Building The Burrow!

Pearla*Merle

apple_muncher wrote: »

We may have been in your neck of the woods yesterday, pearla! From the Beaconsfield services on the M40, we had to avoid the gridlocked M25, but still join it in the gatwick direction at some point. Dh's wonderful phone took us all around the back roads and several times we drove a short stretch alonside some water that made me think of you!

Anyhow, I waved to you!

Awww :wave: You must have gone past some pretty little places on your adventure - there are so many tucked away out here

Traffic though :eek: I still don't understand why we don't have 2 person+ lanes down here, it's madness. Mr M's commute can take anything from 30mins to 3 hours :eek: :eek:

Pearla*Merle

Strange weekend - Mr Merle was ill so Saturday was a washout, thankfully he recovered enough for a trip out to Winchester yesterday - we realised it was anniversary (we've ended up with two as we disagree on dates) so that meant we had a nice excuse for a lovely Sunday roast (and for treating ourselves to dessert and Nettle Mead - extravagant but oh so lovely).

Today has been a tidying up and picking a few things up day. Letters and parcels that I've been meaning to send to friends for ages (years ) are finally being processed. Still lots to do but so nice to have some proper energy these days to start keeping up with people again.

Got the new Harry Potter! Well, Mr M got it (no point us buying two copies ), but since I'm off tomorrow that means I can read, read, read

:www: MFW Wonderment: ooh, lots. Accounts sorted and spending diary up to date. Found 5p on the pavement.

£450 into savings :T No sure if I'll be able to keep quite that amount in there for the whole month but heaven knows I'll try.

Made £85 on eBay today! :eek: One thing went for £65 - third time relisting it and it was only started at £35. Not complaining! :rotfl: Going to list everything not nailed down now. :rotfl:

Handily, that more than pays for the fancy trousers & top I got in the sale (50% off in sale, £52 - should be able to use both for casual/work - so double bargain). Also - first time I've bought smart trousers in years! Usually they don't fit me (am short, awkwardly small waist but too much tummy weight ) so am pleased to find somewhere that does trousers that fit. :T

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: roadworks mean I'm having to take a detour on the walk to work - ended up passing a little house with the most sublime cottage garden. They have a blanket of sweet peas draped over their fence - heaven.

:heartsmil Burrow Building: Mr M is keen to get the house much more sorted, so we're going to start paying much more attention to all the items in the house and start sifting more things into the Get Rid Of piles.

Though we're coming to the realisation that there's only so much we can do - we'll always have problems being squeezed into such a small place... so pondering a move to somewhere bigger (though in different location, so fairly same cost as current location) that would also be quieter (city-living really starting to grate ). Going to do some sums and weigh things up a bit more first. And keep decluttering like a demon in the meantime.

Pearla*Merle

Actually managed to get quite a bit of housework/life stuff done today, despite all my HP reading. Finished the book :T Still getting my head around it - quite brilliant, regretting not getting tickets now... might have to remedy that if at all possible - though also not quite convinced on some of the story, but hey ho - it's still HP and it's hard not to love it. Ultimately a well-spent morning.

Cracked open a Davina DVD today for the first time in an AGE. Was sweating cobs and only did 30 mins (20 mins of that was the warm up and cool down :eek:). It's reminded me how effective those workouts are though. Definitely going to plot more into my days in coming weeks.

Food shopping arrived & replenished the freezer with staples - frozen chicken & fish, brown bread (can be used for snacks or any sort of meal - can't be without sliced brown bread, it's saved us more than a few times!) and couscous just in time for this weeks work lunches.

Made this spiced black bean & chicken soup for tea, oh my goodness, yum. And it uses things we usually have in the cupboards - definitely a keeper.

:www: MFW Wonderment: checked over the financials again today to make sure all is up to scratch. Going to check back over all my dates for cards ending etc soon (all a long way off but want to make sure I have all the information in the right places/right times in my diary).

