Five Year Fix, Five Year Plan

daisy_1571

Merlin's_Beard said:

Financially wise, plodding along. The general savings pot in YNAB is looking sparse but that's because I haven't reduced contributions to anything in light of reduced wages.

The new car fund is looking much healthier (sitting at £4.5k) but obviously that's a long way off where it needs to be (estimating £10-15k for a 2-4 year old hatchback, reasonably economical, will last me 10-12 years? Maybe?). Currently adding £400 a month to this.

The holiday pot looks healthy, or it will do once people have paid me back! Heading off to Edinburgh in a few weeks for a mini convention type thing with friends and a bit of sightseeing. Five more working days to go!

Once that's over I'm going to reduce contributions in December to the general holiday pot and re-divert that to the car fund. There is also a specific 40th birthday fund I've set up for 2027 that I'm already adding to.

I am pondering reducing the debt OP fund by a little - from £250 a month to either £200 or £150 a month - to divert to the new car fund as well. There's a part of me that's super reluctant to do this, and there's a part of me that is reminding me that my income has just dropped, and with the majority of my savings going into new car fund, there's nothing left at the minute to sort the house. AND that my mortgage is 2.28% until 2027 so if I'm going to divert funds away for these kind of things now is the time to do it.

Update on where I am with the house:
Garden:
✅garden landscaping
✅most planting
✅garden furniture set
❌shed (I have the money set aside for this but haven't found the will to go through with it yet)

Kitchen:
✅kitchen cupboards
✅table + cabinet
✅spice rack on the wall
✅photos and framed craft things on the wall

Loft:
✅loft boarding

Study:
✅Currently filled with as many bookshelves as it can fit.
❔Maybe replace the desk with something a bit less cumbersome (low priority)

Main bedroom:
❌fitted wardrobe
❌new bed/bedroom furniture? Or move spare bedroom furniture over?

Spare bedroom
❌who knows what I'm doing with this - either keeping the bed in there, or getting a larger sofa bed

Storage cupboard
❌Fit some shelves into it

Living room
✅Kallax to store games/jigsaws
❌ More seating! Desperately needed, but needs the main bedroom/spare bedroom to get done because my current sofa is a sofabed and anything new won't be
❌Coffee table and TV unit - I have a corner unit poking out into the middle of the room and a 15 year old cheap argos nest of tables with the veneer peeling off right now.
❌I want an electronic piano. This is a complete luxury for me, but I'd really like to learn.


In terms of going away, it's reminded me that a) a lot of my underwear has holes in it and b) I only have one set of PJs without holes in it, so I went online M&S shopping. Also added a pair of jeans (I ordered them in a size too large in the summer, sent them back and then never re-ordered) and treated myself to the beauty advent calendar. I am not hugely a makeup person but also I do desperately need to replenish some supplies so it felt almost not-terrible (this is a lie it felt wildly extravagant, happy Christmas me I guess.)

Also signed up for an online seed talk (£17 for the recording, because I won't ask questions at the live anyway)

My mum has offered to pay for a taxi to the train station for my holidays after a short inquiry about what time I'd have to set off (my train is at 8.45 I'd be setting off from home before 7). There is a large part of me that wants to know why she will offer that but not a lift but I'll keep that thought to myself.

Hi, I've read through your diary.  Such great progress, glad to hear you got your reduced hours, sounds like it's really helping.   Also congratulations getting loan paid off.  I know it's not extra money in your pocket but it is extra time and thats really important.  

I just wanted to say keep checking gumtree and fb market for your shelving, seating, coffee table and TV table.  If you aren't in a rush its worth just keeping an eye on new adverts every few days.  Theres always bookshelves, bits of furniture and free stuff as people move or clear their stuff.  Weve had great furniture from adverts, better quality than we could afford to buy if getting it new as well as the usual Billy bookcases for shelving inside cupboards etc (a dismantled Billy is just the same as 5 or more bnq shelves but cheaper).

Only other thing is try to make a decision on the purpose of the room.  I always find it odd when people call a room a 'spare' room.  Every room should have a purpose for your life and be regularly used.  My vote is a craft room    (We have 5 technically-bedrooms for 2 of us, none are designated spare, they all have designed purposes and we use every inch of our house.  Well apart from the stairs in the tower, we don't often go up there unless checking for leaks lol)

Well done in all you've achieved 

Daisy xx

Ps Lovely pics of your garden,  really gorgeous 

Merlin's_Beard

Thanks for the food for thought @daisy_1571! Definitely in terms of purpose it would get used more as a craft/reading room than a spare bedroom for people to stay over, but there are decisions in there in what I'm buying (basically, what I do with the bed that's in there already) that come into play as well.

