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

LadyWithAPlan

@SandyShores tx for the link. I am a Guardian and FT reader really, (not necessarily a contradiction in terms) but I will see if I can get an online trial.

Hopefully I can give you some ideas ) I was very happy to find my COOP App has 2 offers each week you can choose and one often is  money off my shop ... so I did manage 75p free money today from that I definitely need to start checking my apps when I am in their store

@Grogged yes that 20 or 40% tax bump is too appealing. I did discover on another diary that if you withdraw a pension of more than  £10k you then have massive limits on what you can continue to invest into a SIPP like £4k..
My main sipp is with Vanguard and my HL Sipp is just £6k for 2 property REITS, a great supermarket REIT and 3 shares. So I will stop adding to that just in case .. So I can also  forsee me opening a fair few SIPPS with anyone who will have me.. all stopping at the 7k mark ) Obviously I will get advice before I withdraw but this was invaluable knowledge if I plan to save in SIPPS for my mortgage lump sum

LadyWithAPlan

Saturday update
After spending all day MBing I tried to pop to the gym to discover  as I had not booked a slot it was too late . The gym is empty but I have been abroad for the past while and been swimming daily in the sea and so miss the exercise and all that lovely water. My gym is pretty MSE, I haggled  2 months off when I paid annually (just before COVID) and due to constant closure and an ability to freeze my membership for when I go away  I think it runs out next spring so over 2.25 years worth
I will definitely go first thing in the morning, if I dont go then I seem to not to go at all.

Nice to have Premiership football back  - I made over £1200 in June (best month ever as normally averages about £4-4.5k a year) but nothing really in July as travelling and just the fabulous Euros semis and  finals  football wise, I lump my MB, low risk casino and football trading all together now for tracking,  I used to track every trade and every casino offer in spreadsheets  but now I am clear on what I am doing once a month I just add up all my bookies and my bank acct  I use just for that. I keep a float of £4k in there so whatever it comes to at the end of the month I know is that months profit so I move any excess over to house deposit savings and pension (current plan is a 50/50 split).
The £4k float is profit I made that I have not taken out but you do need a float.  Need to start doing more horses and extra place offers.

I may start a new sheet for my out and out football trades but as I often underlay my MB or choose to wait til mid game to lay off free  and qualifying bets  it is hard to truly separate them.

So as it was so nice outside I went for a walk along the canal and ended up popping into both Waitrose and Co-op for a few bits and yellow stickers So not a NSD spend but I did get a free Guardian at Waitrose

I used my Coop app to get 25p off my shop and 50p of houmous which I always eat. so I am adding that to my free money count (I borrowed this idea from another MSE-er) to track free money this month and I have moved my 75p to my house savings - one very tiny but important step to £100,000 goal

I also used Green Jinn today and saved a £1 on a fabulius chilli mayo  -and I found   a forgotten £2.13 on there so will move that over when the Waitrose £1 gets approved. I stopped using these food cashback apps but i am inspired by everyones diaries to focus on less spending where I can.

Spending today 
Food £14 - 
Gift £20
Hobbies £3

August  Free Money  = £21.38
Nectar  points used £17.50 
Green Jinn £1
Co-op  75p
Green Jinn £2.13 I did not know was there

Move to house savings  the Co-op 75p  plus 67p  to make it a round £67,747

I will have my Marcus interest paid Monday so It will go UP again then. I am really liking the motivation of tracking the small parts all the way to my £100k goal. £68,000 will be hit as soon as I get paid for an invoice next week


Current 2021 Goals  update
House savings 11/08/21  £67,711.70   
TODAY House Savings £67,747/ £100,000 
House savings goal          £2750  per month         (Aug done but was part July income as well)

August savings extra added from 11th Aug start of the  diary =
£33.88 + 75p +67p

NSD 2/8 

60.7kg today - just under 0.5kg down in the last week. My aim is 1kg a month, slow and steady.

Stlll not moved on my editing of my programme. I stayed up last night working /as had a deadline as I had stayed up very late the night before. Getting to bed by 10.30pm and up by 6.30 is the goal but not happened this week.

LadyWithAPlan

Hope everyone had a great week - 

Sunday and week review (sorry its huge) 

 It seems mathematically my dream is a fully realisable one albeit with a lot of work and focus ahead. 

I have looked at the figures for my 2022 mortgage and started playing with the mortgage o/p calculator and it seems brilliantly, impossibly, perfectly like my goals have a chance of succeeding. So  @Grogged advised me to look at what my aim is, the figures  and then divide by months  before that date and......

With things remaining equal (ha!) I could start paying O/P of £550 a month from 3 months after the start of my mortgage (summer 2022) and indeed hit  my 13 years repayment plan.

 Such a O/P doable if a bit of a squeeze  on my current income  This is hugely reassuring that the maths is supporting my vision, now it is about my actions, choices, willpower and focus - hence this diary.  The quicker and larger my deposit gets in the next 12 months the easier it will be.