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: quite liking the rainy weather (:o), after so much hot weather and with everything looking so parched it's a bit of a relief. It feels autumnal - which usually signals Make And Enact Plans, Snuggle Up And Read Books, Bake Nice Treats. All this I can get along with quite happily and have been doing some of all those things today

:heartsmil Burrow Building: doing 'Going Home' activities i.e. things that bring you back to yourself (in my case - reading books, lighting a candle, cups of tea, quietening down in front of the Netflix fire) makes such a difference and life feels so much more charming when I manage to do these things.

Just need to remember to keep making these happy choices (heaven knows it's easy to get sucked into an unintentional life). First stop - making a more conscious effort to go to bed earlier and thus having more energy the next day to remember to do so said nice things instead of flopping in front of TV.

Pearla*Merle

Finally back to normal after a rather busy week. Work ended on a mad note last week (wonder what I'll turn up to tomorrow, tbh!) and then we had a mad weekend up north (wedding plus seeing friends). Lovely time was had, but spent most of yesterday on the sofa recovering.

Today I have tackled the laundry mountain, run a limescale remover though the dishwasher (it's been acting up massively, hoping this helps) and also repotted lots of plants & generally rejigged and tidied up the balcony (looks lovely now). About to tackle the piles of bedding lurking about the house and rehome them into vacuum bags.

:www: MFW Wonderment: we had a hotel deal which gave us breakfast (I was too wobbly to take advantage of, oh dear) but also a free cream tea (managed to partake of that ) and a £50 voucher to spend in nearby shops. I bought books which had been on my wishlist for ages, so a happy result there. Mr Merle bought himself some bits and bobs he was going to buy anyway, so I think we did quite well in the end.

The weekend was a little bit more spendy than anticipated, but could have been a lot worse so am pretty grateful all in all. Did spent a frivolous 50p from a train station charity bookstand: 'gardens for small spaces' - it's full of brilliant ideas and advice, 50p well spent

Mr M found a 2€ coin on the train. Every little helps.

I had a few other MSE wins, but I've totally forgotten what they were now. :think: Oh well! Generally, am keeping up with good practices.

Have been doings lots of FI blog reading and thinking about stashes and numbers and index trackers. Am formulating a plan... which is to get to a certain amount of cash reserves and then start divvying things up to make sure my money is working as hard for me as possible. Shall elucidate when I have a bit more time on my hands.

Ultimately, the whole reason I got into this MFW-lark is because I had a financial scare and thought that the more financially savvy I can be (and the quicker I can dispose of any outgoings) the better. Thankfully now there's so much information around about financial independence, I can see how many options there are.

Nothing has changed really - save as much of my income as possible (currently reckon I can save around 40-50% of salary per month), get it working for me as best possible (in a range of investments - probably via Vanguard something or other to start with, but not ruling out buying land or property I could rent out etc in the future).

The only real difference is, well, it's not so much of a difference as I've been reminded how important it is to really see the financial cost of everything in life and to weigh it up carefully. It's easy to get sucked into doing something because everyone is doing it (I'm thinking cars, inefficient-to-run houses and expensive decor for said houses etc).

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: listening to music and pottering about the house.

:heartsmil Burrow Building: we've had lots of chats about the future and how we want to live/what we want to do and it feels more than ever that we're on the same page and working towards the same ideal - so lovely that we're singing from the same hymn sheet (though when we have differences at least it - usually - turns out that we've brought each other back into some sort of balance)

Pearla*Merle

Forgot to say - made another £10 on ebay! Have found a few more things to list (jackets & kitchenalia mostly)

misscousinitt

Hey PM

Lots going on in your neck of the woods.

Good to 'see ' you well and happy and plotting:rotfl:

Keep up with the decluttering - did quite alot on my first week off before my hols - it was liberating! Need to get back to it again now.

MCI x

chumpy45

Sounds like lots of lovely plans being made. Love keeping up with your posts. It always sounds so cozy chez PM

Pearla*Merle

There's nothing I love better than plotting, MCI :rotfl:

Decluttered some more books and clothes - there's something very satisfying about being ruthless sorting of shelves!

