It’s time for me to have a look and see how March was for me. I’ll put my Net Worth figures up and an update on how I did with my monthly goals.

As usual I’ve got last month’s figures in brackets for comparison. I’ve got my Defined Benefits Pension in there based on twenty years worth of money if I start drawing it at 60. As I reached Mortgage Neutrality last month I’m not including that figure any more. Funny how something that was so important to me last month is not even getting included this time. I’m sure I’ll find something else to focus on as I strive for FIRE.

Debts

Mortgage £93,853.99 (£94,345.97)

Assets

Cash £35,668.12 (£35,523.72)

Defined Benefits Pension £130,653.60 (£130,653.60)

AVC’s £11,634.04 (£10,814.45)

Shares £57,266.53 (£52,479.19)

House £250,000 (£250,000)

Total £485,222.29 (£479,470.96)

Net Worth including house equity

£485,222.29 – £93,853.99 = £391,368.30 (£385,124.99)

Another great month from a shares point of view. The work share price is up yet again, and my Vanguard ISA is doing great as well. I still need to diversify as I have more than half my equities in an individual share. Mind you a year ago I had about £600 in index trackers and the rest in my work shares, so I’m actually doing great on shifting the balance. I’ve not actually sold any of the work shares as yet, but rather have cashed in ongoing share saves as the option price most definitely wasn’t worth taking advantage of. I’ve decided I’m not doing any more share saves. I don’t want to have to wait three years to get my money in the market. Plus I don’t want to add any more to my already top heavy share allocation. I buy a tiny amount each month as work offer a share match scheme which is really just too good to pass up. In the grand scheme of things though it’s nothing, and my plan is index trackers all the way from here on in.

Somehow I managed to fill my ISA allowance during the tax year, which sadly is not something I would usually be able to do. That gives me options moving forward for selling some of the individual shares and sticking them into the ISA in index trackers. I’m continuing to invest each month to my Vanguard account and I’m loving how quickly it’s growing. Well, you know, it’s all relative. I’ll not be able to chuck in work any time soon, but it’s most definitely going in the right direction. It’s not that long since my Equities hit £50k and already I have £60k in my sights for my next target.

Cash is up again very slightly. With the eldest going off to uni (and now back in his bedroom studying remotely) and the subsequent reduction in maintenance, child benefit and the miniscule amount of working tax credit that I get, my budgets don’t actually balance. So it’s an absolute miracle that I’m not eating into my cash reserves. Actually it’s a reflection of lockdown. I still have budgets for petrol, entertainment, holidays etc for when these things were possible and necessary. For now I’m filling the car up once every few months and although I’ve booked a few shows, I’ve already had some cancellations and subsequent refunds. What I’m not currently spending of my various budgets I’m shoving towards the house budget to save up to get a working ensuite. Once that’s done the cash amount will go down considerably, but considering the amount of cash I have sitting there I can definitely live with that. I’ve decided to spend a bit of money on the house. I moved in almost four years ago and spent next to nothing on it. Time for a bit of TLC on the place. Nothing major, but I got a new rug for the lounge and it’s made such a difference. I was planning on buying a bookcase too, but luckily my ex husband was moving and getting rid of a load of stuff. I managed to blag a bookcase, and he even helped me carry it out of his place. An amicable relationship with the ex husband certainly has plenty of benefits! The lounge looks much cosier now for not too much of an outlay. Money well spent I would say.

Not much else to say on the money side of things. Things are going in the right direction. As always I know I need to diversify, I have too much cash and I could do with earning more so that I can invest more, or at the very least keep investing the same amount without depleting my cash reserves to do so. Somehow I seem to keep plodding away without a fantastic salary. I have a good life. I spend enough, but not a ridiculous amount. My strategy of waiting to replace things until absolutely necessary seems to be working so far. Just now the things that almost certainly need replaced include the boiler, my laptop, my phone, the ensuite and potentially the car.

I’m hoping to limp through to the end of my phone contract at the end of the year. The phone itself works ok, but every so often (more often as times goes on) the display goes really strange, with parts of the screen in darkness. It’s always remained useable, but it would probably help if I stopped dropping it all the time. My resident computer expert put Linux on my laptop which seems to have revived it, but I now get a critical disc error periodically. I’m just backing stuff up and hoping for the best. The ensuite is just not getting used. The car I’ll keep you posted on, as it’s getting the MOT and service done this month. I bought it new ten years ago and it has just over 70,000 miles on the clock. It was looking a bit dodgy last year but I’m hoping the lack of driving over the last year has bought me some extra time. The boiler mostly works, but it needs topping up every few days which is a pain. They can’t get parts for it any more apparently, so if something goes on it I’ll need to get a new one.

With all of these things I have the cash sitting there to replace them. My plan as always though is just to keep going with them as long as I possibly can. That way I keep hold of my cash for real emergencies. Run of the mill people think I’m crazy for doing this. Why would I have something sub-optimal in my life? Honestly though I’d rather have the money in my account. If it gets to the point where any of these things are really bothering me then I’ll replace them. Until then I’ll just keep going as I am. Better for the environment too.

That’s enough about the money part of my life. Let’s move on to my goals for March now. He’s a quick reminder of what I was working on.

• Watch 16 episodes of Cien días. PASS No problems at all with this one. I’m not quite sure how many I watched, but I think it was closer to twenty.
• Weigh under ten and a half stone on 1^st April. PASS 10 stone 6 lb I don’t want to jinx it, but I seem to pretty much have this one cracked. I’m trying to make healthy choices, but I’m not denying myself. Chocolate is most definitely featuring yet again, and you know Easter is a thing. I love to be ten stone, but I have to be hungry to be that weight. That’s not sustainable long term, so I can definitely live with ten and a half. Considering at the height of my lock down weight I was not far off twelve stone I’m delighted to be back at much more of my fighting weight.
• Do my physio exercises at least five days a week. PASS This is just what I do now. They seem to be working, so all the more reason to keep them going.
• Research one of the trips on my 60 for 60 list. PASS (sort of) I’ve started to dive in to the detail of a trip to Russia. I’ve found a trip that seems to balance some sort of support in terms of providing flights, hotels and transfers along with some excursions, but also gives us enough time to explore on our own. It’s too early to be able to book holiday from work for next year, which makes it tricky, but research is well under way. Still lots of planning to do, but we have decided we want to visit Moscow and St Petersburg and have guide books for both places and a Russian phrase book. We’re having lots of fun talking about places we want to visit in the two cities and I have high hopes of this being a great holiday, assuming Covid restrictions have eased by next year.

So all in all that’s been a pretty successful month. I’ve done well on my goals, so time to set some new ones for April

• Finish Cien días series 2. This should most definitely be achievable. It’s suitably trashy that even when I can’t really be bothered doing anything I’ll happily sit down and watch an episode.
• Complete up to week 5 of Couch 2 5k I’ve come to the conclusion that my hip is probably as good as it’s going to get. I’m able to walk and cycle without any problems. The physio advised I do Couch 2 5k to give the tissue time to recover. It seems ridiculous to be running for a minute and then walking for a minute, but I’ll do what’s needed to get me back in the game.
• Read the Moscow Rough Guide. I don’t want the planning for this trip to stop. I’m conscious that I can’t book next year’s holiday from work yet and I don’t want the momentum for this trip to just fizzle out.

I think that’s enough for now. I’m doing lots of decluttering at the moment, which is keeping me quite busy. I can’t quite bring myself to set throwing things out goals, but the reality is that’s how I’m spending quite a lot of my time just now, and it’s going well. There is an element of moving things from room to room, and parts of the house now look like a pig sty, but it’s all part of a master plan. I’ve even thinned out a lot of old paperwork and photos. The loft has been sorted and the garage will be getting done at some point.

All in all March has been a pretty good month. The money side of things is looking pretty good. I’m making steady progress; never as fast as I’d hope for, but still on track for where I want to be. I’ve smashed my goals and I’ve got some good targets to aim for in April. It’s great to be back running, even if it’s most definitely baby steps. I need to take it easy and take a step back if needed to avoid further injury. Hopefully the weather will start to perk up soon, and these hail and snow showers will make way for wall to wall sunshine. That would be nice. Have a great April everyone and let me know what you’re up to.