More WIRE than FIRE, simplifying, saving and savvy spending

ShyAndRetiring

 

Thanks so much @uralmaid @Humboldt @Organgrinder @BrilliantButScary for popping by and checking in! Huge apologies for my radio-silence, lots has been going on, including bereavement in the wider family. This hasn’t impacted on me directly but has affected those that I love dearly, so lots has been going on to try to help and support.

I've been been plugging away at the FIRE and WIRE goals in the background, so a bit of a round up for February:

SURVEY GOAL £50 - achieved this and then some = total of £61 of free money gained this month (£6 of which is still pending). This has been put into the Xmas 52 week challenge. 

GO BELOW POT GOAL - Fuel for the car has been the focus this month, and we have spent £40 out of the usual £80 pm budget for fuel. Very happy with this, considering there have been a few extra trips to pop family members about as needed. I don’t feel I can permanently reduce this pot to £40 as this has been an odd month and we want to have some flexibility, so I’ll adjust it to £60 pm for the time being as a compromise.

WEEKLY NSD GOAL 5/7 - achieved on most weeks except one, so happy with that. I need a bit more flexibility going forwards though, so will try to maintain at 4 for the spring and summer.

£750 WEDDING WEEKEND GOAL - no progress, total so far: £100 / £500 

DEBT - has not been increased. I’ve slightly slowed with repayments (ie: closer to the minimum than zapping it with extra) as we’ve started on our DIY / GSI (Getting Someone In) projects for this year. Debt now as follows:

• CC #1: £67 paid in Feb, balance: £280 to pay.

• CC #2: £63 paid in Feb, balance: £284 to pay.

FEB FAUX PAS 

Car trouble - our fixes have cost us a bit this month but by sourcing the parts ourselves we’ve saved quite a bit. The final (bigger) fix will be done in the coming week so I’ll have a total then but do anticipate it will be less than the £500+ quote we originally had, as we’ve only spent £140 on replacement parts.

Fingers crossed nothing else has put us off-track, February’s been more of an emotional sideswipe than a financial one.

Even-better-if Challenges

• DECLUTTERING #1: yarn stash use-up - all going well, crochet-along project for Feb has started using yarn stash only, no additional purchases. 10 / 52 balls used up so far in 2025.

• DECLUTTERING #2: 70 / 365 - regular weekly donations are steadily going out the door, especially as we’re clearing the loft so we can get it boarded soon. 

• NO BUYING TOILETRIES USE UP CHALLENGE - ongoing, 3 more items completely used up this month (perfume, lippie, body scrub) 7 / 52.  

• Xmas 25 52-week challenge now stands at £594 / £1378.

• Wedding weekend Savings = £100 / £500.

• LIFE ADMIN: Pensions was the major financial sorting task for Feb - huge success here, deserves its own post over the weekend.

Simple pleasures

• Presence of the Barn Owl most evenings - also hearing a Tawny when I'm laying awake at night.

• Puppy behaving nicely on walks (mostly).

• The days are just that bit longer, life feels so much brighter as a result (even when there’s rain and mud, so much mud)!

Back later with my pension progress, S&R x

Organgrinder

Just to add. What appears to be a pretty risk free investment. Put £100 in a Shepherds Sticks and Shares ISA, leave it there for a year,and they give you £100!

They'll charge you £1.50 I think in fees. And of course it could fall in value. But if you can afford it, it's a nice little earner!

uralmaid

@ShyAndRetiring. . Sorry to hear  of the bereavement. Glad you got your hair done and are happy with it. It makes such a difference to how you feel.

Katiehound

There are lots of different places to pay DDs- utilities, charities (minimum £2) and various savings and or investments: long list here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6445857/savings-investment-dds-and-debit-card-deposits-an-updated-list/p1
another one is to have a 'special' CC where you only spend a few pounds per month & then pay off by DD

Some of the chat on the above thread suggests PayPal  is slow to set up DD

ShyAndRetiring

Organgrinder said:

Just to add. What appears to be a pretty risk free investment. Put £100 in a Shepherds Sticks and Shares ISA, leave it there for a year,and they give you £100!

They'll charge you £1.50 I think in fees. And of course it could fall in value. But if you can afford it, it's a nice little earner!

Oooh looks interesting! Thank you @Organgrinder, will definitely take a look, S&R x

ShyAndRetiring

uralmaid said:

@ShyAndRetiring. . Sorry to hear  of the bereavement. Glad you got your hair done and are happy with it. It makes such a difference to how you feel.

Thank you @uralmaid

It has made a difference for sure, particularly for feeling 'on top of things' which is something I've really needed since Xmas.

