greent's mfw journey

greent

rtandon27 said:

Congratulations on your lovely news Greent! - As far as lifestyle creep goes, I'd vote for a cleaner and window cleaner as necessities if you are working out of the house!   There are only so many hours in the day & downtime is sooooooo important to keep a good work/life balance

Thank you Window cleaner has been arranged - not been yet, but that's because I've said to just slot me in when he's next due here, rather than make a special journey. I've chosen my cleaner - she's local and I had her clean my Nan's house just before we put it on the market. When C0vid hit she took a job at T3sc0 as an online picker, but that's now fallen through, so I know she's looking for more clients - I shall message her in the week. There are plenty of other options, but I've already met this one and she's nice

teapot2 said:

Congrats on the new role at work - sounds busy but as you say, there is always the option to quit if it gets too much

Thank you - and indeed there is! I shall definitely be keeping that as an option (But would want to do min 12 months to see a whole season through, at the very least - unless my quality of life/ work balance becomes insufferable)

Suffolk_lass said:

If the pension you get with your new role is anything like Local Authority or Teachers' you might have a window of time within which you could bring in add add your previous small schemes (we missed this with DH, as he worked as an instructor for an academic year before being a teacher and was unknown to him, added to the teachers' pension scheme) - so do think about it. You could put all of your salary into pension and live on your DH's to reduce your tax...

Oh yes, I have a gardener too. Only 2 hours a week and not much this year because the weather has been awful on many Tuesdays. He does lots of the jobs I don't get around to or don't like

A gardener isn't really needed here - we live in a 25 yo suburban house with the resulting not-that-large a garden . I will be looking to contract out some hard landscaping work that we may have had a play with ourselves, though

Pensions - I have a small TP one from school #2 (now resigned from, as of a few days ago) - I am going to write (email!) them (TPS) and the new provider (LGPS) about transferring it into the new one. I also have a deferred older scheme LGPS one from a school job I had 15 years ago - which means (according to what I was reading yesterday) that my vesting period for the new pension has already been met, instead of having to do another 2 years. I will be checking that is correct, though! I can't see that I can up my contribution into the LGPS scheme (need to ask this to confirm one way or another), but I could do AVCs with them - or just top up my Vanguard SIPP.  Certainly something needs to be done for tax purposes, as all the money is bonus money (after cost of cleaner/ windows/ some more clothes/ small additional fuel costs/ realistically a couple more takeaways a month!) and I plan on saving most of it in one form or another (thinking a split between pension and ISA) 

Debsnewbudget

I used AVCs alongside my LGPS and could withdraw all the AVC money as a lump sum. It was like free money with the extra given by Govt.
I lived on half my salary for my last few years of employment on the basis that every month I worked was 2 months closer to retirement.
Congratulations on the new job. Glad you are not trying to do everything you used to do when you were not working as much. Sometimes you need to lower your standards to get the work life balance that makes a difference to your satisfaction levels.
Good Luck with it all

greent

Debsnewbudget said:

I used AVCs alongside my LGPS and could withdraw all the AVC money as a lump sum. It was like free money with the extra given by Govt.
I lived on half my salary for my last few years of employment on the basis that every month I worked was 2 months closer to retirement.
Congratulations on the new job. Glad you are not trying to do everything you used to do when you were not working as much. Sometimes you need to lower your standards to get the work life balance that makes a difference to your satisfaction levels.
Good Luck with it all

Thanks, Debs I will ask some colleagues in Sept about whether they do AVCs at all

Phew - sweltering here! (as is most of the UK!) Took the opportunity to give the fridge a thorough clean and sort - at least it was a cool-ish job Have not made any further efforts with DS2 and his room today - so far this week we have changed bedding (totally new bedding - his HP0tter sets are going) and cleaned under/ behind his cabin bed and some of the floor, cleaned the top of his desk and replaced only certain items on top, gone through 2 large storage tubs of random items and quite a few have gone (and some other random items from around the room have gone into the tubs), sorted through all of his soft toys (he has lots of a certain type of animal (his favourite)) and lots have gone and sorted through his bookcase - some books have gone to DS3, some to CS, some will be z1ff1ted and 1 is ready to be posted off to my nephew. Still lots to do, but I know progress has been made Neither of us can face doing it for too long at a time, though!   Will tackle DS3's with him maybe starting next week (DS3 still at school this week - well, home learning, as he is isolating yet again)

