Mortgage Free now aiming for FIRE

TallGirl

Morning cocktail night was ace really enjoyed it. I cooked a meal from the SImply Cook chicken tagine was so quick and tasted amazing. If anyone wants to try and 3 free spices (you dont even pay postage) use this link. I do get a free set as well. The cocktails were amazing but the next day I felt so horrible and spent the whole day in bed with a hangover. I cannot mix drinks and there was a lot of mixing. 

Saturday was a write off but Sunday morning I woke up to an offer on a bomber jacket on Vinted which I accepted £56 and that inspired me to list 3 more items and one sold that evening so another £5 so that has gone some way to pay for the Long Tall Sally order. Those items are lovely and I am keeping them will be ideal for after gym and the sweater dress is a lovely colour and very comfy. Already posted the jacket will do the jeans later. I have more to list but it needs an iron. 

Sewing club tonight bag making so look forward to that. Diet still going really well even with the drinking no McD breakfast and due to feeling so ill I didn't actually eat a lot Saturday. Used the free hour of electricity from Octo to cook in the oven. We had some of the food and the rest is for lunches and I made some soup with the roasted veg. The Oddbox was really good now that you can change what ever you want I can definitely use it all up. I am not sure I can use the next one as it is so close to our holiday I will see if I can postpone it a week. This is going to sound like an advert but if you want to try it it is £10 off with this link and I get £10 as well. 

Right i vest get on with some work if I am going to nip out to the post office later. 

TallGirl

Drum rolls please the TR1 forms are posted 

Also sent the Vinted parcel. Total spend £5.20 but well worth it if it goes through. 

LadyWithAPlan

Well done on the Vinted ! 

I miss my sewing class - I did one lesson of zips it made sense but if I think too hard I turn it inside out ! 

Need to pick it up 

Do you have to lay into your Danish SP? And do you lose your 25% tax exemption on your uk pension if you live in Denmark - I assume so 

TallGirl

Thanks Ladywithaplan I did 3 more items last night before sewing class and I have 3 sales to post now. Very happy with that and space in my spare room. I have bought an invisible zip foot I really like the look of them rather than standard so going to give that a go. I did buy a Monsoon dress on Vinted last night as my old ones are really getting faded as I have loved wearing them so much. 

I don't know what you mean by lay into for the Danish SP? I have a full English one so not sure if they convert it or you get both I will work that one out when I am over there I know I will defo get the English one and it is uprated like for UK pensioners. My pension seminar is Thursday so I might know more by then. As for the 25% tax free again I do not know if this is something you can keep if you convert to an International Pension but the way things are going here I am happy to claim mine the minute I turn 55 and then leave the country. Denmark does not tax on capital brought into the Country when you come in. My guess would be the UK would let you take the 25% lump sum tax free but then you would declare it in Denmark as an income and you would get taxed on it which is why I want to bring it in as capital. I promise I will let you know when I have done the seminar but it is such a hard topic as you cannot get advice across countries so have to figure out what is best for you. Also rules change so like me I only have a year to wait but if you are in your 40's who knows what the 25% tax free rule will be when you come to 55 or 57 which it has already changed to.

Forgot to say I used my free £5 Costa voucher the other day and now have a free drink with them!  

Lovely weather here today sadly I am stuck working. 

stoplurking

Thanks for the Oddbox referral TG. I’ve been thinking about trying them out so I've signed up for a box to be delivered next week.  

I hope the pensions seminar on Thursday is helpful, it’s so important to get all the information you can before making these big decisions.  

Good to hear you are enjoying sewing, if you really take to it, it could be a good hobby for years to come.  

I enjoy reading your diary, have done so for many years.  

SL x 

TallGirl

Thank you so much stoplurking hope you like the quality I do find it lasts ages and tastes miles better than say Lidl. I did use to sew a lot when I was younger as there was no Long Tall Sally back then. I used to do weekly classes to get help move my projects forward as I was never that confident with reading patterns and instructions. Since doing the online ones I have got a lot better and the bag sewing in person one also helped plus there is another one next week. Thanks for being so kind about my diary I do feel I go off piste so often but it really help write every day so thank you for reading. Always appreciated. 

