seems to be in the biggest bubble of all time (due to all the money printing and other shenanigans going on to support economies) so I'm steering clear of that. I keep reading about negative interest rates and wondering what on earth the world is coming to. Everything I learned about improving my financial position seems to be worthless advice at the minute. What to do?? Should I be making bigger mortgage overpayments? I don't want to keep waiting like this, for a change, for the vaccine roll out to reach me, for life to begin again. 

Sorry for the whinge. I think I just need some more good, achievable goals that can be measured. something to aim for that I can get immersed in. I'm off to think of something. I'll be back. 
  
 

savingholmes

I don't think anyone can advise with any certainty on the stock market at the moment - but that doesn't necessarily mean it should be avoided altogether. Could you have a small risk pot and invest that? Do you have pensions sorted? Could you put some money into pension and get the 25% government uplift if you paid it in after tax? Even if you are not earning much, if you have spare cash you can put in several thousand a year and get the government extra - that way if the stock market does bottom out - you have a bit of a cushion. The general trend of the stock market is up - so if you don't need it for 5-10 years the pundits normally reckon you should be alright as long as you diversify eg trackers or whatever - depending on attitude to risk and know-how.

I hope for your sake you don't end up moving -  as it sounds like it would require a lot of £ and effort. Good luck with your plans whatever you decide. Well done for staying on an even keel financially despite the current storms and hit to your business.

Drawingaline

Omg I am with you on the boredom front. Moving kept me going, but now I am crashing in a big way. My heart breaks for my teens and what should be the best years of their lives, being stuck in their bedrooms. I and so glad the girl is working or she would never see anyone. And I worry for her future as the career path she is thinking has been massively affected. It's just hard to see any light at the end yet. My parents have been vaccinated and my mum seems to think in two weeks she can start coming around and hugging the kids, but she could still pass on the virus so until we are all vaccinated I want to keep some sort of distance. 

We haven't seen the in-laws since as 2019 as fil is high risk. I believe he has been vaccinated this week, but my mil is quite a bit younger so won't be due until Easter time I think. 

Like you I just want something to look forward to. 

Moneywhizz

I think there is a real lockdown weariness now affecting all of us and the fact that every day brings different news about new variants, vaccine effectiveness, and possibly no holidays this year, makes it hard to look forward with any positivity. It is so difficult to have nowhere to go, no one to see and no certainty about when it will end. Here in Scotland we are also snowed in and have had so much ice and frost for the past month that it has been difficult even to get out for exercise. Still, we surely are nearing the end of this lockdown and hopefully it is the last one, even if things aren't completely normal for a while. You have had the added uncertainty about moving so once that is settled you can begin to make plans again. At least doing that will give you something to look forward to. I pay most of my bills by monthly dd, although like you I make sure that I am never charged extra for doing so. For car and house insurance I just put the money aside monthly so that it is always there to pay annually when required. Looking forward to your hearing about your goals. 

BabyStepper

I've not much to report but so as not to abandon my diary, here's where things are at. 

I've been taking a £1k wage from my business and that seems to be helpful. I have a good idea of how much we have, what we can afford and what's available to be saved every month. Consistency is good, wish I'd managed it sooner but never mind.  

This month I have £435 left in my business account, after tax. This is a bit short of my £500 goal at this stage but at least it's progress and we'll see what the next couple of months bring. Still aiming for £1k by the end of April to pay myself on the same day as OH gets his wage. 

I've made the £70 overpayment to the mortgage, just over 10% of the monthly payment. I can't remember how much that is in total now, I'll need to go check my online account to see.  

Still uncertain about the move, trying not to think about it until I have to. I'm still saving, but figured our emergency fund can cover any shortfall if we don't have enough when/if the time comes. Nothing to worry about there (I keep telling myself...)

@savingholmes I'd thought of paying more into my pension, it would save on tax and that could be helpful, I just haven't made any decisions yet. 

@Drawingaline My heart breaks for young people going through this. Our economy is going to effected for such a long time, I can't imagine how they're feeling about the future. I hope your daughter is managing to keep her chin up. Not easy at all. 

@Moneywhizz I have stopped watching the news. All that stuff about new variants, vaccine rollout and effectiveness, constant excitement as we're encouraged to book holidays that quite frankly we should not be going on...it's never ending and I'm done. I'm trying to get edited highlights from OH but I'm deliberately not keeping up with it all anymore. It's bad for my mental health!    

So there we have it, not much happening, just plodding along. I hope everyone is staying safe and well. 

savingholmes

Stockpiling money is a good way to go. I completely sympathise on the news

BabyStepper

@savingholmes I'm now so out of touch with the news I can't even tell you what I'm allowed to do, or not do, or what the new changes will be when they come. I do at least know there are going to be changes soon and that's enough for now. If they don't happen, I won't be too disappointed. 

My biggest news is we've heard about the move. And basically the story is, the entire company will be moving in the next 3 years, everyone, completely closing the branch here. If we want to go now, it's our decision, and we will be supported through the process however it happens by OH being allowed to work from home as much as is required. We've been offered £3k to help with relocation costs which is so beyond generous I can hardly believe it. After much discussion, poring over numbers, trying to guess what the economy is going to do and how things will look in a few years, and wanting to take advantage of the £3k offer, we're moving. I feel a bit nuts saying this but, it's nice to have a project to take my mind off everything else. 

So we've picked an online estate agent, they'll visit on Tuesday (with all precautions taken) and booked the photographer for later on next week. I've started cleaning in preparation and OH has started clearing out his cupboards...after saying he had no stuff. He really does. I've also started scouring the property sites to find something to buy. We are going bigger, newer and better, within a budget. We're going on the assumption that this will be our last move for a very long time so it needs to be a good one. 

When we moved in here we had nothingm literally nothing. We'd spent every penny putting together our 5% deposit and paying the fees. This time we can afford a 15% deposit and maybe more, depending on how we do  with the sale. It's all moving in the right direction. 

Hope everyone is staying safe and well. 

savingholmes

Glad things are going well and that you've made your decision. Good luck with putting in place all the jigsaw pieces. I want to move but currently feel too overwhelmed by stuff to even attempt it.