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

savingholmes

It's impossible to predict what's going to happen next with the disastrous handling of the economy. Who'd have thought they could mess up so spectacularly so quickly???

It sounds a good call to wait to buy - but again - you only know for definite afterwards.

The course sounds like it's brilliant. You are inspiring me to look into what's available near me. I like the idea of a step by step course - but also not getting stuck on one thing.

You sound ADHD - I think I am too but not yet diagnosed either. It sounds like you need to value your time higher - and say no more often... Think of it a bit like budgeting - you are saying no to things of lower value so you can say yes to something you value higher. We all have a limited bandwidth - sometimes we have to set clear limits so we still have enough energy for what matters more.

LadyWithAPlan

savingholmes said:

The course sounds like it's brilliant. You are inspiring me to look into what's available near me. I like the idea of a step by step course - but also not getting stuck on one thing.

@savingholmes I am glad I have inspired you in the DIY track - it turns out to be a lot of fun and has got me thinking out the box.. getting to try lots of different things is fun and practical - and we can ask where we need advice on home stuff.

I walked down Tottenham Ct Rd  today after the hospital annual check up and popped into Heals and other fabulous furniture shops for ideas re my upholstery and also to have a look. I have to say I saw some stuff that I thought I could have a go at making that... some was more paint effect but there was some amazing lights threaded through furniture...  and crystal
The really good news about me not buying before or indeed last year is I forget when it comes to my home I have very expensive bespoke taste in furniture, colours and fabrics.
All the fabric i loved was £135 / m ... not a great idea for a test piece...

 As I live in a rental I have kept that side of me relatively under control (ha!) as I can only buy so much nice furniture etc... However I know I will be looking at super expensive bespoke things as when I buy it is a one-off so I had better start learning to make some I will have a giant mortgage to pay off.

savingholmes said:

You sound ADHD - I think I am too but not yet diagnosed either. It sounds like you need to value your time higher - and say no more often... Think of it a bit like budgeting - you are saying no to things of lower value so you can say yes to something you value higher. We all have a limited bandwidth - sometimes we have to set clear limits so we still have enough energy for what matters more.

Every book I read or test I do I score high as ADHD  but exercise, eating more protein,  having place to focus in - all helps me in a routine and I get loads done.
 I used to revise as a kid in the garden - largely as I could concentrate and I still hate background noise  like tv or music if I am trying to work or pack..   when I have had partners who want the TV on constantly it drives me crazy. Settling down to work is super hard but once I start I am uber focused and fast for hours, it absorbs me.
I need to work out as you say supportive methods as it seems I need much more silence than most.  That dog barking meant I did no work..
No one but me is buying this house for me!
 

Mattress
I have decided I need a new mattress  as my house buying is on 6 months hold at least- I have an old sciatica injury - so walked past a couple bed stores so went in to try some. Again my expensive taste  kicked in. The topper does not look like it will give me a real solution.
I tried springs, spring foam mix and a Tempur firm foam mattress - unfortunately the Tempur completely took all my back pain  and stress away - the difference between feeling super comfortable and supported vs feeling tense in my hip and in a bit of pain  on the other mattresses was radical.

Unfortunately the price  was also radical ...

TEMPUR® Sensation Elite Memory Foam Mattress, Firm Tension £2099 (gulp)

I was thinking £600 or so for a new mattress. It's for a gorgeous double vintage hand carved  frame bed. However I always figured when I bought a super expensive mattress it be for a king size, not that I am letting this bed frame go anywhere. 
I have yet to try some less expensive foam ones - maybe the SIMBA ones - I will go find a shop they stock them.. No rush - I will be looking at black friday deals, cashback etc. Good news is I know I definitely need a load of orthapaedic support and foam.

I may have to do loads of competitions and ebays to get some serious extra cash saved plus maybe try to win other stuff on my list. My back and my sleep is important AND a few days of cat sitting has exacerbated the back..

So I have started my fabulous home pot - yet to add any money to it but


NSD 15/16  

Free £22 M*c lipstick - so MSE
I was determined to not spend anything today to keep it NSD (very hard as T K Maxx had some awesome home stuff including the mandolin £14.99 and the sink drainer and sink tidy I want...)
However I did the 6 items return to M*c - 'back to M*c' - all have to be M*c stuff  and you can pick any normal lipstick for free. They retail between £18-£22 so  I was going to get one for my mum but couldn't find a great shade for her  so I had a free treat of a fabulous nude lipstick
i do have a further 6 items still so I will take her and she can choose - some of these are many years old empty pots and shadows. I LOVE their 'Face and Body' foundation, used it for years, I can't find a better one (and I have tried all the expensive brands) as it does not show lines, you look fresh and they have just done a do over which worried me but it seems largely the same. they have added the word radiant in the title  
  I also use their cleansing oil and eye colours, none of it is cheap but the cleansing oil is £26 and lasts an entire year as does the foundation..

