10 years to clear £334K - our FIRE journey

CCW007

£20 cashed out of PO and another £6 from PA - £ 244.60 / £520 goal to October 2024.  Also started OPs against this year's goal.

We have heating again - OH got two new rads plumbed in and heating back on on Wednesday.  Next step is channel cutting for electrics which is going to be messy.

Weekend will be more DIY and decluttering, trying to clear some of the "stuff" we have and thinking about what we want to go back into the kitchen when it's done which will also help us plan if we need to change any cupboards for drawers and vice versa.  Will also be seeing if there is anything I can add to sell to help with the building fund.

savingholmes

Enjoy your new kitchen when it comes. Glad you have a decent EF and plans to increase it.

CCW007

Thanks SH, I also have my S&S ISA which is over £10k. That's part of my FIRE fund but if we both lost our jobs I would not hesitate to use that to pay bills and replace it later. 

CCW007

Had a good PA survey this morning, waiting to cash out - has been slow getting going again.  Need to open savings account for OH as I'm going to breach the £500 interest threshold soon so need to shuffle money.

Prep works coming along for plasterer but still lots to do - going to be a sprint finish to be ready by Monday.  However we've been told by the DNO that our power will be off all day next Tuesday so we may yet have to delay the start - waiting to hear how he wants to progress.

Work is ramping up - my boss leaves end of March, one of my managers leaves a week before that and my colleague is having treatment so unlikely to be around much so I will need to support her team as well.  Unlikely new director will be in place before boss leaves.  Should get next salary increment in April which takes me to second from top of grade - am considering trying to negotiate two increments; I know financials are not good so chances are slim but if you don't ask the answer is no. 

Grocery spends v low this month and doing Dry January so no alcohol spends which always increase grocery spends - it's the little things which fall into the basket when buying a bottle of wine which add up!  Other spends sadly not so low!  Had a 10% discount voucher for pet store so stocked up on a couple of months of food and litter. 

OH has a road trip in April and needs to book ferries - looked and the best I can find is 7% cashback with TCB for the route he wants.  Better than nothing! 

savingholmes

Can you put any £ into an ISA? Alternatively depending on how much interest you are due to get the 'hit' may be worth it if the interest rate is a lot higher... 

I've successfully negotiated 2 increments in the past and on another occasion a backdated increment as 'officially' they couldn't pay 2 even though they had previously. Always worth an ask. Now is the best time if this is a peak period and they lack staff compared with workload.

CCW007

I've maxed out our ISA allowance for the year but after I posted I realised OH has a savings account earning 0.1% less than mine so I can transfer the money into that later in the month.

I need to speak to my director about the increments. With my colleague likely to be off for the foreseeable future and my boss leaving with no imminent replacement I think I have a good case as my workload will increase massively. If they think I'm capable of backfilling for colleague and acting up to cover boss's duties it's hard to argue against an increase.

They're making savings through the restructure and I would get the final increment in April 2025 so they're just bringing it forward a year. 

CCW007

Kitchen preps moving along but lots still to.do. 

OH investigated leaking bath and found it has rusted underneath so has now been condemned. Unlikely we can remove before new ceiling goes up.

Does make the decision for us - the bath is orange (!) And doesn't match anything we've replaced in the bathroom but it's deep and long and holds the heat really well being cast iron. I've been loathe to replace it but now will have to. Also makes bathroom project more of a priority (but still need to do wetroom first so we have facilities whilst bathroom work is going on).

Feels like this is more of a money spending than money saving diary at the moment!

greenbee

Mine is more spending than saving right now too! But it’s what the money was saved for, and getting it right will save money in future.

CCW007

Thank you greenbee, makes me feel better... Wanders off to find Grenbee's diary.

In great news, I had a conversation with my boss today - the updated financial forecast for the organisation yesterday was that the situation which had improved has worsened so the conversation was along the lines of "I was going to ask to be considered for two incremental increases but my timing is awful".  However boss said she has already considered this and factored it in to the budget build for next financial year so I would have been getting two increments without asking.  Her rationale is that I've been picking up the work my colleague does whilst she has been off sick and colleague is at the top of the paygrade so it seemed unfair for me to be on less.

Also she has been telling our Director that they can't afford to lose me which is nice to hear!  New lead role is going to be advertised shortly so not bad timing for him to receive that message.  

savingholmes

Fantastic about the pay rise conversation. Hope they deliver in practice. 

Good luck with the bathroom.