Watty's Awakening

Watty1

Time for a new diary I think.    It is 2024, my last diary began over 10 years ago and so much has changed.   

My introduction in case we have not “met”

My first diary told the story of, what I thought was a long and happy relationship, paying off a mortgage aiming to get my financial freedom from the world of work by paying off a mortgage on rental property (that I had originally purchased via a mortgage).  The long and happy relationship didn’t last. We were not married, and the upshot of the whole miserable tale outlined in my diary was that the relationship failed and we had a three year battle to divide the spoils and it only ended with an injunction against him on the grounds of domestic abuse and as a result of him being ordered to leave the jointly owned home he finally settled.  I am in the process of adjusting to the trauma.

It is not all doom and gloom, I now own a lovely house with land and my 3 horses (the Charming Cob, Most Handsome and Fell Pony) live here with me.  There is also a “once feral” cat who now is an indoor pet (only feral if anyone suggests petting her unless I am on a zoom call in which case she is adorable LOL) and WattyDog a huge German Shepherd the ex left behind. 

I’m now looking forward to 2024.  I couldn’t get a mortgage because the ex insisted on a “overage deal” which made the property un-mortgageable so I'm in the lucky position of being mortgage free but the unusual position of not having sound investments, savings and emergency funds.

So rather than paying off a mortgage I'm rebuilding pots I emptied to pay my ex partner and the associated bills.  .

I know a diary will help keep me on track and chart progress and have a bit of fun along the way

Watty1

The plans for this year and moving forwards:

My pension pot is £250 k short of where it could be for my retirement so I need to work on a plan there

I do have £11225 in Premium Bonds. This is a "forget it" pot as the purpose of this is a savings fund to cover any vet bills as the Charming Cob has had colic surgery in the past, Most Handsome (so called because he once won a Most Handsome Gelding Class at a show) has umpteen exclusions on an insurance policy and the young Fell Pony is not insured because he really only eats grass at the moment and keeps Most Handsome company as Most Handsome cannot be left alone).  I add to this each month the amount I would have paid if I had kept the insurance policies going.  As the most the policies would have paid out was £2000 this seems a good plan

I have a limited savings pot that I am hoping holds enough to pay my January tax bill (waiting for the details of that from my accountant).

There are some "ifs and maybes" that I want to explore this year. I have a barn that I am waiting on potential legislation changes in planning law.  IF the law changes then MAYBE I can get planning permission to covert that barn to a small one bedroom place I could live in.

My accountant has raised the possibility I could MAYBE sell my limited company so that is something I will explore in the future.

However the foundation of the year will be based upon rebuilding savings pots, decluttering and having a lot of fun with my horses.    Not a lot of the clutter is saleable as the ex took anything he could sell but I still have way "too much stuff" here and, if I plan one day to live in a smaller place then refusing/reducing - reuse - recycling needs to become my mantra


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Watty1

I'm also carrying credit card debt. Sufficient that I should maybe be on the debt free diaries but I've always felt my spiritual home is here.    I tend to forget the credit card debt but that has to be the first thing to be cleared and the credit card removed and kept for emergencies.  I have taken it out of my purse and stored safely and destroyed one that is clear.

fjireland

Sounds like you have come a very long way getting through all of that past unpleasantness… 

And many ideas churning and germinating for the future … not a bad place to be in at all now 

Good luck for 2024 😊

Four_Seasons

Happy New Year watty have followed you across x

ajmoney

Hey Watty, I am more than happy to follow you here. I am looking forward to following your journey and continuing to be inspired by you x

TallGirl

Happy New Year happy new diary lovely to read of all the progress I’ll continue to follow you. 

KajiKita

Hi 😊
I’m here 😊

Thats a solid fund and strategy for the vet’s bills. Crossing my fingers for the January tax bill being small so you can get on and focus on the CC debt (if that is where you will focus first?) 

Cheering you on 😊

KK

Watty1

Yes @KajiKita the credit card has to be the first step.

Lovely to see some familiar faces dropping by. 

Progress:  decluttered bedroom drawers x 2 which mostly involved throwing away scraps of paper and empty pill packets  1/365   Moved money from savings into bills account so the January bills are covered with enough excess to cover annual bills so I don't put them on CC this year and begun to clear the office so that when work begins I feel more organised.  A tray bake is in the oven for dinner. I was going to add frozen peas but I put them on the side ready but WattyDog has eaten them.  I forgot how much he enjoys frozen peas.  

Updated vision board:  it clearly shows the potential in the barn, ideas for restoring the garden here (the house was untouched for 3 to 5 years and a lot of it needs work), shows fun with the horses and has a wonderful line "financially fabulous" cut from a magazine across the top.  The board is a visualisation of my goals for the year (it includes a new horsebox so I am aiming high!)

daisy_1571

👋 hi, I'm here too

Happy new year, happy new diary, happy new life full of forward looking and making that vision board into reality 

Daisy xxxx

Orangetoes

Good luck @Watty1 I lurked on your last thread and will co continue cheering you on!.