Gym was good but hard and I got all 4 Vinted parcels sent I also paid to bump up a coat I have never done that before. Lets see if it works. I am loving getting all that space back. Obviously less good that I am buying more stuff but I will have another look at the weekend and see if anything else can sell. I do have some linen trousers but might be best to do them in the Summer. 

Today I have lots of meetings mainly with my team which is nice as I like to catch up. I also have the long awaited Pension Webinar yeah finally. 

TallGirl

Wow the last 12 hours have been super expensive totally unexpected. Started with us discussing how to get to the airport for our trip next month. I had booked the train for £42 just getting there we would still have needed to book coming back. It is so early we cannot get a lift to the station so decided to get a refund on the train and drive. Then we thought we are going to use the airport lounges so why not stay the night before. Well £150 later we are now driving up and staying at the Gatwick North Premier Inn walking to the terminal. Yes expensive but sometimes you just have to be able to relax. 

Then it got worse as we got an email to say they have not completed the renovations at our hotel and they would still be working in various areas. Reading the list it was a lot and one food area would not be open at all. Just before my course I called them yes the hotel is fully booked so the person said you might want to change hotels. We have never used TUI but he gave us 3 hotels we could switch to for free but of course no spaces left on those as it had to be the same flights. Only free hotel is in a slightly different area and yes it is £248 more each which we have to pay ourselves of course. It is the platinum collection so looks more fancy but our friends stayed at the other one and we really wanted to go to that one. It was all a rush as we thought others might do the same so felt we had to make our minds up there and then (we did have 10 days) or that one might get sold out. Maybe we should have stuck with it but it has been totally shut for the refurb so it is a big one and if it is full and people scramble for the areas that are open especially at all inclusive it could be hectic which is just what we do not need. 

It is still cheaper than what we used to pay for our holiday in Gambia but not quite as cheap as it was. 

The pension webinar was really complex and he spoke quite quickly in Danish all very technical. I did get some definitions but basically there are two types of pensions SS53A and SS53B and they look to see if you had tax relief on the amount paid in and if you did then it will be taxed when you get it out of not it is tax free. Somethings are similar like you can put all your wages into a pension and not pay tax at all until get take it out. I could not get anything about the 25% tax free lump sum but as part of my membership I do get free advice so I will email them with my questions. I am going to have to do it in Danish so it will be quite difficult. For old age pension I think you just get your UK one but you can earn a Danish one but if you have not retired yet you have to have been living permanently in Denmark 9/10th of your life between aged 15 and pension age to get the full amount otherwise you get a %. The min you need to earn any pension there is 3 years. Sorry @LadyWithAPlan your friends will have to seek advice but I can let you know what they say when I get my answers. I do think it will bore most people so I will shut out about it for now. 

Sewing class was good even if I was disturbed by rebooking our hotel. Got to do blind hems which I have never done and also buttonholes which I am ok about doing. That is it for that one now I will still do my physical one on Monday and then on Weds I will go to the gym. 

Waiting for a complaint I have raised about the InFizz machine the bits are only glued on and some are coming off. That is not what I was expecting so soon after buying it. 

Sold another sweater on Vinted so need to post that. My local InPost is open again so that helps it takes 2 min to drive down there. Still doing ok on the diet had a sneaky weigh in but not lost anything. Look forward to a quiet evening tonight nothing on. 

Have taken on 3 new project so need to go and do some work. 

TallGirl

Morning Friday yeah it feels so good to get to the end of the week. DG found a lounge suit so she can look slightly smarter in her every day clothes. Much needed and she fitted into a size large. 

No more spending other than a trip to Lidl and Tesco so that was fine. We got our Superdrug order but we do need some more mosquito spray. 

I woke up early did some checking on my banking. Things are really tight right now as there was over £1000 to pay on the credit card. I have had to drop the payments into the ISA for now (£25 a week to £2) but still not sure I will make it as I want to have some cash on holiday. When we go to the airport hotel we are going to take our own picnic and also drinks so should not add too much to the budget (might get a toogootogobag). 

Our friend who recommended our hotel in Morocco has been to the area we are now at and she said it is very pretty and she is sure we will enjoy it. Feels a bit better. Cost is still annoying I might have to do some raiding of savings before I get the regular saver paid out in early December. DG does owes me for some flights so once she pays that it will not be quite so bad. Next months credit card bill is also bigger because of the extra spending on Morocco. 

Got a call now then I need some breakfast I am so hungry but trying not to eat too early as we are going to the range tonight so want to have slightly later lunch so we do not eat while out. 

LadyWithAPlan

tx for the pension updates!!! If you do find out re the 25% tax free aspect that be great

Morocco sounds fabulous, weirdly never been - nearly went with 2 'boyfriends', inc the last one but we never made it. 

QueenJess

TallGirl said:

Wow the last 12 hours have been super expensive totally unexpected. Started with us discussing how to get to the airport for our trip next month. I had booked the train for £42 just getting there we would still have needed to book coming back. It is so early we cannot get a lift to the station so decided to get a refund on the train and drive. Then we thought we are going to use the airport lounges so why not stay the night before. Well £150 later we are now driving up and staying at the Gatwick North Premier Inn walking to the terminal. Yes expensive but sometimes you just have to be able to relax. 

Then it got worse as we got an email to say they have not completed the renovations at our hotel and they would still be working in various areas. Reading the list it was a lot and one food area would not be open at all. Just before my course I called them yes the hotel is fully booked so the person said you might want to change hotels. We have never used TUI but he gave us 3 hotels we could switch to for free but of course no spaces left on those as it had to be the same flights. Only free hotel is in a slightly different area and yes it is £248 more each which we have to pay ourselves of course. It is the platinum collection so looks more fancy but our friends stayed at the other one and we really wanted to go to that one. It was all a rush as we thought others might do the same so felt we had to make our minds up there and then (we did have 10 days) or that one might get sold out. Maybe we should have stuck with it but it has been totally shut for the refurb so it is a big one and if it is full and people scramble for the areas that are open especially at all inclusive it could be hectic which is just what we do not need. 

It is still cheaper than what we used to pay for our holiday in Gambia but not quite as cheap as it was. 

The pension webinar was really complex and he spoke quite quickly in Danish all very technical. I did get some definitions but basically there are two types of pensions SS53A and SS53B and they look to see if you had tax relief on the amount paid in and if you did then it will be taxed when you get it out of not it is tax free. Somethings are similar like you can put all your wages into a pension and not pay tax at all until get take it out. I could not get anything about the 25% tax free lump sum but as part of my membership I do get free advice so I will email them with my questions. I am going to have to do it in Danish so it will be quite difficult. For old age pension I think you just get your UK one but you can earn a Danish one but if you have not retired yet you have to have been living permanently in Denmark 9/10th of your life between aged 15 and pension age to get the full amount otherwise you get a %. The min you need to earn any pension there is 3 years. Sorry @LadyWithAPlan your friends will have to seek advice but I can let you know what they say when I get my answers. I do think it will bore most people so I will shut out about it for now. 

Sewing class was good even if I was disturbed by rebooking our hotel. Got to do blind hems which I have never done and also buttonholes which I am ok about doing. That is it for that one now I will still do my physical one on Monday and then on Weds I will go to the gym. 

Waiting for a complaint I have raised about the InFizz machine the bits are only glued on and some are coming off. That is not what I was expecting so soon after buying it. 

Sold another sweater on Vinted so need to post that. My local InPost is open again so that helps it takes 2 min to drive down there. Still doing ok on the diet had a sneaky weigh in but not lost anything. Look forward to a quiet evening tonight nothing on. 

Have taken on 3 new project so need to go and do some work. 

Don’t stop on my account. I’m a finance geek and am really interested in how other countries deal with finances. I remember someone telling me years ago about the Belgium system where they divide your yearly salary by 13 rather than 12 and you get the extra months worth of salary in December to help you through the festive season. Basically it’s like mandatory saving. Quite ingenious.