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

LadyWithAPlan

@themadvix ah a fellow freelancer hello!  I did have a few years as employed  for my first job out of uni but despite it being v high paying and in theory stressful and exciting I got bored doing the same thing   Now I have as I suppose you do -  a few long term small freelance clients  doing v different things - two for 15 years +   plus I will then get odd work plus longer term contracts for others. Plus sometimes I travel as well for work.  
Do you have many regular consistent clients or do you hop FT contract to contract?
I had to learn to deal budget wise and time wise with a sense of insecurity and financial instability, at first there were some wobbles but since becoming monthly budget focused in the last decade a lot of the stress has gone. I love the freedom and choice of doing what I want when I want.

@savingholmes Can I ask (looking at your footer) re your book promotion and writing, have you a fair few  books for sale already? Are they fiction or non fiction - is this the well paid side hustle you speak of ? Any  marketing or promoting  tips ? Books or blogs worth reading on promoting books? My programme is non fiction but have also 3 novels in various stages of edits as well so be good to know on book and programme promotion 

I think whatever works for you re employed v self employed  is great and I know that can change depending on where we are at in different times. You certainly can't knock a DB pension - I have a £6.7k p.a one from that first and only 'employed' proper job to come at 60   and I am actually very grateful - once those small but perfect weekly cheques start coming I will bless the days I was forced to save into my work pension. I had no idea it was such a good thing.

Re cooking I did a lot of evening classes in many different cuisines and my father is am amazing cook, I was brought up on home grown  veg and home made soups and delicious home made food.  So I am always happy to try things out. My pork crispy batter  I tried today were tasty if a little weird idea wise but the GF batter is not quite right so I will experiment further. I have somehow against all odds squeezed 2 lots of beetroot soup in freezer as well.  I have seen a freeze for £159, a black one which will match some other kitchen goods and will fit in freezer space  - v tempted  but trying to wait to see if Black Friday has crazy deals.

Nov  Groceries Challenge  £75.19/ £140  + £10.52/ £100 bulk 
£4.52 bulk and £19.54 today.
- as I went to the gym, successfully dragging myself  there at 7pm despite it feeling very hard to get out the house. However as I have ran out of DF milk, yogurt and eggs I went to LIDL which is very near. Despite a rammed freezer and loads in fridge and the cupboards I spent £24.56. Some was bulk - tinned tomatoes, sauces, some YS meat, lots of veg, 2 packets of sweets and one pack of 6 pack crisps.
Only bought one DF milk, 6 eggs and 2 DF yougurts - these were what I ran out of but I could not carry more .. Sp I need to stock up on these as these products are what normally drive me to the store in the first place. 

Free money   £15.62/£100
saved 54p in LIDL coupons and 50p in Tesco against a Shopmium offer.

NSD 5/15 still 

Gym 3/22

I am in the office tomorrow which I enjoy as I also like the sociability of it, I cant remember though having to go in most days pre covid!! Saving so much on travel and local food to work.

savingholmes

LadyWithAPlan said:

@savingholmes Can I ask (looking at your footer) re your book promotion and writing, have you a fair few  books for sale already? Are they fiction or non fiction - is this the well paid side hustle you speak of ? Any  marketing or promoting  tips ? Books or blogs worth reading on promoting books? My programme is non fiction but have also 3 novels in various stages of edits as well so be good to know on book and programme promotion 

I have one book on Am**** - just KU for now or £2.29 a book. About 140 people downloaded my book between end of Dec and March. I had a crisis in March and paused all book related activities. I then decided in July to get divorced - which should be finalised this month. The original crisis has only just resolved - so I am hoping over xmas to restart my writing and book promotion activities as I have 2 weeks off from my day job. I am over half way through writing book 2 in a trilogy, 10000 words into a completely different young adult fantasy story - and have lots of non-fiction writing I haven't published and have written lots of poems. Check out Joanna Penn - the Creative Penn - she offers a free blueprint for self-publishing which is fab.

I think whatever works for you re employed v self employed  is great and I know that can change depending on where we are at in different times. You certainly can't knock a DB pension - I have a £6.7k p.a one from that first and only 'employed' proper job to come at 60   and I am actually very grateful - once those small but perfect weekly cheques start coming I will bless the days I was forced to save into my work pension. I had no idea it was such a good thing.

One of my DB pensions is being halved and given to Ex - a cetv for him of £182.5K - I hope to transfer my half eventually - to help with more financial independence - and as a reserve option to use the TFLS to pay the mortgage. But I have another DB pension worth over £9K a year already. I have a small SIPP of £3.5K total pot - that I am hoping to grow to fund mortgage neutrality  and create an income later.