Had a flebay-er buy a collection only item  - I messaged them about collection but they want it couriered - they live in London 🙄 They said they are happy to pay courier so I have asked them to arrange a courier (have provided them with measurements and weight) and I'd like it collected from me by the courier - they have now gone quiet..... Sigh..... It's quite big and reasonably heavy and an awkward shape - courier costs vary between £20 - £45, depending upon speed and insurance etc, so I want them to choose that, not me. I have a feeling they will cancel the order.... meh

Out for lunch tomorrow for an end of year meal with colleagues Have chosen a very light lunch because of the weather! (Plus it means I may then manage to fit in a dessert too! ) Looking forward to it And then a hair appt at 4pm - not had it cut since 2nd Nov!

Karmacat

I think any progress at all is brilliant, given how distracting the heat is, so that's good progress on the bedroom.  OTOH, fleabayer sounds very suspicious, grrr.

Suffolk_lass

I must admit I have started using FB Marketplace in preference to fleabay when we sell occasional items. It tends to be very much local and no fees so the no-shows are an inconvenience rather than an expense

greent

Well the flebayer has paid me for the courier by bank transfer, so I have packaged up the (very awkward!) item with the help of DS1 and it is awaiting collection by parcelforce tomorrow  

Suffolk_lass, I, too, generally prefer fb00k now for most items, especially awkward or low value - I tend to use flebay for more collectible type things. I've listed 5 items on fb00k today - sadly no enquiries yet, but we shall see. All are suitable for CS if no takers.

Quick attack on DS2's room today with him - we cleaned/ sorted the shelves at the end of his desk, cleaned his bookcase and cleaned/ sorted his windowsill. Another bin full of items to go/ be recycled/ passed on elsewhere  

I think the only other thing I've achieved today is submitting my tax return. Still awaiting details of DH's Gift Aid sales from the CS to finalise his - he will have a tax bill, so any amount (however small!) to reduce that is very welcome! I may have the grand sum of around £1.50 rebate due to me!   Oh - and I've processed 15 courgettes for the freezer - I meant to take some with me when I met colleagues for lunch yesterday, but sadly forgot Now I just need to remember to include them in most things over the Winter...!!

Dinner tonight is not featuring courgettes (although they were in the bolognaise I had at lunch) - instead it is lamb kebabs (mince with diced onions and herbs/ spices mixed by DS1) with HM flatbreads, lots of salad and gunpowder potatoes (my new favourite thing - new potatoes boiled then crushed and dusted with 'gunpowder' spices and baked in the oven - yum! And a mint/ garlic/ yogurt  dressing to drizzle over things

newgirly

Hi greent, sorry for the stupid question but how do you best freeze courgettes?  I’m not sure it will be something I need to know this year as mine have stayed at the cocktail sausage size for a while now, but I’m not giving up hope 😬

Your gunpowder potatoes sound fantastic, I’m going to give that a go! 

greent

I either chop them into lumps (thick slices then quartered) or finely dice/ grate them. The latter way means I can bung them into chilli/ bolognaise/ cottage pie etc with absolutely no visibility. Sadly the high water content of courgettes means you can't  so much with them after freezing that I'm aware of 😞 x

Moneyfordreams

I seem to have had courgettes every meal for a month . We are now getting another crop!! its only Ohs 3rd year of growing them and last year was pitiful. 

greent

I do find that courgette production is either feast or famine! I'm hoping the hot weather has slowed them down a bit (I haven't been watering that patch) - I really can't keep up otherwise!