"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it."

greenbee

I'm just not quite sure how to work it out... 

badmemory

Well the lower your running expenses are the easier & lower your retirement income needs to be, so you seem to be well on the way there.  Just don't believe the people that say how much less you need when retired.  The only things you don't have are commuting costs & the appropriate clothes.  But you are at home more so your heating goes up especially as you get older.  Going up a two storey ladder to clean the gutters is not really a good idea.  That actually becomes annoying because you land up paying someone to do a job that is not as good as the one you used to do yourself.

rtandon27

My mom across the pond absolutely hates employing others to do things that she should no longer be doing at almost 80!  She refuses to have a service to remove the snow from her drive because she can't stand waiting for them to show up & is well annoyed that they don't do it to her impossibly high standard!  If she could, she'd still be doing the gutters as well, but as you've pointed out going up a tall ladder is really not a good idea!

badmemory

I am in total sympathy with your mum.  It feels like an admission of defeat to admit that those up there & down there things are more difficult than they used to be.  You don't feel any older in your head, it is just your stupid body that is keeping you back.  I won't give up though as long as I can still jive.

greenbee

I already have a lot of help (including clearing the gutters) as work doesn’t currently leave me the time to do everything myself. So I guess I need too budget to continue with that!

rtandon27

I'm firmly in camp 'pay the nice man' & here in the UK 'have builders tea & biscuits to hand'...  

Last year when we had the boiler serviced, the 'nice man' insisted on talking shop with OH.  At some point OH said something along the line of 'I know jack - talk to her, she's the trained engineer'.  I was sitting at the dining table painting my nails at the time refusing to hover while the 'nice man' did his job so you can see where he'd think OH may have had a clue!🤣🤣🤣

greenbee

I don't do tea and biscuits - to be fair, most younger trades don't seem to expect it, as they bring flasks and bottles of water. I generally explain that I'm working, so let me know if they need anything. Tea and biscuits has never been a request! I do make coffee for my gardener (if I'm having one and he's about) and the decorator (same principle) as I know they drink black coffee and I don't have milk in the house. 

Trees and hedging have arrived. Would it be wrong to take a sick day this afternoon to get them planted? Mind you, I need to decide where some of them are going!

Car tax has been paid.

Dog has been walked. Dog and cats eagerly waiting for lunch. Carpet fitter due to measure up and leave samples in an hour, so I need to get changed back into work clothes once I've done food for the ravening hordes of starving animals. 

kazwookie

Would it be wrong to take a sick day this afternoon to get them planted?

Not at all, I'll sign your sick request off, done, now you can  get planting, I've just put in another 3 beech saplins into gaps.

greenbee

Didn't manage to get them planted, and today wasn't any good either. I'm hoping to have some time tomorrow as it looks like the weather should be OK. And given the forecast for Friday I don't think the gardener will make it this week. It's garden waste bin next week too, so I have those to fill too (from the huge pile of stuff cleared from behind the hedge). 

Cleaner is here tomorrow so I need to tidy up, and make a list for her. 

rtandon27

Haha - I love that you have a tidy before the cleaner arrives.  I have a good friend who does this too and is mortified the odd time the cleaner has ended up folding the load of smalls!