Does this mean I have to move £22 from my toiletries ? Or add something to my flying mortgage unicorn pig?

Changing the world to MFW
Even better I talked to the female gynae and nurse today  at hospital ( i had an annual review) and gave them both advice about paying their mortgages down, OPing even small amounts  and why. I also mentioned the Budget word  and introduced the TT.  Plus I told them to check their mortgage re the small print on OPs and draw a giant chart or pic of their homes and square it up and colour it it in as they OP certain amounts. They loved me

LadyWithAPlan

Declaring I have hit my NSD TARGET today 16/16 for Sept. This was a fight but I won  

I will aim  for 17 days  NSD next month, the last few days trying to hit 16 definitely kept me out the shops.
I may go back to TKMaxx to get that JoseJ sink tidy at the weekend. I love it and my friend who I just cat sat for has one and it really cleans up the kitchen. I will sit on the purchase for a couple more days.

I am planning to pop to the london home renovation show this weekend as they do some great talks on planning, design etc. This DIY course is making me think that a doer upper in my hands is possible as the thought of knowing nothing and having to pay people to do everything OR getting quotes on work when I don't understand whats entailed which is just asking for me to get excessively high prices.

I am just home from cat sitting, so happy to be back. I am also excited to get back on the 30 day book (Living life large). I can't find my hot water bottle and some cupboards definitely need more shelves but it is proper concrete here so I need that SBS drill first and I guess a jig saw to cut the wood or find where I can buy them ready made.

Grocery Challenge - still on Sept 1 more day
GC   £114.94 /£160  + £23.20 /55.50 bulk 
I am very impressed with such a low spend - it was low last month but I had been away for 3 weeks. Freezer stocks are falling.. I do have enough in for tomorrow, I have run out of DF milk.
I am hoping to not spend tomorrow but if I pop to the show I am bound to want a coffee there at least and I may check out their sbs drills.

Oct goal is £145 + 62.20 bulk, 
I am cutting my GC spend by £10-£15 /month to see how low I can get it and helped by YS, batch cooking and freezing. 

My bulk fund rollover - I have started adding £30 a month for food stores as otherwise YS  foods can bust my budget.
Sep started with £55.50 (£30 for the month and £25.50 left from the previous month when I was away for 3 weeks)

Oct will start with 55.50-23.50  (what was spent in Sep of it as above- largely coffee beans) so £32.20 + £30 new cash so  £62.20 is rollover.

WORK
The 4 week contract job (3 days a week) is happening. Looks like I will be set a certain amount of days with my main contract - not enough to save so I have looked atm other jobs online. Found one with a 25% increase in day rate from now! That could. spring my savings to outerspace. So I need to get the CV updated and a reference from current contract- I dont care about earnings loads, for me its about the work and the people but this house deposit needs building up so suddenly I am only looking at day rates.

CC
I paid my hali CC with my hali debit card 2 days ago  only to get spend up on my debit card for  the monthly £5 rewards.  CC had £300 left  to clear in full this month. I was clearing 100% as I went  so paying charges next day but then the debt does not appear on your statement so you dont get the credit score boost which is why I have the card..
Annoyingly though HALI again took the dd of the full amount due  again today so £300 came out again! It is fine as it now leaves me with just £107 to pay for next month on CC  but it has taken that £300 out my rent money due Monday.
I may or may not get paid before then so I do have a small EF and large house savings I dont want to touch but I feel lucky I can just transfer cash over. Living a very frugal lifestyle at the moment, not really drinking, saying no to my Ibiza expensive holiday with the  girls ...
Many of us MSE/MFW/DFW'ers have been frugal  by choice or by need and it's lucky we are all in the right habits to weather these storms.. almost as if  we have been preparing for such a disaster

Energy costs
Spoke to family member whose house sale is delayed  (they have moved elsewhere so it became a short term (BTL)  and then sold in March so they had not fixed the mortgage and now rates are storming up. Their cash buyer is messing around as well for months so.
Plus they got confused on the £2500 max and been informed that their normal energy usage will go up to £4k for elec and £6k for gas.

My energy is set to go up £73  electric wise for the year  on these new charges but this is a summer average only and does not take in increased usage as lights on and heating - 
I will do two lots of washing tomorrow and use my elec monitor to see my usage re the w/m. The £60/month govt scheme may well cover a lot of my electric but I have yet to switch heating on. Gas boiler but I assume that will also cost electricity and the hot water as I am swimming less at the gym which I normally shower there after.

