It's the final countdown...£10k to go

t2rry

Thanks Mark, I know we've done really well the last few years and I'm proud of what we've achieved, I'm also grateful that we're now in the position we are to have maximised our disposable income.

I have, however, just started to feel weirdly uncomfortable with where we are at the moment, I think maybe the novelty of having an emergency fund in place has worn off, now I really want to be at a point where I have some freedom in terms of everything else, to know when we're looking to retire (I'm 35, OH is 42 so we have a way to go but definitely thinking we should be investing more in additional pensions) and building long term real savings for our future.

It might just be that I've reached the point of my career where I've climbed the ladder and now it's much higher pressure than I've done before, OH is the same, plus 2 small kids etc. and suddenly it feels like wow this is high pressure now for maybe another 30 years!?!?!!!  

We talk about our finances so much more than we used to.  When we were paying off debt, we were in different minds about it so sometimes those discussions would be fraught because OH wanted to 'live' more.  Now he's seen the positive outcomes of how I've been managing everything (being able to afford this new house and having savings rather than debt!) means he is now 100% on board and whilst he still expresses a wish to 'live' more (by which I mean things like having an expensive hotel weekend occasionally, going to posh restaurants etc.) - when I explain that my preference is to be able to enjoy the simpler things as early as possible in life, he seems to agree.  I'd rather forgo lavish experiences and enjoy the simpler things for longer.  I'd rather not work until we're 68 but have an extra 10-15 years enjoying the home we've made without the pressures of work.  I really want to build choices into our future and finances opens that up. 

Anyway, in terms of progess, we've had payday so as I've committed to, £1,000 has gone into the additional savings pot and we've actually finished another room of the house so progress on both lines of the 2022 targets.  

t2rry

hey hey, payday

Sticking to plan, I have set another £1k aside to additional savings, probably will put £5k of it to the emergency fund eventually, so it's 6 months of full expenses buffer, longer if we actually ever need it and cut things out of usual spending.

I have £2k in our house fund at the moment too, that's solid and I'm happy with it.  So basically I'm just ticking along life now for the foreseeable.  £1k per month into the savings pot, whatever else is available to save goes to the house fund.  

Current budget forecast means we should have £12k in the additional savings pot by the end of the year, and around £14k put towards the house.  That should get us close to completion inside, at least we should have a presentable house in time for Christmas.  Fingers crossed.  That probably doesn't include things like the garden though, which we will probably at least start this year to get it to a blank canvas.

That is quite a pleasing savings estimate given the increase I've put to gas/electricity budget.  It just doesn't include a holiday, which we will do if we can.  We always manage that pretty reasonably though, it just might wipe one months worth of savings.

I don't know why but despite this amazing position to be in, I'm still feeling twitchy about it.  Maybe that's just stress, I don't know.  I really hope the next year I'll have done what I set out to and I can feel more settled with everything.

mark55man

well done @t2rry nice to see you on track.   I think we're all a bit twitchy at the moment

t2rry

Could have sworn I'd posted only last month, turns out it was February, the year is flying.

Nothing much to document I suppose, still plodding on.

In the midst of energy cost crisis, I've been stealing from the house reno savings every month to put some extra aside for gas & electricity in case our direct debit doesn't cover us.  I think the DD is pretty good for the new rates (as in good for the whole year divided by 12, not good for just current months as we inevitably spend a LOT more in the winter than we are at the moment).  We're paying £250pcm at the moment, which is more than we need at the moment (I submit monthly meter readings, we're keeping heating off/low even though it's still cold & I get monthly bills) so I'm hoping that will build up a good credit on the account to cover the baseline of winter months, but it doesn't take into account the October rise.  News today will help a little with that, but I don't want a shock to mean it chews up all our disposable income at the end of the year/beginning of next so I have built up £1,000 as an 'if needed' pot and will continue to add £100pcm to it until figures become clearer.

I've still been putting £1,000 away for 'additional savings' so that's now at £6,000, still haven't touched our £10k emergency fund, which has one win from premium bonds (considering moving this to an easy access savings now rates are creeping up.  I'm not confident enough yet to lock it away for an even better rate, but hopefully next year I'll get to that!)

