Mortgage Free now aiming for FIRE

TallGirl

The work trip was really good and I did not lose anything. We had a lovely dinner on expenses went over by about 50p so not bad. Had lunch and a Costa as well the next day so that was nice. Hotel was great value for £30 and I had the to go breakfast which was latte and two croissants for £4 they were really nice but just took them of the buffet so I chose a roll instead of one of them. Work obviously paid. 

I won £50 in the premium bonds not a lot but happy enough to have won. Joint funds have now got money in them which helps and my accounts look ok now DG has paid me back. 

Just had a call from True Potential wanted to check my action plan as I had filled in my annual review. I said I do not remember doing that. Oh I did that in February so that is how long its taken them to call me. I said I was moving and that as they are not willing to advice because of that I am not really sure what they can do for me. I am paying 1% for this "advice" at the moment but I agreed we can speak next Spring as a final time and then I will most likely get the "advice" element removed as they are not doing anything for me. 

I have a lot of work on but I will get there this week just seems extra busy. I need to read some stuff etc. DG has got me to only have 2 cups of tea a day and she will just drink one 7Up a day as water for the rest. Last day of dog sitting but their flight is now delayed so we have them until this evening. I should really have gone down there again but we took them out this morning and I have a meeting now. Only a quick one I hope. 

TallGirl

Morning I was due to get up before now but DG has been up working since 3am as she could not sleep so I was chatting to her instead of actually getting to my desk. Hopefully she will now drift off and get some much needed sleep.

We are no longer doggy sitting which is actually a relief they were quite a lot of work but mostly because there were 3 of them. Lovely and funny and very cute but annoying outside as they are terrible with other dogs because the owners have not trained them. 

We did make it to the gym yesterday for 2 classes DG has now got her free coffee (which I will get) and I need 1 more for the coffee. We are planning on going Thurs and Friday so that will get me to 11 and her to 12 then it is just 4 and 3 more for the free passes.

It is my last pattern class tonight it has been good and I will sign up to next years however I will be glad to get my Wednesday nights back. DG is signed up for that marketing course she says its 14 weeks 1 whole day a week which does sound a lot! Maybe I can do some of them for her lets see what happens but if we can get the marketing right that would be amazing. 

We have got 6 free green fee tickets and are using 2 in September with our female friends. Each ticket is worth about £45 so a nice thing to give to others for a free game of golf. Anyway we offered 2 more to the same friends to use in Aug and one of them gave us 4 days. We could not do 1 of them due to friends being down but the rest we were fine for. Then suddenly one of them had a meeting on one date so we switched to another and now suddenly they might go camping that weekend. I just get so fed up with her she is always looking to see is something is better and then if it isn't she will come back to confirm. We have now asked some ladies at our old club who we hardly ever see if they would like to come and use 4 of them (that would be all used then) and they were delighted and answered straight away. If it is raining no one wants to go out so you have to postpone and they expire in November so needs to be used. Anyway first world problems but still annoying when you want to give someone a freebie. 

Got the refund on the filter so that's £58 back towards the credit card which I am very happy about. I am trying not to buy anything as I do not need anything for the holidays. Would be good if I could get more savings and put money back into Premium Bonds or my Cash ISA. I am paying more pension now but next month we will get that payrise so should all work out. 

Look like DG has managed to get some sleep so that is good. 

TallGirl

Morning at my desk as off to BodyBalance in a bit. They have changed the gym schedule so we are no longer doing Pump on a Monday it is now LBT. Quite annoying but let's see I think it is all changing again in August and we are way in July.

No spends yesterday I did not leave the house so that did help. We got a lovely bottle of fizz some flowers and some chocolates for looking after the dogs so that was sweet. I do hope we get to know the neighbours where we are moving to as it is important.  

We have contacted a lady at the club who makes jewellery about making us some bespoke rings. DG like rose gold where as I prefer cooler colours such as platinum. We shall see if we agree on something but I agree with her it would be nice if we did get them but they would also be our wedding rings. We did have a chat why are we doing the Civil Partnership and most of the reasons fell away when DG got her Irish passport. I am very happy to do it and then get married in Denmark as it turns out they no longer do Civil Partnerships so that is fine. I am supposed to tell them so I have sent them another message. 

