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

Humdinger1

@LadyWithAPlan have read your diary from the start and subscribed! Fascinating...and going back to a very early entry, I too read the Guardian and the FT; the latter is often as left-of-centre as the former.  I lived in London for 10 years before moving to the country in 1996.  I love it now, though moving initially to a place without street lights and no mains drainage was a massive shock to start with.  Am cheering you on love Humdinger xx 

themadvix

I have an Instant Pot and you really don’t need all the settings - pretty much everything gets done on high pressure for a varying number of minutes, so your 6-in-1 is probably just as useful. I do love mine though, so totally get how much you enjoy using it!

savingholmes

Good luck with tomorrow's credit control conversations. 

Hope you pick up some new work that pays more promptly - as well as getting the past money in. Perhaps consider applying a premium for late payment. You could always phrase it as a discount for early payment.

LadyWithAPlan

Humdinger1 said:

@LadyWithAPlan have read your diary from the start and subscribed! Fascinating...and going back to a very early entry, I too read the Guardian and the FT; the latter is often as left-of-centre as the former.  I lived in London for 10 years before moving to the country in 1996.  I love it now, though moving initially to a place without street lights and no mains drainage was a massive shock to start with.  Am cheering you on love Humdinger xx 

@Humdinger1 thanks though 'fascinating' is a big word Although I have to say I do enjoy the minutae of other people's mfw wannabe thread as you see how much focus has to happen so maybe thats part of it.
You did also prompt me to look back at my v long first entry and I realised I started the diary 11/08/21 so nearly a year - I also saw I was talking about whether a goal of £33k saved would even be possible  in a year, how big a goal that was - however I have realised that if some of my invoices do get paid  .. then miraculously I will manage it by 11/08/22!! So thanks for making me look backward  and it gives me hope for the next year.

Seems like you had the best of both worlds experience. I have family properly in the country so thats my country escape   but London and my huge pile of fabulous friends I dont want to move from so I had better get an expensive piece of property signed up 

I will do an annual round up on the 11th

themadvix said:

I have an Instant Pot and you really don’t need all the settings - pretty much everything gets done on high pressure for a varying number of minutes, so your 6-in-1 is probably just as useful. I do love mine though, so totally get how much you enjoy using it!

@themadvix its so my new toy!! I was going out last night and had 30 odd  mins to slap the makeup on and outfits etc sorted so I first sauted and then pressure cooked and ate a turkey chilli recipe! I just had this idea I wanted the dehydrator function ... so maybe there is a way to figure that out,,, and the yogurt maker function but I think thats a slao cook thing so again google may be my friend

savingholmes said:

Good luck with tomorrow's credit control conversations. 

Hope you pick up some new work that pays more promptly - as well as getting the past money in. Perhaps consider applying a premium for late payment. You could always phrase it as a discount for early payment.

Thanks @savingholmes I do know why I let some slide but I need to make it clear the gap is too great now...i may indeed need to update the CV...

LadyWithAPlan

Woohoo to England lionesses! I do watch a lot of England football, so I was understandably nervous especially in that last 8 mins of extra time as we have all been there too many times.  Interesting to see all the families in the pub watching with their kids, for some reason it felt more of a family affair than even the England mens matches of which I've  watched many  in pubs over the decades. Also the Wembley crowd seemed full of young girls (and boys) and women - it can only be great for the sport as a whole

There was a lady in the pub, it was her 79th birthday - she reminisced about watching 1966 with her young daughter on her lap, her parents now long dead where they were at the time ... It was a lovely east london pub atmosphere and everyone was chatting to strangers. Even a young boy 6 maybe  started talking to me about the football score

I am sure it will make some young girls think wow women did what men couldn't, men who have been trying since a time when it was illegal for women to play pro football, I know football is a sport of some luck, not just skill but how does this not show young girls to believe they can be world class and for all kids that it is possible to win at big tournaments - I used to bemoan as to why I wasn't born Brazilian at the big world cup games as at least you would feel your team had a fighting chance rather than kick long and pray. (or the inability to finish so we'd end up at penalties again which we never seemed to practise..)
. Lets hope the schools sort it out so all girls not just boys can all choose to play football during PE.

Last day of month
It was not a NSD - I popped to Lidl after gym again and spent £14.xx that included a £2 voucher - I only really went to see if they had some reduced meat  and veg which they did. Plus used the £2 voucher
I also bought 2 rounds of drinks as friends bday - I had coke zero so spent £18 or so 

I start my Aug grocery challenge tomorrow £170 + £30 bulk - seems high but lets see what I can do..