I am in the office tomorrow which I enjoy as I also like the sociability of it, I cant remember though having to go in most days pre covid!! Saving so much on travel and local food to work.

I'm grateful for the £ I'm saving by not commuting. I'm going into the office Thursday for social and meeting a friend from work for a meal on Friday but mostly I'm working from home.

Suffolk_lass

@LadyWithAPlan re your freezer plans, speaking as a 5-freezer household (one is just for bee equipment) I am seriously re-evaluating whether this is sensible. Out came some beans this week (homegrown) and maybe it was because DH defrosted them before cooking but they tasted a little rubbery and limp. Not great and I have been storing them for months.

I suggest you look again at your 2 freezer shelves in the fridge and build in a routine to use up some of that batch-cooked food. I speak as someone who repeatedly freezes cooked food and then rarely or never uses it. You may be different but it is easy to get sucked into storing too much as you get into the grocery challenge. Living where you do in London, there are always options and access to them. Here is a rural village I have been cut off several times (but never longer than a week). 

Just saying...

themadvix

Oh, I wasn't knocking employment at all - but I've never had that security (or the benefits!), so don't miss it. And I'm not sure I'd like having a boss all that much! I have several regular clients that I work for, although things have been much quieter since the pandemic. It's not the sort of work you get contracts for - it's truly 'free'-lance (with all the upsides and downsides that entails). When I have done short term/part-time jobs I've found I get frustrated by having to fill a certain number of hours with work - what I do is paid differently and very task-based, so once it's done, it's done (and I get paid for the work, rather than my time). 

@savingholmes I'm not particularly social either, and working by myself, from home is/has been hard at times. I'm fortunate that my Mum is nearby and retired and since the pandemic DH has been at home most/all of the time (not that that has always been a good thing!). My cats also keep me company (wow, I sound like such a cat lady!)  - my mental health improved hugely when we got them.

LadyWithAPlan

@themadvix I did not think you were knocking anyones way of life Animals are great companions and stress relievers, I am sad I dont have any at  present but I will
Task based is better - mine is often but then I do with one client charge in part days as lots of bits to do..

@Suffolk_lass 5 freezers and one for bees!! That will NOT be happening but I take your point.  I have been actually using the batch meals a lot as I like it being all prepared  and having something different each eve rather than the pain of having to cook from fresh each day  so I am pretty sure as long as I don't go too mad I will be not wasting food.  I am listing my own batch meals on a pad on the fridge and quantities and am marking them off as I go so I know I have just 2 urad dals, in 2 x char siu ricem just one sweet potato soup and beef chilli portion left and no chocolate DF GF muffins. It is working surprisingly well.. It is the uncooked stuff that is getting left at the back in preference to the cooked batched yummies.

I bought some YS veg and mince  at M+S today and LIDL yesterday and it would be useful to just freeze  2 lots of meat as no room so I will have to cook then freeze batch versions..  or may try a squidge tomorrow if I can tardis  in some room.
I am definitely upping my stores now (chopped tins tomato, linseed, coffee, sauces, GF flours) since starting this bulk fund, actually enjoying the excuse to spend I think as much as anything but not gone too mad... I will watch my behaviour.. so thanks for the heads up.

@savingholmes thanks on the book info! 140 purchasers  is great as a start - did you do your own cover or get an designer in? I will look  at J Penn, heard of her but not looked in depth
I love fantasy - are you waiting to complete all 3 of the trilogy before launch?or have you launched the one already  and then will release book 2 when it is done? . I keep reading how releasing a few chapters is a great idea ...
Enjoy that 2 week break to write - It is much easier I think to take big chunks fo time out like 2 weeks rather than fitting it around other work, and upside of being single this Xmas is you can do what you want when you want )
Your DB's sounds great, pity you need to slash one but  I am sure you did it for the right reasons.. My SIPPs are just £100 away from 30k now I have just added mre and with market movement - that is 10% of that 300k FIRE goal so I feel it is a milestone 


OK DRUMROLL!!! my targets of £80k savings & £30k SIPP by end year are both a touching distance away!! It is a miracle...


MFW savings 11/08/21  £67,711.70   
08/11/21  £73,001.93/100K        
10/11/21  £78,078.35 /100K  ))

That 80k target before Xmas is MINE

Nov  savings  £5284.68/ £3,603.01  - smashed it )

I got paid some overdue invoices today finally and so my savings and even my SIPP has shot up - woohoo!
It is actually more as my S&S is another £313 up as well on the market  since I last looked on the 3rd Nov but I will count that market movement at the end of the month. Either way that is LOADS OF BOXES to colour in on my home graphic!

