Building The Burrow!

Pearla*Merle

Ooh yay, one bid already on my Bay of E stuff :j

Kondo'd my jewellery. About a third is going to charity shop, another third needs properly cleaned (dratted verdigris - may end up at charity shop if I can't restore them to how I'd like - lesson learnt re: cheap stuff and bad storage conditions) and a third is kept.

Apart from that I did some good book reading to the sound of the washing machine going all day. This evening ploughed on with self-employed project.

An hour cardio this evening as well - could easily have kept going but had to stop for Okado arriving (as ever, we saved about £40 through various offers :T)

misscousinitt

Take care - glad you are feeling better.

MCI

Pearla*Merle

Thanks MCI

I put off all the outside-the-house jobs I was going to do today, I just couldn't be bothered/face it. Oh dear, so now I'll have to squeeze them in tomorrow (post office, library, a few shops).

Did mountains more laundry and tidied the place, so not all was lost.

Decluttered - another bag for life's worth. Several jumpers, a top, a cushion, and more DVDs have been added to the music magpie pile. Once again it's going to take me ages to get all the charity bags that have accumulated to their destination. Maybe if I can get loads more together I could convince them to come and pick it up?

:www: MFW Wonderment: Mr M and I have struck up a plan. I shall save like mad over the next couple of years, aiming for at least £300 a month. In two years time his student loan should be paid off, at which point he'll take over and start saving a similar amount (though I'll keep going too ) so we'll at least have some sort of large chunk of money in a few years time to go towards a house at some point. This is what my plan was all along - but it's nice to have Mr M much more on board now. :T

He's had to take the brunt of our living costs for quite a few years during my various illnesses and things, and it's only really now that things have settled down with new jobs/the move etc. It's nice to finally feel like we can make some more serious plans together. :T Who knows where we'll be and what will end up working out re: houses in a few years - but if we at least try and put ourselves in the best position possible then that's something.

We both basically want to get a roof over our heads that has been paid off asap, so we'll keep frugally dancing along to that destination, however it'll come about.

In other news, I did another chunk of self-employed stuff.

Fish and chips (from the freezer!) for tea. Shall hoover up random odds and ends for meals tomorrow.

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: another long stint reading my (now finished) book. I've got several more half-started ones waiting in the wings - can't wait to finally polish them off.

:heartsmil Burrow Building: Amazed that the living room managed to stay in relatively the same state all week :T This decluttering really is starting to make a difference. I'm still amazed whenever I realise this. It's taken so long to get to this point!


...Can't be bothered to go to bed (:o), really not in the mood to venture into society tomorrow. Trying to put it off. Currently distracting myself with Pride & Prejudice :cool:

Pearla*Merle

Oh heck, might have come up with a plan that means I can stay safely inside out of the rain most of the day and only nip out to do the easy stuff.

It's a tad naughty as it would mean rejigging my intentions for presents and means using up an amazon voucher earlier than intended but wouldn't actually unsettle my present plans for the year so it's tempting. In fact, it'd save me money on the postage! :eek: Shall sleep on it. :A

Pearla*Merle

The storms that were supposed to hit are nowhere to be seen. Nonetheless, I ended up opting for my cunning plan today and stayed tucked up happily in the house. (I had planned to post a Father's Day present, but I've swapped it around with Christmas present plans and have bought something from amazon with vouchers instead).

It also meant I had time to sort out my mum's birthday present (it's a big birthday this year - found some good things in the sales so I'm a happy bunny).

While I was in the mood, I went through our huge present box - thinking I'd be able to reduce the size but have realised we actually have lots of good stuff in there I'd forgotten I'd picked up in various sales. Shouldn't need to buy anything much for forthcoming birthdays/Christmas. As helpful as it is stockpiling presents, it does take up a lot of space - so I'll try not to fill it up again as so much of it gets posted I need to not buy large, heavy things. Anyway, I've still got it in mind to give crafty, handmade things in future.


:www: MFW Wonderment: freezer is looking quite empty now, will have to fill it up again! A friend gave me a great recipe for scones, so I'll give those a bash and stash some in there as soon as I can procure the missing ingredient (yoghurt).

Have started spending on my 0% card - so stoozing has officially begun. :T

About to go and do the meter readings for the energy switch. Am sure old supplier owes me money, shall chase up asap.

Two weeks til payday, ohmigawd can't wait.

