So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

rtandon27

Happy New Year 2024!

Hope you are both recovered from your day out & any late night NYE festivities!

themadvix

Happy New Year All!

A quick review of last year before some outlines for this one.

In June 2023, we paid off our mortgage - although we still have approx £6k sat on a 0% cc which we're paying off over a ridiculously long period - Mr MV transferred it again from a 6 month deal to a 24 month deal that has about 20 months still to go. We have the money in savings, but more on this below.

We also went to Gdansk, Yorkshire, for an unexpected cruise in the Med, for a competition win stay in Gloucestershire, to Manchester and to Brussels for the day. It was meant to be a cheap holiday year after 2022's trip to America, but it didn't quite work out that way (mainly the cruise flights - the cruise was an absolute bargain but the flights at short notice in peak season were £800). Other competitions wins included a fun night out with BIL and SIL at a farm.

We completed the patio in our garden; I grew a lot more at the allotment than the previous year; we've had our first whole year of solar and battery installation (we generated nearly 2 mW!). Work for both of us has been busy - I did a lot of cat sitting over the summer, plus Cambridge work, plus no real break from my self-employed work. Hoping this will show in my earnings come April.

So, onto 2024....

Mr MV has a big birthday at the end of this year (with me six weeks' later - but in 2025, ha!). He has signed up for the Athens marathon (the original marathon), which is in November. He's got intermediate running goals in March and September (both fortunately within an hour of home) and may also meet up to do a couple of training weekends with our friends in Manchester - the male half of the couple is also running the marathon with him, although he's an Ironman lunatic, so it's basically a walk in the park for him! I suspect running will take up quite a bit of time for Mr MV this year. I would also like run more - but parkrun is more than enough for me! (And I didn't go this morning, unlike Mr MV).

Financially, we are saving to buy a full EV - so we'll probably leave the balance for the mortgage on the 0% card and continue to pay the minimums. Currently we're still a way off having the cash for the car, although this will be helped by the sale of my car (to a small extent), which I'm aiming to achieve by the end of Jan (MOT booked for Friday and then it's listing time). Longer term, a bigger house battery and potentially ASHP are on the cards, but the latter definitely not until 2025.

I am still considering my 'before 40' goals (I have a week to think about it!). We have a friend who is in the process of completing a 40 before 40 list, but I'm not convinced that this won't just pile pressure on me and not be fun. 

I think the above three things will provide most of the shape for our year - depending on where we get to with the car purchase will influence what we do for a summer holiday, which depending on how long we add onto our Athens trip (currently 3 nights as part of a running package), may or may not be international or UK based. It won't involve flying though for environmental reasons (I've considered getting the train to Athens, but it would take three days and a ferry and Mr MV doesn't travel well, so probably not the best option before a marathon!). Our Eurostar adventure may be repeated or, if we get an EV, we might drive to Europe, we'll see. We'd also really like to do a German Christmas market by train.

I'd like to get the decking done in the back garden and finish the front garden too... 

So financial focus for the year:
* Continue to grow as much food as possible (although I may cut back on brassicas as they are just an insect-and-slug-infested pain)
* Utilise the solar and battery as much as possible, reducing electricity outgoings
* Minimise unnecessary expenditure - take snacks, drinks, generally be prepared!
* Use all resources before buying!

I'm aware these are very fuzzy goals, but I think generally we do a pretty good job and I just want to continue with that, without sacrificing the quality of the food we eat or sitting at home doing nothing. Without a fixed income personally it's hard to allocate figures or percentages to savings, but I generally don't spend when not necessary. Mr MV does have fixed amounts that go to places (and is very proud of his high savings rate), but as we keep our finances somewhat separate, it's not my place to mention it here.

We've been given money by various family members for Christmas, which has been kept allocated for nice experiences/the odd gift to ourselves. We've also booked two concerts already for the year, and decided against C2C ( even though Brad Paisley is playing) due to cost. We've got aforementioned friends' birthday party coming up in March (with an overnight stay, already booked) and football tickets for Arsenal v Utd Women in February.

I think that's all for now. I'll probably come back and have a bit of a more detailed first quarter look at some point - I think quarters of the year might be useful this year.

themadvix

So, today's update...

We stayed up and watched the fireworks last night, after completing a very irritating jigsaw puzzle that we won in a game over Christmas. Dinner was bean chilli with hg borlottis and bought kidney beans - cooked in the pot over Christmas and then frozen as they weren't going to get eaten. Also finished the last of a jar of passata (that was definitely well over it's use within 3 days).

