Shortie's DFW Diary

lurvlyloz

maybe stop thinking about it...and when you've had some sleep re-think

Shortie

You're right lurvelyloz, I need to step away from it for a bit I think... I'm not so frantic today about it but the thought has stuck pretty fast. Hmmm

Shortie

We had another unexpected spend yesterday as we needed to call a plumber out to look at a radiator we could stop leaking (the seal appears to be perished and when we pulled the carpet up around it to put down the laminate, it must have disturbed it hence the leak. But they should also be fixing the upstairs radiator too which hasn't been working since 2 weeks after we moved to the house

Outside of that, still trying to be really good with money. I did go for a cheap unplanned lunch with a friend yesterday - I had no idea she was near my workplace until I got an email from her asking about lunch. But we did a cheeky McDs, I got 2 happy meals meaning that for under a fiver I got a nice amount of fish fingers and chips, and two milk cartons for breakfasts - one was used this morning, then there's one for tomorrow too.

I'm still feeling like utter pants - my sinuses aren't exploding and my throat isn't read raw, but since the weekend when the symptoms went away I've still been feeling drained (I have done since this bug started 2 weekends ago... I get the complete munchies when I'm tired though and I've been hankering for a crispy bacon butty all day long (and part of yesterday too) but I've been good and stuck to my cereal, and then for breakfast some Mr T elcheapo tomato soup, the last of my Fruit Crunch Ryvita and for a snack later I have some home made bread pud to warm up

I need to go to Mr T tonight as Mr Shortie needs a memory stick. I can see it happening - I'll pick up the 3 for £3 HUGE bags of crisps they have on offer at the mo, and no... they won't be saved for a special occasion. I will grab some lemons and peppers though for a couple of hamper bits I plan to make for Chrimbo. I can't see that coming to the £5.34 I have left in the Grocery budget though :rotfl:

I think I may just give in today and go with the flow. I really feel constantly bushed at the moment. I'm giving this till the end of the week to improve or I might go to the docs next week (not an easy decision for me to make, I always worry I'm wasting their time so I don't book myself appointments by and large). Buuut, I figure that if I'm going to give in to a craving, I might as well spend £3 on 3 huge bags of crisps that will last a while and we can all munch, than spend £3 on a bacon butty that only I enjoy and is gone quickly.

rising_from_the_ashes

Shortie wrote: »

when I get THIS tired, my brain strips away most daily stuff and just functions. Which is when stuff creeps in that I've been trying to avoid thinking about

Snap .... it's also when I get a bit obsessive about my budgets / spreadsheets

Shortie wrote: »

Today, my brain is picking on my Mini. I have 2 cars - my station / everything under the sun car, and the treat I bought myself with some of my redundancy money earlier this year. I've always wanted a Mini and so I indulged. She needed mechanical work which has now been done, but since buying her in April I've driven her to the mechanics and Mr Shortie drove her back for me around 4 weeks ago. She couldn't ever be a station car in teh old house as she would have been stolen and I've realised she can't be one here as I parked slanted up a grassy bank at the station (we all do) and she's too low to make it and not get grounded.... I can't see when I'll drive her any more so she becomes a museum piece which isn't what I bought her for. If I wanted that, I can just go to Mini shows etc

It's not even a financial decision this one - yes I won't have 2 road taxes, MOTs and insurances to pay for, and I will get some money back for her if she sold. This is a not nice decision/realisation from the heart

Ohhhhh hun xx I can only imagine (and I can as I am a car person!) - I've always wanted a Mini too!:)

I guess you have to weigh up when you think you'll use her and if it justifies keeping her.... a guy down my street bought a classic Mini, did her up, built a (very nice & I'm assuming very expensive) garage in his back garden - stuck the Mini in and I've never seen it since ... that must be at least 4 years ago

I know he might have it out when I'm not here but I honestly doubt it as the way the garage's been built it's a nightmare to get in/out of & certainly can't do it when there's a car in his drive - which there is all the time.

To me ... that's a total waste of a car ... they're meant to be enjoyed and driven.


Are you starting to feel better?

Shortie wrote: »

We had another unexpected spend yesterday as we needed to call a plumber out to look at a radiator we could stop leaking (the seal appears to be perished and when we pulled the carpet up around it to put down the laminate, it must have disturbed it hence the leak. But they should also be fixing the upstairs radiator too which hasn't been working since 2 weeks after we moved to the house

Outside of that, still trying to be really good with money. I did go for a cheap unplanned lunch with a friend yesterday - I had no idea she was near my workplace until I got an email from her asking about lunch. But we did a cheeky McDs, I got 2 happy meals meaning that for under a fiver I got a nice amount of fish fingers and chips, and two milk cartons for breakfasts - one was used this morning, then there's one for tomorrow too.

I'm still feeling like utter pants - my sinuses aren't exploding and my throat isn't read raw, but since the weekend when the symptoms went away I've still been feeling drained (I have done since this bug started 2 weekends ago... I get the complete munchies when I'm tired though and I've been hankering for a crispy bacon butty all day long (and part of yesterday too) but I've been good and stuck to my cereal, and then for breakfast some Mr T elcheapo tomato soup, the last of my Fruit Crunch Ryvita and for a snack later I have some home made bread pud to warm up

I need to go to Mr T tonight as Mr Shortie needs a memory stick. I can see it happening - I'll pick up the 3 for £3 HUGE bags of crisps they have on offer at the mo, and no... they won't be saved for a special occasion. I will grab some lemons and peppers though for a couple of hamper bits I plan to make for Chrimbo. I can't see that coming to the £5.34 I have left in the Grocery budget though :rotfl:

I think I may just give in today and go with the flow. I really feel constantly bushed at the moment. I'm giving this till the end of the week to improve or I might go to the docs next week (not an easy decision for me to make, I always worry I'm wasting their time so I don't book myself appointments by and large). Buuut, I figure that if I'm going to give in to a craving, I might as well spend £3 on 3 huge bags of crisps that will last a while and we can all munch, than spend £3 on a bacon butty that only I enjoy and is gone quickly.

rising_from_the_ashes

Shortie saw you talking about LPG on El's diary.... is it for heating too?