My new prices for elec - up 1.14p per day standing charge (plus 5% vat) 

37.13p

vs 38.27p

Unit rate per kwh  up 5.426p (PLUS VAT)   as 29.391p    vs now 34.817p
n

GAS - just paid some money in so I am ahead,

Standing Charge (per day)	32.03p	33.53p    UP 1.50P /DAY
Unit rate (per kWh)	7.918p to	11.305p UP  3.387/day

 My fridge freezer usage - I have this fabulous new energy monitor but I really cant see how to get it added easily to measure the fridge/freezer.
 However looking at when I was away for 3 weeks  last month and the only things turned on was my smart meter and the fridge freezer I can see I used in 17 days 14 kwh so 0.8235 kwh per day
0.8235kwh x 365 = 300.588 kwh per year usage.

At summer 22 rates the fridge freezer costs  annually £88.35  + after vat £92.76
Autumn 22 £104.66 (+ vat) so £109.89 a year to run it. so £9.16 /month as my baseline
My fridge is over 5 years old and a tall fridge freezer. It is definitely costing more than when I googled its energy usage, however its not too bad and I have a further fridge freezer that I emptied in spring and not switched back on.

TT 35p 

Food today
I took some prepared G*m in the K*tchen curried lentils I  had been given as a sample at a heath show (pretty good) and ate that with mackerel in oil for lunch with salad and then the rest with fried bacon for later. Just had some GF poppadoms done in microwave, some frozen blueberries and some dried raisins.  Weird food but was cat sitting so eating what I had and refusing to buy myself treats

savingholmes

A 25% increase sounds fab. Best of luck. Perhaps it will encourage your current clients to pay up too if asked for a reference.

I've googled some DIY courses near me. They seem expensive and very themed... Will continue to look for a more generic one.

LadyWithAPlan

@savingholmes yes the ones by me were the same £160 each and specialised but I kept on looking for a general DIY one

Last day of Sept - I went to the home ren*vations  buil**ing show - lots of good talks as always including 10 lessons of renovations... they had an offer for 40% off the magazine or 3 copies for £5 .. but I looked on their website and they have a 3 copies for £3 offer... They tour this exhibition so there are also free tix for the Birmingham and other cities versions.

I bought a coffee there at Excel £3.75 and then coming home got caught in the stormy rain that was predicted from Hurricane Ian. Looking at the twitter videos of all the loss of property and rescues .. hopefully it will be over soon.

I popped into Mr S as rain was super heavy and spent `£27.60 but this included 
bulk stocks inc reduced herbal teas. some Freefrom pasta, lots of YS meats  for the freezer (also some crisps and sweets for a competition and also as part of my treats - again I had not eaten properly being at the Excel all day.

Grocery Sep 22 GC  Final   £130.94 /£160  +   £30.20 /55.50 bulk (so £25.30 left)
NSD Sept 16/16     

No more pay ...

Oct starts now so £145 Gc plus extra  for bulk £30 makes it £55.30  for Oct

I tried to put the heating on but it didn't!! The hot water is fine so I will need to get the fixit people in..

Did 2 lots of washing as well before the price hikes.
Used the halogen oven to bbq pork kebabs and some veg  - was on for 30 mins and cost 16p

pinkypig

Found you!
you certainly have a plan and your focus is going to be your greatest ally.  

House buying anywhere is tough but in London it must be incredibly difficult.
Good luck with all your plans (and your new mattress fund😀) x

LadyWithAPlan

pinkypig said:

Found you!
you certainly have a plan and your focus is going to be your greatest ally.  

House buying anywhere is tough but in London it must be incredibly difficult.
Good luck with all your plans (and your new mattress fund😀) x

Thanks! I definitely have to watch the 'I am not buying yet so I can relax and spend more' attitude - when one has the stress of the mortgage one must pay and OP, it is easier to be lackadaisical when there is no goal date in sight
However the home improvement/Mattress Pot is an official thing. With £1 in Noone paid me yet so

I think buying anywhere right now is difficult - London the house prices could drop or go up as overseas cash floods in as £ so weak.. It's a mystery. All I can focus on is what I can do - so earning more money is Oct challenge

I have the 4 week work contract -12 days over the period  - not a great day rate but its consistent and fun. Gives me time to figure out next moves.

I will do a wrap up of Sept later including sipp and isa values ouch...

Just changed electric cost now  36.56p/kwh Oct 1st  including the 5% vat  in the electric monitor. So expect lots of figures.
 I bought a YS chicken in a bag from Mr S yesterday so will do in the halogen - roasting some beetroot and an onion on the side. It seems hobs are expensive to run too so I keep running my 6 in 1 pot instead which has a saute function
I would have to pull out my oven and fridge freezer to get readings so I am avoiding that right now..

savingholmes

Good news on the contract. Will be good to get some income in again. If you are anything like me you get more done when you are busier too.

