PennyGrabber's Path to Pecuniary Positiveness!!

PennyGrabber

Hey!

So, we went to the farm again yesterday, had a great time, was worth going again to do all of the activities again, the children had a great time with their friends.

Was really busy last night tidying and cleaning, as the children both have a friend round today... Unfortunately, turns out I hadn't fixed my hoover, so we had to zoom off to argos to get one this morning before everyone came round! That's all the extra money for the credit card gone now.

Just made up a JO pizza dough, and got the toppings out of the freezer, a cheap meal that will be considered a treat! That will feed all four children, and me, and I'll have some left over too, I expect! I only did a half quantity of dough as I don't have any freezer space.

Today I have already:
hoovered
mopped
done the stairs
cleaned the loo
dusted some bits
bought hoover

Today I still need to:
finish dusting
fix the new hoover (has a blockage, just need to read the instruction book)
check olb
get haircuts for children
unload dishwasher
get new microwave out of the box and up on the shelf
chuck out old hoover and microwave
make dinner (poss cauli cheese)
watch some more BBT - can't get enough of it!
sort out my meal plan for the weekend to use up stuff
check purse contents to see how I'm doing so far this month (not well!)
do a bit of tidying in my room (the children's rooms are tidy now, partly because the stuff they didn't want was shoved into my room!!)

Wow, that's a long list. I'd better get cracking!

PG x

PennyGrabber

PennyGrabber wrote: »

Today I still need to:
finish dusting
fix the new hoover (has a blockage, just need to read the instruction book)
[STRIKE]check olb[/STRIKE]
get haircuts for children
[STRIKE]unload dishwasher[/STRIKE]
get new microwave out of the box and up on the shelf
chuck out old hoover and microwave
[STRIKE]make dinner (poss cauli cheese)[/STRIKE]
watch some more BBT - can't get enough of it!
sort out my meal plan for the weekend to use up stuff
[STRIKE]check purse contents to see how I'm doing so far this month (not well!)[/STRIKE]
do a bit of tidying in my room (the children's rooms are tidy now, partly because the stuff they didn't want was shoved into my room!!

Just updating.
OLB is looking ok. Will be ok as long as I'm careful for the rest of the month...
Made dinner, children really fancied sausage casserole, so that's a bit more space in the freezer (six sausages out!)
Dishwasher unloaded, and things for dinner already being put in - kitchen still organised!
Purse contents checked - may need more fuel than allowed, gc ok, misc and gifts ok esp as no more parties this month that I'm aware of, ents not so good, will have to cheap/free things for the rest of the month, £11 left. That's enough to do the cinema on juniors, and something else. Once we're back at school, that' won't really be too much of a problem.

Once children are in bed, I'll do the dusting, fix the hoover, and throw the stuff out. I'll try and do the microwave too, but may not get around to that. We'll see. I really need to start on my letter of application, so that has to take priority.

Today has been a nsd day (except for the hoover which was unavoidable and completely necessary). Was going to do haircuts for the children, but ds wants to keep it long for a bit longer, so i said we'll do that next weekend (21st April). That's also when my mum and brother are coming up for my birthday, so that will be a nice weekend.

We had a lovely day, we went exploring over the stream, through the woods, onto the story bench as we call it, and round the lake. Then, when we got back the children all had a lolly (from farmf00ds). I love having such a great place literally on my doorstep.

Off to prep a pineapple for pudding, then maybe back later for the +ves, or may do them tomorrow!

PG x

PennyGrabber

Afternoon!

I had a person round this morning, about having solar panels on my roof. Got another person coming tomorrow. Giving this some serious thought, as it would really decrease my monthly bills, and give me a bit of tax free income. Course, I'd have to buy it in the first place... It means though, that I could use electricity in the day, without it costing me a penny! So, if I did all my washing, drying, emailing, net surfing, dishwashing etc etc etc, during daylight hours, that would be free electricity! It's really worth me considering this, as I have 13 weeks of 'holiday' per year, so home a fair bit during the day.

Had a friend round for a cuppa earlier, we were going to go out for a coffee, but I suggested she came here... !!

Just made the children their lunch, they wanted toasties, but I only had 8 pieces of bread left, and I need four for tomorrow's picnic! So, they had their toasties (four pieces) and I used some of the leftover pizza dough from yest and made myself a cheese and onion calzone! LO dough, LO sauce, LO onion, just real cheese to provide! It was lush; just finished it, will be making another one soon! We're having spag bol for dinner, and all I needed to do for that was to take out 125 g of mince from the freezer, got the rest of the stuff ready. When I get a 500g pack of mince, I split it into 4 to freeze, as 125g does us a main meal each, and a lo meal for me too!

Off out this afternoon, going to te£co to get some 15p pasta, as that offer runs out on 16th April, and then on to town to get some enrituals from savers/99p shop, and to get the children a few sweeties! I have a cheque to pay in, and a few other things to do, so we've waited until now, to make the parking worthwhile. So ms!!

