The Big Adventure

Karmacat

Anticipating a holiday is a lot of fun in itself, isn't it! Keep thinking about it during the housework

Watty1

love reading your plans ... and ...if you reach the tipping point re the Marlow do post it here

Goldiegirl

Watty1 wrote: »

if you reach the tipping point re the Marlow do post it here

I feel sure it will happen, as we love theatre trips. Local theatre is so much more affordable than the West End. If you can wait a few years all the shows end up on tour.


Had my hair done yesterday - another £73 paid out, but I feel presentable again


It's all paying out at the moment.


We've spent £95 this morning, £42 in M&S on three large plates of food to be collected next week, for Mr Goldie's little leaving do he's going to host at work.


Then, £53 in Sains. About £20 was for fruit juice and crisps to top up the M&S order, and also some things for me to take to work on the last day. I'll also have to buy a few more bits next week.


The other £33 was for us -some wine and some treats for when we are home between Christmas and New Year.


I'm sure the food for our colleagues could be done cheaper elsewhere if we shopped around, and made everything from scratch. But we need to weigh up the convenience and the fact that we have no inclination to be catering for a little party a couple of days before we go on holiday.


This retirement is a one off - it won't be happening again (I hope!)


But I am going to do *something* more frugal. This afternoon I'm going to make some mince pies to go in the freezer, ready for when we come home from our holiday

Karmacat

Love home made mince pies!

When there's a bit of a do, and you don't want to do home made, you can't beat going to one of the nice chains for their catering, its brilliant.

WhiteSnowdrop

I love having my hair done, I really do think it makes all the difference to how you feel about yourself.

WS

Karmacat

Ouch, maybe there's a lesson there for me, about getting my hair done ...

Watty1

Yes! had my hair cut yesterday and feel sooo much more cheerful

Goldiegirl

Thanks for dropping in:)


I agree, a hair cut is a good way lift your spirits


Well..... another two days ticked off, and now there is just one more day to go !!:j


It is an astonishing feeling to be on the brink of something that has been dreamed of, and planned, for so long.


I can't quite believe I'm almost there. This is such a big thing - I've almost forgotten how big it is. I've been so busy getting on with my day to day life, planning sensibly and not trying to wish my life away, and now it's suddenly hit me...... our lives are going to change, big time - and I'm really excited all of a sudden :beer::j:T


Mr Goldie came home with a present from his employer - Everybody has this, so it's not just a retirement thing. They've all been given a £200 JL gift card:j, which was very nice. I've already earmarked the money - we can use it to get the Freeview box that records, that I've got my eye on. This is just what we'd like for when we ditch Sky in the New Year.


I've had £18.50 paid into my bank account, for the claim I made on my work health insurance policy, for my dental check-up I had done last week. This will be the last time I can use this, but it has been a nice little policy to have.


I've finally managed to get to the next pay out point on Opinion Outpost, after stalling for two weeks. I had lots of surveys offered to me, but was being screened out all the time. But I was finally able to claim £10, which has already been paid by PayPal. They are very quick to pay out, and I've earned £60 in total from OO since the summer, so I can't really complain. But I need a break from them for a while, so I'll wait until the New Year and see if I want to get going again.


I've made my last payment to my Virtual Sealed Pot. £1.59 has been transferred, and my yearly total is just under £200. I'm going to use this towards spending money on my cruise. I'll do a VSP in 2015, even if it's not an official Challenge


A card came through the door today - I owe £1.53 postage on an under-stamped letter. I suspect it's a Christmas card that someone forgot to stamp. I'm tempted to leave it, but it could be a vital letter..... I'll *have* to pay up, just to be on the safe side. It can be done online, so I'll do it over the weekend.

shala_moo

Goldiegirl wrote: »

Well..... another two days ticked off, and now there is just one more day to go !!:j

:j:j:j Which day is it?

A very exciting time for you and Mr Goldie... enjoy your last day, knowing you'll never have to get up and go to work again!! :T

Goldiegirl

shala_moo wrote: »

:j:j:j Which day is it?

The big day is 18th December - we both finish work on that day.


I'm looking forward to the day, but in many ways just want to get it done and then we can get on with the rest of our lives! :rotfl:


We've put up our Christmas decorations today. We have a tree, a few bits of tinsel dotted around and a couple of sets of lights strung around.


It only seems like a couple of months since we put them all away. This year has raced past.


Mr Goldie has renewed his over-60's railcard, with a £5 discount ( thank you to Karma for drawing my attention to this), so that's £65 paid for 3 years. He paid £65 three years ago for his first card, so, with the discount that's no increase at all. Not bad!


I've written two more letters to HMRC, to be posted when we return from our holiday, to again ask them to allocate our personal allowances to our pensions. If this doesn't work, we'll have to brace ourselves to phone them - but at least we'll have the time to do it!