JollyScot's Journey Starts

Where are you and where are you going?
JollyScot
Posts: 212
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:44 am

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by JollyScot »

Again disagree,

I don't think the bureaucrats are out to get anyone. They just do so by the very process of completing the job. You won't convince me of their net positive impact at this point as I have been on the direct receiving end of the...ahem...not arbitrary process. The devil is always in the detail and there is a never ending increase to said detail.

We are on the different sides of the spectrum in terms of what we think a system should or should not determine. I think they should be determining the absolute minimum and just be concerned with safety. You seem to be somewhere on the side of it should be managed by bureaucrats because it is in the interest of enough people to justify.

That's fine, my view is that in the long term the country as a whole will get poorer as a result. People sometimes confuse the increase in house prices with the increase in actual value. The bureaucrats do not produce anything, we have just decided that what they do is worth the cost relative to what could have happened had they not been there. Or more likely they do what they want and no one much realises until they actual get thrown into the system. Then there is a second order cost of them existing in less developments/upgrades starting overall. The beauty of the bureaucratic system this number is unquantifiable but you can directly point to all the boxes you are ticking.

Based on my initial reading of them and my past experience of other core UK regulations.

UK tax code 20,000 pages of 100% sensible loopholes
UK immigration rules have 40,000 sensible changes in 7 years

I would think view of sensible non arbitrary property regulations might be misplaced. I have not been through them in the same level of detail as the tax and Immigration mess. Based on what you said I suspect you probably work in the sector in some way, Maybe you have a vested interest in it being the way it is or maybe you just do not see it as an issue for day to day transactions.

Maybe you are right and I am being unreasonable. Based on UK being in a housing crisis for most of the last 20-30 years and one of the lowest self build numbers in Europe, I doubt it. Looking in from the outside of the system, it is garbage for trying to leave a pre-defined little box of choices. If you buy a cookie cutter home you have little intention of changing then yeah you are fine. Other than paying more for the house initially.

I suspect it is best to just agree to disagree in this instance. My guess is we are too far away on how we think it should be working to meet anywhere reasonable. Other than a general view it is too complicated. Feel free to construct a response then we can move on.

fingeek
Posts: 249
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 8:16 am
Location: Wales

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by fingeek »

I somehow missed that you were discussing a listed building previously. While it's a convoluted process having to get listed building consent too on various things, it can work in your favour - For example, it's feasible to argue that upgrading the windows would ruin the listed nature, and have the listing trump the building regs as it were. Not necessarily valuable in your particular case, but might be useful to note if you ever do development on a listed building.

chenda
Posts: 3289
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:17 pm
Location: Nether Wallop

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by chenda »

JollyScot wrote:
Fri Jan 01, 2021 4:00 pm
I think they should be determining the absolute minimum and just be concerned with safety
Under this argument any historic district or building in Edinburgh or elsewhere could have be demolished years ago, which I think we can both agree would be absurd. Well maybe you think that's ok, I think that's appalling. I suspect many of your city folk would agree with me.

A lot of what you right is correct - we do indeed have a critical housing shortage in parts of the country, and we do need to encourage new self build, amongst other things. But that's not ultimately the fault of the evil bureaucrats, they're just doing their job. The system works primarily in the favour of large landowners and developers, who play the system to their advantage (as indeed you appear to have noted upthread) and of course is distorted and complexed by lots of other issues like mortgages, car subsidies, pollution, environmental health...and well, urban planning is perhaps a topic for another day...

JollyScot
Posts: 212
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:44 am

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by JollyScot »

Housing

Been a while since I have posted. Still waiting for the country to reopen to get the bathroom finished. Have a small amount of plumbing items that needs to be done and some wiring for the Japanese toilet. We are going with underfloor heating for it, we looked at some of the heated towel rails but decided the underfloor heating was the best for what the room is. I wanted to use a warmer flooring and do without. As we are planning to rent out the room that contains the new bathroom I got convinced that putting in the new system would be a good idea.

Started the process of bringing in people who can help on dealings with the council  for fixing the windows. The type of windows don't really work on the building. They open inwards and due to the high winds the seals are a weak point. Like replacements would be very expensive and have the same issue. If we can get agreement to install properly seal windows designed for the high winds then we will process an upgrade to this. We will be putting the planning rules up against the new pursuit of green houses and see how we get on.