Then the house I'm close to finishing another room, that pot ebbs and flows a lot but so far (touch wood) seems to be working quite well.  It was definitely the right decision to separate out that additional savings though as otherwise I'm sure I would have splurged more without thinking about it too carefully, when what we have been spending has been perfectly adequate.

I guess I'll just keep going....!

mark55man

I know time is flying by.  Well done on the decorations 

t2rry

another 2 months gone, another £2k into the additional savings pot.  My target for this was £10k by the end of the year and that's looking pretty comfortable now.  The house fund is still ebbing and flowing and doing us quite well.  We have some larger expenses coming up for that now, in the lead to the end of the year, but not enough in that pot to cover it yet, so hopefully we can spend our time doing the cheap/free preparation to allow another month or two pay to come in and top it up.  Otherwise, we can fill the £10k additional saving pot and from those regular payments will have an additional £2k to put to it before the year is out.  

I am very luckily in the position now where I really need to get to grips with how to make the most of our savings, they are growing without too much effort now (we've even had a holiday this year and we were able to cash flow it without much difficulty).  Fairly soon we'll have in excess of £20k not doing very much, I'm pretty good with all things money saving and budgeting after these years of doing it, things like private pensions and investing is a whole different world I need to figure out now.  I am capable, just need to start!

mark55man

excellent update - things seem well under control for you - that's always nice to see.

in terms of pensions - just start - never too late but never too early.  don't try and be too clever, a cheap multi asset fund with a cheap provider may be all you need then start small and get used to it.

ask on the pension board (or try and read a few pages - although most questions are quite specific so its good to see a general one - if nothing else they will certainly tell you what you need to know so don't be too proud to ask its complicated and the posters there have been doing this and helping others for years

t2rry

Thanks Mark, I will do.  I'm listening to a podcast all things money and investing too, so will start to engross myself with it now and hopefully become obsessed with making our various pots grow!!

In money saving news, I'm trying to batten down a little because our 'normal' spending (food, petrol, toiletries, cleaning products, incidentals) has grown significantly in the last 6-12 months with very little change to our habits, which I'm sure is the norm this year but I want to make sure we're doing our best to not overspend.  I have meal planned and done a large food shop for that, which came in at £115 for 15 evening meals (batch cooking) and packed lunch and breakfast top-ups.  We have a meal subscription box for a few meals a week, so 15 meals should pretty much see us through to the end of the month now, which I'm hoping will make a big dent in our usual spending pot.

Then also, when we moved house I found we were still on rates for water.  This was a big jump up from what we'd been paying on a meter at the old place, and whilst it's a bigger house and likely to cost more, we're still the same family living in the same way, so I switched to a meter (I know long term I'll end up with teenagers and that'll cost loads, but that's the best part of a decade away yet so I'm feeling secure in the decision).  I had an idea of what it should cost based on a part-quarter bill in Feb split between rates and the meter but I wanted a full 6 month bill before I reduced the DD.  Well the bill is in and whilst I've been paying nearly £55 per month, we've actually used £25-£30 per month, so I have a decent credit and have reduced my DD to £15 moving forward, which should comfortably cover us (with the credit) for the next 12 months.  That's £40 extra in our pockets each month, which is more than the recent NI threshold uplift has given us back (after taking it away in April).  Every little helps.

t2rry

Dear Diary,

We had a bad September in terms of budgets.  I came on here a couple of weeks ago with a rant.  I typed it out and then deleted it, which was cathartic!  That said, we still managed to be better off at the end of the month than we were at the start of it, so it's definitely a first world problem given the context of the world we live in at the moment.

I did adjust my signature as I opened my first S&S ISA in August so have set up a standing order to that, which feels very grown up and positive.

Otherwise we're on track to meet our savings target for this year, we would have gone over but that extra will now be accounted for in the invested figure, so still really positive and I'm starting to think about how we can push ourselves to do even more next year, which is definitely possible if we are careful.

mark55man

My story was same but different I had written out a long post with how I had overcome being a bit meh! and then one of our cats jumped on the keyboard, and in a way only cats can manage crossed off the tab and set it into a strange new keyboard config that took a while to undo

But well done on the S&S ISA - don't panic as things are a bit wild at the moment, if you buy over the long term then generally short term dips just mean you are getting a discount!.  Plus as you are starting its only a few £££s either way maybe double figures if you are (un)lucky

good to see you posting, and look forward to your next update