Staying focused on this…

leads to this….

leads to living here…hopefully!

I’m feeling very under the weather today but wanted to blog, so I’m saying it with pictures. Further budget posts to follow

Focus is a post from: Move to Portugal

One of our financial goals in 2011 was to save a ‘first six months in Portugal fund’.  Our goal was to save 6k, enough cash to cover the initial cost of renting an apartment for 6 months and the deposit/fees.  Anyway, we didn’t quite make it to our goal.  At the end of the year the fund stood at £5k, £1k short of our target.

Now we haven’t really made any plans to add much more than £300-£400 to this fund in 2012, preferring to attack the mortgage instead, but I would still like to get the balance up to £6k…..somehow!

Time to review the budget!

Moving Abroad Fund (Progress #4) is a post from: Move to Portugal

One of our financial goals in 2011 is to save a ‘first six months in Portugal fund’.  We set the amount for this goal at £6k, which should be enough cash to cover the initial cost of renting an apartment for 6 months (including deposit and any fees).

Well despite our good intentions we didn’t add any extra money to this account in September or October, choosing instead to send the money to our mortgage debt.  We have however added £700+ this month to bring the balance up to £5,000.  £1k short of goal for the year but a good start for when we eventually move to Portugal.

As the months have gone by in 2011 there’s been a definite shift in our focus towards paying down the mortgage vs. saving and it’s probably going to continue for the foreseeable future…….the mortgage free dream still feels a long way off but it is possible if we keep the momentum going.

Moving Abroad Fund – Progress #3 is a post from: Move to Portugal

(Lisbon Design Museum – Life List goal completed)

Good morning!  We’re back from Lisbon and as always after a holiday I feel fired up and ready to go.  Our goals are at the forefront of our minds this morning and we can’t wait to continue taking small steps towards our ultimate goal of moving to the country that we love.

One of the steps is to keep working towards financial freedom, and for us that begins with mortgage freedom.  We want that mortgage debt gone.  With the current economic climate we can’t see ourselves buying in Portugal for a long time, so it makes sense to keep paying down our UK mortgage until eventually it’s gone and we own our home.

But we need to keep a balance.  We have to balance out being frugal with living our life.  So even though we’re stepping up the mortgage overpayments next year, we’re still going to travel and finish the house.  Finally!

Ok today which is all about cleaning and getting my son packed for university.  I can’t quite get used to having 3 adult children, which I have now.  I wonder how it happened.  And how it happened so quickly. Anyway my son leaving means we’ll be changing our budget again. All good as I love playing with spreadsheets

Have a great day!

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Saturday Miscellany is a post from: Move to Portugal

This is one of my favourite buildings in Lisbon and one which contains apartments totally out of our price range – although I can dream!  I hope to go back and take a better picture because this one doesn’t do it justice….from across the street the colour is beautiful.

When I think about location I’m in two minds.  One part of me wants to be close to the sea, the other in the city.  Living on the coastline around  Lisbon would probably satisfy both ‘wants’, but this is a very expensive area and we will have to compromise on some things, perhaps a lot of things.

So the question is (and this is a question everyone has to ask when moving, whether it’s in your own country or abroad – unless of course you win the lottery) how much are we willing to compromise?

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Location, Location, Location is a post from: Move to Portugal