Cheery's buttling diary: tea in one hand, plant pot in the other, running shoes on

Karmacat

Cheery, how excellent that there were bits of Mr MoneyM that appealed to you - like you seem to be, I like reading even the bits I've no intention of doing, it just opens the mind a bit and you can look at your own situation and make connections that might not have been there previously.

And well done on getting a flat desk

Cheery_Daff

The best kind of desk in my opinion KC! :j

I loved reading the MMM blog, so thanks for pointing it out! Loved the can do attitude, the whole thing of thinking 'well other people have clearly done this before so why can't I?!'

Calculated that we're currently putting 25% of income into long term savings which is less than he recommends, but then he was earning about 3 times my salary :rotfl:

Although writing that i've just realised it's 25% of MY salary and doesn't include what Mr Cheery brings in, which knocks the percentage down. Hmm...

Still, between that and YNAB I reckon savings are going to get a decent boost this year :j :j :j

Which reminds me... it's been an entire month now since I had the smart meter fitted and still can't get online to check bills or withdraw excess (although since we've barely left the house in the last two weeks there might not be much of an excess left!! ) Original bloke said end of Jan I think, and complaints dept bloke said it would be nowhere near as long... and I STILL haven't had my info booklet! :eek:

(not that it matters, but given they seem incapable of sending it to me despite repeated promises it does make me wonder whether they'll ever get round to fixing the web problem!)

Ah well, i shall endeavour to take the zen-like approach of ignoring them completely - that'll teach 'em :rotfl: :rotfl:

rtandon27

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

...Ah well, i shall endeavour to take the zen-like approach of ignoring them completely - that'll teach 'em :rotfl: :rotfl:

Awww Cheery you do make me smile! - more power to you for being Zen! I'd be hopping mad :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Thought I should report back to you that the budget has finally been done for Jan! !(took a while but it's workable now) and a review of December shows an underspend of £200 which will pay our phone/internet/mobile/long distance bill for the quarter - yeah to being [STRIKE]tight[/STRIKE] frugle...

...the claims - well they are yet to seen the light of day - but the house is mighty tidy & lots of the laundry has been tackled! - my avoidance tactics are at the very least productive!

Cheery_Daff

Sort out those claims young lady! That money is better in YOUR pocket than elsewhere! :eek: Well done on the underspend though :money: excellent work

(and with the energy people - I AM hopping mad every time I think about it and if it gets to Friday and I've still not heard from them I'll be ringing again, but I'm not planning on changing companies until it's all sorted out so won't be kicking up too much of a stink, it's not worth the hassle to my peace of mind! Once everything's sorted though I might well see fit to change suppliers...)

Transferred money last night from my Co-op bank account to my new Triodos ISA. First time I did this was last month - you might remember I set it up online, did it all over internet banking (with goodness knows how many levels of security), had to use the little card reader thing they give you - and I STILL got phone calls from the fraud people 'checking I'd made the transaction'

Fair enough - it was a lot of money from an account I don't use that often to a new account

Transferred January's money last night and did it over the phone hoping to avoid the fraud nonsense. But no! Another phone call from them this morning 'just checking'. It's an automated thing - 'if your birthday is in June, press 1. If your birthday is in August, press 2', blah blah blah.

Am I going to get this EVERY SINGLE TIME I transfer money from MY account to MY OWN ISA?? :eek: I know it only takes a few seconds to deal with, but what is the point of all that online banking security if it doesn't make your account secure?!

Grrr.

Anyway, enough of that

Lovely friend (who lives in Belgium) has just been to visit, fresh from the cottage they just bought in the Yorkshire Dales. It's being used as a rental cottage for now but it was taken off the books for January while the sale etc went through so we get to go and stay in it for the weekend for free

Just need to pick a weekend now :j :j :j Super excited - lovely AND free holiday! :money:

rtandon27

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

... Super excited - lovely AND free holiday! ...

Ooooooooh Cheery how exciting! - a Free holiday - just fabulous!

Cheery_Daff

I know! :j :j

And it's in a cottage that is actually rented out through a holiday cottage website (although it's been temporarily taken off while they bought it) so we can see exactly how much we will have saved

Cheery_Daff

:eek:

Just checked work trains as I remembered Martin saying there was going to be a fare increase.

