My 5 year plan

Some good news this morning. Just got a call to say there's a contract starting next week for around 10 weeks which might justify a little bit of overtime. It wont be much, 4 or 5 hours per week, but every little helps! Been quiet since mid November so it's good that things are picking up a little.

This might mean I've got less time to think about my debt too as I've become obsessed with it recently.

Been thinking about the car too. Just in terms of how long I plan to keep it. I'm thinking around 2 years from now it'll be time for a change. The car turned 3 years old in December but it only had 3000 miles when I bought it in October (previous owner only used it on dry weekends!) and it just hit 10,000 on Monday. So in terms of reliability there shouldn't be any problems. I cover roughly 20,000 miles per year, so in 2 years time when the car is 5 years old it will still have reasonably low mileage of around 50,000 so that's probably going to be the sweet-spot to try and sell for maximum return. Any higher then it'll be harder to sell and will be devalued further.

It's not a cheap car to run and probably wasn't the most sensible choice but I like it and it's fit for the purpose it's being used for. I spend too long at the wheel every week not to enjoy what I drive.

So in 2019 I'll need to start thinking about saving the money to add to whatever the current car sells for, to buy a replacement. But I will be downgrading so hopefully wont need to put much to the next car.

It's all about sensible choices from here on in.

Thanks Storm, definitely going to give myself a little leeway next month with things like alcohol and takeaways but I don't want to undo any of the weight loss!

On the giving up booze thread, there's a line of thought that if you allow yourself cheat days you're actually making it harder for yourself by having to make the decision whether or not to drink. Same rules apply to eating out unfortunately. Just decide whether you're going to do it or not, then stick to it. It sounds like a really easy plan doesn't it? Lol

I've got a week off in March, not going anywhere just going to spend time at home before Mrs fatrab goes back to work and hopefully get a few little bits of decorating done, but being realistic I'll probably have a few beers in the house while I'm decorating. I've still got 27 beers left from Christmas and I have no idea how I've managed to resist drinking them!

Halfway through the month and the payday waiting game is on!

At least it's Friday tomorrow