diff --git a/content/blog/2022-04-01-projects-update-april.gmi b/content/blog/2022-04-01-projects-update-april.gmi new file mode 100644 index 0000000..df3ab2d --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2022-04-01-projects-update-april.gmi @@ -0,0 +1,53 @@ +--- +title: "Projects for 2022: April update" +--- + +Three months fly by like magic, and nothing visible gets done - unless you make it visible by talking about it. So where am I, relative to my January post? + +=> /blog/projects-for-2022/ Projects for 2022 + +## Coding + +I've done nothing on any existing or new code projects. Turns out spare time is non-existent when you're a parent. I had no work January or February, but also didn't do a single line of code. Let's see how things look a bit later in the year, but I may have been over-ambitious and/or over-confident on this side of things. + +## Relocation + +We did manage to relocate back to Yorkshire. That is done and dusted, and the new house is really quite nice. We've found one broken window hinge and a minor issue with the gas boiler; other than that, it's lived up to its "no work" promise. + +Outdoors, there are some minor projects - the garden shed is very rotten, so I need to replace it at some point. I've got my eye on a sauna pod, but it might be a bit much. We'll see! + +The garden is a water trap in general; it puddles and pools whenever there's a big downpour, so I'll need to get better drainage in at some point. Related to that, all the hard surfaces were slippery and filthy, so I had great fun with a pressure washer and put a coat of anti-slip paint on the decking. It's now a usable space \o/. + +=> /img/2022-projects-update-april/vignette.jpg The end result + +Longer-term, I'd like to replace the gas boiler with a heat pump system and get solar panels installed. Add an electric car with a giant battery to buffer night-time electricity usage, and you've got a model for being off-grid in suburbia. Quite how practical it will be, and whether I can get permission to task builders with jobs ever again, remains to be seen. + +## Rationalising houses + +I didn't explicitly call this one out as a project, but I'd really like to get down to owning a single house in 2022. I touched on the situation a little in my pig-dog blog coda: + +=> /blog/pig-dog-05/ Pig-Dog Blog 5: Coda + +The house in Shetland remains ours for now; the plan is to complete the structural works, then sell it at "market value". Taking the repairs into account, we'll make a six-figure **loss** overall, but - I think - this can be "banked" for use against future Capital Gains Tax bills. Hold that thought. + +There's another house - the one my sister lives in. It's the first one I ever bought, and I'm selling it to her at cost (i.e. what I paid, plus the mortgage interest I've paid so far). It's worth a good deal more now, and the tax people don't like that - the difference between cost and "market value" is treated as a gift. The difference between what I paid for the house, and the "market value", is what I'm taxed on - at 28% CGT - for transferring it to her. + +Fine, whatever. I can offset it against the loss on the Shetland house, but it's "only" a five-figure sum. That leaves most of the banked CGT allowance unclaimed. + +So, I opted to exercise-and-hold a good number of GitLab shares, which have dropped sharply in price (down to ~$50) since I wrote my January posts. I pay income tax on that, then CGT on any future gain - which can be offset against the loss on the Shetland house, effectively socialising it. + +This is how the rich stay rich, and it should make us all quite grumpy, but I'm not above making use of it when we're talking six figures. I can justify it to myself as long as I merely break even on the two houses, and I've picked the number of shares and sale price quite carefully to ensure that I don't go beyond that. Profiting on housing is a special sort of evil. + +Yes, I called this section "rationalising" for more than one reason. + +Certainly in my age cohort, and considering where I started from, I'm incredibly lucky to be able to buy a single house, let alone three. I'm confident that I haven't benefited from going beyond one, but often get pushback on the idea. I should pull this out into a separate post with many details sometime. + +## The rest + +Parenting continues, he's starting to try to stand now, which is unbearably cute. + +No real progress on any of my new or body projects. The new house doesn't even have any scales in it yet. I picked up a road bike - a Triban RC500 - but it's currently a bit too aggressive for me, so I need to get some adjustments done. Once I'm comfortable on it, the plan is to cycle to a nearby(ish) parkrun on a regular basis, do that, then cycle back home. Add a swim to turn it into a triathlon, I guess? + +I've identified a clinic for laser eye surgery, but I'm holding off on any more big spending until the housing situations are resolved. You know, just in case there are any more surprises. + +One more big project has come up, but I can't talk about it yet. Maybe next week. Originally I was going to delay posting this until it came around, but little and often is better. So, watch this space... diff --git a/static/img/2022-projects-update-april/vignette.jpg b/static/img/2022-projects-update-april/vignette.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5463ff5 Binary files /dev/null and b/static/img/2022-projects-update-april/vignette.jpg differ