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

TallGirl

Exciting to see some clarity it does help to get away from it all sometimes and take stock. I now understand about the cheap rent and the type of tenancy. I was one of them but they are not real you could never rent anything remotely like that in a normal sense. It kind of lulls you into a false sense of security which of course you don’t have. Buying sounds like the only option as you cannot rely on that type of tenancy being available always especially if you’re looking to retire. 

Anyway all good stuff you have a big deposit lots of potential for earning so hopefully it should all work out as you have nothing to sell it’s a lot easier. 

Hope you have a safe flight back and enjoy your last few hours on holiday. 

Karmacat

LadyWithAPlan said:

I am thinking of having my Viv Westwood bag as a xmas gift - so not use it and get the cash for it so they can wrap at xmas..
You mean not keeping it for yourself, but giving it to someone as a gift?  That sounds an excellent use of an item you can't return any longer  

I was reading a DFW diary  yesterday and the poster suddenly was given 2 months notice despite really winning in lots of areas - the landlord wanted to do it up  and she had to move with 2 cats and a dog ... she did find somewhere for more money that was lovely   but now she  has a  3hr each way drive to work she would have to do once a week, possibly leaving the dog in her car in the car park as too long to be away all day  and a lot of stress plus being away from her local friends.

This has given me the jolt I need - I am  too comfortable where I rent, I love it,  its full of light, space, - been there over 5 years and we probably have max 2 years left in the building - I am a guardia*  , have lots friends in the building, its v central london, BUT I am on a 30 day notice period (I have a lot of furniture) and as many on here have said despite my relatively low rent despite the recent £500 rise, the comfort of a huge deposit (for me) as an EF   and brilliant location I am at the whim  of others. They can at a send of an email cause me huge anxiety and stress and possibly financial worry. I have finally seen the  danger and possible pain of being at someones whim or someone else's plan.
Maybe those of us who bought a place didn't emphasize this enough - protections for renters have been chipped away for a long time, and you have very few rights.  You really are living at someone else's whim, I'm afraid, you're dead right.  But knowing it on a gut level, as you do now, is priceless, I'm so glad you've seen it!

Its time to step it up -   so this is what is happening on my return to London 
 - Go get another client to increase my income in a steady way - 
- Look at and action the serious side hustles more inc programme to get more income in in the next month.
- get daily gym in as I feel so much better and it clears my head
- Go get a mortgage in principal  thats in-line with my new income and allows me to buy somewhere I can happily and afford to live for the next 11yrs and get paid off whilst also saving for FIRE
- get seriously decluttering and stuff sold on
- Choose to keep current home decluttered and v clean and live now in a gorgeous, clean, place that reflects who I am as I look for the home to buy
- Look hard in various areas of london and find out where i am buying and find the home 
- Get serious about tracking my spending - I may have a play with notion and writing down every spend  - and squeeze every penny out of my budget. Even writing down the spending here this month £929 .. has horrified me..
- track my savings rate each month as a % of that months income.
- DONT BUY STUFF  - except Xmas is nearly here so I will have conversations about spending less - though for the kids is hard .. and of course the party season ... as a single La Plan it will be hard.. however I need to get going  and really look at my going out/entertainment budget - I dont want to be billy no mates but needs to be a middle ground. October was expensive, Nov more... oh yes heres Dec.. when do I choose to stop spending and increase my savings rate?

So actually this weeks accidental vacay has led me to have some mental space to see the woods, not just the trees.

This is brilliant 🤸🏻‍♀️🌞 that first emoji is a cartwheel, by the way  

For the parties you feel you need to go to, maybe you could do what you did with your friend during the thank you meal you bought her?  Cut it down, basically - and the other option is something I was doing at parties when I knew I drank too fast.  I didn't try to slow down, but I *did* drink a non-alcoholic drink every other one.  Hopefully there'd be a price differential, and you'd be safer going home as well.  

Hope your journey back is nice and smooth, and No Delays!

SuperSecretSquirrel

Your work-holiday sounds incredible LaPlan! You got to spend time with a friend, live in luxurious surroundings, eat like a queen, and buy some gifts at a good price that you'd have bought eventually anyway. Don't feel guilty about that. You don't do it often, and getting all that for the price of a flight ticket amendment and an extravagant restaurant meal is an absolute steal. Just imagine the cost if you hadn't been able to expense the original flights, and the cost of a hotel and food at that kind of level, well that doesn't bear thinking about! A well deserved holiday and at a very MSE price in my opinion. Just keep it as a rare treat and you're golden 😎

A benefit of having a luxurious break like that, I find, is it's so much easier to rein in the spending afterwards. Our "fun money spends" dropped noticeably after our summer holiday as we were all treated out for a while. Our "boring monthly spends" dropped a noticeable amount too thanks fewer grocery and fuel purchases etc. I'm not trying to kid myself, these little savings were a long way from making the holiday cost neutral, but they helped a little.

