10 years to clear £334K - our FIRE journey

CCW007

Woo, another £11.40 in from Ziffit taking total to £55.28 / £520 - already over 10% to target.  Will wait to (hopefully) cash out PA tomorrow and send one OP.

Full of cold, feeling rubbish.  Just getting through the work day doing what absolutely must be done and then I'll down tools.  Have banked enough hours recently I don't feel guilty for not doing the full 7.4 today.

CCW007

£5.04 cashed out of PA so £60.32 / £520.  Sending £21.85 as an OP.  Going to spend some time this weekend scanning DVDs, CDs and books to see if I can clear some more and raise more for OPs.

CCW007

Found out my bonus will mean an extra £240 ish take home at the end of the month (on top of increase being applied) so agreed with OH we are going to take out NT membership.  Feels fitting to use it for something to help us relax given how much stress I had to earn it

Still feeling really under the weather and now OH is coming down with the same lurgy. Gave in and ordered a takeaway last night as just wasn't up to cooking.  Forgivable expense I feel.

Not much done round the house and I'm getting anxious about what needs to happen before plasterer comes in January.  Need to sit down with the list we made and allocate / prioritise. 

Reading Edinburghers diary and really struck by comments on there about work and having an FU fund / escape plan.  A lot of posts resonated.  Something I need to consider for sure.

CCW007

£10.86 and £10.85 cashed out last week on PA so will be sent as OP.  £84.03 / £520.

Need to send a bundle off to WBB which will be around £8.

Found out more about restructure, feel I am going to have to apply for new role which would be a step up.  More responsibility for not a lot more money but there are only three of us eligible to apply and my colleague in my team has already said she won't.  Don't know about the other person but they have no experience in my team's field so would leave us without a voice amongst the higher ups.

CCW007

Been freezer diving in chest freezer and realised we have a lot of vegetarian food / fish for me but not much for OH.  Discovered loads I didn't know we had!  Really must do an inventory - it's working well for the upright freezer.

Had four tubs of salsa in Olio collection last night unclaimed - have turned two into tomato and bean soup which I had for lunch and two portions left.  Will probably do the same with the rest and freeze it.

In the office two days this week so need to make sure I have lunches to take.  Haven't been in for two weeks due to days of lots of meetings (not worth going to the office to sit on Teams all day) and feeling poorly so will be a bit of a shock!  I like spending time with the team but I don't get much done in the office.

Oh yes and did a survey about the Alternative Fuel Payment which should result in a £10 L2S voucher.

Tempted to get the fire lit early and chill out on the sofa all day but the place is a tip and in need of cleaning!  Had an all day assessment on Friday which was tough - studying and being ill means no housework has been done for two weeks.

CCW007

Another £9.28 cashed out of PA - total £93.31 / £520.  So basically around six days of interest paid for by extra income in around a month which I'm really pleased with.  YG is building up slowly too.

Just completed tax return - was very excited on 6th April to fill in the declaration stating I was no longer self employed in the tax year 22/23 but have started getting chase ups from HMRC recently and worried I would end up getting fined for not completing a return I don't need to complete!  The choice was either complete it or phone HMRC - I decided completing it was probably quicker Due to being HRT payer and paying into SIPP I am due £36 refund so not a complete waste of time.  

KajiKita

Good news on the tax refund and I love the idea of tracking how many days’ interest you have paid off with OPs in a month - that must be really encouraging 😊 <toddles off to fiddle with spreadsheets>

KK

CCW007

It helps keep me motivated and focussed on the longer term to equate OPs to something and see the impact it is having!

£6.39 cashed out from PA - total now £99.70 / £520.

Six days to payday (four days to OH payday), nothing much happening on the money front.

Day off on Monday and going to to visit NT property / have lunch out, looking forward to that. Otherwise a quiet weekend planned.

Work manic and stressful, went to office yesterday which is enjoyable but means a day of being far less productive, albeit it's great to connect with my team.   

CCW007

£36 refund on its way from HMRC. Will be able to cash out PA again tomorrow.

Plans for today changed - had breakfast at McDs and won't be going out for lunch / to NT property. 

Only got 7 weeks until plasterer arrives to do kitchen and we need to rewire, do plumbing and remove all furniture so spent the morning planning what we can stash where and still be able to cook / make tea etc.  So today I am sorting out space in the living room for furniture to live.  We have a more workable plan than before which doesn't involve me having to work from a bedroom (which in turn meant dismantling a bed!) so now we need to crack on with it.

OH has warned me not to get distracted by all the things we find which we haven't seen for ages, going off and playing with stuff or trying to work out how much I can sell it for - he knows me too well! 

Three days to payday and big money shuffles. 

CCW007

£7.39 cashed out of PA yesterday = £107.09 / £520.

Tax refund is through.  Also got pay slip and it's £19 more than I anticipated.

Despite a few "extra" things this month like cat medication and car service, spends are quite low.  Grocery shopping has been very low due to Olio and eating out of freezer more.

December is an expensive month as car and house insurance is due (we have a multi policy).  Will go on credit card to be paid in January - am currently at £200 cashback on the credit card which will be applied to account in January so that will help. 

Renewal quotes are about 50% up on last year so need to do the comparison thing then call our insurer and haggle.  Do the same every year and it comes down, not necessarily much but last year even our renewal quotes were pretty competitive.  

Talking to OH yesterday - as I've mentioned he has lot of "project" cars to work on, more than he has time to spend on them.  We've agreed an exit route for a couple of cars, it's just finding the time to do the bits needed before we can move them on.