Building The Burrow!

CathT

Pearla*Merle wrote: »

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: walking past the most gorgeous cream-painted cottage on the way into town, which had a sage-coloured door and wisteria :smileyhea blooming all over it. Heaven! #housegoals

:heartsmil Burrow Building: managed to tick off a few housey jobs with this new burst of energy. Thankfully all of these things (vacuuming packing winter things, organising a cupboard) make the house much more homely and 'sorted' - sighs of relief all round.


Ooh! Watching Grand Designs on live tv has paid off (usually fast forward ads), this starts next week - how to live mortgage free with Sarah Beeny. Looks verrrry interesting.

That cottage sounds idyllic. I get delusions of grandeur watching my guilty pleasure 'escape to the country' but would be happy to have a property like that nearby.

Home organisation is key, i feel so stressed out when it is a bit chaotic and a huge decluttering session is needed!

Thanks for posting about the mortgage free programme, it's like us lot being on the TV! I really like Sarah Brent too, double your house is another favourite programme. I often miss upcoming programmes as we tend to just watch our sky planner.

Pearla*Merle

Cath, me too - we fast forward through all the ads - it was a complete fluke we were watching live tv & ads otherwise I'd never have known it was on!

Having now watched the first episode, I'm happy to report that it was much better than I was expecting. Living-on-a-bohemian-boat appealed to my gypsy side and got me very excited at the thought of having a similarly random bolthole should I never need to one day

Though, to ruminate about it all - it looks like they've definitely focused on people who are either a) doing something totally not the norm and mad or b) have had all sorts of strokes of luck. There was just lip service paid to the people who probably make up the most of this board - normal people living in normal houses and squeezing the pennies to pay off the mortgage quickly. I really wish they'd used the opportunity to explore this more thoroughly e.g. focused one episode on all the little things you can do to pay off your mortgage without turning into a complete scrooge. Hmmm.

I love Escape to the Country as well (and fantasising!) though I never thought I'd live in an old house again after my parents draughty, rather broken Victorian place but this house we're in is even older than that :eek: Either I'll come to love old houses again or the next place will be ultra modern :rotfl:

Pearla*Merle

And to carry on from your reply, Cath - I managed to find a suitcase full of clothes, just when I thought I'd tackled and organised all my clothes and got them under control. Had about 20 minutes of feeling totally overwhelmed but managed to work out at least one item I can declutter which instantly made me feel calmer. :rotfl:

Have also decluttered two books and two pairs of winter socks today. :T Also some tights, a top, and probably a pair of pyjamas. Every time I get overwhelmed I try and remind myself that that aim is to have everything fit into their allocated spaces which would = pure joy. So it's easier to declutter small spaces & collections of things when you can see what fits nicely together in one small space e.g. sock drawer or jewellery box.

Otherwise it's all been rather nonstop here. We went away (cheaply) last minute for the Easter weekend, which was fun but exhausting really. Might rethink how we do such things again in the future though. Came straight back into a long work week, haven't had much of a rest until today really.

:www: MFW Wonderment: Though today has been more productive that anticipated - have brought my spending diary uptodate (two months worth :eek:), and thankfully it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be :T Still well within my budgets for toiletries/clothes/gifts and things. I've spent a bit more than I used to do on housey things (garden stuff mostly ), but I think what I'll do this year is put them in their own 'House' category and add up what I spend so I can get a feel for what I'm spending over the course of a year and try and decide on a budget for next year.

I'm still trying to keep to a 'have a zero budget and spend nothing' but giving myself some sort of framework to keep within really helps.

I've also realised that I've not taken into account yet another pot of money that probably should be considered as net worth - the deposit on this house(!). It's highly likely we'll get all that back whenever we move out, so that's another £2500 to take into account. Yay, I have more money to my name than I realised. :rotfl:

Just realised that we've filled a big gallon-size ziplock bag with teas/coffees/sugar/sale/pepper etc (snaffled from hotels & such places) for our self-catering holiday next month - it's probably more like a months-worth that a weeks-worth :rotfl:

I'm also trying to use up this huge collection of hotel toiletries I've somehow amassed... declutter... declutter...

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: I've seen so many bee species in the garden I'm almost tempted to keen a log! Also love seeing the sweet peas, lettuces and spinach I planted started to peep their heads above the surface.... just in time for the frosts to come, apparently! Gah! Must find some sort of covering for them tomorrow night.

:heartsmil Burrow Building: Came home on Saturday to see that Mr M had done a massive tidying session. Was utterly wonderful to see such a transformation (that I had no part in orchestrating!). Fingers & toes crossed that it becomes a regular thing....

Kittenkirst

Hi Perla, I love your 'MFW wonderment' parts to your posts

I too snaffle toiletries, coffees, teas from hotels but have so many to work through ;D feels nice to leave little matching sets out if we have people staying though!

Good news on the deposit- that's a nice chunk of pennies there!!

