the daily nudge

couth

Hi everyone. I love passively reading other people's diaries - they really helped me stay focused in the past, so I thought why not open my own and see how I get on... My focus for the next couple of years is to find a good balance between "financial health i.e., overpay mortgage-grow pension-save-invest" and "enjoy life" which, in this context, means holidaying and being able to enjoy what London has to offer in terms of cultural life. I'm lucky that I don't have loans and credit card debt, but I am a single parent and my income doesn't stretch that much, so something has to give. This means being smarter about grocery shopping, cutting/limiting eating out/takeaways, and reducing spending on non-essential stuff like clothes, shoes, gadgets, toiletries, etc. In 2020 the balance was very much tilted towards the financial health part, as I was able to add more to my pension, save, and overpay more, but I expect want 2021 to get back to normal, even if it's a new sort of normal... Here's the lowdown on my financial targets from now until end of 2021: 

• Overpay mortgage by £4K (~ 2%)
• Contribute £10K to the pension fund
• Invest at least £2K in stocks & shares ISA
• Save minimum £100 each month. 

My targets are a bit on the high side, but we'll probably have some coronavirus restrictions for the first months of the year (:sigh:) and I don't expect to holiday abroad until next summer. On the non-financial goals: run at least 500km, eat healthier (less sugar and carbs), read more, and make more time for family, friends, and for my main hobby, which is photography.
Thank you for reading and good luck to all of us!

FatJock

Welcome on board Couth.
I've recently joined myself and look forward to reading about your journey.
All the best.

couth

Thank you! I've read a bit of you diary as well, it looks like we have sizeable mortgages, lots of room to overpay! will be following

longway2go

Hi and welcome Couth 
I wish you the best with your goals and remember setting them is the first step to achieving them. 

couth

My daily nudge is turning out to be more like a weekly nudge I started a spreadsheet to track my progress and reviewed my Excel bills spreadsheet and it looks like British Gas and Amazon Prime are good candidates, so now I need to find a new energy provider and, come payday, change the Amazon Prime subscription to annual, rather than monthly. Then Vodafone mobile is next in March. The rest are either cannot be switched or are in contract. 

Feeling so tired today... I have not been out much this week, but I plan to go for a run at lunchtime, after a 2-hour work call. Fingers crossed it won't rain. I'm so erratic when it comes to running, there are weeks when I run 3 times a week, then there are weeks when I barely manage one 5k. I like running and it really helps me but I'm terrible when it comes to leaving my desk. I hate working from home five days a week, I really do, I have not found a good routine for it, and I hope we can go back to the office soon, even if it will be 2-3 days. (Being single doesn't help, I crave f2f adult conversation! and my only local friend is isolating due to c-19 at the moment, so we can't go for a walk). 

caeler

Try the MSE Energy Club, that has helped me a couple of times get the best deal.  https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub

I too am erratic with running, I did a 4 day running streak the week before last and nothing since!  I'm not going to give myself a hard time though.  I am working at home today and the right option would be to fit in a run also, but I know I won't! Although I do plan a quick walk to the post box to post a birthday card later.

couth

Thanks, I know the energy club, that's what brought me to the forum. I didn't go for a run because I got dragged into another project which took up the rest of my afternoon, then after that I cooked dinner and watched Smallfoot with my DD, so that's that.

Today I meant to switch my Nationwide FlexDirect to a Virgin Money account, as it offers 2% interest on £1,000 and also fee-free transactions abroad, but I am now too tired and I don't want to make a mistake on the application, so it will have to wait until tomorrow. 

Last but not least, I had some good news from work today, we will get an annual bonus after all (we were told mid-year we might not get it) - and given covid-19 I am grateful for it. It won't be paid until February and it won't be the full amount, but I wasn't counting on it anyway... 

couth

Today was not so bad: 
- I was very productive at work and despite high workload I managed to shut down my work computer at 5pm
- ran 5k at lunchtime (finally!)
- did some online research on curtains and curtain rods. They're so damn expensive.. and I'd like to get wall to wall curtains in my living room. Ideally ready made but I wasn't able to find such big ones, I need a pair of curtains to cover 3.67m of wall (2.30 height)! The other thing that I need (want) is coving in the living room and both bedrooms, and I know nothing about it... so more research needed. And DD's room and the hallway need painting... 
- (just) opened a Virgin Money account to replace my Nationwide FlexDirect. Might even get a case of wine as a thank you bonus I've been using my main Barclays account for everything and I initially meant to open the Virgin account mainly for the 2% savings rate, but then I realised it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep bills separately from spending. I'm very good at tracking bills but not so good about spending, in fact I don't track spending at all, I just try not to spend more than I have. (not always successful). 

It looks like it'll be sunny this weekend so hopefully we can go cycling and walking in our local park. Can't wait for the lockdown to end! 

caeler

Dunelm do ready made curtains with a 228cm drop. Any good?  

couth

Thanks, I actually have video appointment with Dunelm for early Dec The 228 drop is fine, but I believe I need larger width than the Dunelm ready made ones. I want to avoid 'made to measure' which is more expensive...

caeler

I’m sure they’ll sort you out. Their widest set is 284cm (W) with a length of 228cm. So that will cover a width of 568cm. I’d have though that would be fine and give you enough gather. My whole house has dunelm curtains, their sales are great!