The Piano Diary

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

Home alone as OH is out tonight. The decorating is done and really pleased with the result. I had forgotten how uplifting a new look room can be. We have gone for some 70s retro wallpaper on one wall and then some nice paint on the other walls. We now need to choose the carpet and the blinds/curtains. Should be ok to keep it in budget as long as we are sensible. We are about half way to Easter. This time of year can be a struggle as work is quite full on and the weather doesn't help. We are trying to break it up with small things to look forward to like meals out etc.

I am in a strange period now where I know I am going to hand in my notice at the end of May. I think once we reach Easter it will be super quick to reach that point. In the meantime, just making sure I am doing the best job I can and be professional.

DS has messaged us so hoping to set up a call soon to catch up with him and hear all his news.

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

OH has decided on Roman blinds so went looking yesterday at the shop we have used in the past. Very helpful lady found the colour to match the wallpaper sample we had taken. Quote is around £400 which includes them coming out to measure and fit. A local small family business, they do such a good job so will be going with them. So that leaves carpeting and a new light. Budget so far is £750 decorating, £125 wallpaper, £400 blinds. I'm estimating £350 (this may not be enough, let's see) for the carpet and £60 for the light (plus fitting, I don't do electricals). So total of £1685 so far. Room is a 3.2 x 3.4 metre bedroom. Sunday long run today. Veggie roast later.

AgathaSquirrel

Sounds reasonable. We have a huge bedroom and decorated 2 years ago. We know the carpet cost will be astronomical so have kept putting it on the back burner. We really should get it finished.

Waiting for everyone else to get up so we can go on our short run!

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

At the beginning of March I will have 6 months to go. In my mind I am working my notice, although I will tell them with 3 months to go. This is not because I want to be difficult, but once before I worked a long notice period and I found it wasn’t great. I’m focusing on putting things in the best possible state I can before I go. I’m thinking about it as if I was an interim for 6 months, holding my self accountable for delivering projects before I go.

The new pension freedoms mean we have to make more decisions. I am trying to keep things simple. Moving into withdrawal rather than accumulation, I will no longer be focusing on optimisation but more on simplicity. I don’t want to be particularly active in managing it and making lots of decisions. My pension provider has a partner organisation you can use for flexible drawdown. I have had a look and I’m minded to use them. They are not the cheapest on the market, but I like the simplicity of it and would be happy to pay a bit more so that it can be more hands off. I will have to decide how much to take and in what form. The DB pensions plus their associated lump sums should cover the first years costs for us. This means I should have time to get my head around the drawdown process and decide how much to withdraw and when.

The DC fund was £500k at Christmas and has grown to £512K. I moved away from a heavy investment in the US and diversified. UK and Emerging went up and US went down but overall a 2.5% increase. I wont be making any more changes before I finish in August.

UK fund £158/£150 + 5.3%

US fund £98/£100 -2%

Emerging fund £81/£75 +9%

Bonds £75/£75

Liquidity fund £100/£100

Total £512/£500 +2.5%

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

Managed to catch up with DS via a video call yesterday. It was really great to see him. It’s the first time we have spoken to him since he set sail on his cruise ship in January as a working musician. He has been super busy for the first several weeks. Only one day off per week and most of those have had training courses on them. A few port days where they are allowed on shore. It sounds like he is really enjoying it despite it being hard work. He looked really well so hopefully it is agreeing with him. Super proud of what he has achieved, and that he is being adaptable and resilient. It will really stand him in good stead for the long term. We are looking into sending him a package of some treats from home if we can work out how to do it. He is leaving today again on a cruise around the Pacific.

In more mundane news, we have chosen the carpet for the bedroom. Something like £15 per square metre and the room is around 10 square metres. The clutch on the older car (10 years old) may be on its way out. Strange noises and smells emanating from it. Its booked in on Friday at the garage for a check up. I hope its not a new clutch but lets see.