Chumpy - I'm famous in this house for liking things cosy. :rotfl: Although I'm melting again in this summery weather, the other week there was a hint of autumn in the air and oh my - I can't wait to crack open the fluffy socks, tea and blankets. (I daresay I'll complain about the weather when the world has been damp for several weeks and it's dark at 4pm )

Really must catch up here - don't know what happened last week but had an absolute shocker of a time, was completely taken out by something (migrainey/awful aches & pains) and ended up collapsing in bed by 9pm most nights. Seem better now though (whew).

Some fun MFW-happenings in the meantime: found 1p on way to Aldee the other night; Mr M found himself a brilliant winter coat for only £35; lots of store cupboard teas (beans on toast & 'use up random bits from fridge and freezer' which turned into wonderful veggie bean chilli on toasted tortillas - also from freezer).

Also - did some crafty things (thinking that I might get my etsy shop going again after all - now life is slowing down into some sort of routine it seems mad not to try to make a few extra pennies that way).

Made another £10 on eBay! Found some more bits to list

Am forgetting the rest, had some big chats about money stuff here - and have also done some thinking about things I really should do in order to be healthy (the alarm bells truly went ringing last week so I'm going to be much more strict with myself in future) - but shall report on all that another day...

£450 still sitting in savings, but will probably have to use that £50 soon. Though, looks like I've still hung onto £400 for the month which is All Good and means my sums were right. :T :rotfl:

Hope all is well out there in MFW-land :wave:

Pearla*Merle

Crazy mad week at work, fun but so glad I get a rest now! Next few weeks should be relatively calmer so looking forward to catching up and sorting out a few things.

Also had some good news and am getting a mini-promotion of sorts, so it's nice to know management think I'm doing a good job

:www: MFW Wonderment: took lunches to work all week, bought bits for next week (and cut up cake for the freezer - see below - ready to take out for later in the week)

Have been using up little bottles of hotel conditioner to space out my good conditioner :A

Emptied a huge box of Mr M's stuff that's been sitting in the spare room since we moved in two years ago (to the soundtrack of "we've finally unpacked! Let's move!" ). Half of it is now going to the charity shop, or the Bay of E. Listed some of it this evening - one thing (a little toy) sold literally minutes after we listed it for £12! :eek: Should have put it on for more

--- omg! Three more just sold, have made £60 in the space of about half an hour! :eek: :j :j :j Crazy thing is - Mr M bought these things for around 50p each :eek:

Lots more listing of other things to do over the next while though. Must find some boxes as I've got some clunkier things that I want to get rid of asap.

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: coffee and Aldee's light fruit cake was consumed on this grey and rainy afternoon. Just perfect.

We've been watching a lot of slow tv on netflix & youtube (so many lovely nature/birds & animals/amazing places around the world videos on youtube). So relaxing - and interesting.

:heartsmil Burrow Building: Mr Merle has become a decluttering demon! Am so proud/impressed.

In other news, our sofa (it's a sofa bed) has probably reached the end of it's life (as far as being useful as a sofa on a daily basis - it's giving me back aches now ). We've looked around and a) Mr M wants the same kind of lovely-looking sofa that I would adore, hurrah! (context: living with 'what's on offer at !kea' furniture for some time now & desperate to have a few things I would actually like) - it's this one http://www.sofasofa.co.uk/grosvenor-2-seater-sofa.html b) sofas we've found in that style all seemed to be around £1k mark, but of course Mr M did some digging and found that company (good reviews and half the blinking price). Not buying anything till we move from here though - but nice to know a handsome sofa is in my future. :rotfl:

CathT

Very nice sofa, fits in with how I imagine your burrow.

I noticed at the weekend whilst driving how autumnul it seemed. Lots of brown leaves on the floor, never known it like that at this time of year.

Great eBay sales too!