I thought that £3.6k savings goal for Nov and also Dec was a pie in the sky and 80k by Dec 31  was an  impossible target  as I was at 73k a week ago but ...;))

I thus was able to move money into my various pots which made me happy to complete my Nov budget.
Savings I mainly out into interest bearing but extra £757 into Premium bonds, £630 into S&S ISA to make that over £20k  as a new hit target.

It was a pretty big amount to go in today but I have squirrelled it away in all the accounts  - it is fun to see that in my bank account but more fun to see my savings and pension spreadsheet.  Much more fun than wasting it away, saving is addictive.

SIPP - /FIRE  £29,521.02 /£30k by year end goal  

I also added £630 to my SIPP today (+£157.50 HMRC contrib) - it could have upped my house savings instead but I know SIPP is important too  and I am underweight in that this year - only contributed £5017 this tax year so far, I am aiming to be HR tax payer again this year.

If I look at the markets movement since the end of month I actually have £29,898.71 in there  - but again I will wait til end month to add mkt movement in..

FIRE UPDATE
Current FIRE   exc home £12k p,a 9.84%, £16k pa 7.38%. Current spend inc current rent 8.43% FIRE, 
I am ignoring all my house deposit savings in my FIRE Calculations

FIRE when I hit 60 & my DB would start:   exc home £12k pa 22.06%, £16k pa 12.63%. Current spend inc rent 16.06% FIRE.

I am tracking this slowly moving % as I saw another MSE do this very successfully and over the few years of his blog he made it, even though he started like me small and tracked amounts and % on SIPP, mortgage neutrality and  mortgage coming down. Yes I do need to buy somewhere so I am keeping my house deposit savings out my FIRE figures as they will be spent on a deposit.

 
Nov  Groceries Challenge  £81.70/ £140  + £11.87/ £100 bulk 
I spent on YS in M&S as was near to it and Aldi today after popping to get a prescription   and so  bulk  £1.35 + grocery £6.51
Fridge and freezer rammed... my beetroot soup tonight was lovely.

savingholmes

LadyWithAPlan said:

@themadvix I did not think you were knocking anyones way of life Animals are great companions and stress relievers, I am sad I dont have any at  present but I will
Task based is better - mine is often but then I do with one client charge in part days as lots of bits to do..

I would prefer in some ways to be paid by task as I'm quick most of the time.
I have a cat which I'm keeping, but Ex is due to take my gorgeous dog..

@Suffolk_lass 5 freezers and one for bees!! 
Scary! I have 2 fridge freezers that tend to be rammed. 

@savingholmes thanks on the book info! 140 purchasers  is great as a start - did you do your own cover or get an designer in?
I used Canva. If I was starting again - which I may - I would have a different title and a different cover - and I think it would have helped more with sales. The difficulty I had is my book is split across a couple of genres and not easily niched into one. Now I've published I can see why that could be a problem. If I can up my income either through book sales or by selling arts and crafts etc - I want to pay a book designer... But I think I would have asked for the wrong thing if I'd done it from the outset - so probably still not a bad thing to have waited.

I will look  at J Penn, heard of her but not looked in depth - she has lots of free utube videos. Fair warning - they say paying for advertising your book is a waste of £ for book 1 - and only worth it when you have a few books out as for one advert - you get click through to your others

I love fantasy - are you waiting to complete all 3 of the trilogy before launch?or have you launched the one already  and then will release book 2 when it is done? . I keep reading how releasing a few chapters is a great idea ...

I have launched book 1 already - and as soon as I did my speed of writing increased exponentially. It was as if my brain said - oh so we are doing this are we. I was doing fine until a crisis exploded in my path earlier in the year - but hope to get back into it soon.

Enjoy that 2 week break to write - It is much easier I think to take big chunks fo time out like 2 weeks rather than fitting it around other work, and upside of being single this Xmas is you can do what you want when you want )
Yes looking forward to that. 

Your DB's sounds great, pity you need to slash one but  I am sure you did it for the right reasons.. My SIPPs are just £100 away from 30k now I have just added mre and with market movement - that is 10% of that 300k FIRE goal so I feel it is a milestone 
The one I'm slashing is just a requirement of the divorce. No choice really. My pensions are worth way more than the house - even after that cut. I need to work out how to show my FIRE figures...