Pearla*Merle

Aww, that's a cute idea for when people come and stay. I guard my stash, though it's interesting how many toiletries I've had to provide to forgetful parents.... well, not my in-laws actually, when I think of it... they turn up with their own tea and coffee(?!) :eek: And teaspoons sometimes! Mad. :rotfl:

Yes, I've surprised myself with how all the pennies have added up! I keep thinking I could do better but then I remind myself that I need to have a life (& one not performed in rags!) too. :rotfl:

Pearla*Merle

So, the one top I identified from the newly found pile became 5 tops & a dress destined to the charity shop. :T

I also put some trousers on today which I realised were a bit big and made me feel frumpy. I tried to persevere then realised why on earth keep wearing something that makes me feel awful? So into the charity shop bag they go!

:www: MFW Wonderment: found lots of pennies in an old bag - around 40p, into the Kitty Bank it all goes.

Identified around 4 jackets and a few other items of clothing to be eBayed. Have put aside and will get them photographed & listed... probably won't get a chance for a few weeks but trying to take what steps I can in the meantime.

Once again hoovering up random things from cupboards/freezer for lunches and dinners!

Pay day on Friday! :T

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: I arranged a bookshelf to house a collection of all my 'sea/seashore' related books - it makes me deliriously happy! On the other side are a collection of nature books with a few favourite decorative bits & bobs. I do love a neatly curated bookshelf :smileyhea

:heartsmil Burrow Building: only three cardboard boxes left in the house to unpack! :T Finally getting there. :rotfl:

It's funny how all this organising and unpacking in a new place makes you realise that some old things just don't work any more. I've found a few cushions to get rid of, along with some more books.

Soon we'll get the kitchen table cleared of the random bits we've found in the boxes and then we have some space to play board games...

Pearla*Merle

The long weekend didn't quite go as planned - as in, I had a huge list of things I wanted to get done and I feel like I only scratched the surface.

Most notably - had planned to get all caught up in the garden and sort out lots of various pots and planting, but in the end we only managed to get a handle on a couple of incredibly overgrown bushes and not-so-much-bramble-bushes-as-bramble-trees. But that was the most important stuff, so will just crack on with the rest next weekend, methinks.

:www: MFW Wonderment: Got paid and have popped a chunk of monies over to my ISA for now. I should be able to save £400ish this month - we've got a holiday coming up, and whilst I'll probably be more restrained than I was last year with holiday purchases, I imagine a few will inevitably sneak in and there's no point not allowing for a few so a good time can be had.

The electricity company that we switched from when we moved in sent the most ridiculous bill ever for the few weeks we were with them. Have queried it and got them to look into it (meter readings were all wrong) - I've only paid half of what they were asking (which, tbh, is a more realistic bill amount), so am currently awaiting the updated bill - hopefully its not much more than what I paid.

Have also stopped my Amazonian prime membership - it made sense to have it last year as it more than paid for itself in a variety of ways, but I don't really need it now.

It also prompted a conversation with Mr M about phones - I'll probably need to get a new one in the next six months (blinking 4 year phone cycles and phone manufacturers no longer keeping software updated etc, grr). So will have to keep that in mind going forward. But that prompted a thought about when I might need to update my iPad.. or do I even want to?

I got the iPad to stop myself using the internet so much (or at least in such a random, time-consuming way) and to move towards a more clutter-free digital life. This has definitely worked out wonderfully but the main problem with it is that it's harder to type on, so I end up not keeping up with friends and family so often. And which is why, despite testing things out with a separate keyboard, I ended up getting a laptop again. This is generally working out well, though I'm not using the laptop as much as I wanted to so that had me thinking 'should I just go back to the laptop only?' but again - I don't want to sit in front of the TV with a laptop.... so keeping the iPad makes sense, but do I use this as an opportunity to try and go back to the days of having a computer in a room and actually sitting down and using it productively, and then don't have anything else which is still a bit time-wastery and instead try to actually do more productive and fun life things (like reading books, writing letters etc). But if I don't have an iPad, would I just end up using my phone instead?! Probably! Hmmmmm! All food for thought. Even if I do get another iPad, at least I've thought it through.

What other MFW activities have been going on... continuing to use up hotel shampoos, and yet more lovely YS foodstuffs tucked away in the freezer. Mr M gets gift cards from work which give an extra 5% off on our grocery shops, and considering we tend to only buying stuff on offer/YS, we've been coming in at around a 50% saving on grocery shopping for the last couple of months! :T Also, we've been keeping to around a £40-50 spend per week. We should be able to throw in a few cheaper weeks now our stocks are back up to a good level, so hopefully that'll come down a chunk as well.

In other food news, Mr M came home with lots of fancy coffee samples they were giving out at work - yum.

I've updated my spending diary a bit, still need to get it completely up to speed, but that might be one for another night this week.

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: watching birds come and go while gardening. Finally getting the rug down and bookcases sorted in our little music room (random passageway/room) - it looks like a proper living space now. :T


:heartsmil Burrow Building: decluttered three big Ikea bags full of randomness to the charity shop! :T :T :T And have already filled up another two bags for life - more clothes that have had their day.

