Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

Merlin's_Beard

I really like the YNAB way of thinking to help me to realise what I really have for each purpose, because I'm terrible for counting savings towards multiple things otherwise. Definitely helps with the  guilt free days out and fun spending as well, because it's planned for.

KajiKita

Went into work for what should have been an hour this morning (to greet my new technician and settle her in) that turned into 3! Thanks IT guy who is ALWAYS late in …. <sigh> However, new starter seemed pleased and excited. Crossing my fingers that she stays ….! 

Went to my local plant nursery as they reopened today for the season and indulged myself with lots of lovely, small and therefore cheap, perennial-pretties I can grow on 😊 Spent £30.50 on this. I will need to go back for compost at the weekend as their delivery was delayed from originally agreed date of 20th February! 

Started unpicking the muddle in the downstairs loo so we can install a window in there - the alcove where there should be a window (it’s on the original plans we found for the extension in the deeds) is currently a set of shelves, full of old makeup, plasters, vitamins and various over the counter remedies. It all needs a good sort out anyway, so this is a good reason to get it done. 

When my friend was clearing his dad’s garage out last summer, he gave me a small wooden medicine cabinet, which initially ended up in the potting shed. It ever found a proper home or use, so I’ve given it a good clean today and we are going to paint it and make it look presentable before putting it up - probably in the downstairs loo! 😉

Mr KK managed to use the number he got for Urology last night, left a long, emotive message and had a call back to say that he should get some feedback about his X-ray results within two to three days. He has assured them that he *will* call them if they don’t call him …. 😉

KK

KajiKita

Today’s primary tasks:

- make a batch of vegan ‘sausage’ and lentil casserole - need to pop out to get garlic for this as I am completely out after dinner last night. Freeze it down in the new reusable bags that came from Windermereland yesterday 😊

- tidy the ‘desk’ in my ‘office’ - that might also lead into some other useful £cial activities as a lot of paperwork heaped up in there I think is feedback / confirmations of my pension transfers. This will also help get the space ready to extract the spare bed, which I have had a nibble on from FBMP this morning! 😊

- start listing, pricing up and prioritising bulk grocery spends 

- if the weather is at least dry, dress in a million layers and get out in the garden to do some more tidying 

KK

KajiKita

Sausage casserole batch made - using precooked farro wheat form the freezer, a tin of green lentils from the cellar and served for lunch with half a portion of fried gnocchi that have been skulling around in the kitchen freezer for months! 😊

Heading out to the garden …. in a million layers! 😉

KK

KajiKita

I’m starting a new ££ project called the ‘Groceries Blitz’. Mainly because groceries is still be far our biggest discretionary spend. 

I have gone through both sets of favourites on my regular online supermarket shop accounts and BigRiver account and made a list of the things that could be bulk bought if they could be bought cheaper. I have different tabs for different categories e.g. condiments, food items, toiletries etc. - across all of them there are 80 different items!! Incredible and I haven’t even broken out all of the detail yet e.g. pulses is in as one line not individual types. If I can get at least a £1 saving on maybe 60 of these, I think it will make a useful difference to our groceries spend. 

My rules:
- must be at least a £1 saving for the ‘bulk buy’ compared to just buying in my ordinary online shop to offset any additional effort
- if there is postage there must be CB or the saving compared to normal purchasing routes must offset the postage 
- I must not need to buy vast volumes of the item to get the better price e.g. 3 x 5kg bags of basmati rice to get a good price is waaaay too much for us! 

My Tactics: 
- I will see what is worth targeting first by doing a quick sweep of all items across my current sources and then online - hit the ones with the biggest savings first or the stuff we consume most of - oat milk is a volume item, but I wonder if tinned salmon might be a good one to look at ….

- I will rejig my YNAB budget for groceries to become an annual spend.  need to estimate annual consumption for each of these lines e.g. firefighters is a box every two weeks but only for c. 7 months of the year. I will then split the monthly budget between bulk and perishables. If my bulk is only partly spent in a month I will roll it over to the next month. If I over spend on it, I will take it from the following month. 

- I will track all savings, both at now prices and, if I have the energy and the time, at prices as they rise. 

- Having a defined list of bulk items and price per 100ml / g / kg etc. will enable me to go to the local Asian supermarket that I know one of my colleagues who has an Indian takeaway uses for all their ingredients and accurately price compare. This is in Gloucester so I should be able to divert to it on a Friday afternoon after a slightly earlier finish and not use too much extra petrol. 

I am enjoying the challenge of this 😊

KK

Cheery_Daff

Ooh , that does indeed sound like an epic and exciting challenge!

KajiKita

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh , that does indeed sound like an epic and exciting challenge!

I *may* have bitten off more than I can manage here of course …. 😉 But as I say, it’s the biggest area I have left that I can cut costs and I know that compared to others we spend a lot. The difficulty is that neither of us is prepared to compromise that much on what we put in our mouths - loo roll, tissues, cleaning products  - yes, if effective, but not so much on what we consume (I buy the cheapest sparkling water now). 

The other thing Mr KK observed the other night is also that prices are still rising significantly so we are just chasing to stand still, to some degree ….

Ah well, I shall continue to lean on my boss for a decent pay rise! 😉

KK

KajiKita

With reference to the gallumphing and wonderful pay rise I am going to get (ha! 😉) I’ve been doing some fiddling about with the MSE income tax / take home pay calculator. 

It looks like, because I am now in the 40% pay band, if I were to sweep £200 off into the company share save scheme (which I *think* is pre-tax like a pension contribution) I would only be £9 a month worse off in terms of actual take home pay. Does that sound right? 

I do know at the end of a year (I think it runs October to October) you can either buy the shares, keep them or immediately sell them. Or if the shares haven’t performed you can have your savings back. The last statement I had was that my £10 a month saving that I started last year (just for the giggles) was now going to be worth perhaps £172 by the end in shares - but I don’t know if I would pay tax on selling the shares?

I have some stuff to check here, but this sounds interesting. 

KK

SandyShores

I don't know about the amount Kajikita, but MrShores' is about to get a pay rise that will push him into the 40% bracket, so we are going to look at putting most of the payrise into his company pension (anything that would take him into the 40% bracket).  We're not expecting to be any worse off in terms of his take home, but the amount that goes into his pension will include the tax he would have otherwise paid if he were to keep it in his pay packet (plus his employer's match funding).

I know nothing of company shares, sorry I can't help there, but it sounds like a good return already.  

ps the household budgeting sounds great.  I am constantly struggling to get ours under control, and it persistently isn't.  I have another plan that I hope will work this time.

KajiKita

Thanks @SandyShores - I am hoping I find some decent savings in there somewhere. It’s partly about a shift from weekly to annual spend I think, on the groceries. That’s where the opportunity fit savings comes in I think (hope!). 😊

KK