Other goings on

I finally got to the gym - yes!! but not for long as I squeezed it between seeing a friend who I recommended Too Good to go to, I even booked a Waitrose magic bag to show her as an example,  so then only had 30 mins in gym before I then dashed to pick it up... I then took a pic of the goodies in it to show her how it worked...

There  was one thing in there I don't eat but in my neighbourhood we have a very active whats app group that started during  Covid  where we offer excess food and stuff .. so a very happy neighbour is having a free Waitrose dinner tonight. 

I also got asked to do a survey by the Too good to go people who were at the store - doing a survey, it took 3 mins and they gave me a free single use Too good to go voucher that is worth up to £12 - so that is a MSE result )

I now have far too much food in my small freezer (it is completely full)  so should not need to shop for a good few days.. I have of course ran out of a couple things .. thats the problem - you pop in for 2 things and come out with 10 .. but bar some fresh veg mid week I am fine for a fortnight.


Premiership football started again this weekend  so I spent most Saturday day but only a bit today  doing MB and trading and did well. I will not work out my profit til the EOM. I am thinking of dropping my £4000 float (counted as part of house savings) to £3500 and put the £500 difference in my s&s isa  and my savings as it is not earning any money sitting in my bank acct or the bookies..  I just need to be more organised with moving money back into my bank acct.

Spending today - £27.35
coffee with friend £3.70 
Food £13.65 inc some reduced Sainsburys goodies and Waitrose £4 magic bag inc king prawns!
Other £10

What went great this week
I started my MSE diary and my savings went up dramatically as I moved things around
Discovered tilly tidying
Moved my tax into a new bank acct  at 0.6% so its clear amt of house savings in my Marcus
Got my green jinn etc going again
Starting tracking free money off a fellow MSEer
Realised I can do this - the maths works-  action, choices and focus now needs to be on point.

I saw this on the MF board as a pearl of wisdom. 
 Sacrifice all comforts to ruthlessly pursue debt clearance from the best income you can achieve.
I have realised this week  I have been too  comfortable but if I want to sort this future proofing of my life I need to make some hard decisions now on getting more work that I have been ignoring. I also need to put off some other dreams of mine for 12 months at least til I can get into my flat. Then I can recalibrate. You can fight a battle on too many fronts and I have chosen this to be my battle field for the next 12 months. 

I read a load of MSE and got clearer on pension v mortgage  OP debate 
Ate v well apart from this weekend a bit too much junk...
My first ever 2 NSD.
I did some comping and saw I won something small but fun for my young nephew.
Checked out robot vacuums with mop and go clearer idea - not pulled trigger yet though on this - i do feel it will be a great treat and I have some birthday money towards it so.
Learnt you can do courses in DIY and drilling from @Sistergold
(not sure why that did not occur to me before so think this is a great next step before I move) 

What not so great this week
Went to bed far too late when I did not have to get up early
Only gym 2 x a week
Did not work on my programme
Did not ebay
Did not tidy as much as I had planned
I love MSE but spent maybe too much time on it reading diaries ... I could have worked on my programme... choices

My new spreadsheet
 I have just built a simple G sheet to track my growing savings and pensions - I do have the accounts in my QB so in theory I could just pull off a report of them growing but  it is nice to see them all in one spreadsheet, alongside the OP calculator so  lets see if having a simple G sheet helps my motivation. I also have added extra pages in it to track  NSD days.

It may be I do a spending diary but will wait for that net month, I always budget pre month and move into pots so.


New starting figures/ Sunday finance check in
So although I started  my diary on the 11th August I have refreshed all my figures as below so thy align with my spreadsheet and they can be my first Sunday finance check in.

My S&S ISA that is part of my house savings AND my Vanguard SIPP are both on fire  (as RuPauls's Drag race would call it)  so they zooming up. My HL SIPP is fine bar one underperforming stock but I am still up in it. 
So this has pushed my figures up.



Current 2021 Goals 
Savings         
 14/08/21                           £67,803.76 / £100,000       £32,196.24  to go
House savings 11/08/21   £67,711.70  
Monthly house savings goal   to 100k       £2683.02   (12 months)    



SIPP    -   
14/8/21          £26,908.09
11/08/21        £26,731.30


Programme £300 per month made once launched - still not worked on it this week

NSD 2/8

Personal goal lose 1 kg per month - 0.3kg so far


August  Free Money  = £44.38
Nectar  points used £17.50 
Green Jinn £1 + £2.13 I did not know was there  + £1 = £4.13
Co-op  75p
£12 Too good to go voucher
£10 uber eats voucher 


My house savings are so near the 68k mark - I will get past that as soon as an invoice gets paid - I will chase tomorrow. 

I have a chart I have been colouring in since last summer - I drew an upstairs and downstairs of my dream apartment in £500 squares. It is getting nicely filled in so each £500 I have a reason to get my colouring pencils out.


