Extending our house without extending ourselves beyond our means

PurpleFairy26

DH was productive in the house yesterday and did one big and one small job off the list. Both spaces look better already. Now means more work can be done in the one space now big job complete. 

I cooked fennel dauphinoise to go with last nights salmon. Im not a fan of fennel normally (Was in veg box) but this was lovely. Some leftover which will go with some sausages today. Fridge is nice and empty ready for today’s delivery, this is good meaning a) there isn’t waste and b) our food shopping is at the right level. Considering we’re only having an online delivery this is good news. Next steps will be to see how/ where we can reduce costs.

spoke to builder yesterday about work to be done and he will let me know when he’s available. 

I’ve boxed up some items I sorted out for charity shop and added some cushions that we don’t need anymore. I’ll put them in the loft out of the way and then when they are open and past the peak of donations I’ll get them down and drop them off. I’ve a bag of shoes that are too small for the smalls, I’m going to put these in the charity bin at the SM. 

I do have some stuff to list on the bay but need to talk to DH to see if he is happy to go to the PO. If not, I’ll leave for now and list in a few weeks/months. 

hugglemonster

Good morning, fennel dauphinoise sounds lovely - I must admit to being a massive fan of the potato version but can't have it too often as I'd scoff the lot!

Well done on all the sorting and dh jobs done, hope you have a lovely day, H x

foxgloves

You have been very productive, PurpleFairy. It must be lovely seeing all the work on your house coming to fruition. Ours has stalled again..... not due to Covid this time but to those bloody jackdaws in the chimney! Never mind, we are progressing several smaller jobs ourselves & have really cracked on with the garden.
F x 

savingholmes

Never really tried fennel - the dauphinoise bit sounds lush though

debtfreeoneday

I stayed away from fleabay for a while but our PO is really easy to take parcels to, you do it from outside so I don’t mind selling a bit again now. 

PurpleFairy26

I can confirm left over fennel dauphinoise tastes even better than day 1! Would definitely make again. Leftovers used for lunch too. 

Need to try and source coffee and chickpeas online as neither in stock from our online SM. 

Chekced cashback sites, both have a little due but would like a couple of larger amounts to be made payable. Need to check to see if I redeemed a gift voucher I exchanged from them last time. Will do that shortly, I’m sure I have. I’m due £35 in vouchers from my just for points CC sometime this month. Will put towards a light we have seen. 

Some clothes have arrived for DD. Need to get her to try them on and send back any that aren’t suitable for a refund. Deliberately chose somewhere that had free returns as I’m having to start buying her adult sizes for somethings so not quite sure on fit! Will do that this weekend. 

Spent a birthday voucher on a garden hoe. I’m very excited 😜 how time’s change! It’s due today. I’m hoping it will make weeding easier now hubby has created a proper bed. He’s another 2 to finish but weather hasn’t been suitable for doing it last couple of days. Think heading towards next weekend it’s supposed to be better. 

debtfreeoneday

Fingers crossed the weather does get better. 

PurpleFairy26

I did redeem the voucher, which is good. I’ve signed DH up to a reward account on his new bank account. There is £6 in there already after 1 month and another £6 waiting to clear. We trade up for some vouchers for a well known retailer to get a bit extra for our buck. 

Savings rates have plummeted so considering putting some in PB. Need to send some money to a new regular saver. We don’t bank with them and 😯 wow do they make it complicated! I appreciate security is important but so far we’ve had about 6 different letters from them with various passwords, log ins and some sort of security grid we need to use to log on. Hope it gets easier or I can see myself giving up which i know is not the attitude for some extra interest! Still pitiful though. However, appreciate I am grateful to be able for us to have money in savings right now. 

Also discussed with DH about his work situation. Hope he’s going to start looking for something PT. 

savingholmes

Great news on the reward vouchers. Hope things sort with DH soon.

PurpleFairy26

Significant shopping from home done unexpectedly today. DH went up in the loft to look for a tub of varnish that appears to have vanished during lockdown so he could do a job off the list. I took the opportunity to ask him to put several items up there (including some stuff for charity shop). DH seems to be operating a one in one out policy for the loft 🤣🤣 so I went up and got 3 bags of clothes for smalls down. All gifted. Sorted through them first. Then got both to try bits on. 2 happy small people. I’ve also found PE kit and summer dresses for 1 small when they ever get to go back to school. 

Also bought wine rack down that was a wedding gift. We haven’t had room for it since we moved but now have a lovely spot for it on the new kitchen 😃

have been knitting in between jobs. DH is doing further sorting in the loft. Happy days, despite the weather.