I know you're on a buy nothing mission right now (and now is a great time for it after a nice indulgent time away) but when you do start thinking about replacing the phone again please consider an inexpensive power bank that you could pop in your handbag. I have a chunky 20Ah one at home for emergency purposes that would charge our phones many times over, only cost £20ish. A small lightweight one can be had for under £10 easily that would fully charge your phone from empry once or twice. Worth thinking about with the big house purchase firmly in mind. Sometimes you can't "buy nothing", but often at those times you can buy "cheaper alternative that meets the need" 😉

Cheery_Daff

There was an iPhone in Martin's email this week - no idea if it would suit you but would it work out cheaper than what you were looking at?

KajiKita

I think the Ugly isn’t that bad as you had loosely budgeted $200 (though I am very glad your friend paid the service charge!😳). Shame the food itself wasn’t better though. 🤷‍♀️

Loving the fresh focus and drive you have to realise your dream 😊👏
Cheering you on madly from the sidelines ❤️🤩🥳

KK

LadyWithAPlan

CathT said:

It sounds like you've had some time out to be able to reflect and plan. As I read through your diary I was wondering what property you might have bought as I got towards the end. (I used to have a diary but retired it a few years ago. Still read a few and post where I can).

We also need a 'cheap month' here but they're just getting more and more expensive. 

Yes with COL and winter coming just day to day living is definitely getting more of a % in everyone’s budget 
I am just glad we are all on here working to pay off debt, mortgage and figuring out how to be more frugal 

I do have a second $10 off Lyft to use today to go to the airport 

I want a 2 bed, share of freehold, light filled flat with a small private garden, no more than ten min walk from a tube that runs well and is a decent time in to central london and also near one straight night bus so u  can go in ok and on the maybe once or twice a month cab home isn’t crazy expensive - I don’t want to get stuck staying in if it’s too much trouble /time to go out or too expensive  or I need a car to do so 
at present I can get a night bus in 20 mins v near my home and in a tube line that is v quick and runs 24 hours over the weekend 
Quite near a train to an airport be good too 
happy to buy a fixer upper - I did my diy classes last year so not afraid and have a much better understanding of costs etc on builds 

so london areas I know I have to look further afield  - think North or east so Whitechapel or Mile End or north when it starts to get cheaper. 

I love living by water eg a canal or the thames so if that was a short walk away that be great to rather than a park - I prefer running water 

LadyWithAPlan

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, exciting plans you have there! 😃😃 Lovely to see the clarity of thinking after a holiday.

I keep thinking about you saving about thinking of your deposit as a massive emergency fund. We have a reasonably large house (paid within your range, but 5 years ago and up north), but not much in the way of emergency fund savings - but I often think if there was a really dire emergency, and I had to leave work, we could sell up and move somewhere smaller.

In your case, that money is still available to you - it would just have to be a pretty darn big emergency that would make you sell up and start renting again (or move somewhere a lot cheaper up north, I suppose - you could buy outright with just your current deposit if absolutely necessary!)

So I suppose I'm saying go for it! You'll be able to build a decent emergency fund back up quickly when you move, even while overpaying. And I bet there won't be ANYTHING that would tempt you to sell and start renting again so you could get that big 'emergency fund' bank balance back, however nice it looks now!

You make very good points ! I could always sell up and move cheaper though and again  as you say I don’t think anything would make me sell up and start renting again. 

I have been self employed for decades so there is always the err on side of caution on monthly fixed expenses as they can kill you .. however I plan to keep a decent chunk back as SSS suggested so to give me more breathing space at the start - will cost more in interest but I don’t want to put it all on a deposit and find myself stressed after month two cos a company is late in paying me 

LadyWithAPlan

TallGirl said:

Exciting to see some clarity it does help to get away from it all sometimes and take stock. I now understand about the cheap rent and the type of tenancy. I was one of them but they are not real you could never rent anything remotely like that in a normal sense. It kind of lulls you into a false sense of security which of course you don’t have. Buying sounds like the only option as you cannot rely on that type of tenancy being available always especially if you’re looking to retire. 

