The impossible dream

Tahlullah.H

Just watched the video.  Very odd.  Very American.  Very fast.

I do have a bucket list, but this is not linked to what I will do when I retire.  Retirement is about living.  The Bucket list is about things to do in between living, such as visiting the Sistine Chapel, attending a Native American PowWow, going to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Flying Emirates, joining a Flash Mob...  

Tahlullah.H

In London for work the last 2 days.  The biggest thing for me has been watching the money leave my bank account.  The level of spend on nothing, in my opinion has been very high, but necessary, just because everything down here is so expensive. 

All this expenditure will have a negative effect on my budget for the rest of the month, but hopefully, I will be able to recover by January.  A bit too much to assume I will be able to get back onto an even keel in December.  Not when I have to start seriously considering Christmas presents and said purchase.  I have at least bought some, plus a load of Amazon vouchers, compliments of Shop & Scan and Top Cashback.  Next will be actually putting my hands in my pockets, just not sure what to get for family and friends.  The same every year.

savingholmes

I would have s similar list of desired experiences I think. I am starting with ballet. Never been to a real performance as an adult. Did ballet for a year as a child.

Ouch to London spends and Xmas budget impacts. I have very carefully managed others expectations this year so trying to keep spends low

Tahlullah.H

I am certain you will love the ballet.  I know I preferred it to the Opera when I was looking at life experiences.  I also enjoyed classic theatre but preferred modern pieces, just because of the humour.

Good luck with keeping your Christmas spends low.  At least you will be buying one present less!  My plan is to eat from the very full freezer, so less to spend on food, releasing more to spend on presents.

savingholmes

Sounds a good plan.

I enjoyed much ado, taming of the shrew and midsummer night's dream. I'd happily watch them again.

Tahlullah.H

Builder got in touch to say he was planning to start on Thursday.  Such a random day, but who am I to complain.  Not sure the weather will be conducive to being on top of a scaffold though.  The forecast is rain this week, with dry spells the following Monday.

Not managing to do much in the house recently, have lost my mojo.  Its the run up to Christmas that's doing it I think.  That and the awful weather.  Perhaps the sensible thing would be to just forget about everything for the moment until the New Year.  Why pretend I am focussed or able to achieve anything at the moment?

Also, uncertainty about work is playing on my mind.  A friend has just been told she is being made redundant - wow, do employers pick their moments!  She has enough money in her pension pot to draw down to allow her to survive for easily a year, without her having to panic, or decimate her pension pot.  She is lucky as she has a good pension from decent employer contributions, but I cannot claim to be so fortunate.  If I lost my job now, I only have enough emergency funds to operate for 3 months at most and my pension pot is tiny, so I couldn't do the same as her.  Plus finding work when older is difficult.

Oh well, perhaps I should realistically try to find an alternative income source to help when this one stops, which it invariably will.  The question is not if, but when.

The positives are that I am still managing my NSD's and currently eating from the freezer.  The only thing I need is milk, but I could do with some Rinse Aid.  The dishwasher won't die without it, so it will have to wait. 

Still burning wood rather that the central heating being on the whole evening, which is great.  Favourite food at the moment is bananas and chocolate, cooked in tinfoil on the open fire.  Lovely.  Need to buy some chestnuts and marshmallows as well to really get into the festive spirit and make the most of the fire.  Nearly time for Christmas Carols as well!  I am already binge watching all the Christmas films.

Tahlullah.H

Received a letter saying I have Jury duty in January 2022. Informed my employer - I won't get paid for those days, I will have to claim expenses from the HMCTS, so the drop in income for the February wage will be significant, if I am out the whole 10 days.

I was getting more and more annoyed about having to fit an Air Source Heat Pump in the future, especially as they don't heat the home (old, stone built building with no cavity wall) to the same temperature as gas central heating, plus the disruption to central heating radiators, underfloor heating if deemed necessary (NO!) and knowing you are going to be cold despite the revenue going into the new system ( Air source heats to 45 degrees and GCH heats to 75 degrees).  Thought it was the only real choice as rural life means off the grid and so electric is the only option going forward.  Anyway, spoke to Calor and they said just change to Biethanol!  This is completely Green and what's great is that there is no change to the infrastructure of the current heating system.  The gas boiler is already set to use bioethanol, so no changes to boiler, pipework, radiators etc needed.  Just change the type of fuel delivered.  Currently, it is 2p per litre more expensive, so I will wait until LPG gets more expensive as the government pushes us away from it, and swap to bi at that point, which will be cheaper as it is 'green'.  Over the moon with this.  But, I do feel for all of those households that are currently heated using Oil.  That's going to require a whole new system fit - to either biethanol, air/ground source heat pump or auto feed biomass, which is a whole other level of expensive.

Decided to make a radiator table to go in the entrance porch.  It looks a bit messy in there at the moment and the little slimline table will offer some cover to the stuff on the floor as well as somewhere to put bits as you walk in; plus a little plant will help make it more homely.  Bought 2 legs from B&Q for under £10 and will paint the wood I have in the garage white as it will be brighter than plain wood or antique pine colour.  First, I need to get the circular saw out!  This will be my project for the weekend.  One step at a time.

powerspowers

Oooh I like the sound of your little table! 

Good luck with jury duty- you should end up better off if you claim wages +travel +lunch? But presents a cash flow annoyance. It makes me a bit cross as not everyone would be able to weather that without borrowing. 

I just wanted to pick up a point you made about Christmas and shopping for family and friends and not knowing what to get. I’ve managed to reduce my list massively (not because I’m tight but because I don’t like the waste and the time it sucks up). I now buy for my nephew, my mum, my other half and then the rest of my family do secret Santa (10 ppl aged 16-66). I’ve stopped buying for friends and wider family.  Martin has a video about reducing unwanted gifts. My other half still buys for his family but I don’t get involved. Just an idea! 

Tahlullah.H

Hello Powerspowers, welcome to my ramblings.  The little table will be great (I think).  Hopefully, it will make a difference to the very small entrance space, by giving it a level of organisation that is not there as yet.  Never made a table before, so it will either work, or it won't!

Jury service should not put you out of pocket, in theory.  TBF, I will be ok whatever happens as I have an emergency budget, but for those who don't?  We can only hope that they find themselves in a situation where it doesn't impact too badly on the household income.

Christmas presents - unfortunately I have parents, siblings, 7 nieces/nephews and 4 great nieces/nephews, so cutting back can be hard.  I tried to stop buying for the nieces/nephews when they themselves became parents, but it doesn't get easier.  Maybe I should just do a £10 limit for all, but not sure how well that will go down with some.  Anyway, I managed to take advantage of some of the suggestions on this site - including the Boots No7 Beauty Collection and the Amazon Echo Dots.  Hopefully, I will have completed the shopping by the beginning of December.  Then, on to cards and wrapping!

I will pop over and read your diary!

powerspowers

Wow that’s a lot to buy for! I’ve got 5 siblings and we started doing the secret Santa as we’ve all got different financial situations- my brothers are only 16. It’s weird just buying for one sibling (especially with the twins!) but it’s working well for us and means it’s £20 rather than £100s! My dad and step mum are in the same secret Santa but also buy for the still living at home kids.