Follow the Yellow Brick Road 2023

South_coast

Does he know the daily interest on the mortgage? Maybe sticking that up somewhere he would see it every day but no visitors would see it (like the back of the wardrobe door or something) might give him pause for thought? 

SandyShores

Thanks @South_coast, yes visibility is definitely a good tactic.  He likes to put his head in the sand so having to face it every day will help.  I might even put our outgoings up too.  Like Kajikita says, he needs something to be able to appreciate value.

SandyShores

Really appreciate the support with getting Mr Shores to pay more attention to money.  I'm feeling pretty confident that all will be okay, but will be keeping a close eye.  I know that I have spent a bit more over the past year, but because I'm in control of the accounts (and save money) its easier for me to bring it back into line.  This will be a good learning curve for him.

All end of month accounts done, second month starting with zero on the CCs, and £1000 OP made.  We now own about a third of this house outright so heading for a good LTV.  Time to remortgage is mid-2025 so fingers crossed for a good rate.

Edit.  Meant to mention I am back on the weight loss train.  Lost 1lb so far, and need to lose another five to be able to have some wiggle room in my clothes again.  

SandyShores

Weighed again this morning and another 1lb lost.  Small steps but pleased as some clothes were getting too tight for comfort.  It was starting to limit my choices, which isn't great now that I'm trying to be a bit more social. Just four more pounds to be able to fit back in most things comfortably and that seems very achievable. 

I've kept a few 'slim' (pre-menopause) clothes and funnily enough it seems to be mostly my upper arms that are letting me down here - mainly jackets and dresses.  I was always a 12, ballooned to a large 16 in menopause, but am now a 14.  Although I sometimes opt for a larger 12, I'd ideally like to be a 12 or occasionally a small 14.  I think a few more pounds would do it, and less weight has got to make life easier/healthier all round. When I was younger it was all about looking slim and buying clothes, now its about not having to buy new clothes and being able to get myself up the stairs without too much puffing.

Summer clothes have been packed away - shorts, cropped trousers, bikinis and sandals - sadly no winter holiday but will be nice to see how they fit when I unpack them next.  Bit of tidying to be done in the garden and then I may have run out of excuses to avoid that A4 sized ToDo list. It will be satisfying to get those jobs all ticked off before the clocks go forward again, then we'll need to start looking at remortgaging to a new rate.

I was pondering which third of the house we own, and its probably equivalent to our upstairs.  Three bedrooms would equal a one bed flat - bedroom, kitchen, living room and bathroom.  So now we own our upstairs, we can work on owning the garage and gardens, and then it will be back in for the downstairs

LadyWithAPlan

SandyShores said:

Those small payments are starting to have an effect.  Original end date was June 2039, which we brought down to January 2038.  Looked today and its now November 2037.  A long way to go but at least going in the right direction and shows that keeping on with the small OPs is worth it.  Daily interest now £8.97, so under £9 and another saving of 3p/day - more than a tenner a year - woohoo

well done! Lovely to see its coming down.

SandyShores said:

Just had to post to say I am stuck on my ToDo List.  I have one action that I should be focussing on and I'm avoiding it.  I need to eat that frog, because there is a whole A4 sheet of them!  And I don't feel I can do my craft stuff until I've eaten a few.  

Some frogs are exhausting to even think of them, yet somehow when they are done you do feel 100% better

Well done on the weight loss.

Sorry to hear it but seems you are tackling the secret CC issue well, do you have a colour-in map of your home - with squares you can colour in as you pay off the mortgage - squares can be £100 or £500 but  perhaps you can do a happy dance with Mr SS every time you own that little square more - get him involved in the successes. Sounds like you own upstairs so lots of beginning colouring to do! 

I think for many especially those who dont watch their spending like a hawk, CC's can be such a dangerous trap. Even I have spent  a bit more on say hols or going  out  so then ended up saving less each month than I could have, as I always pay my CC off in full each month.   YNAB has completely stopped that for me as as soon as you spend on the CC you state the category so it moves your budgeted money across to your CC acct.
The cash/debit card only seems then the sensible option for Mr SS, some people just shouldnt risk playing with fire.

SandyShores

Thanks LadywithaPlan, agree with all that.  We have a plan to remove the CC from day to day spending, the points just aren't worth it.  It will be difficult to wrestle it from him, but I can turn into the Hulk when needed   

Lost a bit more weight, I think a pound and a half since my last post, so am now down 3.5lbs total.  Recognise it will be a lot of water but one more pound and I'll be back at the lowest weight I was when I tackled my post-menopause expansion!  It will be good to be there again, however I've always wanted to lose just a few more pounds to get closer towards my pre-meno weight.  So I'm going to aim for 7lbs total loss by Christmas and then maintenance.  Hopefully my upper arms will slim down enough for those jackets, but if not I may need to look at a gym routine to help.  And if that doesn't help I will have to accept it and put those clothes on V1nted - I've long ago given up having clothes that taunt me. 

SandyShores

Just wanted to update my weight loss post.  Looking back over the weight loss app I initially tackled a big chunk of post-meno weight during lock down.  Then seem to have put a few pounds back on every winter and lost them again each summer. Bit of yo-yo-ing but about 7lbs, not the whole 21lbs.

This has been the first summer I didn't lose those 7lbs and it was really bothering me.  I tried dieting a couple of times last winter/spring, but I blame a few bouts of viral infections for knocking me off kilter.  So its good to be tackling it now anyway, and am determined to get down a few pounds more and to also maintain it.  

Looking back since 2020 a lot has happened including two job changes, a house move/purchase (during covid), as well as covid of course.  So surely now things have settled it should be an easier challenge.  I'm also ever so slightly more selfish these days - out of necessity as I just don't have the energy any longer to give to other people and then give to myself

I've set myself a 7.5 lb challenge, which is 1lb a week and am looking forward to going into the new year lighter in many ways.

savingholmes

I can sympathise on the hidden debt thing. I definitely would have a frank discussion on it as if it keeps happening it erodes your financial future. What I found helped me was having a clear picture of what I was trying to achieve - i.e. time freedom to retire early - and therefore it is easier to deal with short term reduced spending on that basis. That said I'm still spending more than I'd like - but I do have savings and a lot of my excess spends have been re-invested in the house.

SandyShores

Thanks @savingholmes.  Its definitely the long-term I'm looking at and need to be more visible to MrShores with that.  Same here with the investment into the house.  Luckily we are done with all the major spends and I'm now sorting things like decorating and soft furnishings but need to balance that against OPing.  Just updated my signature as I checked the account today and end date reduced by another month - such a nice feeling.  It will all seem more real once we've remortgaged next year and know the new interest rate, meantime I'm having a guess and making sure I make an OP to cover the potential increase.  That way we get used to living on less already so won't be a huge shock (and the OPs aren't bad either).

LadyWithAPlan

Those excess 7-10 pounds are what many of us want to lose - I think cos one can really feel it on your body - but pre Xmas is a good goal

you could always do standing press ups against a wall to start building muscle to get your arms leaner - and maybe squats whilst waiting for the kettle to boil !