Goals for this week
Go to bed by 11pm every night unless I am out with friends
Get programme edited and done bar the audio!
Work well for my various freelance jobs
Gym 4 or 5 days (I love it so it is a pleasure to get myself there)
Have at least 3 NSD this week
Not buy any food except fresh veg, yogurt  and possibly yellow sticky labels
See 2 if not 3 lots of friends at least for catch up - I know there will be drinking and one dinner at least ... so dont overspend my budget for entertainment
Do daily diarising so tracking my focus
Stop staring at rightmove as pointless right now - I will start after Sept 18th
MB 
Do some comping.
Lose a further 1lb - I am feeling great but I am choosing to get to a certain goal - which is easy if i just focus on my gym and eating well . and get sleep.

Grogged

I'm glad everything is coming together and your plans falling into place!
Don't forget to put in some nice things for yourself as well.
There will be meh? times, so it's important to keep a balance and have other things to look forward to.
Take care, G.

LadyWithAPlan

Mon MSE victory

Hope everyone had a good start to threweek.

Today I decided to take the plunge on my robo mop vacuum. Wavered between one for £110 (it had been £200) and a roomba combo I could get down to  £250 - both of which friends had recommended - they both had great vacuums but said both mops were more a surface thing,  Decided as trying to save to £100k (from my 68k approx)  that £150 was a 666th of it   so lets go cheaper..

Saw the MSE amazon offer 'get £6 if you transfer £50 to the amazon gift card   THEN I   remembered I had some cash left on  a gift card I had won  £62.11 - so I transferred that all so got  the free £6 THEN there was a voucher on amazon for £10 to buy it.. So in the end the £110 robo vac came to £31.88 actual cash spent.  This is my first proper MSE check all the vouchers and ways round to get something cheaper

Even better was I had been given some birthday money which was more than this £31.88 amount  - so using the difference against either my Sept sewing course or DIY course but popped it into savings anyway...

In anticipation of the Thurs arrival of my robot (he needs a name -  R2D3? or ...)   I have now vacuumed and mopped so he can start clean. This is the version of cleaning before the cleaner comes round.... but I think it will make me more focused if it is on most days as I will need to ensure wires and shoes dont get in its way. So motivation to ebay and declutter as well. 

So very excited as got an absolute bargain and it was on my wish list.. It was my only spend

.... Sounds like my dad and mum got covid last week  .. Dad first but  has recovered after a few days and then mum. Luckily she is now out of bed, having stayed in bed for 3 days which she never does. She still has no taste  buds or smell  and got that cough still. . I was worried but they both dbl vaccinated and sounds like they on the mend luckily. 

Also I was paid an invoice today - I am waiting to see how much the monthly Marcus interest is (normally in by the 14th!) and then I will transfer to make it an exact £00 amount tomorrow so I will declare that tomorrow.


August  Free Money  = £50.88
Nectar  points used £17.50 
Green Jinn £1 + £2.13 I did not know was there  + £1 = £4.13 - waiting on £1 to process
Co-op  75p + 50p 
£12 Too good to go voucher
£10 uber eats voucher 
Amazon £6 gift card offer

Current Goals
Savings         
 16/08/21                           £67,869.30/ £100,000       £32,130.7  to go
House savings 11/08/21   £67,711.70  

Chiglepig

LadyWithAPlan said:

Mon MSE victory

In anticipation of the Thurs arrival of my robot (he needs a name -  R2D3? or ...)  

You are not a proper robo vac owner until it has a name , ours is 'Vaccy' (he/him), but I do know someone with a "Derek' - interesting that women gender them male!

Absolute MSE bargin!

LadyWithAPlan

Chiglepig said:

LadyWithAPlan said:

Mon MSE victory

In anticipation of the Thurs arrival of my robot (he needs a name -  R2D3? or ...)  

You are not a proper robo vac owner until it has a name , ours is 'Vaccy' (he/him), but I do know someone with a "Derek' - interesting that women gender them male!

Absolute MSE bargin!

I am so proud of myself . All those hours reading everyone's diaries..

Vaccy works 😊
I am not sure why I know the robot is male but I do.. Maybe cos its 'man made'? 

Like a pet or a baby I am gonna see what springs to mind when I unbox him. 

Grogged

Our R00mba is called roomy, which clearly shows a total lack of imagination...
It's our second, as the first tripped and fell down the stairs... 😟
Great devices though.

Our have heating is MrHeaty, so obviously a pattern developing...
We haven't named the cars or anything else though...

I love how you have to tidy up before it arrives!
(To be fair, we did too, it seems inbuilt behaviour 🙂)
Glad you're parents are on the mend, it can be nasty.

Take care, G.

SandyShores

Well done for such a bargain.  Its so much nicer than taking it out of savings.  Ours is called Robbie (the robot).  Although DH calls him Boris for some reason  

LadyWithAPlan

@SandyShores I would not want that reminder -uggh

@Grogged Mr Heaty is cute! I dont think my floor  has been this clean in ages The start  of a new era hopefully.

Current top name is Ben - I went on a few dates with a guy who then revealed that when he was not earning enough to cover his mortgage, he became a butler in the buff  and made a fortune. I am not sure if this has come up as a top MSE way to earn extra cash but...
I never actually saw him in the buff but he looked like he lived in the gym... But I will wait til Ben/R2D3 arrives before deciding his name