The Big Adventure

Karmacat

Hiya Goldie - I was just rabbiting on Suffolk Lass's thread when I saw you'd posted. You've been working hard at the genealogy! Excellent news And in general, what a lovely retirement you're having.

Goldiegirl

it really has turned out to be a lovely retirement. We've been so lucky to have had this time, while we are still relatively young and healthy - and I do reflect on that from time to time. We never take it for granted. Nobody knows what's around the corner, but if we can carry like this for a while longer, we'll be more than happy.

Oh, I just remembered something else that has been filling our time. A couple of weeks ago, we signed up to Netflix. I was beginning to think we were the only people left who didn't subscribe, and people I know have been telling me how often they watch it. For a while I've been wanting to watch 'The Crown', so we decided it was time. We went with the £8.99 pm subscription, so it streams in HD. I've already made a long list of things that I want to watch, and we are currently binge watching The Crown. I think it'll be money well spent.

Karmacat

I do like Netflix! I watch it while catsitting. Not quite as easy to search as Amazon Prime, but good enough. If I have to upgrade my broadband to cable, I might let go the tv licence and use Netflix instead.


So pleased for you enjoying your life so much

Goldiegirl

My friend says she rarely watches 'normal TV' any more, she just watches Netflix all the time, so I think just having Netflix could work for people. It's been great over Christmas, as we have used it a lot, as there wasn't much on TV that we fancied watching.

I'm now in review 2019 mode.

I don't keep much in the way of figures anymore, but noted the following over the year

Supermarket spending averaged £217.58 per month, up by approx £6 from 2018. It was an odd year. I stockpiled for Brexit, then ate the things in my bursting freezer. Later in the year, I had another, more half hearted attempt, as it didn't look as if they'd be mad enough to leave with no deal (and they didn't). So, again, we had to eat everything we'd bought. But don't mention the tin cans - they are tucked away all over the place!


Ebay total profit after all fees £195.86. I don't do much eBaying any more, and I've also had an eBay epiphany, after I sold two delicate/breakable objects. I spent ages, carefully packing then, only for them to be broken in transit. Therefore, I will now only sell things that are easy to pack and won't break.

Prolific Academic surveys. I earned about £160. I was pleased with this, as I don't spend much time on it, and sometimes don't even bother with surveys that I'm offered, if I don't like the look of them.

Goldiegirl

Here's what I planned at the start of the year, and what actually happened

Finance
Generally, just carry on with what I've been doing for the last few years.
Keep a special eye on SIPPS and S&S ISAs. Our portfolio is well diversified, and it's long term savings. However, this year is likely to be rocky, so I want to a) keep my nerve, but b) de-risk if necessary. It's like walking a tightrope!


I was partially successful it the monitoring of our investment portfolio.

It didn't help that we had some money in the Woodford fund that has had all the problems. Fortunately, I had withdrawn most of the funds in the last couple of years, so we haven't been too badly affected, but we will make a small loss on this. They will be winding down the fund in 2020.

Apart from that, the investments have performed well. Because of the good performance overall, I didn't notice at first that our best performing fund suddenly stopped performing. I eventually noticed, but probably should have seen this about two months earlier! There is room for improvement in this area!


Home

Decorate our bedroom and get new bedding and other accessories, plus a small wardrobe for an unused corner.

Done in January

New bathroom and cloak room. Our current bathroom suite is 30 years old - it badly needs renewing.

(I've already got the money saved for the bedroom and bathroom).

Done in June and July. More expensive than originally planed, but I think that happens quite often

New laptop - my current laptop is 7 years old and is now getting very eccentric!

Done in May.

Garden - cut back remainder of large shrubs - will probably need to get someone in to do this, as they are now very tall.

Done in July, but after a big kerfuffle with Tree Preservation Orders.

Decorate hall and stairs, with new carpet for stairs. This may get carried forward to 2020

Done in August, we were on a roll by that time

Also, something I was originally thinking about for 2020 - we got a new iPad each. My original iPad was dying, and it didn't seem fair for me to get a new one, and have Mr Goldie still limping long on his ancient phone, so he got one as well.

Plus something unplanned. Decluttering of various larger objects in the loft and shed, plus assorted garden rubble that had been dumped over the years at the side of the house. We used Hippobags and the waste was collected from our house. Very pleased to get this done

Memories

We have two cruises booked, in May and September. Also we hope to do more coach days out and more coastal walking.

Two great cruises. In May, the highlights were the Kurkenhof Gardens and Monet's Garden. In September, I think the best bits were Santorini, and going to the Alhambra in Granada. We were a bit limited on days out, as we were very busy with decorating. But will remember trips to Audley End in Essex and the Dad's Army Museum in Thetford

Health

Now that I seem to have been able to shift the generalised anxiety that I was suffering from, I want to keep this frame of mind going
Weight - Don't put on any weight this year
Walk 1000 miles in 2019

Generally, my frame of mind has been calm. I definitely haven't slipped by into the anxious frame of mind that I was suffering from a couple of years ago.

Weight. The weight in point I use is just before Christmas. I had put on three quarters of a pound over the year. Could be better, but could be worse.

