EH - Keeping on track. (AKA focus Woman! FOCUS!)

cazmanian_minx

Mara_uk7 wrote: »

Lol, I guess we are just used to it. In the winter I have a perpetual lean forward ........

Me too :rotfl:If the commute from my house to my annexe (about 40 yards) takes longer than two minutes, then it's definitely a bit breezy....

Have a wonderful trip, EH

Greying_Pilgrim

^ caz :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

And from me too, EH - hope your hols is everything that you and MrEH want and need it to be

Will look forward to the resulting blog posts in future weeks too

Greying

Enjoying_life_more

Have a wonderful time!!:beer:

Greying_Pilgrim

EH - just wanted to pop in to say what a pleasure it has been to *share* your adventurising in the Isles. I feel like I've had a break too

Gorgeous pics and wonderful commentary, although I have to admit my fave was definitely, 'cake so lovely that I forgot to photograph it before I ate it'

Greying

EssexHebridean

Awww Greying - thank you! And thank you all for your good wishes too - it was a fab holiday, and you'll all be pleased to hear that there were several pieces of cake too good to stop eating for long enough to photograph!

Quick run through of the budgets when we arrived at our overnight stop on Saturday suggests that we're a little under on diesel (about £40 under) which reflects the lower mileage we recorded this year. The £40 we were told we might expect for electric proved to be VERY high - we only used £22.59 in the end, plus had another bag of fuel for the fire at £11.80 - so still under what we'd budgeted even allowing for that. :T When we wrote the cheque out on the last day for the balance due on the cottage we asked the owner if we could re-book for next year right away, so added an extra £100 for the deposit for that to what we paid him - he was a little surprised I think! It proved to be an ideal base though, and we'll be very happy to return - having a beach within walking distance was just amazing! Everything else came in on-budget by the look of it - SO nice to know that there will be no nasty credit-card based surprises heading our way too.

Once everything is accounted for the holiday account will be left with a surprisingly healthy balance which is pleasing - we've discussed and are leaving that there for now - we have a trip to Lundy planned next year which will need some funds, and of course there is the New Year trip to Uist as well....although we're still aiming to make that cash-neutral.

Other than that everything looks in decent shape - my May invoice was paid while we were away, so I did the money-shuffling from both that and MrEH's pay. There was a small amount I was able to stash into my tax account as well as planned thanks to the additional hours I worked during the month. June will actually come in just over our "must have" figure too, so there will be another small amount to go to the tax account from there, which wasn't entirely expected.

The supply transfer for the electric has gone ahead - I took meter readings on arrival back yesterday and have already supplied those to the new provider - Scottish Power are meant to be calling me this week to take them so that they can close the account. I'll not be holding my breath on that though!

maddiemay

So pleased that everything worked out well for your hols:D, I was thinking of you yesterday - the RA's were appearing over 3 venues in Shropshire/Borders yesterday, Welshpool and Cosford Airshows and an event in Shrewsbury too, didn't get to go to any of them as already had stuff planned:(

starnac

Welcome home EH. Your holiday looked lovely. It was so nice that you were able to share photos with us via your blog while on holiday. It must have nice knowing that you had budgeted so well that you could "just add £100" to the final bill as a deposit for next year.

EssexHebridean

maddiemay wrote: »

So pleased that everything worked out well for your hols:D, I was thinking of you yesterday - the RA's were appearing over 3 venues in Shropshire/Borders yesterday, Welshpool and Cosford Airshows and an event in Shrewsbury too, didn't get to go to any of them as already had stuff planned:(

Ahh, yes, they were - the Vulcan was at Cosford too, we were just coming past Doncaster on the A1 and I noticed that it was only 20 minutes until they were due to fly her out, so we detoured off the A1 and watched her go - brilliant! My first "proper" Reds stuff this year is at the end of this week - In season Practises at Scampton on Thursday and Friday and then Biggin Hill Festival of Flight on Saturday. :T

starnac wrote: »

Welcome home EH. Your holiday looked lovely. It was so nice that you were able to share photos with us via your blog while on holiday. It must have nice knowing that you had budgeted so well that you could "just add £100" to the final bill as a deposit for next year.

Well I guess technically that extra £100 came from the first payment across of this year's budget, that went into the account while we were away...but yes, it was nice to know it was there and the cheque could just get written.

EssexHebridean

Mooooooorning! Sun cracking the flags here - and I'm not even grumpy about all the traffic we sat in to get into London this morning - the M11 is decidedly broken I think! Still, sitting in traffic in sunshine is nicer than in rain, and we made it in eventually (even if MrEH did have to let me out at a set of red traffic lights so at least one of us got to our workplace on time - that works now we've got a car with two sets of keys of course!)

Shopping got done last night - I either miscounted or something didn't scan as I got to the checkout and found I was £5 under to use a £4 off £40 voucher...so I whizzed back and grabbed two more boxes of cheap Crunchy Nut Cornflakes (proper Kell0g5 ones for £1.57 a 750g box - MrEH's fave cereal so I know they'll get 'et!) and a big bottle of washing up liquid (mild green liquid fairies - you know the one) to make up. Finally tally came in at just over £34, but that included a LOT of fresh fruit and veg, and some "stocking up" stuff too so happy with that.

Waiting with bated breath to see if those Sc0tti5h P0wer fiends call today for the meter reading....anyone care to take a bet?

Bank checked and looking OK - we look like we're winning in comparison to last month which is always nice. I've just done another little shuffle from the general mortgage savings account into the ISA too - nice to see that starting to build!

Right - work stuff is calling so must crack on...hope the sun shines on you all today!

starnac

They are the fave cereals in this house too. I used to buy "kiddies" cereals but they kept eating my crunchy nut stuff (own brand) and leaving the kiddie stuff. So I stopped buying the other stuff and just buy a bigger box of nutty cereal.

I am in awe of you being so organised, money and house stuff wise, so soon after coming home! It takes me about a week just to deal with the washing :rotfl: