2007 Overview in Ten Easy Steps

Looking back at last year, I’ve been wondering where I feel I succeeded and where I feel I failed…

1. I loved the feeling of control when I entered every penny we earned into a spreadsheet. It enabled me to feel that I was constantly moving forwards by earning *something* every day. My biggest failure was when I forgot to enter a couple of days, whereupon I forgot what I’d earned and abandoned the whole thing. Bother.
2. Online selling was a great success when I got motivated to do it. Amazon Marketplace was particularly easy to use, but I’ve still not got a handle on what sells and what doesn’t. I thought I had cracked it with niche non-fiction, but the last lot of books I put up have singularly failed to sell. I need to look at the process again. Biggest failure was *intending* to make sure that I constantly had at least 5 items up for auction on Ebay, but I find the process of taking the pictures and uploading them to be an obstacle. I will be trying to take pictures for *lots* of items at a time, so I’m only dealing with a weekly computer update.
3. Biggest failure was Google Adsense. I could quite happily kick myself for not being more circumspect with it. I also wish that they gave one a second chance
4. Grocery budgeting was a big success, although it took a little time to figure out a realistic figure for a weekly shop. Shopping at Lidl and Aldi etc. has slashed my grocery spending by well over 50% and made us eat more healthily, I think. I also rejoice at not giving money to the Huge Supermarket Conglomerates. (Yes, I know Lidl is still a multinational, but it seems less insidious than Tesco…) I find that we still have plenty of luxuries and certain things (chocolate, cheese, vegetables etc.) are better at these places than the big supermarkets.
5. We are still in the process of selling our big car, but I suspect that this will prove to be a big success as it has been in the garage for several weeks (we want to make sure that it’s right before we sell it on to a friend!) and we haven’t missed it at all. The money we receive for it will be going straight towards debts, and we expect to save something in the region of £200 a month in insurance, tax, petrol and servicing.
6. By working on our new house, we have increased the value of our site/partially completed building beyond the level at which it is mortgaged. This has increased our net worth to a nice fat figure that makes me feel very confident about 2008. The net worth at the end of 2008 (when the house will hopefully be mostly finished) will be truly impressive. Hurrah! As we worked this out, we got very over-excited and worked out our net worth when we’ve paid off our debts and mortgages. Woohoo!
7. I don’t know whether it counts as a success or failure, but whilst working out our net worth (all your assets minus all your debts) we forgot to count our endowment saving plans. I like it when I forget 5 figure numbers that are in the black!
8. Getting freelance website work in was a definite success. However, I need to have some accounting systems in place to reconcile my time and hours with the work that is submitted to the client. I have some really exciting stuff lined up for 2008, working on music arts projects for musicians that I value as both friends and artists – I’m really looking forwards to that, but I want to make sure that I can present a truly professional front on the billing/accounting side of things – I know that my work isn’t under question, but I’m just really bad at talking about money… I need to get a bit more hardnosed. Time to hang out at http://www.freelanceswitch.com I suspect.
9. I feel that I’ve definitely made progress with being more green and saving money in the process. However, I am feeling like an utter fraud at the moment because I’ve been using the tumble-dryer whilst the weather is so cold and damp. Laundry just isn’t drying outside, and we lack a useful place to hang it up inside. My next challenge to to “green-up” the holiday cottage. We have a whole lot of CFL bulbs to put in when the next tenants leave, and I need to do some serious draught-proofing…
10. We consolidated some serious debt into a mortgage extension on our holiday cottage and I’m happy with how that’s working. It has taken a lot of the weight off our shoulders and allowed us enough breathing room to pay back more money, which has kick-started the whole “snowball” effect (as you pay off one debt, take the repayment money and apply it to the next debt to get that one paid off more quickly). I’m really feeling as though we are making progress with the debt repayment whilst still managing to meet all our bills and build the new house.

On the whole, I feel as though 2007 has been a year of contrasts – we’ve had some really worrying times when debt got on top of us and I’d lost my job. On the other hand, when you look at it as a whole year, we’ve made a lot of progress towards our end goal of No More Debt (that includes mortgages) and a life of utter indolence

I am determined to work more consistently in 2008 and carry on with moving forwards steadily. Sometimes I allow my eagerness to get the better of me with repaying debt, but when I consider that it has taken me 18 years to build up this amount of debt/mortgages, then trying to pay everything off in four months could be seen as a hopeless task I need to be a bit easier on myself, and not beat myself up every time another bill comes in.

How do you feel your 2007 went? Where can you improve?