My fare has gone up 50p a day to £20.90 :eek: Not a huge amount, but it's £1 a week, so £44 a year. Pah!

Ah well, that's pretty much exactly the amount I'll save each month in bus fares if I go on me foldy bike I suppose

Speaking of cycling - I'm going to cycle to my meeting tonight :eek: I figured it's actually only 3.5 miles away so there's really no excuse not to - except it's down a giant hill and back up again and doesn't finish til gone 8pm so at my feeble cycling rate I might not be home til after 9 :eek:

Still, the more I do it, the quicker I'll get...

Karmacat

The holiday cottage sounds lovely, Cheery! We've just booked our Norfolk cottage for July once again (my sister and I both feel odd about continuing to return to the same county over and over again, but it does mean we can see the rellies that we all like a great deal).

With the cycling - can I ask, after you posted the linkie about your new bag, is it right that you have a folding bike? And you've had it for ages? How long does it take you to unfold and make it secure? Do you have to fold it to lock it, or can you leave it locked and "whole", so to speak, while you're at your meeting?

I bought a bike ages ago that I've never used, and it would need such an overhaul now, I'm really not sure. Plus I like the idea of the foldy ones, being able to keep it in the porch, rather than trekking round the back through the side gate each time - I *know* I wouldn't do that

Cheery_Daff

I used to worry about going back to the same place KC - we spent my childhood at the same caravan site my mum spent hers at, and she now has her own caravan there :rotfl: I swore I'd never do that, and then we started going to Orkney.... :rotfl: Although we never stay in the same house! I reckon if you enjoy a place, don't worry about it!

I do indeed have a folding bike - two in fact

One is a brompton - ludicrously expensive but utterly glorious - had it for about 13 years now and I ADORE it. British racing green, 3 speed, the most basic model. Folds down in about 9 seconds, and back up in 11 Really lovely, really nice to ride - three gears nicely spaced out so it feels like more - I still struggle on some Sheffield hills but then I can just fold it up and take it on the bus

I bought one cos ex Mr Cheery had one - current Mr Cheery bought it off him a few years ago so they are now reunited :rotfl: His is red, they make a nice pair I've mostly used it for work (either end of bus/train journeys), but together we tend to throw them in the car for cheery cycling round cities or proms on weekends away Love it

The other one I have is similar to this - a Dahon that folds in half, but is the size of a full sized bike. I actually rarely fold it up - in my house it's much easier to store full size but with the handlebars folded down so the don't stick out (I also fitted folding pedals so it's quite streamlined). I think folded it'd be easier to shove in the boot of a car, but since our car is basically like a van, it's actually easier to just throw it in without folding.

In summary - Dahon folds but it might as well not for all the use I get from the folding mechanism, and Brompton is a GLORIOUS machine that I can't recommend highly enough

However... as I said Bromptons are extortionately expensive, even second hand. They're ACE for taking on trains, but if you're only going to fold it in the house, I reckon you'd be much better with a cheaper one - might not be *quite* as neat when folded up but you could probably save yourself £700 and still get something cheery and possibly with more gears!

You don't have to fold either of mine to lock them, and I rarely do. Dahon I just leave whole and stick the lock through the front wheel (it's quick release). Brompton usually comes in buildings with me and just sits under desks or in cloakrooms (even in nightclubs etc in the past ) - I wouldn't carry it far when folded (it's so easy to put up and push it!) but you can easily get it through a building. If I have to lock it outside (eg if in town) I fold the back wheel under and lock all of them together - it actually looks broken like that :rotfl:

Mind you - someone did try to swipe it at work once :eek: Fortunately the porters spotted them after they'd cut the lock off and wheeled it into the secure bike shed (which I didn't have a key for). I was right puzzled when I came out looking for it :rotfl: Kept it in the office after that (although the regulations state it's a 'fire risk' so I'm not meant to - I suspect they're more worried about it damaging the paintwork as I can't see what fire risk it is sat under a desk!)

Hope that helps

Cheery_Daff

Oops, sorry, waffled a bit there