If not possible, then thick curtains will be installed and use to keep the heat in for the winter. This is less ideal due to the amount of windows with some industrial curtain sliders systems we have found it can be workable. It may even be a sufficiently large long term issue that we would consider doing the surface level upgrades sell the flat on. Meaning the floor levelling detailed below could be ignored.

The upstairs has a very uneven floor. Looked for someone that could fix it, the costs were too high. Went away and tried to find an alternative. After some research I think a relatively cheap solution is doing a grid of string emanating from the highest point. Then down low level underlayer of supports that are cut such that everything lines up with the grid. Once down a new flooring can be put down and we can have a level floor throughout the top floor. It is a 100m2 (ish) single space so is going to take a while to do. The new floor will allow a single flooring type to run across the whole space. At the moment there are 3 types of floors in a hodge podge around the bumps. As part of the upgrade underfloor heating will be added here too.  I am not sure we will use it, but for any potential future sale we will install it.

Once the flooring is done some additional insulation will be added around the walls. We can still feels drafts (on top of the windows) coming in. It is comparatively cheap to seal the walls once the are down for fixing. The large room is the one with the kitchen. There is no plan to replace this. We will use the current kitchen counters and just modify the doors and style a little. The current kitchen had 40mm quartz counters so really we don't see the benefit of paying to put in a similar quality kitchen. We will just upgrade the appliances a little.

Work and Money

For general life. My work contract has been extended through to September. That will be my final date, I have already informed them of my intention to end the work at that point. This will give them sufficient time to find a replacement if so needed, whether another contractor or a permanent replacement. Over the last 3 months they have wound down the number of people they have been using to complete the project work. Initially there were 6 people and we are now down to 3. They are leaning on the fact that the 3 left are able to turn round work faster than normal. In general that is fine, but it does mean there are now a lot more details I am having to worry about and tick off. I will need to watch on general hours creep, there is less of a free margin on my time now if things go wrong.

Overall the contract will have earned me a gross amount of about £250,000, so pretty good. Most of this will be paid into a pension (£160,000 of it). It wasn't quite enough to buy my way out of the countries ability to trample on people but it creates more of an emergency margin.

I would prefer it was not in a pension but it would be silly not to put in one beyond a certain income point.

Income Tax = 41%
National Insurance = 2%
Employer National Insurance = 13.8%
Total = 56.8%

Penalty for withdrawing pension funds early 55%. In additional all gains in pension are tax free. So even if I need access to the funds after moving to the 41% tax bracket all possible funds should be put into the pension. The main drawback is the larger risk of the money being stuck and fiddled with rules wise. So the amount in the pension overall will be kept below levels where a change in any limits will be unlikely to cause a negative impact. I think some who get close to allowance limits may get hit in the future.

Health

Recently had a 2 week break from work. During this I attempted and completed a 7 day water fast. Was an interesting experience.

Day 1 - Felt fine
Day 2 - Felt fine
Day 3 - Brutal Hunger
Day 4 - Bit tired but not hungry
Day 5 - Pretty uncomfortable all day (considered stopping)
Day 6 - Felt fine
Day 7 - Felt fine

Post fast my next 3 days I gradually went back into eating food. Then went back to normal.

Day 8 - Vegetable broth every couple of hours
Day 9 - Vegetable soup every couple of hours
Day 10 - Steamed vegetables and chicken 3 times in the day

The result was my weight went from 78kgs -> 73kgs. Before finally settling to 74.5kgs as the water weight came back on. I am not sure if I would do it again, maybe once a year. However it has changed my view of eating a little. Since the fast I have had no cookies, sweets or crisps (chips for Americans). We will see how long term it is. Would never attempt anything longer than this without proper medical supervision. There are some places in Switzerland and Germany that do this as a retreat. The UK doesn't as the NHS consumes the health care area. There are retreats but not medical ones.

Been missing the ability to go for a swim. It has been over a year since the swimming pool next to my building has been open. There was a time when I would go most days and swim 4-6km. I have been doing some kettlebell work and the odd run. The consistency of the effort and large benefit of stretching everything out is just not the same however.