Merlin's_Beard

Back from a week away in Edinburgh with friends at a mini fan convention!

Definitely overspent, but all on things that added value and all just taking out of general savings rather than pulling from anything critical. The only time I regretted it was packing my suitcase and carrying it home - the walk from the bus station to my house up a hill was a killer 😂

And despite the week being full of joy and friendship and community, I am SUPER glad to get back to my own bed and a bit of silence. VERY tired today.

Merlin's_Beard

Urgh, and immediately struck down with post-travel lurgy, which has put paid to any idea of being productive in the rest of the week I had off. It's been paracetamol and nap time here.

List of things I need to sort this week, though:

Boiler service (due October, oops)
New tyre (was advised in september to get a new one at some point in the next few months)
Garden (was planning to sort the veg bed out but ended up not happening)
New PIN for n*tnwide account maturing (they're very annoying with their continual card reader use!) - requested
Once new PIN has arrived, get matured reg saver out and into the accounts I actually use.
New regular saver set ups FD and Ntwide
Batch cook (this is a maybe for today let's see how happy I am standing up for an hour, it'll keep until tomorrow or Tuesday if not!)
Jiggle YNAB categories around to re-prioritise new car fund (ie reduce regular holiday fund but NOT 40th bday fund, reduce mortgage OP fund) - done

killerpeaty

Merlin's_Beard said:

Back from a week away in Edinburgh with friends at a mini fan convention!

Definitely overspent, but all on things that added value and all just taking out of general savings rather than pulling from anything critical. The only time I regretted it was packing my suitcase and carrying it home - the walk from the bus station to my house up a hill was a killer 😂

And despite the week being full of joy and friendship and community, I am SUPER glad to get back to my own bed and a bit of silence. VERY tired today.

My nosiness requires me to ask, what did you get at the convention!?

Merlin's_Beard

killerpeaty said:

Merlin's_Beard said:

Back from a week away in Edinburgh with friends at a mini fan convention!

Definitely overspent, but all on things that added value and all just taking out of general savings rather than pulling from anything critical. The only time I regretted it was packing my suitcase and carrying it home - the walk from the bus station to my house up a hill was a killer 😂

And despite the week being full of joy and friendship and community, I am SUPER glad to get back to my own bed and a bit of silence. VERY tired today.

My nosiness requires me to ask, what did you get at the convention!?

At the convention itself - fan art, stickers, trinkets, seaglass, a set of knitting needles and wool(!) - nothing too huge. Some of those bought, most of it gifted or traded for the trinkets I was handing out.

In Edinburgh itself - so many books, two bags, a whisky advent calendar, fudge, shortbread, fridge magnets - THOSE are the things that were filling my suitcase.

Merlin's_Beard

Regular savers set up and the batch cooking done, which will last me a week (don't ask, I am happy eating the same thing day after day and just varying what I have with it!)

None of the rest sorted but a horrible sweaty night (perimenopause on top of illness I think) with not much sleep and work was an effort yesterday - they managed to rearrange things to send me home an hour early for which I was super grateful! So another day on the sofa feeling ill and watching-not-watching television (I can tell you what i put on I can't tell you what happened)

savingholmes

Glad you enjoyed your week away.

I agree with giving all rooms a purpose.

Hope you feel better soon.

Merlin's_Beard

Nearly recovered from the cold, I think! And I've managed to have a nearly no-spend week - just some extra tupperware (I really am running out).

However the C word approaches and I've been given my work Secret Santa - as is traditional, I have ended up with someone that is super difficult to buy for and not a person I have any ideas about (and in fact someone that I no longer directly work with after my hours change 😂)

However, a busy week ahead. Between book club, an arranged board game night, a talk (have persuaded a work colleague-slash-potential-friend to come with me🥳), and now a saturday next weekend that includes a board game cafe (a cautious second date), and then a comedy gig (by myself), it all feels a bit exhausting. Send strength!

KajiKita

Sending socialising vibes! (If they work, send me some back! 😉😂)

How about a book token or some other similar token for your secret santa?

A second date…??! 🤩 Yee kept that quiet! 😉 Hope it goes well and we get to hear more about them 🤞😊

KK