Anyway all good stuff you have a big deposit lots of potential for earning so hopefully it should all work out as you have nothing to sell it’s a lot easier. 

Hope you have a safe flight back and enjoy your last few hours on holiday. 

Tx Tall Girl - I have been v lucky with being a guard@ - only 2 lovely places in 8 years! And I have a 2 bed flat to myself - I pay extra for the second room so I don’t have to share 
otherwise it would be cheaper 

yes final day by the pool - get a swim in, eat chicken and salad - will pack now as early and then prepare for a long flight 
looking forward to getting back and moving forward. I also have an itch to declutter more after seeing The container store, this beautiful place and I don’t want to move clutter! 

I have also got fitter by daily swimming here this past week and eaten v well and only one glass of wine since last Saturday 
so I am toned up, brown and focused - didn’t work that much this last week but that’s ok I did paperwork towards taxes and planned life and reset 

I want to keep my better nutrition and fitness up on my return - you can see my body looks better in a week - bikinis are unforgiving so it’s easier to be aware of extra pounds than under layers of jumpers - I never diet as such it’s all about lifestyle and more intelligent choices for food 
the tortilla chips have been an issue but I will be eating lots of HM soup in my return and daily exercise ! 

LadyWithAPlan

Karmacat said:

LadyWithAPlan said:

I am thinking of having my Viv Westwood bag as a xmas gift - so not use it and get the cash for it so they can wrap at xmas..
You mean not keeping it for yourself, but giving it to someone as a gift?  That sounds an excellent use of an item you can't return any longer  

I was reading a DFW diary  yesterday and the poster suddenly was given 2 months notice despite really winning in lots of areas - the landlord wanted to do it up  and she had to move with 2 cats and a dog ... she did find somewhere for more money that was lovely   but now she  has a  3hr each way drive to work she would have to do once a week, possibly leaving the dog in her car in the car park as too long to be away all day  and a lot of stress plus being away from her local friends.

This has given me the jolt I need - I am  too comfortable where I rent, I love it,  its full of light, space, - been there over 5 years and we probably have max 2 years left in the building - I am a guardia*  , have lots friends in the building, its v central london, BUT I am on a 30 day notice period (I have a lot of furniture) and as many on here have said despite my relatively low rent despite the recent £500 rise, the comfort of a huge deposit (for me) as an EF   and brilliant location I am at the whim  of others. They can at a send of an email cause me huge anxiety and stress and possibly financial worry. I have finally seen the  danger and possible pain of being at someones whim or someone else's plan.
Maybe those of us who bought a place didn't emphasize this enough - protections for renters have been chipped away for a long time, and you have very few rights.  You really are living at someone else's whim, I'm afraid, you're dead right.  But knowing it on a gut level, as you do now, is priceless, I'm so glad you've seen it!

Its time to step it up -   so this is what is happening on my return to London 
 

This is brilliant 🤸🏻‍♀️🌞 that first emoji is a cartwheel, by the way  

For the parties you feel you need to go to, maybe you could do what you did with your friend during the thank you meal you bought her?  Cut it down, basically - and the other option is something I was doing at parties when I knew I drank too fast.  I didn't try to slow down, but I *did* drink a non-alcoholic drink every other one.  Hopefully there'd be a price differential, and you'd be safer going home as well.  

Hope your journey back is nice and smooth, and No Delays!

Tx I also hope no delays so I can get back and start LaPlan

 i meant on the bag i would have as a main Xmas gift as family always want to know what to get .. I will pick it up tomorrow as it’s been delivered to a local shop. 

I don’t think anyone else will like it that I’d buy a £100 plus gift for 

Yes I have been v fortunate on the rent situation and have a ef to throw at the problem if any issues which comforts me 

as you say knowing gut level I need to buy for my life now is v important - I didn’t want to before but first covid now my vacay in a ‘housewives of XX ‘ type place has proven that 

even I in the guest house have a marble sink and walk in shower … 
there are giant amethysts like 5 inches tall on every garden post! 


one of my closest friends really drinks fast so that keeps the bill up in wine and bubbly - I don’t like the cost or the sugar in cocktails  - unless I switch to vodka soda where I can pretend and replace with water on occasion ok this will  be a new LaPlan plan plus it’s healthier and more keto - my friend’s trainer has stopped her drinking wine as it apparently bloats you and causes inflammation.. 

dawnybabes

I actually think your spendings are a bargain, you’ve had a lovely holiday catching up with a friend, got a load of Vit D and healthier in the process !