Busy Mee's Last Leg

Busy_Mee

Good  morning. Another week done and another hectic one at work, however not too stressful this week. I have put a plan in motion to move away from the thing I find very stressful, it is taking a bit of manoeuvring but I now confident that I won't have to be responsible for this area of work in the future. I also managed to take Friday off and am now aiming to work a 9 day fortnight. I came to the conclusion that I need to take control of my well being, because honestly no one else cares. 

I also mentioned the 'R' word to my boss and the first time he just ignored me. The second time he did actually ask when I was thinking about going and when I said the next year or two. He just dismissed it, because it will apparently depend on whether I get permanent promotion and Covid. And maybe not matey !  People In our organisation can't get their heads around people retiring early   

In financial news, Mr Mee's £100 switching bonus from Lloyd's  has been paid and I set up the standing orders for £1500 to swish the the accounts. It goes in one day and back out the next to avoid the £3 charge. I really like Lloyd's online banking, very straightforward and intuitive. I think I would make a great reviewer of online banking, having experienced them all    

DS had his first week in his new job and really enjoyed it. He is already looking less tired which is great to see. He met us at our local Italian for tea on Friday to fill us in on how it had gone.

My big excitement this week was the arrival of my new wellies . These are lovely short Chelsea boot style wellies with a furry lining. They keep my feet warm and dry and I love them. This excitement tells you everything you need to know about my sad life 

We are off out for a pub lunch today while we can. I think the announcement tomorrow will mean Tier 3 restrictions here, so pubs, bars and restaurants are likely to close. Such a shame for those businesses and the people that work in them. The ones we go to have worked so hard to make them safe. 

Anyway we will wait with bated breath for Bumbling Bozza's announcement tomorrow and I will try not to rant at the TV !

South_coast

Love the idea of reviewing online banking, now that's a survey which would be worth doing! Your wellies sound fab, take the excitement where you can and no shame 😀

Suffolk_lass

Your life's not sad - it's busier than mine and I'm mine isn't sad (me thinks the lady protesteth too much...)  :

I have got lovely wellies too - I splashed out on some muck boots in the sales and they are a revelation. So warm and like lower leg walking boots. Who knew? They are essential here with lots of muddy tracks and long grass. 

I love the idea of reviewing accounts. I have a definite usability view of the four I use and I know DH dislikes the one he uses for the lodger house DS part owns.

It is rather worrying, this exponential growth in cases of Covid. Although we are in a low infection region, the cases for our bit are higher than others locally and have increased three-fold in a week on that postcode searcher map, although we don't know of any in our little village.

Busy_Mee

Another week on the coronacoaster and we have been designated Tier 2. This is actually better than expected. The pubs and restaurants stay open but we can't meet anyone from outside our household indoors. That has scuppered plans I had to meet a couple of friends I haven't  seen since February.

The moral of that story is seize the window of opportunity whilst it is open. Folk in Tier 1 take note.

I have, however taken the opportunity to agree with a couple of friends not to do Christmas presents this year on the basis it is too hard. I am hoping we won't start again  . 

We have had the builders here this week and I now have a gin and tonic patio at the bottom of the garden where we  get the final sun of the day. It was originally going to be for a gin and tonic bench but it is much bigger than expected, so will have a summer house instead. That will be a project for next year.

DD is away on holiday this week, so we have taken the opportunity to paint all the drawers in her room (Ikea Malm) a mid grey colour. They have come up really well and smartened up the whole room. We also ordered a much needed new mattress, which led to a new mattress protector, pillows, duvet cover and lamps  . She doesn't know, so I am hoping it will be a nice surprise when she gets home. She has been talking about it for a while, so I do know what she wanted.

Nothing much to report on the financial front ( apart from all the spending above) . The holiday fund that we have been using to pay for work on the house is more or less empty and needs replenishing in case we can go anywhere next year. I claimed £11.33 from TopCashback and need to scrape a few barrels to achieve £500 in the odds and sods account to chip off the mortgage this month.

