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December Final Progress Report

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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. 

November Progress Report

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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. 

October Progress Report

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Here’s the numbers for October:

Mortgage

  • current balance: $40,866
  • down from: $43,731
  • total reduction: $2,865
Savings
  • current balance: $698,404
  • up from: $690,450
  • total increase: $7,954
I feel like a lot has happened this month. We’ve both given notice at work and started to tell a few people that we’re retiring next year. The reactions have been all positive and some a bit surprised. 
DH will leave mid-year as he will need to spend time training his replacement & wants to stay until a major project is completed. I’ll leave after first term, or even a few weeks earlier. That will give me time to handover from the management job I’ve done this year and have some time to catch-up on unfinished work before I go. 
I have just 5 weeks left to work this year, then  10 – 13 weeks next year – it feels amazing to finally be almost at the end after so long working toward this. I have so many plans for the house and garden, so many quilts to sew and books to read. I am counting down the days!
Financially we will make some changes. We will now stop paying extra on the mortgage – which feels very odd after it being such a focus for so long – and put that extra money in the mortgage offset account. We’ll keep salary sacrificing the maximum into super and then mid next year start drawing a transition to retirement pension. 
I haven’t done a lot outside of work as we have a bit of a covid outbreak here in the last two weeks.  I’ve had two tests and then the associated days working from home even though we really do not go out much at all. Everything is delivered, we only go to work and the occasional visit to the shop. Travel has now been opened up to our area from Sydney with thousands of visitors expected to visit for various events. So we will continue being home bodies for the next few months until we get our booster shots in February. 
I’ve found it hard to blog regularly this year with so much work & little else happening. Now that its easing up a bit I hope to get back to blogging more regularly.