A Dirty Dozen

Posted on 28th June 2026 by weenie

[edit – sorry, didn’t realise comments turned off, they’re on now!]

[edit – off again]

I have been so busy just going about my everyday business, that not only did I forget my blog anniversary earlier this year but I completely skipped last year’s anniversary! Must have been menopausal brain fog! Oh well!

Happy belated 12th birthday to Quietly Saving! 🙂

Anyway, wow, long time or what!

My blog is ancient! Old school and retro? I’m fine with that! It works for me – so many (far glossier and modern) FIRE blogs have fallen by the wayside over the years, disappearing into the internet abyss. Sadly, I’ve not had the time (yet) to seek out new ones to add to my redundant blog list. Think the young people aiming for FIRE prefer vlogs.

Last Woman Standing

Do I still enjoy writing this blog? Yes, I still find it freeing to be able to write like this. The blog helps me focus, documents my journey, helps motivate me, it’s a place to empty some of the thoughts rattling around my head or to articulate ideas. It also keeps me accountable.

Some might describe my progress over the years as ‘plodding’ but the truth is, I’ve just gone as fast I’ve wanted to; I was never in a rush to FIRE and I’ve not suffered from FIRE burnout, have just steadily and purposefully moved forwards at my own comfortable pace, step by step. It’s my race, not anyone else’s.

And now here I am, on the final leg of my journey, having set a FIRE date of 2027! I will do an update post on that as it’s been 10 months (already!) since I made that announcement.

My mindset about FIRE has shifted because it finally really isn’t that long now, yet I have to admit that my mind is still resisting a little about making that next mental step, which is diving into the detailed particulars of decumulation…

Don’t worry, I will get my head round this, I do have a plan of sorts.

Humdrum

Gosh, so all this time, I’ve been posting my rather unexciting numbers monthly (with some glimpses of my life) for 12 years!

There’s nothing extravagant about my relatively ‘ordinary’ life; it’s one which is filled with a lot of mundane, routine, same-old-same-old stuff, with good things far outweighing the bad. I’m an optimist so that’s how I see it.

What have I been doing these past 12 years?

Continue reading →

June 2025 Savings, plus other updates

Posted on 7th July 2025 by weenie

It was my birthday this month and I celebrated by attending a gin festival for something different! Some gins nearly blew my head off, a couple tasted awful, a few were great. I did come away with an overpriced bottle.

I also booked myself a Thai massage, which veered from blissful to not-so-blissful as the knots in my shoulders were kneaded and pummelled away! It was at a nice little family run business located near my gym, I’ll definitely be going back there again in the future.

There were other social events this month, including catching up with a couple of uni pals and visiting family who had recently moved to Hebden Bridge.

Copy of da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ in a church in Hebden Bridge. Apparently for a while, it was hung side-by-side with the original

My car was serviced and MOT’d – it passed with advisories so those will likely need to be sorted out before next year. I’ve also got another slow puncture, so that’s another new tyre needed.

My mortgage rate is dropping again in July, another 0.25% decrease so my rate is now 4.3% variable. My mortgage deal is up for renewal later this year so it will be interesting to see what will be on offer.

So, half way through the year, how did my numbers look?

I saved 26% of my net salary. The above includes £11 from doing Prolific surveys and at £25 premium bonds win.

Shares and Investment Trusts

No new investments, I just topped up existing ones.

My update on my investments is nearly done, will get round to posting that in a week or so.

Anyway, current share/IT portfolio can be found here.

(Entire portfolio here)

Future Fund

The rocket continues with its trajectory, merrily ignoring political shenanigans! I don’t know if that’s good or bad, so am cautiously optimistic at best! At the end of June, my FF ended up at £318,574.49.

Dividends and Other Income

A great month for dividends: Continue reading →

January 2025 Savings, plus other updates

Posted on 3rd February 2025 by weenie

January seems to have just whizzed by.

Work’s been really busy, causing me to miss a few evening gym sessions but other than that, I’ve been attending regularly so feeling good.

Had a good catch up plus nice meal out with friends after we escaped from an Escape Room (with 15 mins to spare!). We’ve done a few of these now and I think we’ve only failed one so we have a good team!

Anyway, how did my numbers look for the first month of 2025?

I saved 22.9% of my net salary. The above includes £25.11 from doing Prolific surveys.

Shares and Investment Trusts

No new investments, I just topped up existing ones.

Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.

(Entire portfolio here)

Future Fund

Can’t deny it but Trump helped pushed me past the £300k milestone, with my FF sitting at £304,267.25 by the end of the month! However, things are already looking a bit shaky, with recent US tariffs being announced causing the markets to wobble, so I won’t celebrate too much but still, what a great start to the year!

Dividends and Other Income

A decent start to the year for dividends:

Continue reading →

November 2024 Savings, plus other updates

Posted on 3rd December 2024 by weenie

Apologies, this post might end up dragging on a bit.

I had a great holiday (more on this later), though not entirely relaxing in parts, but enough that my batteries have been mostly recharged and I feel more in control of things.

So with one more month to go, how did my numbers look?

I saved 21.5% of my net salary. The above includes £12.23 from doing Prolific survey and a £10 charity lotto win.

Shares and Investment Trusts

No change here.

Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.

(Entire portfolio here)

Future Fund

Trump’s re-election boosted my FF upwards to £296,316.79. I never dreamt that my FF would get close to another milestone this year – might a Santa Rally push it that far? Whether it does or not, I’m very happy with this progress, especially as I’ve got a big wedge still in UK equities which are not achieving the big numbers their US counterparts are doing.