OK DRUMROLL!!! my targets of £80k savings & £30k SIPP by end year are both a touching distance away!! It is a miracle...


MFW savings 11/08/21  £67,711.70   
08/11/21  £73,001.93/100K        
10/11/21  £78,078.35 /100K  ))

That 80k target before Xmas is MINE

Nov  savings  £5284.68/ £3,603.01  - smashed it )

I got paid some overdue invoices today finally and so my savings and even my SIPP has shot up - woohoo!
It is actually more as my S&S is another £313 up as well on the market  since I last looked on the 3rd Nov but I will count that market movement at the end of the month. Either way that is LOADS OF BOXES to colour in on my home graphic!

I thought that £3.6k savings goal for Nov and also Dec was a pie in the sky and 80k by Dec 31  was an  impossible target  as I was at 73k a week ago but ...;))

So pleased for you. That's amazing!

I 
FIRE UPDATE
Current FIRE   exc home £12k p,a 9.84%, £16k pa 7.38%. Current spend inc current rent 8.43% FIRE, 
I am ignoring all my house deposit savings in my FIRE Calculations

FIRE when I hit 60 & my DB would start:   exc home £12k pa 22.06%, £16k pa 12.63%. Current spend inc rent 16.06% FIRE.

So pleased your invoices got paid. Made a huge difference financially for you and brought you extra peace of mind I'm sure too.

LadyWithAPlan

Thanks @savingholmes I am pleased to see the numbers tracking up and thx for all the book advice. I am sure you will be  sad to see the dog to your ex, maybe time for a rescue puppy?
My fire figures I have assessed by making a spreadsheet on different FIRE levels  and where my SIPP portfolio is now and then also at different ages (where SP, DB etc kick in) so I can see the annual figures. It is all v rough estimates on 4% as well and no mkt movement estimates which is the next thing I need to add to the spreadsheet  (a small increase in the size of my current SIPPS) 
 I dont know how you would do the calculations with a DC as I have not got one - if  it is a portfolio figure to be drawn down from  a certain age so that you could work on ok?

I am very near the end of my programme - on final last bit of edit then some sales pages to write but I have got someone designing a cover, not sure the exact title at present. 

LadyWithAPlan

Nov  Groceries Challenge  £98.70/ £140  + £13.87/ £100 bulk 
Waitrose happened but I did get some good green jinn/shopmium 

I need to stock up again but I have decided I am buying a freezer on Black Friday weekend as this batch bulk cooking and freezing is a delight I have plenty of money saved for bigger ticket items and I am not feeling I am moving in the next few months so...
 I made my first ever shepherds pie at the weekend .... I rarely buy lamb but had froze some YS mince . It was unbelievably tasty - GF and DF even with the mash and I managed to freeze one decent portion of it so now a fair few lovely meals in there as my own takeaways )


Free money   £33.87/£100
Green Jinn offers £2.38
£15.25 M interest

NSD 8/15 

Gym 5/22

16/11/21  £78,093.60 /100K     /  Nov  savings  £5299.93 / £3,603.01

I have organised to cook for two lots of groups of friends  in the next couple weeks as it will help avoid 2 huge entertainment bills next month - there will be enough of them with other friends I may well do a huge batch of a soup and a side dish or 2 so I can freeze and serve some the following week )

I did go out in Saturday, saw a friend then another, had a cheap dinner £15 - it still came to £50_just with 3 rounds of drinks over the 7 hours. Amazing how post covid lockdown I am so aware of my bar bills..

MB the casino is doing well at present .. I can see my S&s ISA is up nearly £500 since the beginning of the month so more fo me to out towards savings but I dont count mkt movement til month end.
I don't own many dividend or income shares in my SIPP but one paid out, not much £10 but still it is nice to see it arriving  

Suffolk_lass

I'd be interested in what your aims and investment strategy is for your SIPP? - you say you don't own many dividend income shares there. I know @slowlyfading (who runs the Save £12k in 2021 thread and blogs over on The Frugal Cottage) is all about investing for dividend income in her journey towards FIRE - is your plan to materialise the holdings to give you the income from it?

Chiglepig

Suffolk_lass said:

I'd be interested in what your aims and investment strategy is for your SIPP? - you say you don't own many dividend income shares there. I know @slowlyfading (who runs the Save £12k in 2021 thread and blogs over on The Frugal Cottage) is all about investing for dividend income in her journey towards FIRE - is your plan to materialise the holdings to five you the income from it?

Really interesting to know, @Suffolk_lass - another one to bookmark!