Building The Burrow!

Pearla*Merle

Bag-filling complete! :j

Three mugs, a kilner jar (closure slightly damaged so I won't use it anytime soon), a cardboard mini suitcase, fake flowers, set of colouring pencils, a heat-up cuddly toy, old hanging shelves, some ribbon, coin purse.

Also threw away some things, most notable of which was a battered hairbrush. :T

Identified extra items to eBay. Shall try and repeat this bag filling exercise again soon - it's getting hard though, I've realised (now I've looked through things again) that I've edited my stuff quite significantly.... Mr M = not so much. Shall see if I can coax him into sorting through a few things. :eek:

Mrs_Money_Penny

Hi Pearla Regulary read your diary. Your doing so well. It all takes so much time all this sorting and de cluttering.
Very grateful to read about a National Art pass will copy your idea and buy for my daughter as part of her graduation present as she's just finishing her 3 year Fine Art degree at Kingston upon Thames. Ideal present. X

apple_muncher

Does Mr Pearla need a certain book by a certain Marie Kondo for his birthday...?

Pearla*Merle

Mrs_Money_Penny wrote: »

Hi Pearla Regulary read your diary. Your doing so well. It all takes so much time all this sorting and de cluttering.
Very grateful to read about a National Art pass will copy your idea and buy for my daughter as part of her graduation present as she's just finishing her 3 year Fine Art degree at Kingston upon Thames. Ideal present. X

Thank you Mrs Money Penny, lovely to see you :wave:

What a wonderful present for your daughter! Lucky girl The Art Pass is brilliant, it's only really the big exhibitions (eg. V&A, Tate) that you still need to pay for (you usually get 50% off - bargain really), otherwise most museums/exhibitions/galleries (even the odd National Trust place) is free!

Once you start looking you realise how many places are part of the scheme - they have a wonderful app that lets you know what's where anywhere in the UK, and also any exhibitions that are currently on. It even lets you create a wishlist (heavenly!). It's a fountain of information. Hope your daughter has a fabulous time gallery hopping! :j

Pearla*Merle

apple_muncher wrote: »

Does Mr Pearla need a certain book by a certain Marie Kondo for his birthday...?

YES!!

Hopefully it'll be a case of monkey see, monkey do. If I start doing more/dropping useful hints & tips into the conversation over the coming weeks maybe he'll cotton on to how clever it all is...

Oh actually - I did fold and stack all his thermals ala KonMari and apparently he was quite taken with it, so there's definitely something to work with! :rotfl:

Pearla*Merle

Not much news - was at work but now I'm feeling better I quite enjoyed plodding on with things today.

Aerobic-ed for 40 minutes last night. :j I really want to get home from work and do some but usually I'm desperately for dinner by then. Rather annoying. It probably doesn't help that I come home super hungry - am going to attempt to eat more snacks/drink more during the late afternoons so I can buy myself some time and energy for exercise after work.

Exercise makes such an amazing difference to my state of mind so I really need to make it a No Question activity in my days again. Especially as I only seem to rack up about 8k steps on a work day - desperate to tip it over the 10k.

So glad I didn't watch the tennis today. Andy Murray :eek: I couldn't have watched two five setters two days in a row. I'd have needed smelling salts!

I'm on a 225 day streak on MyFitnessPal! :T

....apparently there is some news after all

:www: MFW Wonderment: updated my Accounts app so my savings account is once again broken down into several piggybank budgets. I used to do this but ended up working it all out through my spreadsheet but I've reinstated it as I can track more things more easily this way. Spending diary with weekly budget tracking will remain though.

There's a flipping epic sale at Lindybop (wasn't going to buy anything else for a while but oh-heck-dresses-for-£9!) but the website keeps crashing. Probably a sign.

Mr M picked up two blu-rays for £2 today! Bargainous! One may end up being a gift.

Getting one of my biggest pay-packets ever at the end of the month. :T Mostly due to being underpaid last month, but hey ho! It's pretty much all already spoke for though, boo. Roll on end of June when all that is righted!

New phone sim arrived - that was quick - hurrah! Also energy switch is apparently hurtling into action - all good stuff!

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: a quiet office; brilliantly written travelogues (reading A Single Swallow - Horatio Clare followed the swallows migrating from South Africa to Europe, great stuff); hot baths!

:heartsmil Burrow Building: have been looking on pinterest for some ideas re: making the house more of a Homely Home. Quite excited to put some into action over the coming months (this may stretch to years ). We also may invest in more bookcases and doors for current bookcases... extra storage/hide things seems like a good way to combat the overwhelm of living in a small space... possibly if I'm not knackered from feeling like there's loads to do I might actually be able to KonMari the place?