Just wondering how the costs compare to oil?

If it's really only because you like cooking with gas, why not just get your appliances converted so you can use the big gas bottles?

Shortie

Hiya Rising!

I have calmed down a little about the Mini but the thought is still definately there. I sounded it out to my Dad last night and he was surprisingly convincing me to keep her. But as I said to him, there's no point having a museum piece up the driveway either ... He did convince me though to sit it out until spring when I can get out in her in the daylight properly and I might change my mind again and want to keep her. Bless him, he even suggested I could make a point of taking the family out for picnics in her every other weekend to keep using her and to keep her engine sweet, which mad me chuckle as the weekends fly by with stuff I don't get done during the week let alone finding time for a picnic :rotfl: He did also point out though that she won't depreciate in value and if come the spring I feel the same way I can sell her then

The LPG is purely for cooking - the heating system is powered by oil. If it comes to it, we will have to sell the range cooker (but it's not even a year old ) and look at getting a decent electric range (pah). Mr Shortie called Cal0r this morning and apparently yesterday it went pretty high up the chain who pushed back down to say it wasn't on what's happened and it needs sorting asap. They've said there was no record of a quote given to us (though firstly they must know a quote has to be given before someone will ask for a job to be undertaken, and seocndly they have rough prices for a 'per meter' for pipework etc and they already know the Sales team got the placement wrong (hence they couldn't fit it when they turned up yesterday) so surely they know from the two placements what the quote would have been, and that we were quote a fair bit cheaper than the job turned out to be <sigh> Anyway, we're still no wiser as to the when, let alone the how much. They promised Mr Shortie they would get back with an answer today, he then politely told them he would be chasing by mid day if he hadn't heard back before then

I know things go wrong in houses, but in the 8 weeks we've been here we've had issues with electrics blowing (and having to run extension cables for a few weeks to power that area of the house) - that needs redoing in the new year but thankfully Mr Shortie's brother used to be a qualified sparky - we've had 3 rooms flooded downstairs - luckily we have fully tiled flooring downstairs so no flooring damag was done other than a mass mop up, and I spotted in in the morning on the way to work before it had made it into the kitchen where there are electrics and sockets, cupboards etc - and plumbing issues with a non heating rad, and a leaky one. They rads as of yesterday and the cost of £50 are not niced thankfully though

I half expect one day to come home from work to find the house spitting my stuff out of the windows packed in suitcases and bags, a note attatched to them saying 'why didn't you just take the hint?!' :rotfl:

Shortie

Well today has definately been an odd day...!

The LPG was / wasn't /was / was part way without all the equipement / now-not-sure-as-I'm-still-in-work installed today. Hopefully we can cook on the hob again as of tonight as I still have some chilli jam and lemon curd to make before Christmas

Then I was paid today (planned early - normal payday is 20th) so I popped in to do my usualy budgetting checks so find I've been paid too much :think:. I've phoned HR twice and spoken to 2 different people both of who say with all the messa aorund of payments last month, etc it all works out fine, but.. well... it doesn't work out fine in my mind as no-one can tell me why I have the extra money :wall: So for now I've squirrelled away the extra money in case it gets pulled back at some point, and I have it seperated so it doesn't get spent for a while. I also don't have my payslip (it's been sent to my old address - my fault) so tomorrow I will ask for an electronic copy to see if I can suss it all out myself..

But, in even better news, while I was on the phone to the first lady she spotted that I'm still on an emergency tax code, so I've asked the tax office to send my correct tax code over. How fabby does that feel? An increased take home salary (whenever it gets sorted) and a rebate of 11 months emergency tax - woo hoo! I was flumouxed when I forst joined that I wasn't getting paid as much as I expected but I put it down to bad maths. :dance:

Some of the rebate will go to helping Mr Shortie get a second hand MBike as he's been hankering for one for ages, the rest will be divided up between getting the house straight and debts. The extra salary will go to part savings, part overpaying debts (hmm, I might revisit the snowball calculator now too

Shortie

So I've sat and done a quick bit of working out and if I get the extra in my salary per month that I *think* I might, I can pay an extra £200 comfortably, which I'll pay off my Dad's Debt I think as it means I can get them both paid off by 206 - yay.

Fingers crossed!

elantan

Shortie that's great news really delighted for ya

How is the lpg gas for cooking? We like a lot of Chinese and only have electricity but quite fancy the gas, we have mains gas though but was wondering how the LPG fairs with cooking

Shortie

Evening El, we finally had it fitted today (though with a farce) Because it was a case of being done / not being done again today Mr Shortie planned and oven dinner for tonight, but he cooked the sweetcorn on the hob exciting stuff eh? hehe)

It does seem to cook just as fine. I haven't looked at the unit cost as a comparison to be fair as it wasn't a consideration - we don't have mains gas so there's not the option. For us, a family of 4 with a 7 ring burner, I think the LPG worked out to cost us about £40 per year. But on top of that is the initial cost of running the pipework, plus the hire of the bottles which is a one off payment but still something to be aware of

I've never been a great fan of electric hobs. My folks cooked with it when I was living there but I really learned to cook when I was staying with the in-laws for a couple of years while I was at Uni (they were paid rent) and they had a gas hob - maybe that's why I prefer it? I find it so much easier to control though and the heat is instant. Plus I doubt I could make proper Rotis on a 'leccie hob