Best get back to work been on and off typing this since 8am. 

TO DO
- Change my address and marital status on DK site - DONE changed address I cannot change civil status but I have asked them what to do. 
- Buy stuff to take to DK 17/7
- Sort will out to include civil partnership
- Message friend re land registry forms w/c3rd July
- Find out how to take 25% lump sum from pension. Booked PW app 10/7/24
- Book lunch venue for civil partnership
- Find clothes for CP
- Plan choices for CP
- Do CP invites

Get ready for sale 
- Paint the 2 back fence panels 
- Hoover fake grass out doing this weekend
- Repoint worst bits of patio - materials and tools READY
- Declutter, move stuff to the loft ready for photos 8/7

TallGirl

Morning I did not stay up all night watching the election but have been following it this morning. We did vote and it is interesting to see how the landscape has changed down here in the South. Hopefully things stay stable now and we can start to see some positive changes as the Tories did seem to have run out of ideas. It is interesting how Reform has split the votes I did not realise they did not filed candidates in 300 strong tory seats last time but they did this time. Denmark has proportional representation so you always get coalitions. 

We have also move forward on the Civil Ceremony we are meeting the lady from the club who makes rings and she is coming up with some ideas. We are meeting her on Sunday before we go and play golf so that will be really exciting. I dug out my two favorite rings yesterday that I actually took off when I left DG (I have long since melted down by wedding ring by the way) and hopefully we can get something sleek scandi mixed with what DG likes which is rose gold and a bit more ornamental. Hard to merge the two styles but lets wait and see. 

I did buy a new shower thingy as my one had got really yellow it was also broken so look forward to fitting that it will be after the photo's though so might have to remove the old one. It was only £5 so not too bad. 

I did not spend anything else yesterday but we are looking to go and hit some balls on the range so might have to top our card up. 

I have a whole day with no meetings so must get on and try and catch up. Just been so tired all week and the bleak rain today has not helped which is also why I cancelled gym. 

TallGirl

Sorted the planning of our Civil Ceremony including the music and reading. We can now complete the form but still needs to do the rest as per the to do list. A friend who is a new golfer is joining us tonight at the range, which will be nice. 

I got the report done I needed to do so that is a really good I do have some really boring work still to do but I cannot face doing it today. 

I am going to do a bit more work and then sign off. 

TO DO
- Change my address and marital status on DK site - DONE changed address I cannot change civil status but I have asked them what to do. 
- Buy stuff to take to DK 17/7
- Sort will out to include civil partnership
- Message friend re land registry forms w/c 8th July
- Find out how to take 25% lump sum from pension. Booked PW app 10/7/24
- Book lunch venue for civil partnership
- Find clothes for CP
- Plan choices for CP
- Do CP invites incl asking friends to do bits on the day (photo's music etc) 
- Fill in planning form CP DONE

Get ready for sale 
- Paint the 2 back fence panels 
- Hoover fake grass out doing this weekend
- Repoint worst bits of patio - materials and tools READY
- Declutter, move stuff to the loft ready for photos 8/7
- EPC Booked 15/7

LadyWithAPlan

The rings with both your ideas in I am sure will be fabulous and unique to you both.. You seem v organised!

Well done on your PB win - nothing for me this time..

Can I ask what was the link to the soda stream you bought? How has it been cost wise and use wise?  I have a bday coming up and am wondering about getting one. Is it proving practical and frugal - i do buy sparkling water a few days a week so... never flavoured though cos of the sugar in those

savingholmes

Congrats on the silicone. 

Good luck for the pension appointment. Definitely check out tax risks and future ability to invest in pension once you've started the withdrawals.

TallGirl

LadyWithAPlan said:

The rings with both your ideas in I am sure will be fabulous and unique to you both.. You seem v organised!

Well done on your PB win - nothing for me this time..

