Progress not Perfection

PennysIntoPounds

Oh hi Mrs 'not shedloads' finishing her mortgage a year and a quarter early, get in 🥂

If you've had enough of work, but want to get out of the house regularly, and don't want an argument every time you do, what are your plausible options?
If stress from Mr SA wasn't an issue, how would you ideally view your time left at work and retirement, and what of that might you be able to put in place given reality?

I'm am so chuffed for you that your gaff is now entirely yours and that you're now on the home stretch to have the difficult choices of retiring, blimmin good for you 😊✨️

enthusiasticsaver

Congratulations on being mortgage free.  Not sure how old you are but I get my state pension at 66 which is next month.  They send you a letter to claim it 3 months beforehand. If you aren't 66 until the next tax year I think that delays the state retirement date.  My friend who is 66 in May so just three months younger than me has to wait until she is 66 and 4 months before she can claim her pension. Deferring it will increase the amount and presumably your occupational pension as well.  You need to look at the tax implications of when you retire and draw on the pensions. 

I am sure you will do what is right for you and hope you set a plan in motion to get you some much needed respite and don't be sucked into Mr SA hijacking your time.  Even those of us who do not have the caring responsibilities you do often need space from their partners after retirement.  Both DH and I have separate hobbies but also stuff and travel we do together.  I know some who after retirement do everything together but we both need our space and independence. 

Humdinger1

Congratulations @Sun_Addict! Mortgage free!! Impressive as ever and I'm sure you're working on a plan to keep some time to yourself to stay sane.  It's for Mr SA's benefit too if he could only see it.  Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx 

ladyholly

Congratulations on being mortgage free. Have you designated where that money will go so it doesnt just get spent on random things. In your case holidays might be a good option for some of it.

Sun_Addict

ladyholly said:

Congratulations on being mortgage free. Have you designated where that money will go so it doesnt just get spent on random things. In your case holidays might be a good option for some of it.

The majority of it will go to savings but I’ve added a little extra to my personal spends for lunches out with friends or the odd treat. 

Sun_Addict

Happy Saturday 🥂

Went to the big Mr T this morning with the soft plastics recycling and picked up a couple of things we needed. A lot of the shelves were bare and they didn’t have any TV guides. However the small Mr T was a lot better stocked. Mr SA likes to have a TV guide so he can study it. At Christmas I treated us to the Radio Times, it was £6.50 😱 but far superior to the others. Mr SA blamed it on him missing the film Zulu the other day because channel 5 was on a different page to the TV guide we usually get 🤣 He must’ve seen that film more times than I’ve seen Love Actually and that’s going some 😆

This afternoon I took down the majority of the Christmas decorations just got the tree to do tomorrow. It doesn’t look bare because we have fairy lights, candles and a lighted twig tree all year round. 

Mr SA went up the ladder to the loft despite me asking him not to. He managed to reach an old Christmas tree and a few other bits that have gone in the skip. I sorted out the box of vinyl that he and DS retrieved on Christmas Eve and quite a few albums have gone in the charity bag. Our local charity shop sells vinyl and I often see people browsing through it so hopefully the shop will benefit. 

Today’s exercise was walking to/from the big Mr T and the 10 minutes yoga challenge. 

Tonight’s dinner was yellow split pea curry, recipe from a PON cookbook. 

Watching The Masked Singer on ITV plus one with Prosecco 🥂

Sun_Addict

Forgot to say the sun was so bright and so low on our road this morning it was almost impossible to see where you were going. Mr SA crashed his scooter into a lamppost and it triggered the crash cut out. So he had to sort that out before we could recommence our trip to Mr T. I had visions of me having to push the scooter back home but thankfully not. 

warby68

I would be hopeless being you SA. I'd either laugh too much at Mr SA's mishaps or be so embarrassed, I'd be waiting for the ground to swallow me up. I can always remember one description you gave of him navigatiing, or rather not navigating a garden centre cafe full of people. One good thing is that his rate of injuries to mishaps seems quite low but as the for collateral damage, well I suspect he might be somewhat well known in the area by now. 

As for the loft steps - I would have been head in hands somewhere I think. You must have nerves of steel by now, not necessarily your choice of course but the way you carry on going on hols etc and let him carry on with his own not so great choices yet stay relatively calm and sane is testament to an amazing character and sense of commitment. Not the life you chose, but one you are making the most of where you can. 

Workwise, DO give full consideration to a wind down period - fewer days, fewer hours in a couple of stages. I have had many stories how that has helped the adjustment and particularly the enjoyment of the last stage of a long working life plus reducing the cliff edge of suddently being at home with a partner permanently, whatever stage they are at. You have more reasons than most to manage that carefully. You can also easily cheat (for the greater good) and for Mr SA's purposes be at work just a little bit more than you actually are. A good testing ground for how you might play things once its full and permanent. Sadly, I've heard more than the occasional tale of a full retirement 'all of a sudden' introducing all sorts of problems and even resulting in a rather lost longtime worker. 

Sun_Addict

Thank you @warby68. Some of my friends are currently doing the part time wind down to retirement and others have gone cold turkey. I haven’t come across anyone who has regretted retiring yet 😆 However the difference with me is I have a very needy OH with no interests or hobbies who wants to go everywhere with me. Just yesterday I mentioned I could do with some more storage boxes and was thinking about going on the bus to BnM. Straight away he said I’ll come down on my scooter and take them from you. I didn’t go in the end. He has been warned that when I retire I will want to go out on my own sometimes. I know I’m going to have to be firm with him. 

Sun_Addict

Morning all. Been up since 5  🥱 It’s nice though as DD has gone to work and Mr SA is still asleep so it’s just me and the dog. 

I’ve got loads to do today but don’t want to start anything and wake Mr SA up just yet. I need to take the Christmas tree down, everything else is boxed up ready to go in the loft. 

I’ve got a bag of donations for the charity shop so that’s made a start on the decluttering. They’re open today so will pop down. 

Today’s exercise plan is the 10 mins yoga challenge, dog walking and a short strength training session. 

Trying a new recipe for dinner from Ella Mills new cookbook - satay style aubergine stew. Also making a batch of parsnip, carrot and lentil soup for work lunches. 

Hoping for a NSD.