SandyShores

LadyWithAPlan said:

Thanks! I definitely have to watch the 'I am not buying yet so I can relax and spend more' attitude - when one has the stress of the mortgage one must pay and OP, it is easier to be lackadaisical when there is no goal date in sight

I don't know LadyWithAPlan, we've had the mortage over 2 years now and not yet made it through the 'relax and spend more' attitude.  To be fair we had always planned for it to be just us two, but Covid meant a return to the fold and we've only just returned to our pre-Covid twosome which was essential in order to make the OPs.  Its so much easier now its just the two of us again, but we need to also return to our pre-covid plans to OP a lot - we're just breathing a bit now that we have the house to ourselves.  I'm thinking of saving for a bit rather than overpaying now, just because of my job being a bit uncertain and of course working out what the bills will be.  I had to explain the £2,500 energy cap limit to Mr Shores a couple of times before it sank in, so I'm not surprised others got confused.  

The diy sounds great, its so good to be able to do it yourself and so rewarding.  

LadyWithAPlan

@SandyShores sorry to hear your job is a bit uncertain, hopefully it will be fine and you are just worrying because you are keeping an eagle eye out. Yes who knows what the bills will look like - I am a super low electric user but I can see another hike in the smart meter daily use.

@savingholmes yes I have less time then to procrastinate

I have been testing my electric plug in monitor .. so will feed in results as I go

Kettle 3/4 full - cost 4.6p (I then poured the excess into a large flask so I have hot water on tap) I am not restricting my coffee/tea drinking but why let the water cool unnecessarily when it takes two seconds to pour into a flask - hot water on tap plus its better for my Aeropress coffee as coffee does not like boiling water

Halogen oven - 70 mins cost 39.5p - cooked a crown of chicken (YS) plus jacket potato and roasted onions yesterday  with peas (wonderful for my hangover) - probably cooked for a bit too long but I like my chicken cooked and crispy

The WTH Tory govt
Good to see the HR tax  45% has been added back on - it mainly does affect bankers as most HR taxpayers have companies so are more clever with tax anyway.  No wonder the Pensions Regulator was in meetings with the govt - as with these markets they all have a duty to their pensioners now and in the future. Lets see if the matkets stabilise but Truss has definitely lost the confidence of the markets who can be a wild animal and I am not sure she will ever get it back.

Oct grocery challenge
£20.02/£145 spent + 0/55.30 bulk
Plus extra £20 coming out treat budget for sweets and a bottle of Lid* cremant (£8.99 and a bargain) 

My rent came out today luckily I kept an extra £1k back from August funds as I am still waiting on full payment.


Sept EOM SIPP etc SIPPS are down £2,519.30   to total £32,796.46 - 
more than 8% down MOM (and were also down August and July)
I am still up of course due to the 35% hmrc tax uplift and my HR tax benefit but 8% on a month is huge.

SIPP               11/08/21     £26,644.38   31/09/22    £32,796.46
So Fire is going in the wrong direction..
FIRE  7yrs 12k pa 10.93%, 16k pa 8.2%. Current spend 9.37%  

Just looking at my EOM values this morning

Maybe its good my invoices are all late in paying as I would have put a % into my SIPPS.
Scary if you are a pensioner  and need to take this. I have a DB pension in place - though years from taking it but it is a comfort - I just wish I knew then more as I would have stuffed some of my HR tax then into my pension but I still feel lucky it is a DB pension - last value was just under £7k a year from 60.



SEPT HOUSE SAVINGS -£101,170.6 (down from last month cos markets)
I have gone down this month as no real savings as didn't get paid much 
-£1069.90  on the month in  ISA S&S 1 (£20k)  and - £30.29 ISA 2 so

my S&S isas are down  a total £1100.19 this month so I was over £102k in savings but now no longer ... I am on hold on buying for 6 months so not panicking and my old main ISA is still up £1300 so..

 I bought a unit of V3AM £3.55 today in my Van baby isa 
£9.66 H2B monthly interest
I may look at a split cash isa - as I have the old h2b isa I cant have another cash isa... but apparently some places do a split one.  I am not sure if I can have a split cash isa and a s&s ISA as well but don't see why not as long as under the 20k year rule.

I am over the £1k interest so now only place for my cash savings is premium bonds and isa (vang as cheaper)
Lets hope agent millionaire calls me today I have had  £25 wins in Aug and Sept but I see that they have changed the prizes and increased interest so we will see - I have £16,575 in there as I also keep my tax savings in there Nothing showing yet re Oct draw but not sure if I havent won or the draw not happened yet.

MB/casino - I have yet to add up for Sept (I only do monthly now)  but I know I was losing on casino a lot (all EV+ offers) and a fair few Extra places and acca loses  but then this Saturday I had a great day - wins on accas, Horse EPs and some casino so hopefully will have balanced it up - so my float is  unchanged but I need to add up bookies and then figures will get altered.