Learning

Japanese learning has derailed completely. The work and trying to do other stuff just hasn't been happening. I have been trying to add in an hour each day just to get it going again. Thankfully didn't forget all of the characters. Gradually moving through the Tae Kim grammar book. Once I am a good chunk of the way through the structures I will add in learning Japanese words. Eventually some sentences. Considered looking at getting an online tutor to force my hand a little. However, would prefer to leave this to when I can go back to a full time blitz again.

Been doing a reasonably good job of reading more books. The last 1 hour before sleep I have been trying to spend it just reading either a book or magazine and avoiding screens. Was tough initially, but removing the phone from charging in the room makes it a lot easier. Eventually I still want to go back to a dumb phone, but I haven't got there yet. I could use the time to do some Japanese, but the flashcards I have been using are all on a screen.

Married2aSwabian
Posts: 265
Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2021 7:45 pm

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by Married2aSwabian »

Wow, a 7 day fast sounds intense! I just did a 24 hr fast last weekend and that was enough for me. Maybe I could stretch it to a second day, but couldn’t envision more than that. We’re there other benefits aside from weight loss? Short fast seemed to be a great “reboot” for the gut and body overall.

4-6000 m is quite a distance. You must’ve swam competitively. I swam in HS and that was distance we did at workouts! I’ve been lucky here in US (MI) that pools allow limited lap swim. Do you have a wetsuit / nearby lake to swim in?

JollyScot
Posts: 212
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:44 am

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by JollyScot »

The 3rd day was by far the worst. That seems to be the full crossover point where the brain will begin operating on stored reserves rather than glucose. The exact point seems to vary for each person. After day 3 I didn't actually feel any hunger just a more general less than optimal feeling. Not exactly weak and not exactly great. I could operate fine but I think a strenuous task would be difficult.

Some have said that they feel mentally more aware once the fat burning kicks in, I didn't get that at all. I certainly couldn't do this while trying to do some kind of work on the side with it. So I am putting that in the bucket of made up.

An additional benefit seems to be that my sweet and salty cravings got removed from my pallet. It will probably gradually pick itself back up as I regress back to western diet. I am doing better with my choices just now though.

Autophagy is supposed to kick in more fully post day 3 when it moves onto the bodies own supplies. Hard to know the validity of this, I have read a couple of papers on it but proper tests are sparse. So I will be assuming any positive impact I feel is merely placebo. Maybe I even undid the placebo effect by thinking it.

I did swim competitively. So going in an happily plodding up and down give the most bank for the buck to me. The general boringness acts as a sort of meditation. I just sort of switch off. A lot hate it, as meditation never worked for me on its own I guess this is a good alternative.

There is a canal outside my building, but no way would risk getting any of that water near my mouth. It is pretty manky. Glasgow doesn't do so well at keeping things clean. Probably the worst aspect of the city.

ertyu
Posts: 2893
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 2:31 am

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by ertyu »

Congratulations on completing your fast! I think everyone (of generally good starting health) should attempt one at least once in their life, if only for the experience. I did one as well a long while ago and the sweet cravings did come back. What happened was, I did well, I did well, I did well, I told myself, "oh that chocolate bar looks good, well, just this once, I've been doing well and I'll go back to doing well" -- and gradually, the "just this once" became more and more frequent until I was back on my old bullshit. This jived with my experience quitting smoking -- there was no, just one cigarette after these 3 weeks doing well. It was 0 cigarettes or a habit. I only quit permanently when I accepted that there will not be "just this once." Ditto with caffeine: I did not consume any for 2 years, got a box of green tea bc "oh well it's not so bad plus it's good for you" and within a year was back to my multi-cup-a-day coffee habit. So my advice is, if you want the change to your palette to stick, beware "just this once." For sweets in particular, I am considering instituting the rule, "only if it's free and I will create a socially awkward situation by refusing." This removes me as a decision-maker. If I have to make a decision, the answer on sweets should be no. If "circumstances" make the decision, that's separate. Haven't yet tested - still have a sugar habit and eat sweets daily, but I know I can't expect to keep doing so and maintain my health.

JollyScot
Posts: 212
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:44 am

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by JollyScot »

Thank you!

I probably agree that it is a worthwhile life experience that most people could benefit from. Just that switch over point where you fell the body starting to kick in different systems.

I'm less concerned about the slow creep of bad food back in. My main vice are crisps and as long as they are not in the house I'm good. Coffee can be bad for me but if I make a pot of green tea first thing in the morning then I will stick to the green tea all day. If I have the espresso first then it will be 3-4 shots through the day.

