Prosperous and Creative Soul Year 5

savingholmes

Thanks KK, Lucielle, WD, Jwil, Beanie

Stock markets unhappy again - but thankfully I'm still in the adding to my pension rather than drawdown stage so it may even help longer term.

Another £1.1K went into my extra pension (AVCs).

I've had a load of annual bills though that I didn't budget adequately for - but I'll live. It just makes my progress clearing debt potentially slower. I re-did my budget on paper this week - and it did help me see that my costs were reasonably legit - I'd just failed to budget properly which oddly cheered me up. So I may try and do a monthly review on paper each month as because I have 4 bank accounts I swish £ through - my finances are over-complicated despite using spreadsheets - and it may help me see the wood for the trees better.

Boiler service now done. Anti-virus bought. New 365 package bought. 24 book credit. Plus some other computer peripherals that failed all at the same time. I couldn't get Octo to resolve my energy - so have gone with a 15 month fix with my current provider - so at least I have predictability.

My car key snapped off in the ignition the other day - luckily I have breakdown cover through my bank account - but I need to get a new key sorted.

The gov has also put up company related costs - so I have a £50 charge I wasn't expecting plus some other business expenses. I need to find an accountant and chat through my options. I have to file my first conf statement - saying what I'm trading in - but I'm still in set up mode.

I have finally managed to get the ICT connectivity I wanted - by upgrading further (go live today) - and it made an immediate difference. I'm hoping I can therefore remotivate myself to do work on my business. I became disenchanted previously when it took forever to upload photos and videos - never mind work on them - so hopefully I will get fresh impetus now.

I have 5 working days left to do - and then am off for 2 weeks. My holidays reset in April - I am then planning to use 4 hours a week from my holidays to reduce the amount of time I have to work. That way I'm doing a 'private' trial of whether reducing my hours would make a significant enough difference. That should then get me past my Sept all CCs must be cleared date - and put me on the home run to remortgage in Dec. After that work wise I want to find a way to leave or majorly reduce my hours. I have bought 2 weeks extra holiday - and potentially could add unpaid leave to that if needed.

I made it back to the gym for the pool at the weekend with DD. So my plan is to go back again tonight and aim small and do something at least. I have a bad feeling that because of the key chaos the other day - that my swimming costume and towel may still be in the car. Need to resolve them too.

Merlin's_Beard

I think it's much better to think at the minute that we're all buying cheap with our pensions rather than looking at the actual numbers! Like you say it's not relevant and it will recover.