Future Proofing my life: Deposit saving then MFW journey in under 13 years

savingholmes

The green bag sounds cute

LadyWithAPlan

savingholmes said:

The green bag sounds cute

i think it should be .. Forgot the 25% buyers fee (which for some reason is also on the £10 postage) plus then vat ,, so £103 not £70. Thats my clothing budget blown for the month so will stop me buying more here.

I decided to extend my stay in the States and are staying at a  lovely friends beyond beautiful home - with a heated pool and jacuzzi  , barbecue ,, marble bathrooms .. its a gorgeous place in an insane neighbourhood - I think about $15-20m I guess! There was a $2m refurb of kitchen and dinner  a few years ago ... Think the kitchen alone is half the size of my London flat  -  its beautiful - like one of those homes you look at to goggle at only.
Also a walk in pantry and huge fridge and freezer that looks exactly like those on Home Edit - where everything is decanted  into sections.. a housekeeper comes in 3 days a week.  It has made me determined to keep my washing up back in London more at hand. 

One thing that she does do that I will copy is having the housekeeper chop raw crudites of celery, peppers, caulliflower, broccoli, cucumber, permanently chopped up around a bowl of organic houmous in the fridge so a great way to snack. I wont be copying the housekeeper part  but the crudites ;l)

Also she barbecues delicious huge batches of  chicken breast and shrimp for a few days ahead - so great way to eat healthy always having something healthy to nibble on.. Feeling v jetset hanging around here  which is one of the main reasons the TEXT EX (he who dumped me by text) I think  decided we were not a match due to my travelling and friends set. Even though  I am very frugal and grounded - which he did know.. 

 The art as well is gorgeous and the mistress bedroom (not master) is insane - huge and a marble bath, walk in marble shower, huge dressing table area plus cabinets for makeup etc and a mini kitchen area  - an absolute dream...plus a walk in closet

She does have cats but luckily I am in the guest house ... I love cats but get allergic to them - one sat on my lap today and the next thing I knew my eyes were itchy and swelled up. I felt better once I moved away from them and took a tablet. I have my led face mask on - the blue light as its known for inflammation and I am feeling much better though my eyes are still a bit swollen.

The change of flight was £400 - it was supposed to be for 5 days but I can see I have been booked on a flight 7 days hence so accidentally got 2 extra nights !! Partly my fault as the plan was to fly back on the Wed or Fri, then agent  asked 10 or the 12 via  dates and I said the later one - was sorting out on my mobile whilst at the beach .. .. now I have got tix I can see its Sunday instead which was  a date never mentioned! - its fine though .. I could stay here or I am toying with leaving as planned  to go stay back on the beach in some cheap hostel type place - will cost £100 for 2 nights.. and a huge step down in accommodation but I can run down the beach and go swimming in the ocean etc and have a rethink. Would happily go back Friday but I have never messed up a flight booking before - I had a full on night out the night before 
I dont really want to soend the extra £100 but feel hanging solo on a beach for 2 days could give me time to journal and big plan the rest 

Whilst I am here I will go shopping for gifts etc - cheaper here. I decided to not buy any of the lovely things I have seen inc the ipad, new iphone, boots, coats, lulelem*n joggers for myself  .... I have a house to buy! I will need to buy Xmas gifts and 2 bdays coming up so I will shop a bit tomorrow for others.

I am treating this as some kind  of vacation/reset - I wasnt going to extend cos of the cost but as my family said £400 for 5 nights (now 7) is cheap  as my accom is free ... you couldnt buy a week in London for that  .. plus the £100 for this weekend 

I use bookin*.com and on the genius level 1 - 10 off - and so an extra stay would get me to 3 trips via them. I had not realised that if you do 5 stays in 2 years you get to level 2 genius so 15% off some places  - I often use other providers but 15% is a great deal..

LadyWithAPlan

EOM round up  for Oct is v late as I was travelling over it.
However I can see sipp and s&S isa is down
I am getting my invoices slowly paid so cash flow ok but not enough to properly buy. I will sort this out next week - 

Nov 5th 2023  SIPP 45682.45     - 59p MOM   +     saved into sipp  £413.18
Down on month 59p!  yes 0.59     - invested  £413.18 into it  in Oct - I am trusting in the tax advantages and long term growth.
I invested   £320 in  Sept so thats better at least.

NOV 5TH House savings  £109,097.79   + £500.89   mom  -
 + OCT savings £630.51 -
S&S ISA is again down MOM     - £278.98
I AM OVER £109K AGAIN though  


Oct I saved  £630.51  vs Sept £411.23
I could have saved more but as always my cashflow is variable esp travelling and pre paying the expenses plus as I can see below I spent a lot this month..

OCT income 
MB income I cant tell - In Sept I made over £400 but as I am abroad It takes for ever to log in so I will do on my return
Worked for 3 clients inc 2 trips so that was good.  Invoices yet to be paid to reduce the  backwards gap on one client - other 2 are ok.


OCT SPENDING

I have not started using YNAB  as the thought of having to reconcile all my accounts there - I do my own books so not reconciling twice - but the spending examination has not happened  - I gather ynab has great reports. So I will look via accts and cobbled an inaccurate but decent enough excluding  travel costs re work etc  where they are covered by client.