JollyScot
Posts: 212
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:44 am

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by JollyScot »

Been a while since I have posted. Still bumbling along in the pandemic trying not to get too angry about what is happening around me. In terms of updates.

Work

My wife has managed to find herself a job. She is enjoying it so far and has finally managed to get to know people here since we moved. In terms of her savings rate she is managed to save about 50% of her salary the first month. A reasonable amount went on "work" drivel the first month this jumped to 75% the second month. It is that high because our combined expenses are now pretty low after a few months of declining expenses. It is nice to see her also building up a nice big stack of emergency money.

She complained about the low pay. After realising she keeps more after spending than people who are earning 3-4x as much she was less annoyed. I think she was comparing to my contracting salary rather than average. However mines is more of an outlier in luck really. 

I am still working away. After telling the company I was planning to stop working post September they initially offered me some more money. I refused this due to the fact most would go in taxes so there wasn't much point on me getting a higher salary. They then came back and offered me a part time position of 2-3 days a week for the next year. They would vary the days depending on the level of work that is needed. I am currently considering this. I have had part time before and it is pretty nice. My wife getting a job changes thinking a bit. As the travelling about and doing stuff is less likely now. I am not sure it would even be possible now though without the background work.

Housing

We were considering selling the flat and buying something farther up north with a reasonable amount of land. We have been looking further north in the highlands where there are still large plots of land with a house for sale. We looked around the Glasgow area but the prices are pretty unreasonable. Too many people chasing the same thing with their low interest mortgages. Possibly with inflation this will never come back down in nominal terms. However I think it is better waiting to see how much people are forced back into the office.

Updates to the flat are progressing the bathroom is now finished and we are planning the changes to the second one. Both upgrades are going to cost around 2% of the home price. There was a plan to build a sauna in the second one. Initially we will just do a freestanding bath and if in the future we decide a sauna is wanted by us we will add then.

With there being a chance that we sell or rent it the sauna addition makes less sense as it is not just for us then. We will complete the bathrooms and all downstairs rooms and then make a judgement on what to do with the place. Rents look to be getting too high relative to the mortgaged house prices. So maybe it is better to keep it.


Life

We have been trying to force ourselves back out into local shops and restaurants. The last 18 months has made us more determined to use locally based companies or at least UK owned companies. The larger chain type establishments and the big tech we are avoiding wherever it is feasible. For Amazon, Facebook , Microsoft and Apple we don't use any service. Google has proved much harder to unwind from. I have migrated back to a dumb phone. Everyone else though is still all smart phoned up.

The no smart phone has caused the odd problem going out with the new systems. People just don't believe I do not have one with me. I suspect this is going to not be worth the hassle. The battle has been lost I think. It turns out that not having one to try and keep some sort of sanity is not a valid answer nowadays.

We have noticed the the larger companies are still enforcing and being sticklers for all the rules. So hopefully people notice and begin to switch to those who make some kind of stand against everything. I have given up listening to peoples views on what we should or should not coerce people into during this pandemic. As with all politics people have chosen their sides. All I can do is make the stand I feel is appropriate. The level of treatment we have experienced since moving back to the UK though has made me angry annoyed about making the move back. I am not sure it is better anywhere else though.


Assets/Expenses

Our expense have been trending down. The fixed expense are running at £667pm.

Council Tax = £225
Factor Fee = £150 (+15% YoY)
Food = £150 ( +25% YoY)
Energy = £110 (+37% YoY)
Internet = £22
Phone = £10

The Energy costs have increase 37% in the last year. This was not down to increased usage but a pure price increase. I am comparing a comparable usage amount to last summer. Food costs have jumped by 25% for us. Some of this is the type of food being bought relative to pre pandemic. Not all though. Then Factor fee has increased by 15% and there was a £500 one off charge for a couple of things. With those included then it is a 46% increase.

My Net Worth has jumped in the last year. However I am watching the base living cost jump..a lot. The propose "extra" income source of renting spare rooms went up in a puff of smoke this year. I like the flat however I think I may be in trouble from an inflation perspective in it. As there are too many unalterable costs. I expect the council tax to jump soon too, "Broadest Shoulders" and all that jazz.

