The Final Furlong

beanielou

Happy lump sum.
Glad that you had a nice meal & that you will get to see your DD even if it wasent how it was how it was meant to be  x

Dottles1

Guess what??  I've only gorn and done it!!
I've paid off all my debt apart from the mortgage.
Such a good feeling.
I'm off to bed now but I just wanted to share
Goodnight 
Dottles x

Honeysucklelou2

Just catching up on your diary Dottles. Congratulations on your retirement and a huge well done on become debt free 🥳.

beanielou

Hurrah.  😀 

maggiem

Congratulations, brilliant news. Hope it's not too long before you are posting the same about your mortgage. 

LABMUM

Congratulations on becoming debt free and your retirement x

Chrystal

Fantastic news Dottles    You must feel as though a weight has been lifted.  What a way to start semi retirement.  XX

Dottles1

Thank you all for your kind comments.  That's the thing about this forum, everyone celebrates along with you,so supportive.
So now I have set a new monthly budget covering bills, a regular savings amount for pots, groceries, petrol and  personal spends (which includes hair cuts, coffees, going out etc.).  This means that I know how much I need to earn privately each month on top of my small pensions, to live reasonably comfortably.  The grocery budget has been a bit erratic since lock down, mostly due to wanting to only visit as few shops as necessary so shopping around has been reduced.  On the plus side I have more time for cooking from scratch and planning meals and I have built u a decent supply of tinned items such as tomatoes and pulses and the freezer is looking healthy which will help.
Enquiries about private work are flooding in and I'm beginning to get bookings in my diary.  I started back with face to face meetings this week and the social distancing measures I put in place worked well.  My office is the first room that you come to as you enter the house, I have hand sanitiser by the front door and throws on the sofa which I change and wash after each appointment.  I also moved the seating around in the office to provide a greater distance between them.  I'm just keeping everything crossed that we don't have further restrictions imposed in my area though the infection rate appears to be quite low locally.
My current list of jobs to do are getting quotes for french doors in the living room to open onto the garden and to investigate the areas of mould at the ceiling line on the outside walls of the house.  My brother believes that I need the soffits replacing as whoever fitted them has done a dodgy job.    I've decided to put updating the kitchen on hold for now as I don't want to spend all of my lump sum.  I also need to research the best place to put said lump sum to hopefully gain a few shillings of interest.  However, those are going to be my Monday jobs.  Today I have DD1 coming over for a socially distanced coffee in the garden, am hours private work early afternoon and then I am going to hoover out the car before my trip to meet DD2 tomorrow as it is now disgraceful.  Hopefully I will get some time in the garden with my book and as always, a little garden pottering. 
Happy days !!
Enjoy your day wherever you are
Dottles x
.

Sunshine_girl2

Hi Dottles , have just read the last few pages of your diary . I am sorry that your retirement was overlooked by your colleagues , but happy that your students recognised your significant event . How happy you must be that the debt is gone and you are starting a new phase of your life with you in charge of your time . Great news on your private tutoring I hope you don't get a local lockdown . Have seen people mention NS&I income bonds on here recently maybe that's a good place to invest at the minute . 

Will keep following you to see how you settle into retirement. Have a good weekend with your family and your little dog . 

beanielou

Happy Friday 😊