December Final Progress Report

 

Well its time for the monthly progress report and I've decided this will be the last one. The way I manage our money is changing now as we get closer to retirement & I am ready to focus less on the financial side of life and on tracking every cent.  Keeping track of our progress every month has really helped to keep me accountable and to stick with saving and debt payoff even when it felt so slow. What I have learned from tracking everything is that small amounts make a difference and that tracking every cent IS important when you're paying down debt and trying to turn around your finances. So will continue to track our expenses in YNAB but I won't be doing monthly finance updates here on the blog anymore as our goal has been reached exceeded. 

Here's the numbers:

Mortgage

We are not paying more off the mortgage anymore, instead that money sits in the offset account as our emergency fund/everyday expenses account. A summary of the mortgage payoff since I started this blog is on the Mortgages page.

Monthly Progress:

• current balance: $30,470
• total reduction: $0

Annual Progress:

• start balance: $62,991
• end balance: $30,470
• total reduction: $32,521

Savings:

Our savings are in our super accounts and we both salary sacrifice the maximum amount. I am gobsmacked at how much this has grown in the last year due to a good share market & compounding interest.  A summary of our savings since I started blogging is on the Savings page.

Monthly Progress:

• current balance: $719,588
• up from: $708,860
• total increase: $10,728

Annual Progress:

• start balance: me: $194,374  DH: $368,364 = $562,738
• end balance:  me: $259,119  DH: $460,469 = $719,588
• increase:        me: $64,745    DH: $119,243 
• total increase: $156,850

So 2021 has been a really busy year for me with all my focus being on work. I'm not sorry I did the management job but I'm glad it's over. I didn't post much as there really wasn't a lot to say.

But this last week I have slept so well and I am starting to feel a bit more energised. I started decluttering my sewing room, which I am thoroughly enjoying. I gave the blog a makeover because now I'll be blogging about things other than work and yes, a lot of it will be sewing & quilting and work around the house & garden.

We spent the year close to home due to Covid, and we all worked at home for several months in 2022. Right now Omicron is just spreading like wildfire here. Our new premier and our out of touch government have just let it rip and they don't give a toss for those in the community that are vulnerable. I will feel a little safer when we have had our boosters but I'm keen to avoid going back onto campus with a lot of people so I may even leave a bit earlier if I am forced to go back to soon.

Well this is the end for the financial part of this retirement journey. Theres only 12 weeks until I finish at work but essentially all I will be doing is finishing up an handing over, Heres hoping that 2022 is the year that covid starts to lose its grip and we can return to a bit more normal life. 

Merry Christmas!

 Its a lovely Christmas morning here. The sun is shining, the sky is blue and theres a nice cool breeze. Heres hoping it doesn't warm up too much as the day goes on.

Yesterday I finished up the management role that I've been doing this year. I'm relieved that its done and dusted. It's just been one of the busiest, stressful work roles I've had. I slept like a baby last night. 

I went into the office a few days this week and cleaned out all my cupboards & filing cabinets, bought home all my own stuff from my office and took the pictures down from the walls. Lots of happy memories going through everything! 

 I did a lot of shredding and sorting of paper files. I have one pile of about 30 files that I need to go through and about a weeks worth of data entry to do and then I am completely up to date, ready to walk out the door for good in 90 days. 

I wanted to get it done in case we had to work from home again due to Omricon and its good thing that I did as we are now working from home until February. But now I am just there to finish up and handover. My mind is already in retirement mode!

We will be having a quiet Christmas today and we'll catch up with family via zoom. We always have a traditional roast dinner at lunch time which I'm looking forward to. 

 I have two weeks of holidays now and will be back to blogging more regularly again. Thanks for visiting my blog and for your encouragement & comments over this last year.  Wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas and a peaceful holiday season.

"What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future." Agnes Pahro. 

98 Days - 14 weeks to go.

How amazing to see my retirement countdown showing only 98 days to go today!  At the moment I'm technically on leave for a week but in reality I'm still working & attending meetings. Only one more week to go,  then holidays and then I can hand back a lot of this work and start slowing down a bit.

A few things have happened since my last post. I had my birthday and was given some beautiful quilting fabrics - (I'll get back to posting some pics soon), we decorated our Christmas tree on the weekend, & the Christmas shopping is done. I've signed up for a quilting BOM next year and been poring over my sewing magazines marking projects I'd like to make. 

We were going to have Christmas with family but now that Omicron is on the rise and cases in our town are on the rise we're going to have Christmas at home again.  We can't get our booster shots until the end of January and we had AstraZeneca so apparently our immunity is pretty low right now. 

DH had alerts that he's been in contact this last week even though we rarely go anywhere, but two weeks ago we had huge sporting event here with thousands of visitors and it was then declared a Covid exposure site.  Fortunately we are now all at home, either on leave or working from home so we'll just stay in until we get the booster dose.

Well thats just a quick little update for now. Hoping to get back to more regular blogging soon.

November Progress Report

Heres the numbers for the month:

Mortgage

• current balance: $30,470
• down from: $40,866
• total reduction: $10,396

Savings

• current balance: $708,860
• up from: $698,450
• total increase: $10,410

Only 113 days to go until I retire!! 

I'm feeling so tired and also so excited at the moment. Yesterday I finally confirmed the date that I am leaving work and put in all the leave forms.  Next week I will let colleagues know at our last staff meeting for the year. I need enough time to handover some projects and catch-up on a lot of work before I go. Not long to go now. 

It's been crazy busy at work the last few weeks as the long awaited restructure was announced and I've spent day after day in meetings. I am so grateful to my past self for frugal living and sticking to my savings & debt payoff plans over the years as I am not having to worry about losing my job like many others but about to retire 8 years early. 

We received our tax returns and put it all off the mortgage even though we had decided not to pay any more on it. It's a hard habit to break paying extra off that mortgage. That took us to Year 28 on the mortgage amortisation table so another mortgage milestone passed this month.

This week I bought a few things at the black Friday sales, some courses I'd like to do were half-price and I will actually have time to do them soon! I've been busy with Share the Dignity collection and delivery. I've been daydreaming about the sewing and quilting I want to do next year and what it will feel like to have some energy for life outside of work. `In the meantime I have holidays coming up soon which will be a nice break.