Can I ask what was the link to the soda stream you bought? How has it been cost wise and use wise?  I have a bday coming up and am wondering about getting one. Is it proving practical and frugal - i do buy sparkling water a few days a week so... never flavoured though cos of the sugar in those

The one I bought was a Sage one it was expensive but it looks good and it is next to a Sage coffee machine. I keep getting links on Insta to others that look really similar they all look the same in essence a place to fit the cylinder with Co2 and then the cap to go on the bottle looks the same too. Co24U has been really good I started with the small package 2 a quarter but DG does use a lot so we now have the 4 a quarter that is £40. I am not sure there is any real money saving if you do not drink the sugary pops but I like the convenience of not have to buy fizzy water and pop. It is cheaper if you are like DG and only buy the small bottles of pop at £2.30 a BP so avoid drinking 2 litres which costs about £1. 

Hope that helps. 

Thanks Savingholmes I will definitely have lots of questions for the PW appointment.

We did have a lovely time with our friend and I did not feel to bad on the Sunday so did play 18 holes. Did not eat at the club so no spend yesterday but Saturday we spent £90 on food and drinks for the day so will each pay £45 towards it from personal spends to ensure we have enough money to pay shared bills this month. 

I am feeling really tired this morning as I could not sleep at all last night I just feel I have too many things to do and not enough time before we go on leave. The photos for the house is being done tomorrow and of course the bits planned around the house did not get done as golf took all day which I knew but DG insisted it was ok. She says she will do some tonight but I just know it will be a half finished job but it has to be what it is. There wont be any actual viewings until August so there is a bit of time when I get back. I am going to list all the things that are out side of work for this week and the 2 days next week. 

Gym (that is fine I make time for that)
Vets
Leg vax
Haircut
Estate agent photos
EPC
PW appointment
Sewing club

How has it all ended up in that week and half. 

And to top it all off I am away all day next Tuesday the day before we go on leave. I will just have to tick it all off one by one and make sure I am packed and organised next weekend so there is no last minute panic packing. Deep breath I can do this!!!

TallGirl

The estate agent are here this morning he is not going to take pictures as the weather is just too grim. He has taken lots of details. He is giving up 10% discount for being repeat customers so that is £500 off. He has suggested conveyancer and will get us quotes so that is handy. We can also ask DGs old company although they are not local. 

Got everything ready for the photos but now they are not being done will have to do it all again. Maybe next week or it might have to be done when DG gets back from holiday if we are to list 29th July. We have agreed to move into rented but ideally we cannot take an offer from someone who wants to move really quickly we would just not be able to do that. Still need to photos taking or we cannot list but hopefully we do get the sun back. 

Work has gone a bit mental again with meetings and no time to do any work but only a week now left until 2.5 weeks off. 

No spends which is good for us and should last today as well. Gym at 6pm for 2 classes that takes me to 11 days just need 4 more to get the free pass. DG needs 3 so all good. Last meeting of the day now to better get on with it. 

TallGirl

I did make gym and it was really good glad I did it. Today is another busy one 3 work meetings incl first meeting with manager in 3 weeks as she has been on leave. I do also have the Pensionwise call and we are seeing the lady at the golf club about the rings which is very exciting. We then have time to practise golf and then it is pump at 7pm stamp 12 will be had out of 15 so getting there. I cannot do Tuesday next week as I am in London which is most annoying however if DG goes she can stamp me in. She is also on 11. 

Last food shopping delivered before holidays will make sure we leave the fridge empty as our friends and house sitters do not eat the same things as us. Busy busy but hopefully getting there. 

Washing in the machine hope to hang it over when my calls are done. To do list is looking a lot better some are for DG to do so might be slow. 

TO DO
- Change my address and marital status on DK site - DONE changed address I cannot change civil status but I have asked them what to do. 
- Buy stuff to take to DK 17/7
- Sort will out to include civil partnership
- Message friend re land registry forms DONE
- Work out free and submit forms to land registry
- Find out how to take 25% lump sum from pension. Booked PW app 10/7/24 DONE
- Look into international pensions
- Book lunch venue for civil partnership
- Find clothes for CP
- Plan choices for CP DONE
- Do CP invites incl asking friends to do bits on the day (photo's music etc) 
- Fill in planning form CP DONE

Get ready for sale 
- Paint the 2 back fence panels 
- Hoover fake grass out doing this weekend DONE
- Repoint worst bits of patio - materials and tools READY
- Declutter, move stuff to the loft ready for photos 8/7 DONE
- EPC Booked 15/7