The Long and Winding Road

t2rry

Thanks Mark, yes I already do a SATR because I'm both employed and self employed, I just mean that my employed income alone now gets me to the point where £1,000 savings interest will push me into HRT, thereby lowering my PSA and increasing tax liability further, whereas before I could use the full £1,000 PSA as it was the self employed income that pushed me over, so I shoved that into SIPP.  I summarised poorly.

That said, I do need to understand my employer pension better, I know the basics - it's a DB pension - but not the ins and outs of buying additional pension and how that may be the better option to SIPP, but given age of access I do want some in a SIPP anyway as I'll want to retire earlier.  I'll be watching the budget closely for changes to pension tax relief either way!!

I'd probably agree about over-committing, I've seen family fall into that upon retirement and then find it difficult to reclaim their time as they feel pressure to keep going, it's not a bad kind of selfish to take time for yourself and slow down.  I feel like I'm reaching a phase in life where I am starting to see some free time again post-house renovations and kids growing up and conscious that might reduce again in a future phase, so striking whilst the iron's hot as it were.

t2rry

Payday update and the last one for us before our pay rises hit, very much looking forward to those.

Just thought I'd do a little mortgage update since this is a MFW thread, so since February:

Mortgage total:  in Feb was £370,000, now £363,000

LTV: In Feb was 50%, now 48% (no change to house price)

Interest per day: in Feb was £18.70, now £18.40

Time remaining: in Feb was 29 years 4 months, now 28 years 9 months

Worth noting that we're still not at the point of overpaying and haven't yet taken the additional borrowing out that we intend to.  It'll be the additional borrowing that we overpay first but details tbc as we work out when we should take it and how we best align it to the main part of the mortgage as that fixed rate end point will come quickly, I'm sure.  Good to have a marker in the sand though to reflect on in the future.

Otherwise I'd say we're out of the expensive months of the year but it's MOT month so fingers crossed for that, then inevitably my mind is starting to look towards the next (beginning with C) but hopefully that should be fairly manageable.  We're going away for half term but have paid upfront for activities so will just need to feed ourselves, which is in the budget.

mark55man

Good to plan.  Remember every month you shave will be a month at the end of what would have been your mortgage when you don't have to worry about the mortgage.  Sheer Bliss

t2rry

I have an update on my quest to volunteer. Whilst they seem few and far between I finally identified a service that offers both debt advice and budget mentoring, which I think I could really do well, I don't see my personal finance obsession ever leaving me at this point, I'd really like to do something more/good with it.  Sadly I can't commit enough time in line with their existing hours - I can do one day a week plus evenings but they need 2 mornings and it sounds like they've been let down by a good few people taking the training then not following through, which is such a shame.  They sounded quite reluctant to say no but I did understand it, I guess I need to just think outside the box a little more, I have a couple of ideas but need to do some more research.

t2rry

Penultimate payday update of the year and we have exceeded £20k in savings for the year, which is fantastic.  I don't think I'm going to complete my signature (aiming for £25k savings total) but I can get close, I think £23k is doable if we're strict on spending to the budget and it is keeping me from spending on things we'd like but don't *need* for the house.  It's also a very spendy couple of months for us, lots of birthdays, lots of commitments, lots of family to buy for christmas.  I have been known to go overboard on xmas, I'm going to really make an effort to keep it reasonable.  We do a couple of things to help with this, secret santas, exchanging for children only etc. which helps.  For those we won't see until after xmas I actually might wait and buy in january sales for once.

Otherwise I'm future planning, made a boo boo this year not expecting the size of the pay rises we received and OH has just dipped into 40% tax BECAUSE of savings interest, which in turn reduces his personal savings allowance from £1,000 to £500 - he's earnt between these amounts in savings interest so will be due to pay a nominal sum at 40%.  I've always managed my own with SIPP contributions and stupidly moved savings into his name so it wasn't in mine and to make the most of his PSA!!  I haven't needed to do anything with him until now, I was expecting it for next year but not this year, otherwise I wouldn't have put so much into his name outside of an ISA.

I'm going to move some of his savings into an ISA now to minimise it and not accrue additional interest but need to think longer term and work out what a healthy split is between cash and ISAs but can't decide whether it's worth setting him a SIPP/AVC at work too and avoid it totally this year as well, or whether the time and paperwork involved isn't worth it for what will be circa £100. 

t2rry

HNY little diary.

Not much to report, even with skipping a payday update.  I joined the savings challenge (in my signature) last year and am doing so again as it keeps me accountable and it feels like that's all I can do at the moment whilst waiting for all the ducks to align for the biggest financial step since moving house to kick in, taking out additional borrowing (that's when I will refocus on here and look at targeting the mortgage, but we have to get through the spending of that borrowing first)

I have the January blues somewhat with realising that everyone put work off until 'after xmas' and it means that it's looking like a really horrible work month.