Made some cakes this morning, I'm trying to use up some of my baking cupboard stocks, and I found a James Martin raspberry and choc muffin mix thingy, so that was used today. Just have to ice them when we get home, and that will make an indulgent pudding tonight, and a treat for the picnic tomorrow.

Enjoy the rest of the day!

PG x

cleggie

Morning PG!

Am i right in thinking that with the solar pannels, as well as use them for your own elec, you can also put some into the national grid and get money in return? This is what a friend of mine was telling me, but i wasnt sure whether to believe it or not!! It would be great to get free daytime elec, especially if you could do the majority of your washing etc during the day.

I hope you have a fab day

Suffolk_lass

Hi PG,

If you are considering solar roofing panels, or photo-voltaic panels (the same thing but light instead of sun dependency - so better in some parts of UK) you might be interested to know that DH found a scheme where one of the companies will pay to put the panels on your roof so that you don't have the capital outlay to invest in them; they rent your roof and you use the rent to "buy" your own electricity but I guess they sell the surplus.

One note of caution is related to their effectiveness duration. Some of them last only fifteen years and then need replacing so some careful cost benefit analysis/speculation about potential future fossil-fuel prices must be taken into consideration before shelling out thousands. Also the amount that the Government pays for surplus electricity has reduced from this month so the CBA (the cost benefit, not the can't be) needs to take these into consideration.

All that said, we are staying in a rented house this week in the far north of the Scottish Highlands and the roof is fair stuffed with solar panels of both sorts (hot water and leccy) and together with the massive wood-chip boiler all is lovely here.

DH is suggesting that if we could put enough on the cart lodge roof to run the range, it would be worth considering at home (our main roof is thatched, so not suitable).

Not sure if that helps but it is more to consider... :think:
All the best from the sunny north (rain earlier, snow atop the mountains :snow_grin lovely now - may have to go wave my stick at the fish again soon... :wave:
Have a lovely day with the children
SL

PennyGrabber

Hi guys, thanks for the comments.

The solar deal here, is that I buy the panels, and then I get paid per unit made and it's assumed I use about half, so I get paid another amount for the other half on top of the other money... Basically, I could amke abotu £600 per year, and also save about £200 on my electric bills too. So, effectively making me £800 per year, BUT it would cost around £7000 to get it done. That means I make back the £7k within 9 years. However, the unit price I'm paid goes up each year, so ...

I'm really not sure what to do. £7k is a huge amount of money, however as a long term investment, it seems good. Plus, I could then charge a premium for my property should I ever move, as the panels would have to stay on the roof. But, it's still £7k!

HELPPPPP!!!!!!!

PennyGrabber

I've fallen off the proverbial this weekend...

Spent too much, eaten too much, got too much food in the house...

Got to go and sort myself out, then I can admit to what I've done. Needless to say, I'm well over my budget already. Oh, bu££er!!

rising_from_the_ashes

PennyGrabber wrote: »

The solar deal here, is that I buy the panels, and then I get paid per unit made and it's assumed I use about half, so I get paid another amount for the other half on top of the other money... Basically, I could amke abotu £600 per year, and also save about £200 on my electric bills too. So, effectively making me £800 per year, BUT it would cost around £7000 to get it done. That means I make back the £7k within 9 years. However, the unit price I'm paid goes up each year, so ...

I'm really not sure what to do. £7k is a huge amount of money, however as a long term investment, it seems good. Plus, I could then charge a premium for my property should I ever move, as the panels would have to stay on the roof. But, it's still £7k!

HELPPPPP!!!!!!!

Sounds very similar to the deal we were offered .... in the end I passed as, like you, £7k is a huge amount of money.

I would've needed to borrow it so by the time I'd added interest on, it would've taken even longer to get to the break even point! (as well as several years having to fork out for the loan)

I decided against it in the end as I'm not sure that I will be here for the next 9/10 years to pay it to pay for itself - I'm also not convinced that they would really add that much value to the house.

If there was a quicker payback time then I'd have gone for it but it's a huge amount of money and a very long payback. Not sure if that helps at all:o sorry

cleggie

Morning!

Sorry to hear you are feeling a bit frustrated with yourself in regards to falling off the wagon at the weekend.
Its a feeling that i am all too familiar with.

But if it stuff that can be used, then no doubt it WILL be used at some point, so there is your silver lining!

PennyGrabber

There's always a silver lining!!

It is all stuff that will be used, however, it was about £60!! Luckily, I can just abotu cover it, but I could feel myself slipping into the mindset of last year - 'oh well, blown it, so may as well carry on...'

I did get 12 kg of pasta - half price at te£c0. Got 10kg of penne, 1kg of lasagne and 1kg of spaghetti, and it cost me less than £5! I found a cupboard in my craft room that was more or less empty, so it's all been shoved in there.

May be back later - the job application is due in tomorrow, so I'll be finishing off that tonight. I really need to get the job!!! It would be so perfect. Still, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. I just hope it's meant to be!!

Rising - I can scrape the money together, just, but then I'd have no rainy day money. What if my car broke, etc? I think I will wait to make the decision until I know if I have the job.

PG x