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Friday, February 27, 2015

A typical week of retirement

I made it to the gym on Monday and had a great workout. Then I bent to do something totally normal - it was either emptying the dishwasher or feeding the dog - and I hurt my lower back. Yikes - no more gym this week, but if I move carefully I can carry on normally with some Ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation. Thankfully the dog hasn't been too insistent on walks in this cold weather so I have been helping her have a ball to chase by kicking it instead of throwing it. She must burn up her energy somehow. Today it feels much better but still tender in one spot so I am being careful.

I held a board meeting for my Friends of the Library group and did my library volunteer stint so I had some nice and varied social interaction. Unfortunately I will not attend lunch with former colleagues today as it is a long drive and my back still hurts.

Last week I ordered a pair of spring shoes and a pair of sandals but both didn't fit. They had free returns so they go back and I ordered two different pairs in hopes they will work. We'll see. Returned some other items that I had ordered that didn't fit and had to pay for those returns. Pretty much over ordering any clothing online that I have to pay to return.

We went out for Thai food at our favorite restaurant up the street on Sunday evening and it was a nice peaceful night to go out as it clearly isn't a date night LOL.

I also filled out tax forms using the pdf version available on the irs.gov website and our state tax website. You can save the form so you can change it if needed. We owe the IRS money - sigh - so I had better pay estimated taxes for 2015. I don't understand why the payroll withholding table always underestimates and we always owe the IRS if we don't pay estimated taxes. We will get a bit of a refund on state taxes as the payroll withholding table for them always take too much. The illogic of it all. Oh well, its not in my control except to pay the darn estimated taxes and probably have paid too much.

Since I will turn my full retirement age (66) this year, I reread some information about when to start your social security payments IF you can afford to wait. Clearly the longer I wait the better off I will be if I live as long as my Mom (93) or longer which is likely. Absolutely will wait until Hubby retires from full time work and perhaps a while longer to reach 70. We may decide for me to collect starting the year after he retires and have him collect the spousal benefit on my earnings until he reaches 70 since he is 3 years younger. That would ensure whoever lives the longest the highest SS income possible. More number crunching as retirement gets closer to figure this out.

My frugal wins this week were about salvaging what we already own. If you want to take a crack at fixing something of your own that you don't know how to approach, simply pull out or download the manual, look for a YouTube video on the subject, Google your problem, post a plea for help on Facebook or simply put on your thinking cap and try whatever pops into your mind. It's at least worth a try.

One of the handsets for our house phone wasn't working and we were afraid we might have to buy new ones. I checked everything listed in the manual with no luck. Then I thought of trying the battery from a handset that was working to see if we needed a new battery for some reason. The handset worked but more importantly when I put the original battery back in it also worked. It must have just jiggled loose.

The pocket in my purse had developed a hole and small items were falling inside the purse lining. A few stitches by hand and that is problem of the past.

A pajama top for warmer weather was just too dark of a purple and actually made me shudder when I looked at it, so I ran it through the washer with some bleach. The bleach took out some of the black undertone so now it is a lighter but still dark purple top I can tolerate wearing for lounging and sleep.

There was a hole in the pocket of a pair of knit pants - no longer a problem. So glad for all those 4-H lessons and sewing experience from my childhood.

I am totally resisting buying anything for this house that isn't essential. 27 months until my husband can retire and we are starting to figure out the logistics of our move back to California. This move will clearly include as little stuff as possible to reduce the cost. Still, we have to live here in the meantime and need to keep everything working for us and looking as good as possible.

We needed to buy a new bath rugs for both bathrooms as they are falling apart to the point of being un-washable. We found one for the downstairs bathroom but it made the colored towels look shabby so I decided to see what would happen if I bleached the towels and they came out a nice cream color and look almost brand new! Still looking for one to go with the upstairs bath décor and need to check out more stores now that the weather is cooperating again.

Today I will at least sign up for a beginning jewelry metalworking class, watch a session of a Craftsy class, do housework, run errands, walk the dog, call a friend or two, do some volunteer work online, start altering an old pair of capris and very gently stretch my back. Such is my life in retirement in winter.

2 comments:

  1. I took away two things from your post. 1) Go to the gym, but do NOT empty the dishwasher; and 2) Retirement = a lot of number crunching.

    ReplyDelete

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