Getting FIREd up 😀

greenbee

I agree that your diary is a positive influence. It shows so clearly how getting rid of the mortgage gives you choices. That's what I'm aiming for. I also agree that if you can afford to spend, then spending locally keeps people in work. If we all stop spending completely then businesses will shut up shop, people will be out of work and the downward spiral will only get worse. So like you, I'm going to continue with things like hair appointments (I want my hairdresser to continue to be employed), meeting friends for lunch (like I did today) and employing local tradespeople for work that needs doing. I may even summon up the energy to go to the farm shop/farmers' market when the garden stops feeding me. 

Staffordia

Completely agree with continuing to spend where you can. We enjoy having a coffee out, but will patronise the locally owned cafe rather than the multi national.

We spend our money on what we enjoy doing rather than on unnecessary tat, which is probably why we paid our mortgage off and retired early.  Don't apologise or feel that you have to hide because you priortised your money the way you did. Your diary is one of my bookmarked ones, so don't cut back too much.

South_coast

Thank you, you are all lovely x

greent

Don't cut back on posting - I like MF diaries just ad much as MFW diaries   they both have a place on here

South_coast

QueenJess said:

Have you been watching Van der Valk?

Sorry, I completely missed this in amongst everything else!

Yes, I did record one episode (thought I had selected "Record the whole series", but apparently not 🙄). I got about halfway through it on Friday night, then had to turn it off as I was falling asleep (not because I wasn't enjoying it, it had just been a long day!) Must remember to finish it tonight, so thanks for the prompt! What I saw I enjoyed (although I was a bit distracted at the beginning confirming that the female lead had indeed been in Midsomer Murders 🤦‍♀️🙄)

South_coast

Thank you all again for your lovely comments, I've just been reading back through them. I'm not sure I've done anything particularly inspiring though, I just purchased a small flat with a small mortgage and small running costs in a comparatively cheap part of the country and stumbled into an industry which was relatively well-paid (although I'll accept that it was my hard graft that got me promoted and the good reputation/contacts to find a new role in the same industry after being made redundant). If I didn't save/invest/pay off with my money, I genuinely don't know what I'd do with it. I've never been a "spender", so curbing that urge isn't difficult for me the way it is for so many.

However, for you all to say such lovely things, I guess I must be doing something right, so maybe I can focus on the small, actionable things that I do which anyone can take advantage of regardless of their situation, and then report back on how I am progressing towards my targets in percentage terms.

So let's give this a whirl....

First of the month round-up....
(Figures captured 01/09. Last month's percentages in brackets)

Pensions: 77.1% (76.0%)
ISA: 3.0%  (2.7%)
LISA: 21.8% (16.3%)
Cash for retirement: 0% (10.7%)
Cash for refurb: 2.9% (0%)

So, as you can see, there is still a way to go! It  did amuse me though to work out that my monthly pension contributions equate to 0.4% of the target, so clearly I'm making speedy progress with those 🤣! Cash and LISA are a bit squiffy this month as I emptied the cash I had been hanging onto into the LISA - and I finally put something away towards the refurb 🥳🥳🥳! (It only took until MF +15 months 🙄)

QueenJess

South_coast said:

QueenJess said:

Have you been watching Van der Valk?

Sorry, I completely missed this in amongst everything else!

Yes, I did record one episode (thought I had selected "Record the whole series", but apparently not 🙄). I got about halfway through it on Friday night, then had to turn it off as I was falling asleep (not because I wasn't enjoying it, it had just been a long day!) Must remember to finish it tonight, so thanks for the prompt! What I saw I enjoyed (although I was a bit distracted at the beginning confirming that the female lead had indeed been in Midsomer Murders 🤦‍♀️🙄)

I’m still watching the latest ones and have one left to go. I do spend some of the time trying to remember where I might have seen some of them before, but a lot less than most other crime dramas.

My main complaint is that I would like slightly more views around Amsterdam. I think half the reason I watch all the crime dramas is for the scenery! The one in Provence was good at scenery although not quite as good. Prof. T is back on Friday.

South_coast

Ah, now Vera is the one for the scenery! I have since been there, and can confirm the beaches really are that beautiful!

South_coast

So, this weekend's money-saving/making actions were:
* Bought petrol at the garage half a mile from Sainsbury's for 3p less per litre. It's an Esso, so I even still get Nectar points
* Dropped off a Ziffit parcel of some old books and DVD's. It's mostly not my stuff any more, but I have a box of items from family/BF which I will happily spend my time putting through if it means I can tack a couple of my items on, as mine don't amount to enough for the minimum trade values any more 😳 There will be a whopping 20p coming my way when that pays out 🥳!
* Needed some seeds to use in my milkshakes,  so went onto eBay. Got 1.8kg for £14.55, as opposed to the 225g for £4.00 that they would have been from Sainsbury's (making 1.8kg £32.04 😮!) Went via ZipZero and TopCashBack, so will fingers-crossed get cashback from both. Also got 14 Nectar points from eBay 🥳!
* Needed something from Boots, added some duplicates to get the order value up to £25 for 250 Advantage Card points, plus an extra 50 points for replacing something I I'll need soon from their own-brand skincare range, so 300 points (£3) earned in total. Again, went via ZipZero and TopCashBack, so hopefully some cashback there too. Ordered for click and collect, so I don't have to be home for delivery but still get the cashback 👍
* All shopping paid for with my credit card (as per), which also earns me Nectar points! Has already been paid off from the monthly pots, so no lingering balance on there any more
* All receipts snapped into Shoppix, Storewards and Huyu. Email receipts for online shopping forwarded to Shoppix as well
* Consumer Pulse and Shop & Scan both done
* 85p survey on Prolific done
* Got halfway through a Panelbase survey but it crashed, so have sent them a message about that

Looking at the above, I can see that having a bit of money does open up more opportunities to save. If I'd only had the £4, then I'd have needed to pay the inflated price for the seeds, and if I'd only had the £5 for the item I actually needed from Boots then that's all I would have bought. I wouldn't have spent enough to have qualified for click and collect, so I'd have missed out on the cashback opportunities, plus the extra points for buying things I know I'll need in the future and have room to store. Not sure what the answer is to that 🤔 so I'll leave it as an observation for now!

QueenJess

South_coast said:

Ah, now Vera is the one for the scenery! I have since been there, and can confirm the beaches really are that beautiful!

I do have an urge to visit Amsterdam after watching Van Der Valk! Maybe I should do a crime drama location tour 🤔