Sepa seeks freedom

katsu

julliff wrote: »

I read that as "a bit of Squirrel from the garden" :eek:

:eek:

I find scotland in a day trips horribly exhausting. I've worked for firms where they did it in a day and firms where you could do an overnight stay and I far prefer the overnight stay to getting up at 4! :eek:

Sepa74

Squirrels from the garden? I'm not that money saving, lol.

The trip to Scotland was OK... luckily not a 4am start, it was a 5.30am start, and I usually roll out of bed at 5.20, get dressed, jump in the taxi and have breakfast at the airport. Luckily work will stump up for the breakfast bill. I had scrambled eggs at cafe rouge ... mmm

Well, I have sorted my finances this week, and definitely have enough money for the kitchen, so I have paid my deposit. Woo hoo!! It will be fitted sometime in May. Such a relief to actually have a decision made. This has been dragging on for years because the kitchen is such an awkward shape and it has been difficult to get a design I was happy with.

Not had a terribly MS week - I've had a few expenses at the chemist because I have a UTI, and I took advantage of the Groupon Radley offer. I had a massage this morning, and have a concert to go to tonight, which means the £70 I withdrew this morning will be gone by nightfall! :eek:

However I am really pleased with the Radley Groupon offer as I have wanted to buy my sister a Radley purse for ages, and the offer meant not only could I get her purse at a reduced price, but I indulged myself by buying a travel card holder. Yay!

I have a mouse in my flat so I had to buy mousetraps this morning. I got the humane ones as my compost heap has lots of mice in it already, so one more isn't going to be an issue. The humane ones are also reusable - very MS!!

My cats are funny, though. They caught it on Thursday, but of course had no idea what to do with it so let it go, pampered creatures!

I hope everyone else has had a good week.

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Sepa74 wrote: »

I have a mouse in my flat so I had to buy mousetraps this morning. I got the humane ones as my compost heap has lots of mice in it already, so one more isn't going to be an issue. The humane ones are also reusable - very MS!!

QUOTE]


The snap trap ones are also reusuable...

I am probably not the best person when it comes to the humane treatment of mice. After the living hell they made my life I killed the little b******d's! any way I could!

Typical about the cats though, you feed em, pay for their vet bills and devote hours of care to their ungrateful little selves and then they epically fail at the one thing they were domesticated for in the first place!

It actually reminds me of that clasic set of pictures where a kitten/cat encounters a rat on a sunny window sill. The cats owner documented it with snaps and the final one has them snuggled up together on the sunny window ledge. The final caption reads:

For Sale - One B*****y Usless Cat!!!!

Sepa74

lol.... That's so funny.

I really can't imagine reusing the other kind of trap. Ugh.

I'd rather not kill something needlessly, and given that I have a ready made habitat for him, I decided to go for the humane ones.

Poor little thing got stuck behind my gas fire in the living room, and I couldn't sleep thinking about him starving and thirsty (that's the Australian in me!) and terrified, so I got up and put some oats and water down for him.

Silly, I know. He's very cute, but has to go!

He's disappeared now, will have to wait to see which part of the flat the cats are especially interested in before I put the traps down.

Sepa74

Well, the mouse is no more - I woke up one morning this week and there was a dead mouse on my bedroom floor. There are two things to be thankful for - there was no mess, and he wasn't left under my bed!! I think the poor thing finally died of a mix of exhaustion and terror.

I am having a dreadful MS month. I have overspent my budget already and still have a week to go before the end of my financial month. I avoided B&Q today, but did order some compost and a few other bits and bobs online from a local garden centre. They will deliver it on Monday. The delivery is £10, even though they are 15 minutes drive away :eek: but it would cost me at least a fiver, probably more, if I bought the compost home in a cab, plus it would be a lot of trouble as it is very heavy. This garden centre sells 3 80 litre bags of composted stable manure for £9, which is an absolute bargain! I'm wondering if I should double the order to get the most of the delivery charge.

I've paid my deposit on the kitchen :j and my ebay taps have arrived after being sent to the wrong address. The radiator has been delivered and is reposing in my lovely waterproofed garage. I still have a living room full of furniture that I will try and sell on ebay, so the TV Cabinet will have to go in the garage for the moment - there is NO way it will fit in the living room at the moment.

I spoke with my financial advisor today, and he is hopefully going to get me a refund of some fees I paid as I was poorly advised about my pension after I was made redundant. It probably won't be much, but it will go some way towards his fees! I've also caught up on all my book-keeping and saved at least £2 by purchasing olive and vegetable oil from Lidl.

Had my own broccoli again tonight, along with some more sorrell and ruby chard in a stir fry.

I've procrastinated all day, but I really MUST do the washing up... I might just read a few more diary updates first, though!

Sepa74

Well this has not been the greatest money saving week. I was hoping to push some large spends into next month using the CC, but completely misjudged when the statement date was, so when I went to do my accounts today I realised that £120 will be coming out of this month rather than next! What a PAIN!

However, apart from that, things are looking pretty good. I've recorded over £500 in savings since the beginning of this year, which is pretty good, although it's largely a result of spending so much on furniture and the kitchen. However I will pay it all off the mortgage at some point (it's sitting in an offset account at the moment, so there is no need to rush the OP).

But I set myself a goal of £15k this year, and I now realise there is NO WAY that is going to happen. I don't feel bad about, though, as this year I am:

Buying a garage (done)
Roofing the garage (done)
Renovating the kitchen (in progress)
Renovating the bathroom (planned for the end of the year)
Bought a dining table (done)
Bought a TV table (done)

If I wasn't doing these things I would easily reach my 15K goal, but as it is, it ain't going to happen! However all these things will either increase the value of the flat OR increase my quality of life, so it's not a problem.

I have had another piece of good luck - a friend of a friend is gong to rent out half of my garage for £25pcm. It means I have the best of both worlds - storage space for my own needs, and some money coming in as well.... it will "only" take 12 years to pay off the costs of the garage ignoring interest, lol...

Sepa74

Yet again not the best money saving week, although to be fair, I have spent a lot more on travel than I normally would because my travelcard has run out and I've been using my oyster card.

I've continued to take lunch into work, so I'm still saving there. I also got taken out to a posh Japanese restaurant on someone's expenses on Thursday, which was fun! And went to a professional development seminar on Tuesday where they provided us with nibblies afterwards, so I have had a week full of entertainment and very little expense, so I certainly can't complain!

I've been doing a fair bit of gardening, and am eagerly watching all my seedlings poke their heads up above the soil :j

Radish72

BF and I attacked my gardens yesterday and now neither off us can move. BF has declared that everything aches below the waist

Have planted some plants, flowery things, so we will wait with fingers crossed to see if anything survives me just sticking it in the ground

pippa80

I'm going out into our garden today as well sepa. It's so lovely at the moment - and exciting seeing it spring into life!

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

You have inspired me - I will venture out and hope the sight of the unmowed lawn (about 5 months!) doesn't cause me to have a stroke on sight...