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Ding! Ding! All change, please... (now replaced with new diary on MFW)
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It's so good to read about your great second viewing - very exciting.
I did my toenails on Monday and it's now so chilly I'm wearing socks again.
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Afternoon gang - and here, I have to say, it is a very muggy, cloudy, grey and rain-threatening afternoon. In short - WHO STOLE JULY?!
Last day of work before heading off to the beer festival - so I'm pretty much just getting stuff wrapped up and making sure there is nothing lurking on my desk that needs attention!
My phone has switched fully to my new contract now - I went to make a call at lunchtime and suddenly realised I had no signal - turned it off and on again and all back to normal including my own number being in place on it so all good! It's been interesting finding where I've had signal with the new supplier that I didn't before - although I'm sure in time I'll discover spots where the opposite applies, too!
I did a £20 top-up on my Oyster this morning - meant to check as I came through the barriers what the balance was and forgot so I'll try to remember to clock it this evening.
Had an entirely frivolous Big River spend yesterday - a whole £1.99 for a set of little coin-type batteries for a mini torch I have and use at the festival. It's not something that's essential by any means but it can be useful - and when I tested it last night it wasn't working at all, so I decided a £1.99 spend was worth a try. Also a small spend in the Land of Pounds although MrEH will be picking up the tab for that as it was stuff he wanted for our bar at the festival.
I had a little rush of activity on OnePoll yesterday afternoon and am now...wait for it - SEVEN points away from a cashout - how irritating is that? Needless to say in spite of checking back regularly through today there isn't a sign of anything to tip me over the cashout point!
Banks checked and all fine - I'll be maintaining that habit while we are away but other MSE type behaviours will be in pretty short supply I'm afraid. We do have some MSE type advantages these days - access to book a hotel for accommodation which is close to the venue (so saving travel costs) and also includes breakfast - and a buffet style breakfast at that - within the room rate, so we eat well first thing and then have a very light lunch as a rule. (There is still an additional cost for us to pay for the hotel, but this comes out as relatively little on a per night basis). The on site staff canteen also provides a very well priced salad bar for lunches so that works out well for me - in fact it's been known that they have a decent enough range of foods to choose from that I eat from that twice some days. We have new caterers in place this year but they were told the requirements for the salad bar so I'm hoping it will be as good as previously! We both have water bottles to take across, and also our insulated cups for hot drinks - mine is an absolute godsend as long as I can stop anyone putting it into the office dishwasher! Beers drunk on site are free to volunteers - so on the setup evenings we usually start off in the staff bar for a couple of pints before moving on.
Very excited to see all our beer festival pals now -although there are folk among them that we see more regularly, there are also some that we literally only see for this week of the year so it's always fantastic to get together again!🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her7 -
Muggy here as well, although I have managed to get out twice today with no rain, but the sky doesn't look too good. Sounds like the beer festival will be fun, hope you have a great time and the weather stays dry for you.Making the debt go down and savings go up
LBM 2015 - debt £57K / Now £26,764....its going down
Mortgage Free December 9th 2024! 18mths ahead of schedule.Challenges
EF £1600/3000
.
Studies/surveys April.....£63.71
Decluttering items 1402/2025. 195/2026
Books read 23 in 2025. 2026- 10 (target is 52)
Jigsaws done 20 in 2025. 3 this year.
My debt free diary...https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6396218/we-will-get-this-debt-d£own-the-savings-up4 -
Have a fantastic time
I am a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Mortgage Free Wannabe & Local Money Saving Scotland & Disability Money Matters. If you need any help on those boards, do let me know.Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any post you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button , or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own & not the official line of Money Saving Expert.
Lou~ Debt free Wanabe No 55 DF 03/14.**Credit card debt free 30/06/10~** MFW. Finally mortgage free O2/ 2021****
"A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of" Jane Austen in Mansfield Park.
***Fall down seven times,stand up eight*** in ~~Japanese proverb. ***Keep plodding*** Out of debt, out of danger.
One debt remaining. Home improvement loan. 19months left.4 -
Have a great time.
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Enjoy the festival. Hope the weather is kind.Achieve FIRE/Mortgage Neutrality in 2030
1) MFW Nov 21 £202K now £167.4K Equity 38% 3/4/26
2) £2.5K Net savings after CCs 14/4/26 (but owed £1.1K) so £3.6K
3) Mortgage neutral by 06/30 (AVC £38.5K + Lump Sums DB £4.6K + (25% of SIPP 1.3K) = 44.4K of £127.5K target 34.8% 17/4/26 (If took bigger lump sum = 66.4K or 52%)
4) FI Age 60 income target £17.1/30K 57% (if mortgage and debts repaid - need more otherwise) (If bigger lump sum £15.8/30K 52.67%)
5) SIPP £5.3K updated 17/4/263 -
Hope the weather behaves. Have a good time.LTotal Debt Dec 07 £59875.83 Overdrafts £2900,New Debt Figure ZERO !!!!!!:j 08/06/2013
Lucielle's Daring Debt Free Journey
DFD Before we Die!!!! Long Haul Supporter #1244 -
A bit of useless information for you to start your weekend. July in Welsh is Gorffennaf which can be split into two words - Gorffen which means Finish and Af which is a shortened version of Haf which means Summer. So July literally means The End of Summer. As children we took it to mean Finish For the Summer which is a nicer translation.EssexHebridean said:Afternoon gang - and here, I have to say, it is a very muggy, cloudy, grey and rain-threatening afternoon. In short - WHO STOLE JULY?!
Anyway! Have a lovely time at the festival. I know you will. Can't wait to hear all about it when you get back.Goals for FebruaryDeclutter 2/50Money Made £0/£200Overpayments £0/£2009 -
Have a lovely time "Good financial planning is about not spending money on things that add no value to your life in order to have more money for the things that do". Eoin McGee3
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Have a great time, @EH & have a half of something a bit summery & interesting for me!
F2026's challenges: 1) To rebuild our Emergency Fund to at least £5k.
2) To read 50 books (12/50) 3) The Re-Shrinking of Foxgloves 8.1kg/30kg
Remember....if you have to put it on a credit card, extend your overdraft or take out a loan to buy whatever it is, you probably can't afford it, as that's not your money, it's somebody else's!4
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