Squirrel's Smiley, Smart and Solvent Diary

sallyx

Im loving your sewing Machine Squizz I must dig out the ones I was given and get creative. Im not sure if our new house comes with Curtains etc so I may need to dust it off sooner than I think :eek:

Id really like to do a short course to learn properly so that my creations look professional as apposed to botched lol

Karmacat

Me too! When I was packing up the airing cupboard, I found a lot of material - some bought in France, some looks Chinese.

Any chance of a rainwater butt, Squizz? Its an investment, but the way water is going, it might be necessary.

redsquirrel80

Sal, yep I've thought about a course too, I definitely need lots of practise anyway! My mum is so good at sewing, but I wasn't that interested when I was younger, or I found it difficult and didn't persevere - I certainly didn't inherit the skills!

Karma, a water butt is a good idea but we can't find a suitable place to put one - where the pipe comes down off the house roof, we need to be able to walk past between that and a wall in the garden and a butt would fill the space. I do have a few buckets lying round the garden but I'm sure I'm missing loads. I'm sure there's times in the house when I use water that could be 'captured' rather than just run down the sink.. just need to think about those opportunities.

Karmacat

Oh, I remember you saying that now. There are very slimline water butts available, that sort of hug the drainpipe shape - I don't think they hold as much as an ordinary one, but they might be worthwhile.

I'm going to post on my blog - last weekend, I did a whole compilation of tips - I'll post up all the water saving ones (and paste them here if you want) - it wasn't about buying stuff, or only very low cost stuff, it was about behaviour..... back soon


EDIT - hmm, not as useful as I hoped for you. The only big one for you might be this:
- nearly everyone has to run the hot tap for a bit before they get the hot water.... I let a little bit of that water down the drain, to help keep it fresh, but 90% of it I capture in a jug, which either contributes to a big bowl that flushes the toilet every now and then, or to watering the plants, or even soaking pans before I wash them.

redsquirrel80

That is a pretty good idea.. one I have thought of, but not got round to sorting out actually doing. I've also thought about taking a bucket into the shower :rotfl: but not sure how much that would catch!

Karmacat

Thats a good one! I'm going to edit my blog post and put that in!

That post is so long, actually, when I get back I might well split it into two, big stuff and little stuff.

redsquirrel80

Just been to the blog - I like it

Karmacat

Thanks :kisses3:

redsquirrel80

Right, got a letter from one of the DCAs wanting to change my direct debit amount.. which reminded me it's still on my old bank account. So I've cancelled that and set up a standing order to them on the account that I actually use, and everything now comes out on the 1st of the month to tie in with new payday.

The debts are looking like this:

Capquest 1 £4110 - £30 a month (they add an extra £6 to this for each payment)
Capquest 2 £2369.16 - £20 a month (they add an extra £4 to this each month)
Aktiv Kapital £1286.22 - £40 a month
Overdraft £1030.94 - variable amount but aiming for £175 a month (eek) to get paid off by end of the year.

Total £8796.32 - total monthly payment £265.

After bills that leaves me with just over £400 'spare' a month.. I think.. brain isn't working too well this afternoon zzzzzzzzzz

Karmacat

Squizz, whats the DCA thing adding extra? Is that what you want?

Things are *definitely* heading in the right direction, hurray.