These changes have caused me to look at what I think is a reasonable amount of required assets. We can probably still never work again. However had I not picked up the contract I have now, I think I would be a lot more worried about the general position. I have a heavier weighting to defensive items now too. The prospect of watching my 12 years of saving being wiped out is more of a concern than it was 2 years ago.

fingeek
Posts: 249
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 8:16 am
Location: Wales

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by fingeek »

Part-time work sounds like fun! Part-RE :).

JollyScot
Posts: 212
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:44 am

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by JollyScot »

Yeah the part time things are a good halfway house. Give me a little more comfort as the whole choas of last couple years pans out. Finally get back to learning my Japanese...

Gave them a couple choices either 2-3 days a week. Or just the mornings. With wife working full days off won't make much of a difference to what I am up to. However every afternoon off makes it almost seem like a full dayoff. Especially since when I don't work I have a dubious ability to get up each morning.

JollyScot
Posts: 212
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:44 am

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by JollyScot »

So things have been bumbling along ok for us. Doing my best to try and ignore the system burning down around me and just concentrate on getting our stuff sorted.

Housing

1. Mortgage
Eventually we did get the mortgage on the house. It is 300,000 at a rate of 2.25% for 10 years. So we have in effect locked in our housing cost at £562.50 a month for the next 10 year. The repayment is higher but I only count the interest as a cost the rest is just a cashflow item. We have the ability to pay 100% of the mortgage off if needs be at any time. So it comes down to taking advantage of the ultra low interest rates. This should protect us regardless of what the government does.

Keep interest low or lower...House price will rise and inflation up
Raise interest rates...House price drop but our cost are fixed for a decade
Reset system...god knows but at that point I would expect bullion to help (if legal)

I hope that if inflation does kick up a lot then the fixing of the costs and having the bank eat a lot of that inflation should mitigate some of the impact. That and generally keeping other costs down.


2. Heating
We have been working on getting the electricity costs down and have made some headway here. First we removed an old American style fridge freezer. Turns out this was burning through £25 of electricity a month all on its own. Next we have now removed the old electric wet central heating system completely and have started figuring out some of the other options.

Looked at heat pumps. Unless you are someone who always has the heating on the costs to fit it would never be recouped in a meaningful way. Especially in an old converted, listed building. The only way to get the money back would be if governments mandated them and as a result you need it to prevent your home being worthless. So for now we have ruled this system out.

Next we looked at the infrared heaters, we got a couple from someone who had ones they were getting rid of to test them out. The energy use on them has been ok. Although they don't make the house "hot" they take the bite off the cold on the worst days. For the large space on the upstairs this is probably what we will end up going with.

Last heating item we looked at the upgraded storage heaters. But again it would end up meaning the use of a lot more electricity and just shifting when it is being used. I understand the benefits of those overnight cheap rates, however I am less keen on relying on those long term especially for the drawbacks that go with them. In the downstairs bedrooms all of the leaky parts of the room have been sealed now and even on the coldest days we can get by on no need to head the room. That said if we planned to rent out the extra space we would probably get radiators installed.

We have now replaced all of the old lighting with low energy equivalents. It has sort of reduced down the bills but not by too much as we used lamps and things most of the time. Main area of concern was the kitchen and living room which were burning through lighting costs.

The last item on our list is the hot water system and specifically how best to heat the boiler with electric. We have done a couple things here, we have run a direct, insulated feed to all of the sinks and showers. Before this the water was running through massive amounts of uninsulated piping. This has reduced the costs down to a more manageable level. The water tank gets heated for a couple hours in the morning and that seems to do us all day well enough.

As an alternative I wanted to install a large wattage direct heating element that would just run hot water to the systems as and when it was needed. I am not sure this is doable however, or at least the plumber wasn't on board with that idea at all. Pointing out that as it is not done you would never get it through regulations if we were ever to sell. I did this in my last flat with electric shower, hot water taps and my electricity bills were pretty trivial there. Much smaller scale however

3. Upgrades
Next we have the list of upgrades that we have down to do in the flat. A lot of these require carpentry skills to complete. So my new plan is post contract to enroll myself in a carpentry course somewhere in the city. Learn enough to do all of the upgrades myself. After pricing all of the items it seems like it would be with my time to acquire a decent level of carpentry skills and make substantial saving on the upgrade cost. The list of things we are looking to do include the following.

