The Crippling Equation

Do you feel stuck on the hamster wheel of life?  I do, and I know I’m not alone.  

It’s not because anything is going particularly wrong, although 2026 has certainly had a number of significant personal challenges for my husband and I.

On the surface, we have a pretty good life.  We’re lucky enough to have got on the property ladder and have a house we’re proud of.  We both work; we have fur babies; we can afford to have the occasional meal out.

But we feel STUCK.  And it’s because the reality isn’t as great as it sounds.

For years, we’ve been sacrificing personal “luxuries” (up-to-date wardrobe, beauty salons, regular nights/days out etc) to pay more than the minimum requirement on our mortgage, trying to get it paid down so we can retire mortgage free.  Good plan, right?  But the ever-increasing cost of living means we’re constantly pulling back those funds to pay bills, fix things around the house that unexpectedly stop working, visits to the vet and so on.

We’re not sinking, but neither are we kicking the goals we were aiming for.  In truth, we’ve barely moved the needle on our mortgage, despite all those sacrifices.

That crippling equation?  It looks something like this:

Mortgage/Cost of Living + Frugal Living + Financial Position Stalled = Dissatisfaction with Life!

We’re not unhappy as such, but neither are we happy.  And that has to change… because life is far too short to always be feeling like you’re going a big fat nowhere!

How do we change that crippling equation into something that gives us some sort of financial freedom without giving up everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve?  And how do we do it soon-ish?

Well, it turns out it is achievable – we think.  This blog, or perhaps journal of rambling thoughts, is going to track our journey.