Let me start with the good news – I won the lottery! And so did my husband! On the same day…
No, it was not the £1,000,000 that I had hoped for 
but we each got 50 quid of ‘free’ money anyway.
And before you devoted FIRE followers are tempted to tell me off for squandering my money buying lottery a lottery ticket, I’m talking of the UK’s NS&I Premium Bond lottery. Both my husband and I both put in a portion of our emergency fund. They are bonds, but instead of earning a below inflation amount of interest, they enter you in a lottery once a month at no extra cost. It’s like playing the lottery for free once a month.
It was actually a nice surprise to win. Especially as I had just paid more..
Car fines
I really need to pay more attention to these… 3 fines in 2 months! This is the fine that bugs me the most.
A small road nearby where a school is located was recently made accessible only to residents during school drop off and pick up times. I, of course, did not notice the sign, and I am not a resident. Kindly UK local authorities give you a 50% discount if you pay the fine within 2 weeks. Except I got caught in December when postal workers were striking so the letter was delivered 3 weeks after it was issued and I had to pay the full amount. 
There is something just so annoying about car fines.
As a response I went back to cycling as soon as it was not freezing at night any longer. I also realised I need to switch my brain from ‘bike mode’ to ‘car mode’ when driving 😇
The wall charger
At the end of 2022 we swapped our diesel for an electric car. Last month we also fitted a wall charger to the house, which is making charging a lot less of a fuss. No more fiddling a cable through the letter box and plugging it into a socket with an extension cord.
We got the wall charger for free when buying the used car as part of the deal. A friend told us about a government grant to get it installed which is available to businesses who instal one at their company’s address. And that’s how we saved £350 on that.
Work
As you can tell I’ve had a few ups and downs this winter. Work has slowed down, a mix of the economy and companies feeling more confident to hire for permanent roles. It took me a while to adjust to this unexpected seasonality but in the end I did some free courses online to spice up my skills. It’s funny how weird it is to work less when you actually want to work more and make more money.
Recently it got busier again. A new client with a very cool brand, and an old client too. Thanks to staff turnover they booked me in for a few weeks. Someone left for greener pastures, now they are spending money on recruitment, onboarding, and me.
Things I enjoyed watching and listening to
Recommended by Netflix, I watched the series Extraordinary Attorney Woo – and I couldn’t read or watch anything else until it finished. It is a about an autistic lawyer working at a large law firm, and the series goes also into her family and upbringing, and her blossoming relationship with a colleague. She is adorable and the series does a great job at explaining all the intricacies and facets of autism as well as showing us the culture and beautiful Jeju Island, also called the Hawaii of Korea. Binge-worthy.
The podcast that most hooked me is Pat Flynn on Erika Taught Me. Pat Flynn, of smartpassiveincome.com fame, talks about how he started (spoiler alert: he was an architect and lost his job in 2008), how he grew his business and what drives him to do what he does every day. He has an honest and interesting conversation with Erika, who through her lawyer-turned-life-hacker platforms interviews some pretty impressive people.
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