Time to get serious

try_harder

Thank you she did enjoy her hack and yesterday she went to Holkham to watch the Household Cavalry on the beach which she thoroughly enjoyed .
Good to hear that you are getting back onto an even keel now moneywise.

EatingTheElephant

Another weekend rolls around again. We were out last night catching up with a group of old friends, not a late one but I imagine I will be flagging a bit later.

We have the grandson over for a sleepover tonight, so that will limit the amount that will get done this weekend! Not sure yet what we will be doing but hoping for a break in the bad weather to be able to get him out to let off steam.

More work is coming in from the big contract that is still rumbling on, so this will keep the business account healthy.
The challenge to not buy any clothes this year is still going strong, mainly I've just been avoiding looking at any shopping sites/shops!

Other mse news is we have all 4 chickens laying now, 4 eggs a day :T

Moneyfordreams

Our CC buying has been successful whist shuffling cash aside, i'm thinking of getting a reward card. I should probably pay off the balance first mind you

EatingTheElephant

Lego to the rescue!

The plan was to use Ll0yds cinema vouchers to entertain DGS this afternoon. He's not been before and we were not sure if he would sit still for a film in the cinema, so figured that using the vouchers meant we wouldn't be too upset if he couldn't manage it.

Unfortunately there was a little accident, of the wet variety, walking to the cinema so we headed back home and he has been happy with the lego ever since. DD brought it round the other day as apparently Sain$ had it on offer.

Still not quite a nsd as we nipped into pets@home for a fluorescent coat for the dog for when we are out riding (a summer weight one!) so he is easily seen by the other road users, also a plug cover for DGS bedroom to stop him playing with the socket. Both safety spends today.

wishingthemortgaheaway

What a shame about the pre-cinema accident, still you've got the vouchers for another time.

Elephantchunks

Hooray to 4 fresh eggs a day, Yum! That's going to save a few £s I imagine? Do you know how much they cost a month to feed? Is there any other expense? I'll only need 2 a day but may get 4 chickens anyway.

EatingTheElephant

I'm hoping it will be moneysaving in the long term EC, but I think it will take a couple years to break even with the cost of setting it all up, the run and coop etc. We also bought an automatic door closer so that increased the initial setup cost.

The food only costs a few £ each month, which we get from the same place we get our horse feed and shavings. The shavings we put in the coop doesn't cost much if you get the big horse shavings bale, about £7 and will probably last a year. They have hay in the nest box.

If you get four and find you have too many eggs then you could sell them to cover the feed. I've been asked by loads of people for eggs already but we are still eating all that they are laying. We've just had omelette for lunch. Yum.

There's another fellow elephant on mse who knows a huge amount about chickens and other animals who very kindly posted a few pages back a load of chicken information (eager_elephant), I'm still learning everything, but the girls all seem happy enough with our efforts!

FloppyDisk

You make it sound very straight forward elephant. I'd like some chickens one day and it's great that you have a market for left overs already.

EatingTheElephant

Thank you floppy, it has been quite straightforward so far. The hardest part was working out how/where to put the run and making it fox proof.

Still busy, but not much money news to report, apart from I had an idea for my signature whilst out riding yesterday. I had the afternoon off as I had a dentist appointment, so made the most of it and snuck out for a ride after. The dog wore his new reflective coat, which worked really well.

Sundays we have DD1 & DGS for dinner but we had mil over too as she is on her own this week. As it was a roast it stretched quite well. I did have to buy extra desserts though as it was a last minute.

I'm also thinking of cancelling a small life insurance policy I took out years ago. We decided to keep it going until we were straight financially after the move, but they are being really difficult about the fact I got married (11 years ago!) it seems they didn't acknowledge the name change back then and to be honest I could do without the hassle of the hoops they want me to jump through. We do have a larger policy that covers the mortgage and seeing as we will have no other debt after this month I think it will be easier just to cancel it. It won't make a huge difference though as it's only £6 a month.

smallholdingsister

The riding sounds lovely near you.