I'm starting to feel like I'm back to where I was a few years ago in my debt busting days of just making it through each month with payday as the highlight but that may just be the blues talking.  I have a couple of projects that I'm excited about though so hopefully they will cheer me up!

I also feel a slight renewed vigor with regards our budget.  I have updated our individual budget pots (food/petrol/clothing/kids/social etc.) to align with what we actually spent on average each month last year, that means things have gone up slightly on the previous but it's looking good for January as it means I should be able to keep within the budgets without having to adjust them through the month.  This way I should get a nice little bonus at the end of each month with underspends and I can be more strict around overspends per pot rather than just overall.

I am looking for new ways to cut things back so currently reviewing:
- phone contracts: may be able to save a couple of quid, not much but something
- personal care: I'm going to cut down some of these, I started doing so last year and it worked well enough so think I'm going to extend time between hair appointments etc. even further
- window cleaning: I'm not convinced it helps much, doesn't seem to be done very well so might as well do it myself and save the cash
- food shop: this isn't so simple, I need to try and get us meal planning or bulk cooking I think, I feel like we overspend here by always being reactive, plus it doesn't seem feasible anymore to go and do a basics/fresh top up for £20-£30, always seems to come in at £80+

We shall see

mark55man

all your comments ring true - especially the window cleaner - we persist as climbing a ladder is beyond me.

I agree also best not fret about £10 when you have big spends ahead, but don't get too slack with the day to day stuff things WILL escalate quickly if my recent experience is anything to go by

HNY

t2rry

my February starts tomorrow as that's payday (early in Jan to close the gap between an early December payday and Feb, which is nice) and I am looking at circa £350 leftover from my refreshed budgets, absolutely chuffed with that!

just have to make it through today!

Touch wood, I think having this more realistic budget will work well, cuts out the occasions where we'd end up in 'sod it' mode because something went over, which happens once or twice a year with clothes because we're so tight with ourselves usually, and whilst we may end up with the same amount saved each month, it's the positive psychology of it!

t2rry

We are 20 days into a 35 day month (payday to payday) so with my renewed budgets this year I thought I'd give them a little review:

FOOD - spent £530/£750, proportionately we are over budget so need to rein it in.
TRAVEL - spent £75/£130, spot on to date but we do have half term coming so will need to keep that in check.
SOCIAL - spent £130/£300, below budget right now but again will need to keep an eye on it for half term.
KIDS - spent £52/£100, lots of forward planning from school this month and again...half term coming.
CLOTHES - spent £2.50/£250, if I can keep OH off clothing websites, should be able to bank most of this.
ROUND UPS - spent £45/£100, I have total control over this so will never go over, in any case it goes to savings.
OTHER - spent £180/£200, lots of little things have really added up this month so need to be strict here now.
BIRTHDAYS - spent £20/£150, only bought 1 of 6 gifts so far so this should all get used.

There's a lot of wiggle room left in here with approx £945 still unspent.  We have one activity in the diary for half term, which is not particularly expensive but will involve petrol, eating out and the activity itself so it adds up very easily.  Hopefully it won't wipe out any relevant category (travel/social/kids).

Otherwise, we have had no takeaways this month so far and we have only been 'out' for a singular glass of wine each while the kids had a pudding, and that came out of our social budget so I'm consistently at a loss as to how we spend so much at supermarkets!

That all said, if I can keep us managing with clothing for the month (there are always things the kids need though), and I can bank most of that £250, I'll be happy enough if we spend up to budget on everything else, which is quite likely.

Just realised that next month is a 28 day month so a whole week shorter with the same budgets...so that's good

t2rry

After my mid-month review above, I managed to save £300 from February's budget but have just had to spend £225 of that on a new phone for OH after his finally broke - it's been hanging on for a good while.  I had put the £300 aside for it as I knew it, now I've bought the new (well, refurbished, we are firmly in the refurbed electronics camp now, never buying brand new ever again!), I've banked the excess £75 together with another £75 from other 'underspends' this month on fixed budgets plus one small unplanned income.

I've done a quick mid-month review again and it looks quite similar as above; always over on food spending, always under on clothing and therefore stealing from that budget for others where surprises pop up.  Shouldn't be scraping for money come the end of the month though so I'll take that.

Expensive one next month with car tax and insurance both due, plus holiday clubs and next terms after school clubs all hitting in one.  Up side is some time off work at Easter, it's kicking my butt at the moment, maybe it's the life part too, we are so busy all of the time, it feels like we are working hard to get up a hill, then when we reach the top and feel a second of relief, we look up and see another one right in front of us that we need to start again.