A Journey of Many Pounds Starts With a Single Penny

LadyGnome · 28 April 2016 at 10:19AM

Mortage payment went out today so one step closer to paying it off.

My £5 lottery win has now credited so I moved £2 to each of the mortgage, holiday and children pot.

Had to buy a bit more school stuff as the younger Gnomeboy's jumper looked like he had been doing battle with a wild animal. Mr Gnome had stitched up the holes but further damage means it is now beyond redemption.

I have updated my weekly goals as I have managed to bring food to work this week. I have also updated the bigger goals at the start and my sig to reflect the new mortgage amount.

LadyGnome · 29 April 2016 at 9:54AM

Pleased that I managed to bring food to work all week. Next week should be even easier as it is only a four day week :j.

I am debating if I set an overpayments goal for the year as well. I have to balance motivating myself against putting myself under stress. If a goal is too stretching I tend to see it as just another burden and it annoys me. Consequently, I tend to set goals that I have a reasonable chance of smashing. I think if the mortgage was nearer the end I would be fine with something more challenging.

Lots of thinking aloud here...:think::think::think:

LadyGnome · 1 May 2016 at 4:55PM

I think I will try having an OP goal for the year of £3100 (1% of the original total). If it starts to annoy me then I will get rid of it. I will have a small OP to make on Tues as I get a small amount of monthly interest on the holding account and I have a small surplus on the car tax pot as I round up the monthly saving figure to the nearest whole pound.

AlexLK · 1 May 2016 at 9:48PM

I too have a lot of difficultly setting goals as once set I start to stress about how to achieve them. If I don't achieve them, the feelings of failure out way any benefit I got from setting the goal. Last year I made a £10k savings challenge, which was really a earning over and above usual income challenge. Met the initial goal, so extended my target to £12k which I missed. Still feel bad for failing to meet the £12k, didn't set a challenge for this year and cannot find the motivation to earn extra.

LadyGnome · 1 May 2016 at 11:22PM

Alex, maybe start with something small and achievable as a goal for this year. When you've done it, stop and congratulate yourself rather than immediately moving the goal posts! £10k is an amazing target to have reached but I bet you didn't really acknowledge it. You need to learn to focus on what you have achieved rather than the negatives (easier said than done I know).

AlexLK · 2 May 2016 at 12:02AM

I set myself a small goal in March to make £500 from decluttering for the month. Never got far with the declutter and only made £250.

Anyhow, my last post was not written out of self pity but to say you are not the only one who finds targets are a cause of stress.

Busy_Mee1 · 2 May 2016 at 7:06AM

Just thought I would say hi - really impressed with your approach and the 3 pots. Such a good balanced way of saving and making sure you have enough money for "life" as well as paying the mortgage off.
Boys are lovely but they do eat you out of house and home and grow at a rate of knots. My son didn't stop growing until university and now towers above us all 🚶

brizzledfw · 2 May 2016 at 7:51AM

Target setting is a tricky one..I know what you mean about getting despondent about unattainable financial goals. I have just tried to set them anyway, joined challenges on here etc and just see what I can do. Even if you miss them it's usually provoked a more MSE behaviour than if you'd stayed passive.

My sales target was thoroughly missed for last month but I am reinstating it for this. Likewise, bringing all the data for the budget, pension, OP pot etc as well as TopCshback onto my phone means that I am much more in control of the detail and OH and I keep YNAB updated religiously. So I am learning that I need to make the targets recording easier on myself, data/logistics wise iykwim and updating the diary is also critical

LadyGnome · 3 May 2016 at 10:47AM

AlexLK wrote: »

Anyhow, my last post was not written out of self pity but to say you are not the only one who finds targets are a cause of stress.

brizzledfw wrote: »

Target setting is a tricky one..I know what you mean about getting despondent about unattainable financial goals. I have just tried to set them anyway, joined challenges on here etc and just see what I can do. Even if you miss them it's usually provoked a more MSE behaviour than if you'd stayed passive.

Thank you both for these comments, I needed a bit of moral support. I did wonder if I was the only person on here who struggles a bit with targets on what is, after all, a goal orientated board.

I think I will continue to set targets that I have a reasonable chance of achieving and try to remember to pat myself on the back for getting there before setting a new one. However, if they start to demotivate me then I will drop the targets apart from saving for known longer term expenses and just keep plodding on.

Busy_Mee1 wrote: »

Just thought I would say hi - really impressed with your approach and the 3 pots. Such a good balanced way of saving and making sure you have enough money for "life" as well as paying the mortgage off.
Boys are lovely but they do eat you out of house and home and grow at a rate of knots. My son didn't stop growing until university and now towers above us all 🚶

Hello and thanks. I decided that I had to allow some breathing space in the budget for fun stuff as the mortgage is too big to shift quickly. I think if I tried to be very frugal for the length of time needed I'd probably go crazy and it wouldn't be fair on the children. I am slightly worried about the end of your post, I think I am going to need a second mortgage to cover the boys food and clothing:eek::rotfl:

LadyGnome · 3 May 2016 at 1:02PM

I had to buy myself some new trainers for walking on the weekend as I had worn out the tread on my old ones (I tend to use things to death). Just under £30 in SD so that is OK.

I managed to reactivate my dormant account with the Spanish Bank so will be able to access the £43 left in there soon. I might convert this into a savings account or I might set it up as a "current" account with 2 direct debits so I can switch it somewhere else and bag a switching bonus.

I am waiting for the monthly interest to credit on my holding account so I can transfer it and the car tax surplus into the pots.

A Journey of Many Pounds Starts With a Single Penny

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