Also managed to get rid of two big storage boxes of stuff - either old crafty bits that just needed chucking, or clothes and so on. Love having things in more order. I really need to have a proper sort through of all my art/craft stuff but goodness knows that's a big job, so might save it for some rainy afternoon.

We had a great night in our little music room, sorting out the CDs while listening to lots of random ones we found - now we just need a couple of comfy seats in there so we can hang out in there more often

Pearla*Merle

:www: MFW Wonderment: worked Cheap and cheerful chilli for tea (only using half a small packed of mince and bulked out with veg, as per usual) - enough leftover for lunch tomorrow :T

£30 TCB, whoop! :T

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: so many lovely plants appearing in the garden, I love watching them burst into life. My sweet peas are doing great, can't wait to see them flowering :smileyhea

:heartsmil Burrow Building: did a few more stints of house organising and we've worked out a plan of action for new wardrobes/chest of drawers/sofa bed which we'd been pondering a while so it's good to finally figure that out (plus find cheaper stuff than we'd been looking at!).

apple_muncher

How are things going in the burrow? Thinking of you.

Pearla*Merle

Thanks for the nudge, Apple - I'm ok, just got back from holibobs and in recovery! (Hope all is ok with you, Apple? Have just done a bit of a lurking catch up and glad to see that fun times are on the go and life is slowly settling back down again for you xx)

The run up to the holiday was a bit madly busy and then work went a bit weird which put a damper on things and am a bit :eek: thinking about going back this week, though I'm sure all be ok. Just didn't expect to feel so frazzled over the holiday, plus we had horrendous rain most of the time which didn't help - of course it's insanely warm and lovely this week, hey ho!

:www: MFW Wonderment: £24 worth of summer bulbs from Waitflower for about £5, excellent timing as we have a few bare patches that need sorting out. :T

Planted up an excess of tomatoes (two fancy coloured types), parsley, carrots, marigolds, sweet peas, lettuce, spinach and some random £1 bedding plants from Aldee before we went away - came back to see everything sprouting up and looking lovely, huzzah! All a bit of an experiment this year so heaven knows what I'll end up with in the end but it's good to test what works etc so I can really go for it next year.

Didn't come back with even nearly the same amount of stuff I bought on holibobs last year. Huzzah. Did buy some books, but resisted many others. Two of said books were from a charity shop, so hardly breaking the bank.

Need to update my spending diary, but have had quite a few TCB vouchers come through lately (think about £40 in all). Also found some really good quality ankle boots in the sales - completely forgot I needed these, tbh, but I know I'll thank myself when winter rolls round again(!).

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: have discovered the new Anne of Green Gables (Anne with an 'E') on Netflixen - it's rather wonderful and life-affirming; peonies and roses are coming out in the garden (and it looks like a peony I planted - another Waitflower clearance item - is starting to come up :T); spotting honeywort around our apple trees, so lovely; getting back into Duolingo and increasing my foreign language skills :T

Despite the rain, had lots of nice times on holiday - amazing views, saw some fireworks, watched the weather, had a lazy day reading all afternoon, a fun afternoon hanging out in a pub; lots of lovely meals and we came home to a relatively tidy house! Amazing! (We also seriously overdid it with the saving up of sugar/tea etc packets to use in our self catered accommodation - we easily have 20 times as much as we needed. :rotfl: Main plan of action moving forward will be to use all that up(!)

:heartsmil Burrow Building: slowly but surely the house is finally becoming more organised since moving in - still being bowled over every time I find a space in the cupboard to put something. Just so thrilling to have s p a c e !


So, that's a bit of a general catch up... have forgotten a million things. Did quite a bit of a serious rethink of my 'Life Plans' and reread http://howtodoeverythingandbehappy.com which is the most amazing book (the whole Whatever I Want Days and Live Life Now List and Goals List strategy really works for me) while I was away so I'm back to feeling like I have a handle on what I want work towards (feel so much more normal having lists and goals etc!).

I used this strategy a while back but what with various big life changes I had lost track of things but I've kicked my Notebook of Plans back into action and I've put alerts on my phone to remember to put some work into my Now list and Goal list, so I can make sure things things tick along going forwards.

Main goals are... really need to focus on getting fit and healthy again. I'm generally much better than I was a few years ago but could really do with putting more effort in. Also want to get back into my crafty stuff as I've really missed it and not partaking of artistic activities is actually having quite a soul-shocking affect on me so I really need to Make Time for this as in a sense it's a 'Going Home' activity with is Essential for my (soul) health.

Now list is things I want to do that would make me feel like I'm Living Life Now This includes reading some good books, visiting a few Londinium museums that Mr M & I have talked about for ages and I forget what else!

I rewrote both my goal and now lists with no reference to what I'd written before.... interesting that my lists were quite sparse when compared to the last ones - either I've ticked off a lot of things and/or feel like I'm doing a lot these days (definitely think this is true) or I'm finally getting to the heart of what I most want to do, especially goals-wise (definitely feel like this is quite true). Interesting!

Heartily recommend the book to anyone that's not read it yet.