Balancing not just the budget

RosaBernicia

moneyonmymindsam said:

You are house building and if you are going to buy then January with all the sales is the best time to do that 😀😁. Not really a spend as building a future life! Yes think we all must get better at forming a self care /pampering habit - we are worth it. 
Sam 
X

That's very true Sam - and I'm pleased to say, I really like this house and am looking forward to having it and the garden fully sorted to enjoy.  I like the area too, even though I'm not getting to see much of it atm! 

doingitanyway

Glad the insurance will be paying out.
Nice to read you are settling in. I am looking forward to being in your position
Good idea re the frozen meals whilst studying.

RosaBernicia

Sunday shuffle... nothing to add, really. 

Bought the wrong cables for something which was a waste but can't be helped.  I'm getting really fed up with having to order everything online.  At least it was easily remedied with the right one and they weren't drastically expensive. 

Sorted another few things in the house and small spends on more house bits.  Really disappointed with the quality of one of them and may complain - they supposedly don't accept returns once you've put it together, but how are you supposed to know if it fits right without! The continuing house stuff is really getting to be a drag now that I know I have to study as well - there are only so many hours in the day.  Oh well.  Nothing any of us can do about it except be careful and hope things get better.  

I think most things are now under control as moving costs are sorted and account changes etc done.  It took ages to get the new council tax bill through.  And I forgot to do meter reads on time and was rather surprised that the supplier suggested halving my direct debit... I suspect they'll want to change that now that they've had up to date readings!  

Shamelessly stocking up on prepped food, supplements and good toiletries as I want as few distractions as possible while studying. 

I think a Plan is needed. 

So for this week:

House stuff can continue but needs to be in small doses. 

Alternate study with house stuff (this is sounding familiar... will neither of them ever end!)

Go outside - either at lunchtime (I can do this now my work arrangements have changed a bit) or before work. 

Organise calling a friend each evening (at present this is a bit random and it would probably be simpler if I sorted things in advance). 

Onwards, even if slowly...

Hope all is well out there

RB xx

kerri_gt

House sounds like it's coming together well Rosa. We've been in our pad for 4 1/2 yrs, OH keeps talking about 'when it's finished'...i try not to laugh too much at that, I don't think houses ever really are 100%. 
I know what you mean about online stuff,  esp little things. I just want to go to a normal shop, not have to shop online or be forced to choose from a limited range in the stores that are open.
Is the freezer food from a store beginning with C and ending with k! by any chance. 
I would complain to the place you bought something that'd sub standard, can you use the 'fit for purpose ' route? 

RosaBernicia

kerri_gt said:

House sounds like it's coming together well Rosa. We've been in our pad for 4 1/2 yrs, OH keeps talking about 'when it's finished'...i try not to laugh too much at that, I don't think houses ever really are 100%. 
I know what you mean about online stuff,  esp little things. I just want to go to a normal shop, not have to shop online or be forced to choose from a limited range in the stores that are open.
Is the freezer food from a store beginning with C and ending with k! by any chance. 
I would complain to the place you bought something that'd sub standard, can you use the 'fit for purpose ' route? 

Absolutely Kerri, I think I had this idea that once I was allowed to modify a house without going through a landlord it would all be so much simpler...    instead I'm slowly coming to terms with the idea that a lot of house stuff isn't really that different to clothes, we choose things we like and use them for a while, sometimes they wear out and sometimes we change our minds, and not everybody agrees on the style! 

The little things for shopping is exactly what's winding me up.  If I could run round B&Q or Ikea, I would have sorted a lot of things in one go because I'd be able to see cables and hooks and whatever before buying them, and I'd be reminded about other stuff I might need.  It feels like a very long drawn out process when every little thing means recognising I need it, wondering where online stocks it, trying to guess quality from photos and then waiting for delivery! 

The freezer food is from exactly there and I'd forgotten just how brilliant they are.  Highly recommended - not cheap, but cheaper and much more flexible than a takeaway and healthy too. 

Re the furniture, I'll probably keep it as haven't seen anything better but might grumble and see if they'll do a part refund or a voucher.  It's really taking the **** when a unit costing over £100 - and that is no more complex than the Ikea equivalents that were 2/3 of the price - turns out to be cheap melamine and so badly designed the drawer doesn't fit straight! 

kerri_gt

That is really frustrating about the furniture.  The thing with Ikea is there is a reason they sell millions of units globally, they're very good at what they do, and if there is an issue, it's usually easily resolved.  All very Swedish and efficient.  Did you ever watch Flatpack Empire? Very interesting if you haven't seen it, the standards their manufacturers have to meet are very rigerous.
I love that feeezer shop, a friend introduced me to them years ago. We order most of our xmas dinner from them, this year we had a chicken cushion as i wanted to downsize from the big turkey (only 2 of us eat it) and the turkey for 2 had sold out. The chicken was fab though, will prob choose that next year.
My fav from there is the yellow vegetable curry. Closest I've ever found to a curry I had in Bali. 

Even click and collect with small things is a pain. I needed some sockets in lockdown 1.0, ordered them for collection from Screwfix, went to collect to be told they didn't have one of the ones i wanted...Sparky was back at the house waiting for me. It was only because i looked through the main entrance of the store that i could see the socket i wanted was in their electrical section that people would normally have access to and obv the person picking the order hadn't looked there (don't blame them,  they were doing their best in difficult circumstances but good job i spotted what i needed). 
I'm sure the house will come together, and will feel different when it comes to changing things you prev did...well that's what I'm telling myself anyway.

Buffythedebtslayer

Hi Rosa, 
I bought a coffee table and the drawer didn't fit. It is only a little table and I have turned it round so you can't see the gaping hole! but it really annoys me! 
I find working from home means I spend my life "working" and being driven insane by (well everything) every little thing that needs sorting. ugh. 
I thought Wickes were open? Maybe not..........XXX 

kerri_gt

Buffythedebtslayer said:

Hi Rosa, 
I bought a coffee table and the drawer didn't fit. It is only a little table and I have turned it round so you can't see the gaping hole! but it really annoys me! 
I find working from home means I spend my life "working" and being driven insane by (well everything) every little thing that needs sorting. ugh. 
I thought Wickes were open? Maybe not..........XXX 

I've worked from home for a number of years,  those little things you speak of bug me to, some days i actually feel physically sick and overwhelmed by them. Last year i was doing some bits of DIY and painting ( incl sorting new skirting we had fitted and the guy didn't do a great job), all the paint and paraphernalia were in the office for months.  It really got me down.
I have wallpaper in the office that had white bits down the seams, bugged me for ages,  finally sorted it via a YouTube video last week...i now have paint marks down the paper instead 🤦‍♀️ need try and sort those this week. Doesn't help my desk faces the paper too.

RosaBernicia

I'm glad it's not just me  

Really quite bored of DIY now.  But ordered stuff for the bathroom as realistically no way it will get overhauled any time soon, so must try and make the best of it in the interim.  It looks like Arg0s are open so I can return some stuff at the same time as getting the new. 

On the bright side, freezer food delivery on Friday!

kerri_gt

I actually wonderes upon redoing the wallpaper today...i think I'm still a couple of years off OH not exploding at the suggestion. Not only is it stupidly expensive wallpaper that in hindsight i wouldn't buy now. It's lovely, but marks really easily. Initally had a friend put it up who did an awful job (and we paid him) and had to then get it redone professionally.