Never too late to add in goals, right?

Here's my dream for 2030

Financial

• pay off home loan and investment loan
• have savings/growth accounts for both children
• achieved FIRE and enjoying retirement
• maintain a working stockpile of household requirements only

Health

• lose 20kgs and keep it gone forever
• family is happy and healthy and are supported to pursue activities that they enjoy
• commit to a low carb lifestyle
• expand our minds by trying something new or visiting some place new once a month

Home

• Print and frame and hang up family photos
• Selection of fruiting plants are established and bountiful (as of 2021 currently still in their barrels!)
• home is as energy efficient as possible, solar battery purchased
• continue to pursue minimalism with a capsule wardrobe and only keeping items of use
• a home for everything and everything in its place

Community

• get to know the neighborhood, continue to support local businesses
• continue to invest in Kiva loans to help others achieve their dreams (at least one loan a month)
• use local Buy Nothing group to declutter unloved items in our home and find new homes that will love them
• commit to low tox, sustainable lifestyle. Invest in quality things that will allow this to happen.

Travel

• visit all the Victorian big things
• road trip family holidays to SA, ACT, NSW, QLD
• family holidays to all the states and territories
• begin overseas travel to all the continents when covid safe to do so, start in Asia after kids turn 4.5 or NZ if not safe by then
• travel to a Disneyland in 2027

A bit of history. 2020 I finished on Simple Savings with the hope I would be buying a home. We all know what 2020 will be remembered for but I did manage to buy a home. I also managed to incorporate a health scare. All is well health wise and we moved into our home May the 7th 2020. Me and my two teenagers. Now here's the thing,I was 64 when I got the mortgage. I had to borrow through a second tier lender because of my age and they would only give it to me for 15 years. I borrowed $332,365 it was structured like this....$12,356 was on a flexible plan meaning I could pay as much as I wanted as long as the minimum was paid.The interest rate was a huge15.49% and they gave me 7 years to pay that off. The remainder was $320,000 interest only at 5.4%For the first year. So of course I wanted to get rid of that $12,356 as soon as possible. At this time I was earning good money and threw everything at it and I managed to get rid of it in 4 months.

I got a bit lazy after I paid that off and just continued to pay the $1600 each month on the $320000. I saved a little but spent a bit here and there as well.I then found out that I could pay back $10,000 of the principle without it affecting anything but not a cent more other wise I would have to pay a fee for breaking the fixed period. So the first thing I did was up the monthly payments to $1900.After a couple of months I asked them for a transaction summary(There is no online services) And to my horror I saw that I had paid back, including the $12,356 ,$14,486.36 But in interest I had paid a huge $11,210.65....OMG I was gob smacked. So here is what I decided to do......

1.Focus on getting the mortgage down in five years.

2.Researched all the saving challenges I could find and came up with some myself.I had to keep it fun and I had to be working on at least one of them each day.

3. Make sure my sinking funds,Rates,shoolFees,holidays.and bills accounts were getting added to each fortnight so I didn't need to dip into my savings to pay these.

Now a good wack was going onto the mortgage anyway,$19000 a month. I Have decided to double that.This means my wage from my main job will be servicing this mortgage. I have another income stream of not quite $20,000 a year. We will be living on that.

So anything I can save above and beyond my normal wage will be going into the mortgage fund and added to the two payments of $1900.The secret will be to pay it into the Mortgage account every chance I get as the interest is calculated daily.So I can only pay up to $10,000 off the principle until it gets renewed in May.So at the moment the balance is$315,664.29 And I plan to get it down $310,664.29 by the beginning of May 2021.

So what saving challenges have I been doing.

1. I remember this one from years ago on simple savings. I want a $1000 but it looks huge so just save $1 a 1000 times. As soon as any cash adds up to $1 it goes in a tin and then recorded on a sheet. Since the 1st of Jan I have 135 dollars. As part of this $1000 I am also saving all the $5 notes that come to me. I have $150 worth of 5's total is$285. I have a piece of graph paper with 1000 squares on it and for each dollar that goes into the tin or $5 note a square gets coloured in. I may or may not transfer this over to the savings account before the $1000 is reached I'm thinking about this.

2.I budget $3 a day for power, I can check each day how much we spend. Anything below the three dollars goes into the savings account. Yesterday we only used $1.93 so $1.7 went in. I only started this challenge on Tuesday and have $3.33 but I like this as I do it every day.

I will post once a week on here what my total is ,savings and mortgage balance.The balance will be readjusted each month when they send me a transaction summary.

3. Each Friday I take a Card from a kids Bingo game and choose a number. Depending how much money I think I can smuggle from my cash envelopes or from an account I will transfer over to savings. Of course this all has to be doable so the number that I chose this week was 48 but instead of $48 I made it $4.80. it's important for me to make it work and to do something everyday.
4. Each Monday I pick a playing card from a pack and find that money and pay that across. Last Monday was a Ace which is $11. I took that from my food envelope.Again I could have paid $1.10 but I wanted to push the boat out haha.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Some years I have been more focussed on observing it than others. Last year, in the aftermath of my son's sudden death, Lent just passed me by. This year, in the face of global tragedies, I increasingly feel the need to be thankful for all I have, and to grow my willingness to share.

Because of COVID, many of the fundraising event our Parish relies on were cancelled. This year, I'm trying to think of ways to contribute more, and so I thought I'd use Lent as an opportunity to give up some things and donate the money to my church.

For those who don't know, Lent is the lead up to Easter. For many (Christian) traditions it's a time of reflection, self-assessment, and voluntary sacrifice. Some people give up foods like chocolates, or meat, other people give up things like telly or smoking, or give up time to do charitable works, or fast and pray.

The things I am choosing to go without for the next 6 weeks are:

1. Chips, chocolate and store bought biscuits or crackers
2. Paying someone to whipper snip for me (I could cut the rough bits with scissors, or ask to borrow my neighbour's and have a go myself)
3. I'll stay home more so I spend less on bus fares and use the time to read library books
4. No take away food, take food with me, even if I don't think I'll be out all day.
5. Limit my coffee buying to one per week.
6. In March, do 2 x $21 challenges.

I am sure I will come up with other things to save money as I go on. I also have some other things I'm planning to do (like watch less telly, and write more) that don't easily translate into savings, but I'm sure have a positive knock-on effect

If anyone would like to join me in their own Lenten challenge, I would love to give and receive encouragement. I don't think this challenge will be too hard, but I know from past experience how my "wants" can derail me. Support is welcome!