10 years to clear £334K - our FIRE journey

CCW007

£11.08 cashed out of PA = £118.17 / £520.

Just applied for a sacrificial current account via TCB to get £25 (hopefully).  Once set up, in the new year I will use this to get switching bonus.  Haven't done that for years!  Just need to work out which two DDs to transfer across from my main account.

Had such a stressful week - day off on Monday but came back to work on Tuesday to find a major issue with one of my contracts and it's taken all week to resolve.  Next week will be fixing the resulting chaos!  I manage the contract on behalf of a lot of other small organisations and I expected a LOT of flak but two of them actually took the time to email to thank me and assure me they didn't think it was my organisation's fault which was lovely to hear Does make me wonder how long I can do this job as it can be incredibly stressful and it doesn't feel like I enjoy it (I do, just can't remember it at the moment!)

Off to lunch with old workmates today, rest of weekend will be chores and sorting house to move furniture for kitchen replastering.  

Cold and freezing fog here today - banked the fire with coal last night and just got it going again, suspect it will be in all day today.  Gotta keep the cats warm!

CCW007

0% rate on one card ends 28th December with a balance of £9.9k.  Got an offer of 3% BT fee on one of my existing cards with a current credit limit of £7k so can BT £6,650.  However recently had a letter from that card that they will be increasing my credit limit t0 £12k on 22nd December. 

I'm thinking I BT what I can now and then will have two working days to BT the remainder once my my credit limit is increased to pay off within the 0% offer. 

Or I may bottle it and cover the remainder from savings and then do a money transfer for the remainder which gives me more leeway.  Actually just checked and the difference between BT and MT fee for the remainder would be £16 so it might be worth paying a bit extra for peace of mind. 

If I MT, I will max the card out so that would be an extra almost £1,500 to go towards OH's ISA - his fixed ISA from last year matures in March so waiting until then so we can transfer in so scraping together what we can to max it out.  My ISA is flexible so can access it if needed. We're both close to the limit on paying tax on interest so ISAs make a lit of sense for us now that rates are better. 

CCW007

40 minute call to insurers saved £££ - about 20% off.  We did change the cover on one vehicle, lowered the mileage on another and the rest was discount applied.  Shame we have to go through this every year but it's worth doing and they were competitive on everything except the house (which they got down, not quite as low as lowest quote but close enough).

Impromptu trip to the dump has tidied up garden and got rid of loads of cardboard.

Load of jars being collected tomorrow hopefully - slowly decluttering and keeping them out of landfill which is good.

Unexpectedly productive day today!

CCW007

Mortgage - £309,908
WIOTW - £279,361
Prediction for end of December - £275,000 (assuming back-dated pay is received)
Reduction this month - £5,634
Reduction since April 2023 - £1,638

Great reduction this month, making up for the earlier part of the year.  Can't believe where we are compared to April, quite frustrating but it is helping me focus on the bigger picture about needing to plan spends otherwise they just happen.

Mortgage due to be in the £290s in September.

January - plasterer should be covered by OH share scheme maturing.

Holidays booked for next year - OH going on a road trip in April, will need to pay for hotel, food and fuel.  We're going to Norway in June for a short break - flights booked using Avios + £70.  Food and drink will be expensive, need to book train to Bergen. 

Another £7.94 cashed out of PA and sent to mortgage.  Had plans to list a couple of things for sale yesterday but trip to the dump put paid to that so need to find time to list this week - need stuff gone and money in!  One is the dog guard which came out my car that I sold just over a year ago!

CCW007

OH has had a great MT offer for 18 months.  Gone to log into account and locked myself out, can't find the card to unlock it

Depending on his credit limit, I worked out if we use it to fill a cash ISA at 5% it would make over £700 more than the fee.  So if the card doesn't turn up I will be sitting him down to call the credit card company to get a new card issued!

CCW007

£15.11 cashed out today from PA and sent to mortgage.  Currently at £141.22 / £520 target for the year and got a parcel with WBB waiting pay out.

Having a bit of an end of year review I think.  We bought this house December 2014 with a mortgage of £346,595.  We've done a lot of work (entirely new slate roof, new workshop, three rooms completely refurbed including plastering, solid oak floor through downstairs two rooms) and have a lot more assets (cars!) now and have reduced what we owe to just over £279,000 so a reduction of over £67,000 in nine years. 

It can be easy to lose sight and think that's not a great reduction given the size of our mortgage but put into perspective of what we have achieved alongside it I think we've done well. 

I'm determined to have the mortgage cleared by 2032 which would be 18 years (and 10 years early from our original mortgage end date).  

Plus my pension arrangements are looking on track for retiring in 2034 (preferably 2032).  Really need to look at OH's pensions to see if we need to do something different there (his are DC only, mine are a mix of DB, SIPP and S&S ISA).
  

CCW007

£7.17 sent from WBB and another £6.58 cashed out from PA.  £154.97 / £520.

Requested a replacement card for OH account so we can MT when it arrives and I can unlock the account.  Realised I've been thinking I need to wait until March to open a new cash ISA for OH (when his existing fix matures) but actually his ISA was opened in last financial year so can open a new flexible ISA now, then in April open a new ISA (flexible or fixed to be decided) and transfer both ISAs in plus any other funds we can add. 

Have agreed that the credit limit increase be applied now to my card so I can do the full BT to pay off my expiring 0% offer and save £16 in having to MT the remainder - happy days!

Also had good news at work re bid for two FTC roles being made substantive in my team and the planned restructure is not likely to involve us co-locating with the other team and sharing a service lead so things are looking better at work for the new financial year.  Still somewhat reluctant to go for the service lead role but I am less so than I was previously - hopefully by the time it is advertised I will feel more positive about it!  

CCW007

£7.08 cashed out from PA but surveys have dried up a bit - £162.05 / £520.

Mid month so not much happening financially - will have cashback in bank on Friday for DDs, got interest on one savings account and my ISA to add towards the end of the month but that's it until payday.  Hoping to get back-date pay this month but it may be January.

Still waiting for OH replacement card to unlock the app and do the MT.

Started moving furniture to clear kitchen so we can do the pre-work needed before plasterer arrives in less than five weeks.  Will be a busy and disrupted Christmas this year!

At work, it's feeling like I'm being prepared for stepping up.  Need to feedback a proposal to our Director about staffing and my boss said I should do it - normally the kind of thing she does.  Don't blame her for taking a step back as she will be gone by the start of the new financial year but not feeling very comfortable at the moment! 

KajiKita

The staffing proposal - better to start now when you can share a draft with your boss and get comments and feedback, than when she’s gone and you have to do it with the director! 😉 Have a go - I suspect when you get into it you will find it easier than you think - they wouldn’t be pushing you like this if they didn’t think you were capable 😊

KK 

CCW007

Thanks KK, all done but director is not around to respond so waiting on his return.

Another £8.91 cashed out from PA - £170.96/£520. I'm enjoying seeing the mortgage balance come down during the month when not a lot else is happening moneywise.

Planning to increase my SIPP and S&S ISA contributions in April - if I stay in current role I'll get an incremental rise so planning on putting another £50 in each which will take me up to £200 in SIPP and £300 in S&S ISA a month.  

Still waiting on OH replacement card to do MT.

Last day today before a week off - working between Christmas and New Year which I'm hoping will give me a chance to catch up and get on top of my inbox.  Desperately need the break!  Kitchen plans progressing and we now have to go into the living room to get cutlery and the utility to get crockery.  Will take ages to get used to where things are then we'll be moving them back again!