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redofromstart

Thank you all - and a Happy New Year to you.

Lovely to see you @juliejim!

sashybo

Happy New Year redo, I bought Hogfather on a 99p kindle deal the other day & thought of you. 🤣

RosaBernicia

Happy new year 

Seasidegal58

Wishing you and your family a very happy New Year and a wonderful 2022!🥳🍾

redofromstart

Thank you @sashybo, @RosaBernicia and @Seasidegal58

Back to work (WFH in my lovely but tiny study as usual for the brave new world) tomorrow so an effort today  to be vaguely tidy and cook up front.   Beef stew portioned and frozen, and dry chick peas boiled for a few minutes, then left for an hour followed by 11 minutes in the instant pot.

Chicken, chorizo and chickpea made.  Finely diced onion sweated for a few minutes.  add diced spicy chorizo and let the colours run.  Add cubes of diced raw chicken and let them brown.  Sprinkle of harissa or Cajun type spices,  Add a little flour and cook off.  Tom puree, chicken stock pot and a white stock pot and give it a minute.  Add random frozen bag of chopped toms/peppers (or a tin!) and some chickpeas, let it all come up to heat and then simmer lid on for half an hour or so.  

Made the difficult decision to exit an elderly cast iron casserole.  I struggle to lift them when full, and the lightweight ones I bought from Azn do the same job without me hurting my hands or burning myself.   Anyone who has seen the pictures of my hand burn knows why this is essential 

redofromstart

2021 achievements:

1. Mortgage neutral.  We could pay it off but the early repayment charges outweigh the benefits, and we may want the cash for a project
2. FIRE for Mr. Redo - hurrah!  Always worth asking what any defined benefit pensions are worth.  Meant he could stop now and focus on house renovation
3. Big increase in my pension investments - finally.  It wont make up for the years when I wasn't earning but better late then never
4.  Great start on Project Renovation - reuse, recycle and restore our way to moving to the rest of life house

2022 aims: 

1.  Save some money every month - harder given the drop in disposable and spend on renovation materials
2.  Finish the ensuite (13 years since I bought the bath for pennies in Homebase!) and move Project Renovation forward every month
3.  Pay off 10% as soon as the new years allowance kicks in
4. Increase my pension contributions

redofromstart

Today I took down and put away the few decorations we has put out.  Subtle and understated - the nicer quality gold coloured ornaments and battery powered lights through the key rooms.  It was driven by necessity (hurt hand) but actually the learning points are that (A) Nobody noticed or complained, (B) I liked the subtle appeal, (C) they took minutes to put away and (D) I didn't have to take any anti histamine's to put them up or down.  

This is mostly a note to myself for next year.  Less is in fact More.

Sun_Addict

Some great achievements for 2021 and lucky Mr redo 😀 I’ve got a wok that weighs a ton, I really struggle with it, mental note to find a lighter one. Also need to increase my pension contributions, I have just 5 years to go.

greenbee

@Sun_Addict - traditional woks are generally light weight steel, so you should definitely replace your heavy one  

Well done on the 2021 achievements. I hope you get the ensuite finished sometime before you retire... 

I've been increasing pension contributions over the past couple of years in the hope that one day I'll be able to afford to retire. At least I have the fun of confusing the taxman in the meantime. 

Seasidegal58

Congratulations to Mr Redo on his FIRE achievement and I hope the en-suite reno goes well. 

In fact congrats to all your 2021 accomplishments!👍🍾
I'd second adding to the pension contributions too - no brainer considering the current tax breaks.....