Today Mr MV has been for parkrun, I've done some tidying, housework and made the Christmas cards into gift tags for next year. We're meeting Sis, Niece and Mum for a walk in a bit and then maybe back to Sis's for some games, but we'll see. Should be a NSD.

MS things:
* I noticed that the bills account the Council Tax and TV licence come out of was a bit low on funds - if I'd paid myself at EOM, it would have been fine but it's been running down as I pay in CT over 12 months and of course, we're getting to the 2-months of no CT, so funds are low currently. Transferred £30 to the account until I pay myself to save us being overdrawn.
* Interest on Starling moved to savings a/c
* Clicks and HW done
* Cards recycled into tags
* Christmas bags, wrap etc. folded and put away for the year
* No NYE takeaway or other expenses
* Should be starting on the RM survey again soon

Gratitudes:
* Sunshine today - the forecast was for rain, so this is an improvement
* Finished the jigsaw! (The background was an undifferentiated yellow wall... I had to try every piece in each spot.... tedious was not the word!)
* 2023 was a good year, despite Covid at the end. Writing down what we did shows how lucky we are.

Have a good day, week and year all! May 2024 be full of health, happiness and achievement of your goals!

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, lovely run down of 2023, and excellent plans for next year! I didn't do a 40 before 40 list, but if I had have done, I would have been tempted throw in at least 20 easy wins - 'visit a new cafe' etc 😂😂

Jessy103

Happy New Year vix! Great plans for 2024, all the best x

newgirly

Quite a special year becoming mortgage free, well done 😊

I would (and did!) do a forty list but it was forty things in the run up and while forty to give a bit of extra time, also it wasn’t completed and had some very easy ones! I say go for it and have some fun along the way 😬

Watty1

I love the 40 for 40 idea and special congratulations on being mortgage free

LadyWithAPlan

The Outernet is cool / they change it quite a bit 

good round up of a year and mortgage free wow … looks like you have some great plans for 24! 

themadvix

Morning all and thank you for your lovely comments.

Becoming MF was so long ago now that I think we've moved on focus-wise, so it's good to re-appreciate it, even if it doesn't feel like we've got a lot more money now - or none at all considering the COL and our redirected saving. It's definitely true that it's easier to pay down debt than save - there's far more satisfaction in beating 'the man'!

Nice thoughts about the 40 before 40 list - I will ponder some more... In the meantime, I've messaged the pub crew and they're all up for a drink followed by tapas on Friday night, which will be fun

Had a lovely day yesterday - nice geocaching walk with Mum, Sis and Niece and then back to Sis's where we played card and board games, and a fun (but very plasticky) alien/drone game that Niece got for her birthday (you have to fire your aliens into the drone and then it takes off, with possibility of another player displacing your alien with theirs before take-off - aim is to get all your aliens home first). Sis then fed us a lovely casserole (Quorn in my case).

Back to 'work' today. I think Cambridge doesn't open until tomorrow, so I can get ahead there and I've got invoicing etc. to do for my work. Bread is already proving as we're down to the end of the last loaf. It was the last bread flour though, so think I'll be doing a supermarket delivery order for the week.

So, this week it's work, finances and I have Niece for a day - probably Thursday, possibly tomorrow. If Thursday, it's probably a low-spend one, but if tomorrow it might cost more, depending on transport as we'll be going to see friend and her children (potentially without the car). My car's MOT is booked for Friday morning and I'm cat sitting Friday/Saturday.

MS things:
* Lovely, zero-cost day yesterday - definitely need to focus on the simple things. It's great that Niece is old enough now that she doesn't go to bed at impossibly early times (at least in the holidays) so we can see her in the evenings a bit more.
* Have just claimed a platform job to do this morning
* Still doing the PA longitudinal survey
* Have not yet been paid by CIAF for cat sitting over Christmas - I am not impressed about this and have chased again this morning. Client also owes for cat food, which I'd also like to get sorted, but waiting to hear back from CIAF before I contact him.

Gratitudes:
* Fresh air, exercise and birdsong yesterday while geocaching (glad to get out then as today is the greyest, darkest and wettest of days! We are making a whole 6W of power.)
* Lovely time spent with family
* Started the new year in a good way

Have a good day all!

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, what a lovely cheerful positive post 😊😊 I've never tried geocaching, I bet there are plenty around here and it might get us out walking a bit more!