I have noticed I have a reduced 80% ebay fees offer til tomorrow Monday so I will put some things up tomorrow 

I did go to the gym today armed with my new apple watch - I find it really motivates me to get to the next level of calories burnt or distance on an exercise before stopping. HIT for 16 mins, back, shoulder, biceps weights then only cos I have promised myself to swim min 20 min a day I did the swim, and swam for 23 mins 

TT last TT £1
I have my rent coming out tomorrow and its ridiculous to see there is literally less than £10 in excess. I do have pots I can move over  easily and a large EF but due to me paying off CC in full  this month and all the things on it for the Aug 4th bill apart from the `£200plus  Ieft it has stopped me hiding my spending and lack of paid invoices. I can really see the issue. Whereas when I charge to my cc I get maybe 6 weeks to pay so I can leave cash in my current account.. NO MORE! CC for travel ONLY now.

Spending - 
looked at some new hardware for this possible new side hobby and its £1200 at least, so I will look for another solution. I may do this one course I have been looking at  £230 ... but without any pay I will not pay for anything  

Budgets - I will post tomorrow some Aug budget figures (and reflect where I can track in July).
Either way  after Humdingers post  earlier that made me realise my diary is nearly one year old  (with a v large gap as my invoices fell behind in payment so lack of consistent monthly budgets as I would do them but get paid less etc) and my seeming impossible 1 year savings goal is actually practically realised has made me extra motivated. 

A friend is organising a bday dinner for herself in London  in a very lovely but expensive restaurant. I kinda have to go as I missed her 50th but it means I will need to add £80 or £100 at least for this in my budget. I am sure her friends will say lets cover bday girl dinner as well so could be a seriously LARGE bill. I may be going away - it might be cheaper! She knows I have a decent house deposit so I might as well accept it. Its rare I do serious London dinners.. but the amazing thing is I have saved so much given my friends and lifestyle. I can only thank my budget

South_coast

Did you ever get your programme launched? I remember that was a massive focus for you before your diary hiatus

Staffordia

I'm with you all the way on the Lionesses. I am old enough to have been told at school, "girls don't play football".  Hopefully those fabulous women have consigned that phrase to history. 

savingholmes

I wondered about your programme too...

LadyWithAPlan

@South_coast @savingholmes No  - I nearly got there, I wrote it all, recorded all the audio, and was then doing a final read through and checking of spelling etc then I managed to spill coffee on my laptop twice in 5 mins (!)
I did have a backup but I last backed up in October ... so I have to re write loads.. I do believe I have the whole thing printed out as I was checking it all but argh .. so I stopped - 

I also paid for the website name and annual hosting but the quote to build it was in the £1000s and I can probably put something together myself.. its time

So yes I disappointed myself here but I will get back on it. -  Aug 11th is my 1 yr MSE diary so I will have a look at all last years goals and reflect and I know my programme was on there 


Already thinking my next house deposit target should be  25% for LTV (just under 20% at mo at 96k inc EF on this 500k limit) so
£125k deposit
£10k stamp duty FTB
£5k solicitor and survey fees - is this about right?
£15k EF -for pay irregularity and new flat initial costs -  I need to build this 
so £155k needs to be the target - I will be at £2k at least on the H2B by then so £153k - lets see how near I can get to by April Fools Day 2023

Just popping in to say I won £25 on my PB's - I have £11150 in now including the new win (though some is tax savings)

H2B ISA paid £8.22 in interest  so thats towards the deposit as well - paying the £200 per month from my MB - will have an extra £1950 hmrc contrib  to my deposit on Aug £200 as long as I buy under 500k.. I've not counted that in savings as figure its part the solicitor fees element etc.


I will do a proper Aug goals round up later - waiting to be paid but have done most my budget - I think I will move some money out my MB float and divide that into my main pots so at least I can control that and then refill MB float when I get paid... (Rent the largest bill is already paid on the 1st) 

Aug 1st NSD, did a TT

Yet to add up Julys MB profit or loss (sometimes as I do casino and £1 spin sizes there is a small loss to do with variance ) Plus not that many July offers on Women Euros/football  but Premiership starts this weekend so MB profits always slacken off in the summer

I have added £200 to my sipp via my new company today even though not paid as feels time to start contributing again, its not much - I like to aim for 15% of what I get in (after tax or before it depends) and I always aim to pay enough in my SIPP to get below HR tax payer levels. However I am just 2 months in to having a new company so I am not quite clear on how the tax figures will all work out especially as I will have 2 months of S/E income and small sipp contributions to figure in.

savingholmes

Sorry to hear about the computer mishaps - that's the kind of thing that happens to me too. How gutting for you.

Have you had your credit control conversations / nudges?

Well done on the SIPP etc. 15% is good going especially while also saving for a house. 

On H2B are you restricted to new builds? My DD seems to think so - and I've no idea...