I think that is all. I have made a quiche for dinner to use up a glut of eggs. I found out today that you can use olive oil to make pastry (I had no normal shortening). It was a bit of a drier consistency and not as pliable as normal pastry, so we will see how it tastes.

enthusiasticsaver

Hi Busymee.  I have not commented on your MFW diary before but wanted to say congrats on being mortgage neutral and I can thoroughly recommend early retirement.  We retired at 58 for DH and I worked 3 days a week until 57 when I also took early retirement.  That was almost 3 years ago now.  We also have had to postpone our Canada trip  which we were supposed to go on last month and we have postponed until September 2021.  Not sure how things will be then even but will think about it next year. 

We used S and S ISAs and SIPPs to invest our retirement savings pots (apart from emergency fund and savings pots) and like you we are lucky enough to have decent final salary pensions.  I keep drumming it into my DDs and SILs heads that they need to keep on top of pension contributions and eventually aim for 15 % .  Youngsters sadly will not enjoy the good pensions we did although my eldest has the Alpha Civil Service pension so she may be ok. Will subscribe to see the final bit of your working life and see how you enjoy retirement.  I do not know when we had time to work although we have taken  up new hobbies and challenges so I think these may be using up the time we used to spend working and we now do childcare at least one day a week for our grandchildren so this is only since retirement. 

Busy_Mee

Hi Enthusiasticsaver. Thank you for popping in. I have "seen" you about on the Debtfree and pensions boards and think you give such good, supportive advice.

As you probably have gathered I have been flip flopping all over the place about retiring early. It feels such a big decision to give up everything you have known and the security of the income.  It is great to have the choice now though. I am sort of waiting for a sign now 

Feel free to follow along and chip in if you want to.

QueenJess

Busy_Mee said:

As you probably have gathered I have been flip flopping all over the place about retiring early. It feels such a big decision to give up everything you have known and the security of the income.  It is great to have the choice now though. I am sort of waiting for a sign now 

I can definitely relate to that.  I've been planning to leave my job and take a career break for a while, but never actually managed to do it as it seemed crazy to turn down good money.  I was almost relieved when I was made redundant as the choice is out of my hands!

themadvix

I'm loving the sound of your G&T patio Busy Mee (and I don't even drink G&T!). I'm sure your DD will be very appreciative of her room makeover - how lovely to have done that for her.

Getting rid of presents with friends is a good move. We did this years ago and it makes life so much easier - and it's nicer just to see them (which of course may not happen this year! I need to message the group for a date for our Christmas get-together - thinking brief Zoom during the day to see babies/children etc. and then curry and drinks in the evening once the kids have gone to bed!). Fingers crossed that your friends realise that life is better without  unnecessary presents

South_coast

I'd like to do it with my parents - I have genuinely no idea what to get them, and have no ideas for myself either (they also have late November/early December birthdays too, so I get a double-whammy). I gently broached the subject last year and my Mum sounded horrified "Oh no, we'd like to get you a present...." so not sure I have much chance this year!

enthusiasticsaver

Busy_Mee said:

Hi Enthusiasticsaver. Thank you for popping in. I have "seen" you about on the Debtfree and pensions boards and think you give such good, supportive advice.

As you probably have gathered I have been flip flopping all over the place about retiring early. It feels such a big decision to give up everything you have known and the security of the income.  It is great to have the choice now though. I am sort of waiting for a sign now 

Feel free to follow along and chip in if you want to.

I think many of us struggle to know when is the time.  I pushed my DH to retire (not a great deal of pushing needed ) when the constant change of management meant he was always moaning about his job.  Same for me, when the umpteenth restructuring happened and we were losing staff without them being replaced meaning the workload increased drastically.  What we did is to monitor the income forecasts and live off that for about a year.  If part time is an option for you I would definitely look at that as this will ease you into retirement.  Also do not under estimate how much you save by not working. No commuting costs and no temptation of shops.  It is a big decision but I have not yet met anyone who has regretted it.