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: copious cups of tea; waking up to a tidy house; a quiet afternoon pottering about with netflix on in the background.

:heartsmil Burrow Building: have been nosing about pinterest looking for more clever and crafty ideas to make the house more homely. If anything, I feel inspired and reassured that there's loads of resourceful and effective things I could do without needing to replace things or redecorate (which is verboten). God bless pinterest and all who sail in her.

Decluttered: notecards I'll never use; more papers and even more magazines I found hiding under a seat; I'm pretty sure I'm going to get rid of a large vintage suitcase I have and some other bits. They're just taking up space and I'm sure I can find something similar again if I really wanted to...

I'm trying to remember that having free space to live in is so much more comfortable than hoarding things because 'it's mine/I might need it/I paid money for it!'. Living in a small space is cheaper but I need to remember that to make it work it may involve small costs every once in a while (i.e. don't hang onto loads of half-ragged clothes but keep a smaller selection of good things that I replace when needs be, even if that means more often than I'd like!)

I seem to go through a rollercoaster of emotions every time I stay home and sort things out. :rotfl: I literally don't know how people live comfortably in flats - they're definitely not designed for 'normal' living.

Pearla*Merle

We finally got our thunderstorm - I didn't get wet but I carelessly left my brolly in a shop and only remembered about it an hour later (thankfully they still had it - miracle really because it was was in a very busy shopping centre!).

Ticked off those shop visits I'd meant to do yesterday (impromptu wander around town with Mr M - he'd had a bad day, I'm afraid we stopped for fast food. No regrets).

My headache has finally gone away (can't take storm pressure) and I feel a lot more human again. I'd been feeling quite weird the last few days.

Work was odd - felt like I was only getting random bits done but all of a sudden I realised I'd achieved a lot and also found out some super pieces of information that'll be really beneficial moving forward. Yay.

:www: MFW Wonderment: boots points offer - I now have nearly £14 just from buying my usual bits (and not much at that!) but always with 150 extra points etc offers. :T

Had to buy a birthday card (annoying but I didn't have anything suitable in stock). At least the best one was the cheapest one there :T

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: relaxing evening watching documentaries and not sitting here thinking I should be doing something else

Pearla*Merle

Another day - worked (another good day), packed lunch, lazy evening watching a film. Did a little self employed work. Soon bath, bed, then do it all again tomorrow. :rotfl:

Less than two weeks til payday! :j

Pearla*Merle

Where have the last few days gone? :eek:

Managed to get a nice balance between tidying the house a little but also doing things I needed to do today (i.e. managed to get in a good hour of exercise and read some interesting finance blogs).

:www: MFW Wonderment: activated sparks card, apparently I get a free coffee - ooh, might do that tomorrow!

TCB over £20 (:j) claimed. Opted for M&S voucher (first time not choosing Amazonia - feels weird). As I'd get 70p more, seems like a good idea to start stocking up for use at Christmas time? Am thinking I can use it to buy nice drinks, or, will be perfect come sale time? Love to make those pennies s-t-r-e-t-c-h!

Still waiting for around £80 cashback from various places. Hope it arrives quick.

Used Waitflower card for a free tea while we were out wandering yesterday. If only Mr M hadn't lost his card we'd have both had free teas :cool:

Planning to bake scones & soda bread in a bit - most of which will be stashed in the freezer.

One week til I get my laptop and I'll be OnePolling like mad again. Can't wait. :j

Have been reading up on pensions/investments a bit more as well. Rethinking how I go about saving but I've not really got much to play with at the end of the day. Hmm.

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: gloomy day here, so put on the netflix fire and read my book this afternoon. Lovely, but I'd like the sunny weather back asap.

:heartsmil Burrow Building: Mr M has stunned me with the revelation that he's quite keen to have nice afternoon teas in the house at the weekends. Which means I can crack open all my finest crockery and get baking! Love a good afternoon tea. I might even do crustless sandwiches. :eek:

Seriously though, if we are slightly prepared and have stuff in the house that'll be nice to come back to after a day out and about. We sometimes do but sometimes don't, or it's food we'd bought in - I'm wanting to go more homemade and make more of an occasion of it. It would save us many pennies indeed. I shall do some recipe plotting and checking the cupboards for ingredients.

apple_muncher

And save the crusts to make bread and butter pudding!

Pearla*Merle

Oh gosh yes, yummmmm x