Abroad subsistence - this will be covered	118.97
UK Subsistence	216.44
CAB	9.00
SIPP	413.18
Entertainment - big bdays	410.00
gift	69.73
Hotels	0.00
office	36.03
office	75.47
fun	36.11
Suppliers	10.00
telephone	43.83
Travel	128.00
CLOTHING - unusually high	199.08
Utilities	58.62
Total Expenses not inc rent, council tax,	£ 1,625.38

First time I have had to pay my £500+ more increased rent in one tranche (not inc above) ... ouch - last month they took the extra half way through

I know I blew my entertainment budget - big birthdays, drinks, the theatre   .. and subs was a lot as travelling too  - This is def the area where I can cut back and use for savings. 

I also bought some clothes more than in my clothing pot..

I also travelled twice abroad in Oct so subs is less and food was paid for by client inc a per diem.
The nov sudden extended trip is Nov money

 GYM- hardlly happened as I was away
I started well and did over 20k steps a day last week. However I have definitely put on a few pounds though my allergioes kicking in do not help

hello fresh mess up 
I cancelled my hello frsh for last week but seen I am getting a delivery sunday whilst I fly in monday morning .. and its too late by 3 hours to cancel this week ,, so I will try calling in the morning, 
Its the first time for the £10 off - last box was free. I will try whilst the £10 coupon happens

KajiKita

Interesting to hear how others live. The pre prep of both barbecue food and crudités around a bowl of hoummus is something we could all copy, like you say. It does help to explain why my Indian recruit who has come here after a decade of living in the US, feels impoverished if he is trying to maintain his previous standard of living, as his family in India I think was wealthy too (his wedding lasted 5 days and had 300 guests).

Not a bad thing to have a break and a rest and time to have a cogitate. 😊 Will you be safe at the hostel by the beach? 

KK 

LadyWithAPlan

Nov savings  target to hit £110k so £902.21
 £20.32 h2b isa   interest  £260.32/902.21
£200 dd into h2b   
£36.96 was not spent in subsistence  jar last month - so sent to Prem bonds £40
Not won any PB since Aug £100 - won £250 this year on  just under £15k 

CASHFLOW FLOAT TARGET £2000    - now £259.12/£2000
£259.12 is a small EF plus I keep extra cash in my various currrent bank accts.

My issue seems to be I keep extra cash in my bank accts for next months bills and in case my invoices are delayed... but then overspend in areas and just pay it out my cash float.
I can afford it but it is slowing down my savings rate.
I will get an EF up to say £2000  I think and then can more safely sock away excess after  into prem bonds, s&s isa etc - I still have not bought so with a £109k house deposit I have a massif EF 

Spending fun £653 so far  this month
£400 on changed flight - vacation - £90 only in vacation pot.
I have managed to work from the patio overlooking the heated pool so work is getting done just in a sunnier more glam  place
£103 on my Vivienne Westwood auction bag 
£60 on a fun  unexpected night out Sat whilst away ... said no to buying lots of things so far...

Per month  -
Track my NSD's - Target 13 days/month  1/13 - today Nov 7th!! except hello fresh may charge me,
Track my Grocery spending in GC thread £0/£150  grocery    + £0/100bulk  - away til 13th so ..
Track what I save in my hse deposit  Nov 260.32/902.21   +     SIPP  £0
Track extra income from ebay/free money etc  £
Track Minimalist game  0/17   starts on my return     Gym -  schedule when back

LadyWithAPlan

KajiKita said:

Interesting to hear how others live. The pre prep of both barbecue food and crudités around a bowl of hoummus is something we could all copy, like you say. It does help to explain why my Indian recruit who has come here after a decade of living in the US, feels impoverished if he is trying to maintain his previous standard of living, as his family in India I think was wealthy too (his wedding lasted 5 days and had 300 guests).

Not a bad thing to have a break and a rest and time to have a cogitate. 😊 Will you be safe at the hostel by the beach? 

KK 

Yes I stayed before in this hostel - and worked in similar -  its for travellers only and v clean and safe..  Its not like a UK hostel but a travellers one 

This standard of living is insane - the huge houses ... I had an american friend who felt he needed a 4000 sq foot house on London outskirts  for 2 plus a small child.. his mortgage payment last year  before all the hikes was £7k of which £2k was interest!! I dont need that much space.. maybe I have lived in London too long..
US homes have many more and bigger bathrooms as well.
 London is a small space so land values cost more. I am staying in a big famous US area so this location is super expensive anyway  - but to buy this in London -  would maybe be double ...

Watty1

Oh how the "other half" live.  Love reading and catching up, but nice doable takeaways.  2 days by the ocean sounds lovely as a complete reset and recharge too before the Winter Gloom

themadvix

If it’s the hostel I’m thinking of (based on your fancy description of house and then being near the beach at the hostel), it’s very nice for what it is and very safe 😊

We do have hostels for travellers in the UK LWAP and they are also perfectly safe - check out Youth Hostels (not just for the young 😉).

 The crudités sound good as long as they don’t end up in the bin. I should make some hummus today - definitely good with carrot sticks and in a sandwich.

Cheery_Daff

Gosh, sounds like quite the experience you're having over there! Good call on not buying any more clothes though - although it must be hard when surrounded by such luxury!

I used to work for the Youth Hostels Association 😊 Very cheerful, although not as cheap as they used to be 😂 Always liked that they usually had a kitchen you could cook your own food in. The one I last worked in had a garden and we kept several pygmy goats 😂

themadvix

Oh Cheery, that sounds like a fun job! (And thanks for providing the proper name, I couldn't remember it at that time in the morning). They're not as cheap as they used to be, but actually given the price of a cheap hotel these days, they're not bad, especially given the kitchen access. I looked for our trip to Manchester but there wasn't any availability otherwise I think it would have been a contender - that being said, while I love a YH (and the chance to chat to people), Mr MV is less keen.