Project Mortgage Neutral Begins

ajmoney

Spent a couple of hours in the garden this afternoon. Started by bagging up the rubbish from the other day...once cut up and the sticks put separately that amount of tip stuff is quite manageable. I have cut some more from my plum tree but I have had to walk away so I don't go too far and make a mistake. I deadheaded a few roses and then decided to call it a day. Next time I am outside I will go back to last weeks shrub and take the rest of it out before seeing if I can tidy the smaller conifer/cypress trees in the front.
I have sent brother in law a text asking when he is likely to come back to remove tree rubbish as he took my tree down 4 weeks ago :mad: I get that his car broke down but he asked if I could pay him the money so he could get his car fixed to come and sort it out, that was nearly 2 weeks ago. Mr AJM suggested I should push him a little and is going to put pressure on him at the weekend if he hasn't made a plan by then.
I have also pushed the roofer man to see what his time scale is for doing the guttering etc, 2 weeks ago he said 2-3 weeks and I haven't heard from him to confirm.

Looking forward to my loch swim in a couple of hours.

ajmoney

Looking for a bit of advice. I am trying to entice the wasps away from all the sweet stuff in my garden and heard that leaving sugar water out can encourage them to that instead. Thing is I don't want to encourage the bees and risk they get trapped so I am wondering if any of you do anything like this and if so what.

ajmoney

I have finished for my holidays now, nearly 4 weeks off. Every other year I have been looking forward to it but this year I am a little nervous about it as it is the first time I have had all this time off without someone else to share it with. I have a few things planned and am hopeful for good/ok weather so I can do a lot in the garden and get out for plenty of walks.

I have checked all my financials with it being the last day of the month before the outgoing bills start again tomorrow. I am tempted to look into YNAB as so many are talking about it on the threads I read, anyone any idea what the costs are one the trial ends?

A_Frayed_Knot

No advice for the wasps and bees, I don't mind flowers and shrubs, just hate the kind that attract the bees.

Have also read about the YNAB, and am sure it means filtering down your accounts to come off a main one, and I think they tell you how much it would be a month on their website, can't be much or no one on here would use it :money:

That is a long time off work, I take it you have a/l leave added on to your days off.

Thunder storm going great guns here at the moment, but waiting to see the lightening.

Enjoy your time off.

ajmoney

We always take 3 weeks in the summer but due to work being quiet we finished today and are back in on the 27th. Luckily I am on holiday with my sister for my last week :j but we land 9 hours before I have to be back in work :eek:

ajmoney

Is it really so terrible to cut things back in the garden at this time of year? Everything has been feral for so long that it will take forever. I started cutting back a hydrangea this morning to try and encourage a nice looking shrub (no idea what it is) to find a path I had no idea was there. I am planning on retrieving the rest of the path this afternoon, hopefully I am not stunting their growth forever!!!

ajmoney

I have pretty much spent the whole day outside. I went into the garden at 9 this morning and came back in at 8.30 this evening. I stopped for meals, cups of tea and had a brief trip out but other than that I have been busy snipping away. Grass cut and lots of pruning means I have a full wheelie bin, 7 binbags and a pile of tree foliage that I haven't cut down yet so will need to do a tip run on Sunday. It was hard work but the garden looks so much better for it, shame I still have so much to do.

Bedtime now as my alarm is going off in 6 hours for me to go and help at a loch swim day.

Watty1

Great work in the garden. I got in someone to help re-tame the hedge and he turned out to be really well qualifed (restores historic gardens, lectures for the RHS that sort of thing!! just had some days free so was earning cash doing 'odd gardening jobs) and he lopped things away with enthusiasm. Said it was better to do it now than not at all and as some things had grown out of shape that it was better to do it while they could recover! So lop away .....

CathT

Wow your garden sounds like a lot of work but it will be worth the effort you are putting in. It's taken us 2 weekends to cut our hedges!!

New houses do tend to steal away your time and money. Hopefully during your time off you can get ahead of your jobs and find some time for you aswell.

ajmoney

If I knew how to add photos on here I would put one of my back garden to show what I am up against. It doesn't look that bad but everything is taking so long because it is so long since anything has been done.

I have had a great non garden day, a friend and I have been volunteering at a swim event about an hour away. I have been in the fresh air all day, have caught the sun a little on my face, met some great people who have given me some advice for my cycling, seen a girl who was in my band last year and had a great catch up and had a good chat with my friend all day too. After alarm going off at 4.30 and doing the driving I am treating myself to a chinese takeaway that I am paying them to deliver. I would love a gin to go with it but it is likely to send me to sleep.

Tomorrow is going to depend on the weather as it really doesn't look too good, I have plenty of options though after volunteering at our junior parkrun. I need to pack as I am heading to the west for a few days next week to catch up with friends and do some loch swimming and cycling before heading back for work to start on making my house look more presentable and secure.