Walk 1000 miles in 2019. We had the bathroom done in prime walking time, and have been busy with other decorating. The wet autumn has not helped either. I've known for a while that this was not going to be achieved. The figure as at today is 914 miles.

Reading
I have 13 books waiting to read on my Kindle, and 17 unread
paper books, that I've had since I got my Kindle in 2012. I want to get most of these 30 read, before I buy any more! I've just read the first of the physical books -I love my Kindle, but I had forgotten the pleasure of holding a book and turning the pages.

I ended up with 6 books unread, mainly because they looked to boring or had really bad reviews. Some of the other books were really good, others not quite as enjoyable. By about September, it was becoming a chore, so I abandoned this. However, going forward, I will never let a book mountain build up. Two or three books waiting to be read is ample

Brexit
I don't think it's possible to plan for the year without mentioning Brexit. I thought it was a mad idea two and a half years ago at the time of the referendum, and I think it's insanity now! I've been quietly buying additional food items since the autumn, and will ramp this up into the new year. Unless there's an outbreak of common sense, I feel a no deal Brexit is the most likely outcome, which could cause all sorts of problems in just three months time. Therefore, all my plans are fluid as I may need to adapt them to changing times.

What can I say. It's still mad, and I still have a pile of tin cans

Overall, I'm pleased with the year. We got a lot of things done on the house, so, in future years, we won't have to think about this again. It's been money well spent, as we are enjoying all the improvements.

Goldiegirl

OOH, something else I forgot to mention. This time last year I had 3055 points on You Gov, and was getting fed up with the lack of surveys. I eventually got to 5000 points at the start of this month. It took 2 and a quarter years to make £50 ! I'm going to delete my You Gov account, because it doesn't seem worth it any more

My plans for 2020 will follow in a couple of days

Karmacat

Nice one, Goldie! You've done such a lot of renewal in the house - I'm sure it must feel great. Interesting to me that you've renewed your laptop, I'm wondering about that, mine is that age and literally falling apart, ever so slightly but my phone stopped working altogether and so I bought a new one urgently. Just hoping the texts etc can be transferred, I'm not sure I've saved them correctly.


Looking forward to reading your 2020 plan

Goldiegirl

I haven't regretted getting the new computer. It is so much faster than the old one. I was literally limping along on the old one. What with the new iPads, we are hopefully technologically sorted for the next several years. Mr Goldie's phone is about 5 years old and has a small screen, but he doesn't use it much. My phone is only about two and a half years old, but the battery is very worn. I hope to get a new battery, then it should be ok for the foreseeable future

Goldiegirl

Here's my plans for 2020

Finance

2020 is a landmark year - I will be 60 in March. I have an old pension from Barclays that I can access at 60, so I will be contacting the administrators, with a view to getting this paid from March. I have no idea how much it will be, but very small, as it only covers the years 1978 to 1981. But every little helps

Get a Senior Railcard. For some reason I'm very excited about this.

Improve monitoring of investments, so that any changes can be made in a timely way.


Home

Revamp kitchen. This will be an upgrading, not a full refit. We definitely need new doors, plus the sink and taps look very tired and our fitted fridge isn't very efficient any more. We'll also consider new work tops and flooring. When this is done, it will be the last of the major works on the house.

Make the garden look prettier. We put in the ground work last year, what with cutting down the shrubs and clearing rubble and ant remaining large stones. We hope to spend more time outside, so will be looking at additional pots and planters, maybe a bistro dining set and a parasol.

I've got stuck in a rut with cookery, as I keep doing the same old meals. I therefore intend to find some new recipies so we can have more variety.

Health

Continue to keep a positive frame of mind. It makes everything better to be generally happy.

Walking - aiming for a 1000 miles.

Weight - keep my weight stable.

Memories.

Only one cruise this year in April to the Canary Islands.

We also have two coach trips books. In May we are going to Northumberland and in August we'll go to Edinburgh (for the Tattoo). Also we are going away for a weekend in March for my 60th birthday.

Also, I intend booking some day trips and we plan to get out much more this year, as we won't have so much work to do on the house.

Brexit.

I can't believe I've still got to mention this. I think that not much will happen this year, as there'll be the 'transition period'. I therefore hope to use up some of the mountain of tins that I amassed during stockpiling. I find it quite annoying to have tins tucked away in random places as it makes me feel cluttered. However, I will be paying close attention to events, in case I think it's necessary to build up stocks again (I'll be really cross if this happens) This time next year everything could be resolved..... or not. I guess we just have to wait and see


So there's my plans - quite moderate after the last few years of working on the house, so I'm hoping to achieve most of this

Karmacat

It sounds great, Goldie. The rail card *is* exciting, by the way :rotfl: I save a huge amount of money by using it, what with trips and day trips and family and shopping and whatnot.

Brexit ... sigh ... this time next year, it'll be the end of the transition period, possibly, and who knows where brinksmanship and idiocy and sheer mistakes might take us? In any case, end of December is slap bang in the flu season, so my foodstocks will be high, as they are every winter.

Here's to budgetting and making memories.