Oh - I did look into my clothes again, I think I've got the bulk of those sorted now. Time to look at accessories properly and whatever is next on the list...

Pearla*Merle

Busy day yesterday,work was good (had good feedback, always nice) and really starting to fall into a rhythm with things at last (though I do have to keep myself in check and not go crazy mad trying to do too much at once at high pace - it's a work in progress :rotfl:)

Actually went out to be social last night :j Realised it's the first time I've done that where we live with friends that aren't Mr M. Mad but nice, I don't begrudge the £20 spent - long overdue!

Pearla*Merle

A few days off work now, hurrah! Popping into London Town for a wander about tomorrow.

Worked today, only a few hours but made some good progress with things so that's all good.

:www: MFW Wonderment: my phone switch is all go, amazed how quickly that got sorted. House insurance has gone through ok & payments all sorted too - so no funny bills/extra payments to sort out, whew.

Omg, dying for pay day now Really want to get this month's various payments sorted as when that's done I can save with complete abandon!

Still doing well with my packed lunches for work :T

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: actually concentrating on a film (Forever Young) and having a lazy evening on the sofa.

Pearla*Merle

Oh my gosh, what is going on? It's like the depths of autumn out there - cold and bucketing down. Was thoroughly soaked nipping into town, despite the huge golf umbrella.

Library books back (only came home with one new one :T very pleased that I managed to resist temptation - already have loads to read here). Finally posted a couple of parcels have have been packed up for months.... had slightly put it off as I thought they were going to cost a bomb to post, but they were only around £2.50 each. Oops. Oh well, they're on their way now. Still have a few more to things to parcel up for friends and send, shall try (try, try) to do that one evening after work.

London never happened in the end, woke up too late so ended up having a wander about here. We then thought we'd go in yesterday but Mr M was unwell so after he spent the morning recovering we ended up in Swindon, randomly! Always nice to add another town to the Visited list. :rotfl: Happy news is that they have a Bodycare there, so I managed to pick up loads of deodorant and a few other things super cheap. That'll keep me going for another several months.

:www: MFW Wonderment: spending diary updated. I've written up a 'financial plan' for the next few months so I roughly know what's happening when and where.

Pay day today! :j Have shuffled things around and paid off some bills. Need to double-check a few things with Mr M tonight, then that's all sorted for another month.

I've got news of possibly my best money saving hack to date! (I confess, it was Mr M that managed to work this one out for me) So the plan is to buy a new laptop. Mr M worked out that I could get it £100 cheaper (and that's not including around £35-worth airport rewards points and credit card cashback) buying it at the airport. So, for what I was going to pay anyway plus about £35 extra, I've essentially got a two night holiday in Germany for free. :rotfl: Seemed mad not to do it.

Obviously doesn't count the cost of Mr M also going on said holiday - but hey ho, he was wanting to go somewhere anyway. And it's cheaper than us going into London for day. :eek: It's also the holiday that I missed last year due to ill health - so it was due.

Must keep this in mind if I'm ever buying gadgets again. :rotfl:

Lots more freezer eating - it's full to the brim again. Meal planned for the next while. Beef stew is a recurrent theme. Fine by me what with this wild weather.

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: Had a lovely weekend reading http://rememberingtheoldways.blogspot.co.uk - it's made me want to do some serious baking! Need to empty the freezer a bit first though.

Quite enjoyed walking in the rain - or at least, getting home and having tea & toast!

:heartsmil Burrow Building: The blog above has reminded me how nice simple, homely things are. Have begun to kick-start my Making The House A Home plan - have reorganised some shelves and tidied up some of the chaos around that's scattered around the edges of the rooms (i.e. random piles of bits and bobs). Have also put the slowcooker onto a much more accessible shelf, so no reason not to get it out more often. Love SC Sunday meals. :smileyhea

Pearla*Merle

So tired today, I don't know if it's the gloomy weather or what. Straight to bed after writing this, methinks.

:www: MFW Wonderment: worked; sorted out the last few money bits; have almost used up a lipstick and nail varnish (always a momentous/shocked-that-it-happened-before-needing-thrown-out occasion).

Packed lunch today was pilau rice with scrapings from a freezer bag of grilled veg (cooked at same time as tea last night :A), raisins and flaked almonds.

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: eating truly scrumptious packed lunch :rotfl:

:heartsmil Burrow Building: I was on toast duty today, Mr M still under the weather. We bought a little box at the weekend to keep our treasures (engagement cards, tickets to things etc) in :smileyhea