Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

savingholmes

I've just seen if I put the fireworks in water for 2 days I am then allowed to bin them. That looks a good option.

I've paid over £662 off my mortgage this month as part of my normal payment including £20 OP.

I've received £21 in interest. A cashback account gave me another £4. Doing well on those MSE wins. One of my savings accounts is due to pay me my annual interest within a month so looking forward to that.

Humdinger1

Congratulations @savingholmes! Excellent news!! Remind me, will you keep your cleaner and gardener in this house? Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx 

savingholmes

Thanks @Humdinger1 - Unfortunately it will be too far for either of them to help me in the new place. I will need to find new helpers - but that will help me meet new people so not all bad. I am potentially going to ask if they will help with the move - got nothing to lose by asking.

Slept really badly last night - mix of house and work thoughts - but realised on the way to work I'd forgotten to apply my HRT patch. Just sorted that now! Went into the office today which was nice. Spent all day pretty much catching on on other work I'd let slide during the peak workload period. They are all now warming up to critical!! Also popped out at lunch with a colleague and had a good catch up. Discussed pensions - hers and mine - and different things I could do to the house. Also caught up with another couple of colleagues.

Starting with pensions, if the following assumptions remain true:

• I keep p1p which is not guaranteed 
• I get the back pay I'm owed from this year's settlement around Xmas (and an increment)
• The house move goes through around Xmas
• The for sale and buying prices don't change after surveys
• I am able to cashflow the move and afterwards have about £13K+ in savings (which will be part EF and part put towards home improvements)

Then I'm hoping to more than double my annual AVCs between Jan-March to maximise the tax benefits in this financial year. Then for the next 6 plus years I hope to almost double that annual figure again to support freedom of choice over future working arrangements by no later than age 60. This could mean giving up paid employment entirely and pursuing writing and art or could mean part time paid employment to continue maximising pension provision or remaining in full time employment until it no longer suits me.

I aspire to be mortgage neutral via AVCs by June 2030 and then potentially liberate the entire amount tax free.

This method of saving and investing also removes the temptation of early access to help myself or others and delays any opportunities for frittering. It also means that I get used to living on a reduced income and therefore if the opportunity to go part time presents itself earlier - I'll already be used to the lower net income. I'm doing some of that already - but want to go all out while I have p1p and am working full time - in case later I either don't have p1p or can't sustain full time work for whatever reason.

savingholmes

On the house side of things the EA for my vendor rang today to say the vendor was viewing a house tonight that she may offer on. Here's hoping - that it works that neatly and that ideally there's no chain above her!

The below items are the kind of thing that was flitting through my head at 4am!!

In looking at the house options - I may prioritise storage/screening

• If the logistics line up - the porch is partly being used as a utility - I'd like to screen that part off. There's a mini window so whether that will be an issue I don't know. I also need to put a vent in for the tumble dryer.
• I may allocate a chunk of the converted garage to storage - and get reflective sliding doors put in. I'd then put other furniture in front of it - as currently it is a long, narrow room with a door opening  plopped roughly in the middle of it. It may help the room feel more balanced and reflect more light. I'd potentially set the rest of the room up as a dedicated art / writing space. 
• I may try to add a sink to the converted room so it's more useful for art. There's an ensuite vaguely underneath it so it may be possible - although I may need to wait until I'm ready/can afford to do the wet room below!
• There's two doors into the kitchen/diner as the vendor took down a partition wall between the two original rooms. I may block up one door - increasing my wall space and letting me put a fridge freezer in the important triangle zone. I may test things in the space first and double check what I actually need before making any decision on a final design - it is probably a lower priority than the above storage / screening solutions
• I want to check if the wall along the stairs is a stud wall or brick (it's part of the largest bedroom). It's weird not to have understairs storage and if there was a way to release that space I'd like to. I'd again then potentially put a sliding door solution in front of it in what I think is an existing gap and put in a rail and perhaps one or more of my cube storage units. Plus the types of things you only access very occasionally.

I reckon I could also put a thin narrow desk in the mini hallway by the patio doors downstairs. We'll see. Plenty of options.

My cleaner comes tomorrow so hoping she can continue to help me with my decluttering phase 2 mission. There's a couple of cabinets in the garage I think we need to review the contents of and potentially bin / donate a significant proportion.

KajiKita

Good to hear that you are catching up with yourself and liking the pension plans 😊

Could the mini window in the porch be where the tumble dryer vents from? If not, it is not a huge job to drill through the wall to install a tumble dryer vent - we’ve done it here in the conservatory (I know, I know, we have no utility though!). You just need someone with a core drill - Mr KK borrowed one from his plumber mate 😊

KK

Blackcats

Really excited to hear about your offer being accepted - a big step forward towards your new home.
pension plans and future financial options looking positive too.
hope your whirring thoughts settle until the morning so you can get a good night's sleep tonight

savingholmes

Thanks KK - I'd need to ask my handyman whether he'd come over to the new house and pay him double or something - and just get as much done in a day/couple of days as possible. Then longer term find a local person. Failing that BIL has lots of tools as they've spent the last year renovating their house and he gets fed up of tradies sometimes and just cracks on himself! However it's a fair trek for him - so definitely need to find local options pronto.

With DD having radically changed her living arrangements - I'm reconsidering whether to put the cat in a cattery when I go away. While it would cost me more it would be simpler. Originally I'd though she might just come back here and stay over for a few nights but that looks unlikely now. I also intended to ask the neighbour if she could help - but right now that's got stuck in my too difficult basket. I've done it for her cat - but she has a cat flap and we don't so it's all a bit more awkward. It would add about £100 to my holiday - but I'd have peace of mind... Will email a potential provider tomorrow and see if it's even an option. It's been years since I've used a cattery - so unfortunately I remember our previous cat hated one of them but not which one - so likely to just go with a new one. 

KajiKita

Mr KK always insists on La Belle Floof going into a cattery when we go away - it makes him feel more secure! 😉
I’d just have the neighbours feed her for a week. I don’t think she’d mind, but Mr KK’s anxiety carries it 😉😊

KK

WelshmansDaughter

Great news on the house decision 

savingholmes

Thanks WD and KK

Inspired by Jwil, Sandy, SSS and LWAP - I've spent this evening reviewing my goal progress and what I want them to be moving forwards: 

Targets
1) Prioritise health & social connection 
2a) Declutter/Operation tart up - done 2b) Streamline ahead of move 
3) £7,048/£10,000 Emergency/Freedom Fund 70.48% of the way there (however this is an interim target)
4) MFW Nov 21 £201,999 with 264 241 payments to go - now £187,030, Equity 38% (May drop to 35% after move if don't allow for equity increase from any home improvements)
5) Mortgage neutral by June 2030 £5,389/£127,466 AVC target 4.22% of the way there. The mortgage figure uses the anticipated mortgage in June 2030 rather than the current outstanding mortgage - as some capital will be paid off by normal mortgage payments.
6) Invest in fun and frolics - and not just future self! 
7)  FI Age 60 guaranteed annual income target £14,313/£30,000 47.7% of the way there (if achieve AVC target could drop income requirement by up to £11.2K a year if I paid off the mortgage or could leave invested for longer. Similarly if keep P1p less to find) 
8) CC Debt free April 22 (now stay that way!!) 

I should hit max state pension entitlement by mid 2025.