Prosperous & Creative Soul Year 4

savingholmes

Thanks Jwil, LWAP and Sandy

Yesterday I went out and stuck to my goal of only buying one specific magazine. Today I said I could spend max £20 from my bank accounts - but not credit - and I could use my existing gift cards. It helped as I decided I'd prefer some specific craft stuff (I know!!) than eating out despite going all the way to a garden centre cafe!! I spent £13 of the £20. I also got a red zip up training top that I've had my eye on for a while in TK's. Some art stuff may also have fallen in my basket. This was using gift cards resulting from TCB cashback and a work gift so no guilt.

The Mr A delivery came but no milk which was the top thing I wanted!!! The bins were also collected randomly today rather than yesterday. I watched from the window as they manoeuvred my plastic weave bag into their lorry instead of bothering to empty it. Super annoying!! I didn't have the energy to challenge them.

The snow hasn't arrived yet - but could be in excess of 10cm.

I've continued to look at my SOA - and amend it. I get what you are saying LWAP about flexing between goals - but the AVCs are not easily flexed and they are my highest priority after the mortgage - as they are most likely to give me future time freedom. I also noted that benefits are to be reviewed this year - so worry about what that will mean for my early retirement dream - as it is that that is cushioning me from the impact of sending so much £ to AVCs - while still allowing me to fund counselling, buying an extra 10 days annual leave etc. I also worry that the gov will mess with pensions some more so want to max the tax benefits before they are eroded.

I am by no means destitute - and still have savings - but need to stop eroding these. I used to do a Make £10 (extra) a day challenge in my early MSE times. It feels a lot harder now - other than my ISA interest - and recent cashback earned from my holiday and purchasing gift cards for supermarket shops etc.

I recently moved £15K of an ISA to MBX with one of the best rates but it pays annually rather than monthly so it isn't as motivating for me. I moved £5K to a S&S ISA for the first time - and auto followed their recommendations on how to invest it - which I hope doesn't come back to bite me. They reckoned it had an average 9% annual return despite losing £ in 2 of the last 5 years. I just need to hold my nerve. I went for 'adventurous' - but it had a mixed asset allocation and included ESG funds. I'll let you know how it goes once I get my head round it. I have a cash ISA providing monthly interest of around £40 but the rate is falling.

DD's BF was due to become my cleaner but it doesn't look like that will work out in practice - so I may just not mention it - and quietly 'save' the £ / reduce the pressure on my budget. That would balance my current deficit. I will see how I feel when I am back in work - but I may reduce my counselling sessions and put that £ towards a holiday later in the year. I don't know if I should hold off booking though due to relative with cancer as things worsened on their last scan. I've reduced down my planned gift spends - and luckily already have a few gifts for imminent birthdays.

According to my SOA I should be saving £216 a month towards annual bills (excluding holidays and big ticket home maintenance) - but am only saving £50. Ideally I should increase my regular savers accordingly. My monthly income should go up £100 or more from April - so I will focus on cutting costs between now and then - helped by the CT gap of 2 months - and see how I go on from there. I may then try to up my contribution to Reg Savers or just pay the annual bills in month likely I typically do now...

LWAP - I've started a spending diary so I can see where my £ is going in practice. I've also started a new spreadsheet - as my previous one felt quite complex. I'll consider YNAB or equivalent if this doesn't work for me. 

savingholmes

In some good news though - my drawing group seems to have started back up - just once a week - so booked to go back next week. That helped my MH a lot - and I had felt I was starting to make friends too so hopefully that will help this year. 

jwil

Good news about the drawing group.

New spending diary and spreadsheets sound good too

debtfreeoneday

great news about the drawing group. 

KajiKita

Glad to hear about the drawing group. Just what all of you will need at this time of year 😊

I totally hear you about the ‘making £10 per day’ - feels quite hard here too! 

Interesting thoughts about the AVCs, juggling other priorities and changing government goalposts … I must be becoming a bit more financially astute these days as I would have been oblivious previously! 🤞 that their changes don’t affect you too negatively, but the uncertainty and the wait to find out what they will do, must be unsettling. 

KK

savingholmes

Thanks Jwil, KK and DF1D Well new year, new me. I've just paid £120 to host a web domain for the next 4 years!! I want to post about art and FI and plan to launch a utube channel. Compared to the last time I tried and failed to achieve this - AI has made things a lot easier (and cheaper). Now I have to actually build the site and create some content but the template for the first bit seems pretty cool. I will also need to buy some kit for doing videos - but intend to start small. However - it has been a long term aspiration - and given the best time to start something was always in the past - and the second best is now - I am going for it!! Hopefully that will then also give me the kick up the butt to create the art cards and other things I've talked about doing but not quite delivered on. I'll do it as a sole trader initially - as any income is likely to be slow - and the costs around being a limited company are much higher and I found the bureaucracy quite onerous.

KajiKita

Wow! Big news … 🤩
I always admire your ambition and vision. I tend to feel very limited by comparison 😉😊

Hope it goes well and brings you the satisfaction you are looking for 😊

KK

Chrystal

Well done on making the leap SH!   Wishing you all the luck in the world with your new venture and I'm sure it will provide loads of pleasure to you too.   (((hugs))) XXX

lucielle

Ooh that’s exciting!  I wouldn’t know where to begin 
L

savingholmes

Thanks KK, Lucielle and Chrystal. 

Welcome back Chrystal and thanks for posting. 

Lucielle - I'm not entirely sure where to begin - but trying to treat it as a project and breaking it down into steps. I love learning - and it could also be a way I find my tribe. I also want work to stop being my almost sole income stream. This could be the way I start creating saleable assets that long term can give me passive or near passive income. 

KK - I'm always in awe of what you fit in doing the garden, parish work etc. 

I need to treat more of my life including any side hustles like mini projects. What's the minimum that I can do that will move me forward? Do that - and if I have energy then carry on / improve it iteratively. I've just spent around £80 on selfie sticks, tripods, ring lights and a microphone. They will all be deductible from any eventual income but could take a long period of consistent posting to earn back. I plan to develop courses and downloadable materials that help people work through where they are at now and where they want to be. Once I start fully engaging with that I may post on here less. I think some of the posts I normally make here would work as starter blogs on my new site.

I want to pre-record a few utube 'episodes' using my phone to start and see where it takes me. It's video editing that scares me the most. I've been considering for a while whether to do an art Utube or one around autism/adhd/dyspraxia or one around £. Someone at work also suggested that she would like to do a podcast with me. This could be a practical way of consolidating what I've learned on my debt free journey so far - and using art and creativity to illustrate that too and keep it from being too dull. Hopefully it will help others who are struggling to make the changes they need. I was lost before I found this site - and for a while even after... I'm so grateful for what I learned on here and from Martin's book - but also for my uTube learning.

I've made some multi-media graphics this evening using a free trial of my fave graphics software - C*V*A... I also used my last 2 aud credits on some business books - and then threatened to cancel - which then got me half price for 3 months. Which frees £12 towards recent spends. TBH I do the threaten to cancel thing annually and it works every time. I know in theory I could get some of what I want from the library but that doesn't suit me. 

Best make myself go to bed soon - still need to clear my office for use tomorrow!