New wood floor
upgrade kitchen
New living room cabinets
New bed system that works with sloped walls
New specific sized desks
New bedroom cabinets

Some of these upgrades will include steps to further the house. Like in the kitchen and living room cabinets will will seal up the wall as part of doing it. The bed systems that work with the slope, will probably look at a way of sealing off that actual bed to keep heat in too.

Work

This is still going along fine. The have been trying to hire people to replace the consultants they have doing their work for months now. I think they have given up and are just about to accept the costs for us to finish the new systems for them. I will probably agree to extend through to end of next year on a part time basis if they ask. It will allow me to use up all of my outstanding pension allowances and the new part time nature of the work is less disruptive to doing other things.

Finances

The average savings rate whilst working has been running at about 80%. It was up at 95% for a few months. Now that my pension contributions for this year are complete my tax rate has jumped and so reducing the savings rate.

For the fixed expense relative to the last updated they will now be as follows

Mortgage = £562.50
Council Tax = £225
Factor Fee = £150
Food = £110 (-26% relative to last update)
Energy = £80 (-27% relative to last update)
Internet  = £22
Phone = £10

The overall energy changes has given is a good reduction in costs even with jumping prices.
We bought in a lot more staples food wise and began cycling through them as part of our meals. This reduced our food expense quite a lot. We still have a lot of days where things jump and we go off track, snacks basically.

Gives us an all in fixed cost of £1,159.50 a month. With the two extra rooms being rentable at £1,000 a month for both of them we can get our actual living costs down to an almost net zero level . Although with renters the electricity would jump again. We are waiting to see if we will bother trying to rent to tourists.

Good progress when written down but in reality not much has really changed other than a crystallisation of some future plans.

JollyScot
Posts: 212
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:44 am

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by JollyScot »

Been a while since I have been on here. Thought I would give a quick update as to where things are with life.

Health

My wife an I have been making steps to improve our general health. Since the new year made some consistent changes that is now beginning to make an impact.
  • Stopped all takeaways and going out for random meals. Go somewhere that makes food that I am unable to make myself. This is limited to once per month.
  • Increased the supply of staples in the house for home cooked meals. Probably have about a 6 month store of core items now.
  • I am still doing the intermittent fasting, it has changed to eat between 13:00-19:00. Then Once a week I will do a 48 hour stint. Snack have been all but thrown out, exception being fancy cheese and biscuits every so often.
  • More consistent gym trips. I do cycling/swimming/rowing for 1 hour every day along with a cycle of specific muscle group exercises. Wife has begun boxing style training class.
  • Gotten rid of the smart phone, smart watch, E-Reader and got myself a nice (for life) watch, an MP3 player and library membership. Beyond maps I have managed to unwind myself from the...but I need it...loop. Wife uses her phone at work so she is more stuck.
  • Limited my internet use to specific tasks now. I set aside 2 hours a week to go and do the random internet browsing that used to waste my time. I could probably reduce this down to zero, but I use signal once a week as well to catch up with people (I call them).
  • We are going to be attempting a no electricity Sunday now that the evenings are bright for longer. So in the house only the fridge freezer should be on for those days...we will see. Will be a fasting day for me so no cooking needed. Wife not on board with that yet.
There are several reasons for the changes. One is general health, I was gradually getting a belly again. My wife had a health issue that could be permanent but we are working to try and improve health sufficiently to get rid of it. Indications are that this has been working so far. It has been hard though as NHS is very much on the just take these drugs forever side of things. We did find a private doctor however that was more willing to try lifestyle changes first.

Life

Started to force ourselves out more in the city
Joined a board game club
Joined a shooting club
Joined a drawing club
Holiday to Iceland

Work

Been settling into the 60% contract for the last couple of months. I now work 4 hours everyday (08:00-12:00). Has been pretty good so far in that I have every afternoon to just go about doing my own thing. In terms of actual working I am producing slightly less for the company but not massively so. I still plan to stop at the end of this contract, but it is a nice partial stop that is helping me get post work routines in place. The last time I stopped I have 4 months or so where I was at a loss on what to do with myself.

Wife has also changed her role to part time (3 days a week). She did find a second job with a language school. Turns out the manager of that was a micro managing nutter so that only last a couple months. Long enough to be dragged into the self assessment tax return net unfortunately. Thankfully her return should be relatively easy to complete.