Hope you are having a good weekend, S&R x

ShyAndRetiring

Katiehound said:

There are lots of different places to pay DDs- utilities, charities (minimum £2) and various savings and or investments: long list here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6445857/savings-investment-dds-and-debit-card-deposits-an-updated-list/p1
another one is to have a 'special' CC where you only spend a few pounds per month & then pay off by DD

Some of the chat on the above thread suggests PayPal  is slow to set up DD

Brill, that's so helpful @katiehound thank you, good point about the CC too as paying that is work in progress. 

ShyAndRetiring

UPDATE re: FEB FOCUS ON PENSIONS

With WIRE in the driving seat, February's focus was getting my pensions paperwork in order - particularly tracking down lost pensions from those tiny short-term jobs fitting in around the kids when they were little (I had them very young and hadn't started what turned out to be my career-path at that point). 

The principle goals of the focus were to ascertain what I’ll have coming in for the long-term, but also what I’ll be able to usefully access in the short term until state pension kicks in (2033).

The good news:

• Two main occupational pensions (let's call them A & B ). I can access these at 60 and they looked all set to pay out next year.  However, it turned out that I’d lose hardly anything by accessing A this year, so that’s what I’m doing. Essentially, A also had a small, separate pot (A2) which I wasn’t aware of, from a very temporary contract. Taking A2 now actually covers the reduction from taking A early, so I’ve put in my papers for both A and A2. This will provide me with some breathing space and regular income during this stretched year. 

• I located another pension I wasn’t sure about and, thanks to their super-helpful team, I am now signed up to their portal and can monitor it from here. I can’t access it until 2031 but once I do it will essentially almost double what I will be receiving in occupational pensions. I’ll have the option to access it earlier if need be.

• 2 other tiny ones fully located and confirmed with the providers. I can access one of these as a refund of contributions as there are less than 2 years in it, which suits me as not much was added by the employer. The other has more significant contributions from the employer which I won’t want to lose by taking it early, so I’ll leave that till 2031 when it’s due and then I’ll possibly withdraw as smaller lump sums rather than a pension, as it falls under ‘small pot’ rules.

• I’ve also got on top of my NEST pension and confirmed with them that I can draw down (as tax efficiently as possible) as UFPLS small lump sums rather than as a piddly monthly pension, once it’s payable.

 The unexpected news:

Ignoring the 2 occupational pots A & B and my NEST fund, which I've been on top of forever (did I mention I love a shiny pension portal and spreadsheet? ) this task of tracking down the tiny pots and organising tax-efficient ways to access them will essentially add around £15k of lump sum cash to our draw down / savings between now and SPA. I'm going to try to access things as tax-efficiently as possible to make the most of the tax-free elements and this feels like a very positive outcome to the 28 dark days of February.

The bad news: 

You know, there’s absolutely no bad news coming out of this month’s focus. Both goals have been achieved and OK, we can't access everything all at once and won't get to our maximum retirement income until I reach SPA (which has been a moving goal post ever since I started work many moons ago) BUT, and especially in the context of issues for wider family this month, I feel very fortunate that our 'in between' finances fit our simple lifestyle and that getting off the treadmill sooner rather than later is absolutely the best thing for us and family who need us.

We don't have huge pots, but our income should stay in the same region as it's been for the last few years (up to, sometimes much less, than £24k joint) and most of the pension income should rise according to inflation (-ish), but we're used to living simply and creatively within our means and could downsize again if needed to release equity.

Thanks to years of lurking on these boards (including some of the pensions threads) and especially the How Much to Live on Thread, I'm feeling much more confident (ie: less anxious) about the WIRE aspect of life. 

Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed to this with information, experience, advice and reassurance, truly appreciate it and hope you all have positive things to look forward to as well, S&R x

Humboldt

Hi @ShyAndRetiring my condolences on your sad news.  

A great saving on your hair do, and well done on smashing your survey goal.  I am considering doing survey's, would you recommend Prolific for a newbie?

A fabulous pension post, that I'm sure many will find of use. For me, this bit say's it all -

'Both goals have been achieved and OK, we can't access everything all at once and won't get to our maximum retirement income until I reach SPA (which has been a moving goal post ever since I started work many moons ago) BUT, and especially in the context of issues for wider family this month, I feel very fortunate that our 'in between' finances fit our simple lifestyle and that getting off the treadmill sooner rather than later is absolutely the best thing for us and family who need us. 

We don't have huge pots, but our income should stay in the same region as it's been for the last few years (up to, sometimes much less, than £24k joint) and most of the pension income should rise according to inflation (-ish), but we're used to living simply and creatively within our means and could downsize again if needed to release equity'.

Huge congratulations on achieving your goal.

Humboldt

@ShyAndRetiring no pressure to reply, just wanted to say that I was thinking of you.