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

Cheery_Daff

Well it looks like I may well do it Starnac - not left the house yet and certainly not planning to now! :j :j

Just popping in with another celebration :j :j :j :j

Over the last couple of years I've been slowly sorting out all housey bills AND combining our finances AND changing Mr Cheery's surname on everything. This combination of bureaucratic nonsense has driven me quite potty :rotfl: :rotfl:

Much as I'd love to announce the completion of this ridiculous task, I can't :rotfl: Not yet.

HOWEVER, I am a step closer, having just spent the last 5 hours investigating and deciding what to do with our phone and internet stuff. Goodness me how very TEDIOUS! Boring boringy bored.

But it's done now :j :j :j

After all that messing we've ended up staying with exactly the same internet provider and adding their phone service :rotfl:

Sounds daft, but it's lovely to make decisions based on things other than money They're a smaller company, brilliant customer service and have been very good to us over the years. They also do a one month rolling contract so you're not tied in for years. And while they have a great call centre, you can also do everything online - including changing bank accounts and adding a new service (and upgrading broadband etc), meaning you don't have to speak to anyone at all if you don't want to, so no unnecessary sales pitches :j :j :j

So while it's not the cheapest by a long shot, I have just reduced our combined phone/internet from £60 a month :eek: to around £40 (will depend on number of calls I make) :j :j Saving us £20 a month, or £240 a year :j :j :j :j

Very pleased :j :j

Going to reassess in November. My mobile bill is £20 a month and I'm tied into a 2 year contract til then, but the bloody thing can't make phone calls in the house :mad: That's the main reason for me going for a more expensive contract with more minutes - but I don't use even half of them now!

Might well work out cheaper to have unlimited minutes on the house phone, and fewer on the mobile. But I'll decide that nearer to November.

For now I just need a lie down :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Ooh, should be able to update signature from next month too I suppose! :j :j :j

DedicatedDFW

A pottering / gardening / decluttering day sounds lovely Cheery

I am finding the same thing with tracking spending - it is making me more mindful - i *nearly* bought some bargainous meat yesterday - if i had it would have meant going over my weekly food shop amount :eek: and having to make room in the freezer :eek: and ruined an nsd :eek: - it wasn't bargainous enough for that :cool: and i found myself putting more things back in the supermarket :T

Pippi - thank you so much for your offer of help - My barrel beautiful big oak thing - i will get the proper measurement but i'd say almost a meter diameter.. - i could be very wrong though i'm rubbish at estimating size / distance

Colour - happy with any colour

herbs - yep happy for these too tasty and fragrant i already have some in my butler sink but that needs sorting out really so no problem with doubling up as there's not lots in there.

weather - it is in a spot that gets the majority of the sun. occasionally can get windy too

frost - not a lot

height - The only place this huge thing could sit (was a gift) is in front of a bit of the plant growing part of the garden although i can still access that and the thing(inherited with garden) growing behind it is a big scratchy plant. I guess i don't want things too tall - if we got a bad wind the plants wouldn't be protected enough. i was thinking maybe taller at the back and lower at the front or all similar / same height Open to any suggestions really

Really do appreciate any help / advice. i want low maintenance as whilst studying i have to pretty much ignore the garden as when i get out there i pretty much stay out there all day

I'll try and avoid the erracacious soil - as you say it is more pricey

Cheery_Daff

Glad we've got Pippi for gardening advice I tend to just bung things in and then they die :rotfl:

Seem to have spent most of the day on the internet :eek: But have saved £240 on phone/internet, and have also just signed u nectar card to train website and got 200 bonus points plus 80 points for buying my ticket to work on Tuesday :j :j

I've always been wary of buyin advance single tickets, cos the amount it saves isn't really worth it for the stress of having to leave at a certain time to get the right train.

But... my normal ticket is £20.40, and I usually do that twice a week, so 8-10 times a month.

Normally get 40 points per ticket (2 per £1), so that's 20p worth of points :j

320-400 points a month, which is £1.60-£2 a month :j

Which is round about £20 a year by my reckoning :j

Not going to buy a new house :rotfl: But not to be sniffed at, especially if I can use them with an offer or something :j

Now I just need to remember that I've already bought them and not buy them again on Tuesday morning in a fog of early-morning-doziness :rotfl: :rotfl:

DedicatedDFW

Happy Birthday Cheery :bdaycake:and a :coffee: to go with it as i know you like your tea

starnac

Happy birthday cheery hope you are having a nice birthday :bdaycake:

Cheery_Daff

aw thank you both, i do indeed love my tea and cake and had plenty of both yesterday! :j :j :j

So - NSD number 5 (i think!) on saturday :j :j and i must update signature

yesterday had birthday breakfast in bed, opened my lovely pressies (got a load of books and my lovely mum bought me a 'make your own library' kit with check out cards and a date stamp and a 'genuine pencil' :rotfl: so i hope to never lose a book again!!)

walked into town with mr cheery and tried on lots of clothes, quite bored of mine right now and with losing a stone and a half many of them don't fit quite right.