Finances

I still track things here but not as much as I did. There is still a general expense tracking that gets done at the end of the month. Much like everyone else I have seen costs jump. However with bulk buying and reduction of electricity usage we have limited a lot of it. Main extra cost being Meat and Veg now. Still saving about 75% of net income. This is going to drop soon as the unused pension allowance I have been taking advantage of is about to be finished. So my tax rate will jump up to 58.3% from this point onwards.

Housing

We have had some bigger housing upgrade costs but they have been for materials only. All the labour was done by me and it has saved us a fortune. All 3 bedrooms are now complete, new flooring, new skirting boards, new storage solutions, new painting and wallpaper. Last downstairs item to complete being the master bathroom.

Once the master bathroom is complete we will get the place revalued and decide what we want to do with it. I like the building but I don't like the general overheads of the place. The upgrades to the kitchen and living room along with windows required state sign-off and going through the planning system again. If we can't do what we want then we will sell the place. Adding in the the building committee wanting everyone to pay for new stuff it is getting annoying. We are starting to lean toward a small house where there are no other "stakeholders" making demands on us. Or at least as few stakeholders as we can possibly manage there is always someone demanding you do something.

With the city finally opening up again. If we begin to make use of what it has to offer again then we will stay put.

guitarplayer
Posts: 1300
Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:43 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by guitarplayer »

I find the 'no electricity' day a great idea! Just shared it with DW, she's moderately interested. Started deconstructing it and asking if we'd be allowed kindles, or heating as the control panel runs on electricity etc. But then we have a fireplace at the moment, it would be just such a different day, man! My imagination is on the run.

Hope wife's health issue will get sorted, yep lifestyle changes are so much better. I have been dealing with local GPs in professional capacity for 3 years on behalf of 8 people, it is always some drugs, then drugs for side effects of the original ones, and then some more drugs.

It's going to be quite a change if DW and I relocate to Glasgow, I'll ping you if/when that happens and you're still there. Up near the top of my list would be taking a few Krav Maga classes, there are two schools, one each on both sides of the river.
Last edited by guitarplayer on Thu Apr 21, 2022 2:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

JollyScot
Posts: 212
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:44 am

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by JollyScot »

Yeah that was part of joining the library and building up a set of reasonable board games so we will avoid electronics too. i.e. not just no charging or having technical work arounds.

The hot water will be switched off at the mains for that day too. We have been testing turning on the main water switch the night before planned showers. That has been fine for me because if I forget I'm ok with a cold shower. My wife has had a couple of tantrums on her forgetting days. So once a week and go from there. Similar with heating, it probably won't be on again now until Oct/Nov next year so no electricity worry there.

We will probably be in Glasgow until our visa/passport is sorted. If we do leave it will be to Aberdeen for cheap housing and larger bits of land. Or rent somewhere in England.

I think one of the Krav Maga classes you are talking about my wife attended. She got upset it was too busy for a small space. Not sure how much of that is unreasonable complaining though.

JollyScot
Posts: 212
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:44 am

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by JollyScot »

So I have been away for ages.

Main update, wife is pregnant with an expected Christmas baby.

fingeek
Posts: 249
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 8:16 am
Location: Wales

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by fingeek »

Congratulations! Does this change anything for you? Or was it sort of part of the masterplan?

mathiverse
Posts: 788
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:40 pm

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by mathiverse »

Congratulations!

JollyScot
Posts: 212
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:44 am

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by JollyScot »

It was not planned but it does not put much of a dent in our plans either. We will still probably be in the same place until passports are all sorted. Then we will have a think about where we want to be.

Although we like the flat we are in. At some point we will either switch over to a house with land that will allow more opportunities for us to do non city based stuff. We had a look at a few pieces of land but as yet have not found anything that is usable without a fight to get permissions. I have learned more about what you can and can not do however. It is even more restrictive than making changes to houses.

As of now we are just finishing off the items in the property in advance of kid coming.

I did convert my contract back over to full time through to the end of the year. When the child comes this will be finished and I will be back to "retired". So will be a nice start.

guitarplayer
Posts: 1300
Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:43 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: JollyScot's Journey Starts

Post by guitarplayer »

Hope all goes as you intend with the JollyBaby! Also, hope all goes well with passports, DW and I are setting on this route round the time the baby arrives.

Post Reply