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And now we go again...
Comments
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Enjoy the book sorting, it's always good fun!"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 McGee4
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Morning all - it's a bit soggy and damp here this morning, and also VERY full of traffic! I ended up bailing out of the car ahead of where we park up, which had the advantage of meaning that my walk to the office was mostly through the forest - not so bad! I must check where MrEH actually parked actually, as I will very likely go and collect the car at lunchtime and move it to closer to the office for convenience later.
No joy for us on the PB front this month - unsurprisingly! It will be interesting to see if we start to see more wins now we are building the level up again, although I think it will likely be a while before we hit a level that sees much return. Regardless, allowing that it sounds like before too long our hard earned savings are going to be being taxed far more harshly, we're keen to make as much use of getting money to places which is not taxed as we can, so right now, PBs seem like a very logical choice! Will absolutely be ensuring ISA entitlements are used to the full this year as well as far as possible, as there seems to be much suggestion that a drastic reduction in allowances for that will come along in the Autumn Statement. Sigh. Just when you get your head around how it all works, another bunch come along and change it!
Not much in MSE Stuff really -
- Banks checked and all OK
- I need to get my head back in the game with surveys, as my personal "Tech Replacement Pot" isn't growing at the moment and it needs to, just in case something decides to die! (plus I will need a new external hard-drive at some stage and that would usually come from there, so = incentive!)
- Last night saw a small-ish courgette harvested from the garden, some of a jar of kimchi from the fridge used, and lots of other veg topping a buddha bowl type arrangement with brown rice, halloumi and toasted seeds. Very delicious - MrEH isn't a brown rice fan so did couscous with his when he got in from rugby training.
- We are at Mum's on the way back from London tonight helping her with some financial stuff, so I have designated tonight as "soup and a roll" night - thankfully (?!) it's not too warm as to make that a problem!
- £100 sent to the mortgage yesterday as the planned standard start of month OP.
- CC all sorted aside from the Swedish Shop purchase which we will leave sitting until we decide where it is being paid from - might come from Surplus if we can manage a frugal enough month on travel to allow for that!
My car will need diesel before I head off down to Kent on Friday.
MrEH's car and Oyster will both be OK for the rest of this week.
Saturday is starting to look busy with shopping, the Swedish Shop Collection and bookcase building, a tip visit booked (we might finally get rid of the final unwanted slabs from the new veg bed project!) AND all the usual household bits and bobs needing done.
🎉 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
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her7 -
Afternoon all! A bright and sunny one here today - almost certainly getting ready ahead of a day of being grey and miserable tomorrow when I would like it to be nice for the airshow I'm attending, but that is fairly much par for the course! I shall make the most of today, regardless!
We will be voting on our way home this evening, so that will be sorted. Our local polling station is still the same one from before the move, so it's around twice the distance away from home as it was before, meaning that a stop on the way home on this occasion will be far more practical for us. It's not far, but it's further than I want to get home and then have to go out and walk to, and back, at a time when I want to be cracking on with prepping tea. we will also be doing our usual Thursday night pub stop this evening, so that too will make us a little later.
Food is organised - and will be fairly swift to sort out as it will be pasta with king prawns and veg, with my usual cheaty easy sauce using soft cheese. I've got some wild garlic pesto out to stir through this time as well which will be something a bit different! Last night as we knew we were going to be later due to calling in at Mum's I went for an even easier soup and roll option using up some part baked rolls we brough back from holiday which had gone into the freezer, and the soup was of course from the storecupboard. (And was bargainous - the Oxtail consumed by MrEH was a tin passed to us by Mum - it was originally bought for Dad and she doesn't like it! - and my Smoky Lentil & bacon was on special offer in FF00ds a while ago - it's a Cr0ss3 & Bl@ckw3ll one and I particularly like their soups as they are usually a nice chunky texture - this was no exception, and as I recall was priced at a cheaper level than a supermarket own brand would have been.
Main financial news today is that I have (finally) got around to increasing my pension contributions - while still small, it is now less small than it was - and I might as well contribute it before it gets paid to me, than after! That will come from the additional money I have gained due to the NI contribution changes as well, so I shouldn't really notice too much difference, and I decided it was best to sort it before I got too used to seeing the extra!
My well priced purchase of the sheepy slug pellets on the Big River site ended up as a non arrival, and they have eventually refunded me after a bit of faffing about, so @themadvix I am now back with you ion waiting for the price to fall back a bit! Annoyingly the really well priced 20 litre sacks you can get now seem to be out of stock everywhere so that ship would also appear to have sailed. I will keep my eyes open and see what comes up - we still have some in the previous tub currently in any event.
In other garden news, something keeps digging up my seedlings. The radishes have now been dug into twice - and I still can't work out what has been doing the digging - they now have a wire mesh panel over the top of them, so we'll see if that sorts things out. My suspicion is it will just move the digging to something else though. If I had to place a bet on the culprit it would be pigeons...🎉 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
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her7 -
Make sure to top up the beer vouchers in your wallets!https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6466032/an-in-between-phase
Books read 2025: 60
Hey! Use my code GW7II3 on Eureka Surveys and unlock a short 80p survey just for signing up! https://eurekasurveys.page.link/do9nSyy8u4nikx6r64 -
Done! And I even double checked earlier!PennysIntoPounds said:Make sure to top up the beer vouchers in your wallets!🎉 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
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her5 -
Well done on increasing your pension contributions. Having the incentive for buying something specific is a good way of using survey money.
Have a good weekend!"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 McGee4 -
I managed to order 2 3.5-litre pouches of wool pellets in the end for a decent price. But have since discovered that here sell them plastic-free, so I may well be purchasing from there in future.
Good luck with working out what digging up seedlings - probably some form of bird life - they like to cause mayhem for the sake of it sometimes. I discovered one of my jam jar beer traps, carefully sunk into the ground had been pulled out - presumably by a magpie who thought it was shiny! Naturally they then discovered it was rather heavy to fly off with and left it nearby (sans beer by that point of course)!Mortgage free 16/06/2023! £132,500 cleared in 11 years, 3 months and 7 days
'Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.' Ernest Hemingway5 -
well done on the OP and the pension contrib increase.. So important and every little helps.
Mine have gone a bit wayward since my invoices got so behindDON'T BUY STUFF (from Frugalwoods)
No seriously, just don’t buy things. 99% of our success with our savings rate is attributed to the fact that we don’t buy things... You can and should take advantage of discounts.... But at the end of the day, the only way to truly save money is to not buy stuff. Money doesn’t walk out of your wallet on its own accord.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6289577/future-proofing-my-life-deposit-saving-then-mfw-journey-in-under-13-years#latest5 -
Great that you have increased your pension contribution. I still find it amazing, exciting and incredibly satisfying to get money each month without going to work.5
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Looking forward to that myself. Need to find the right balance between living now and preparing for the future though.Blackcats said:Great that you have increased your pension contribution. I still find it amazing, exciting and incredibly satisfying to get money each month without going to work.
EH - your airshow photos sound amazing as always. I spent quite a bit of time sorting photos into folders after I got my new phone so I feel you on how tedious it can be. At the same time I loved seeing all my photos and they gave me a lift.Achieve FIRE/Mortgage Neutrality in 2030
1) MFW Nov 21 £202K now £171.8K Equity 36.37%
2) £2.6K Net savings after CCs 10/10/25
3) Mortgage neutral by 06/30 (AVC £27.9K + Lump Sums DB £4.6K + (25% of SIPP 1.25K) = 34/£127.5K target 26.6% 10/10/25
(If took bigger lump sum = 60.35K or 47.6%)
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 £5K updated 10/10/253
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