Nearly bought 2 pairs of jeans for £25 but thought 'NO Cheery! Wait til after payday! This is not worth dipping into savings for!' Then popped into charity shop and got 2 pairs for £7.50 instead so still within budget :j :j :j

also found surprisingly lovely skirt but also didn't buy that good job - tis reduced to £11 online but i'm going to pop to the fabric shop next weekend and see if i can make one myself as it's basically just a tube

spent £4 on necessary toiletry items

had lunch out but my Great Uncle George sent a tenner in my card so we used that at it cost £9.60 :j :j

walked home again so no bus fare :j :j

considered a takeaway but instead popped to the shop on way home and got some nice basmati rice and some salmon reduced from £3.15 a pack to 79p so mr cheery made kedgeree :j Very odd - i've been vegetarian since i was 16 (18 years!!) and my mum was never a cook so the only salmon i've ever had has been in fishcakes :rotfl: Been considering the odd bit of meat or fish for a while now and still not entirely sure how i feel about it, don't have the same reasons for being veggie any more and it's more of a habit than anything else now...

anyway, it was reduced and use before yesterday so it would have gone in the bin of we hadn't bought it, and it was very nice and felt like a very different birthday dinner (and saved the cost and calories of a takeaway!) :j

also drank lots of booze and now my 12 mile planned bike ride is NOT looking appealing... :rotfl:

today's plan... bike ride and garden and house pottering, then slimming world tonight which i'll need to pay for as pre pay thing has run out £5

also need to post parcel from the other day.

that should be it though! :j :j

Cheery_Daff

Right - signature updated to £177 and 5 NSDs :j :j :j

love this place, makes me really focused :j

get paid on wednesday so i'm going to sit down tonight and do a list of everything to take out of the bank - it's all going in envelopes this time to stop endless frittering! :j :j

EssexHebridean

Have another happy birthday from me! Glad it was a lovely day. well done for a Saturday NSD too - I can't claim Saturday as one but CAN claim yesterday - and it's also unusual for me to manage one over a weekend so well done us!

Have you gone out on your bike yet then?!

Cheery_Daff

Er, no :rotfl:

Friend popped in unexpectedly, then me and Mr Cheery took an amble to the post office to do some errands

£2.80 posting parcel (how much?!)
£7.99 dress
£2.50 black top

So unnecessary clothes spends, and definitely not a NSD, but having chucked half my wardrobe in the charity bag I felt I needed something to replace it! :rotfl:

Anyway, just stuffed in some lunch, off outside to plant the last of my seeds and THEN I PROMISE I will go on a bike ride :rotfl:

And why do I put off seed planting?? Feels really faffy - lots of teeny pots, compost everywhere, no proper labelling system, things blow away, everything gets mixed up, I get covered in soil, garden looks like a waste tip... :rotfl:

Or is that just me?!

Cheery_Daff

Just popping back to report that i forgot spending a fiver on another christmas present :eek: (i really am NOT organised, just saw it and thought of someone specific!!) so that'll have to come from my soon-to-be-set-up christmas present fund (currently in minus figures :rotfl: )

left it really late to do bike ride so ended up pedalling really fast to get back in time for slimming world :rotfl: 8 miles in 55 mins - not speedy but considering i had to get off and push up giant hills isn't too bad

lost 1lb at slimming world :j (considering yesterday's indulgences, not bad at all! :j :j )

paid £5.50 for fees and raffle tickets.

contemplating another NSD tomorrow... Going to the office, lunch etc all packed, train fare paid for (doesn't count for NSD purposes but must remember not to automatically buy another ticket :rotfl: )

boss's leaving do so chances are i won't make it back for al anon meeting so no donation there.

Enjoyed cycling so much this week i've got my foldy bike out of the cellar - it's perfect for journey to work which is 2.5 miles to station, 45 mins on train, then another 2.5 miles at other end - usually end up with walking/bus combo, not cycled it for AGES (no fun in dark along river).

if i get back into the habit it'll save me about £3.70 in bus fares each day i go :j (will still get bus for last leg home as it's far too uphill!)

right, best snooze - come to think of it, advantage of cycling is that station is 2.5 miles downhill so it only takes 10 mins so i can get up later!! :j how did i forget that?? :rotfl: