Desperate to retire...

Couldsavemore

Hi

I'm a single mam with a teenage son, spaniel and 2 🐈 

Until a few days ago, I thought I had 6 months leftt on a loan.. nope it's 18 months.

Over the last couple of months my cat ran up £500 at the vets and the car needed repairing.. after all it does need to be able to start.. that was another 500.

So I've worked out my debt to be 8138.. that's the personal loan and credit card.

Personal loan was for a caravan.. it turned out to be a complete lemon and I've sold it (responsibly to a company) and got another one. But the loan peeves me.

Credit card is 0% for the rest of this year.

I've done my budget but in a way where I feel I can flex as am managing to cover all my bills etc and save a panic fund.

But I'm going to try to generate some understanding to pay cc down quicker and increase oanic fund. 

I've given myself 300 grocery fund for me, son and pets. So hopefully will have some left over.

Am going to go for cash in envelopes.

I've given myself £100 petrol. Hopefully will have some left but some months I do travel more.

A £50 spend for me per month.. 

I'm hoping to be more focused and track where the money goes and to learn from reading what other people are doing.

I've joined a few challenges.. so hopefully that will help motivate me.

Baron_Dale

Wishing you all the best with your plans. Are you planning on completing an SOA that could encourage others to offer support and suggestions? Are you a homeowner or do you rent? Is the caravan just for your use or does it generate income? Sorry about all the questions  but just curious and interested! Looking forward to reading more.

Couldsavemore

@Baron_Dale
It's just for me. It's only a couple of years old.
I use it for holidays a few times a year.
I have thought about renting it out as it's a tourer so not sure how that would work or where to advertise. 

I'm a home owner  so busy paying a mortgage. First, I need to pay the debts and pay a bit. Then, I'll  be hitting it hard.

Couldsavemore

So today financial steps was to get the cash out for my cash envelopes.

Filled the monthly petrol envelope and 4 weekly grocery envelopes.

I still need to take out my monthly £50 spend.

Baron_Dale

Thanks for your replies. How far away are you from retirement? With a teenage son I would guess a few years .
Have you pension provision in place in addition to the state pension? Have you checked the latter via the Government Gateway to see if you are on track?
Very nice having your own caravan to escape too a few times a year. Does tourer mean you drive it to a place or is it on a caravan site?

Couldsavemore

Baron_Dale said:

Thanks for your replies. How far away are you from retirement? With a teenage son I would guess a few years .
Have you pension provision in place in addition to the state pension? Have you checked the latter via the Government Gateway to see if you are on track?
Very nice having your own caravan to escape too a few times a year. Does tourer mean you drive it to a place or is it on a caravan site?

It's a tourer so I take it places. I'd get bored of the same place.

I've been in the TPS since my early 20's and have never not worked since finishing uni.

I need to get intouch with TPS. I know I'll need to work but I can't face teaching for much longer so am aiming for 55 / 57 so 3 to 5 years time.

More I pay off / save the better for me

Couldsavemore

Do it's the end of the week for me  as it's food shopping day tomorrow.. it'll be time to open my first food envelope and my first diesel envelope.

Also, I've emptied my purse. I have £15, so I've put £7.50 (plus a handful of change my sister gave me from her handbag) into my 1p challenge. About another 650 to go!!

I also put £7.50 into my emergency tin.. not much in there but hoping to build up a pot over the rest of the year.

I also need to ring the building society to see how much I have in my emergency fund. Again it'll be depressingly small but it's a start.

Couldsavemore

Been for my first food shop of the year.
£47.88 / £75
So plenty left if needed for the rest of the week.

Also filled up the diesel in my car
Spent just over £83 so left the change in the car incase I need yo top up later but I can usually get through the month on a full tank.

Other than buying good and honng to work not much exciting going on here.

Couldsavemore

Nothing much going on here.
I love the lack of drama.
Time at home , time to walk the dog and time to run.

No money spent.

I did give my son a small salad bowl.. hoping buying more fresh food will save me money and we'll eat better.

Blackcats

The good thing about these diaries is that most of us don't have much going on but share our day to day ramblings that describe our little, cumulative money saving wins.  However, if there are dramas or difficulties in our worlds we all rally round to offer support. 

I enjoy breaking my debt or savings goals into 100 chunks and having a grid to colour in each 1% as it's paid or saved.  It's quite motivating and I've made myself a simple 100 square grid, a sweetie jar with 100 sweets drawn inside it and a 10 branch tree with a mix of 100 apples and leaves to colour in.  By the way, I am a grown up despite enjoying colouring 😀

Couldsavemore

Blackcats said:

The good thing about these diaries is that most of us don't have much going on but share our day to day ramblings that describe our little, cumulative money saving wins.  However, if there are dramas or difficulties in our worlds we all rally round to offer support. 

I enjoy breaking my debt or savings goals into 100 chunks and having a grid to colour in each 1% as it's paid or saved.  It's quite motivating and I've made myself a simple 100 square grid, a sweetie jar with 100 sweets drawn inside it and a 10 branch tree with a mix of 100 apples and leaves to colour in.  By the way, I am a grown up despite enjoying colouring 😀

I like daft saving challenges..
I like to see bits of money adding up which is why I picked the 1p challenge. I've got a tin for spending money.
When I pay off the debt, I think I'll do something similar to you but do it in terms of buying bricks.