2022 projects update

content/blog/2022-04-01-projects-update-april.gmi

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+---
+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...