EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

EssexHebridean

Yes, your log sheet is essentially what my email does - it just sits in drafts and I add to it each time I make a payment - the amount and what it relates to. Then once the CC month finishes and it’s all balanced up I email the to myself and start a fresh one. It works wonderfully….When. I. Fill. It. In. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I did indeed get to the gym last night - I need to amend my signature but I think that brings me down into the £7.xx per visit bracket.  Quick add-up suggests now that even if I only  get a single visit in each week for the rest of the year - and for most of them it will probably be 2 - I should be able to get it down to £6 per visit which was my ideal target - anything below that is a real bonus. I currently think I won’t go tomorrow - I’m feeling a bit frazzled again, found myself feeling quite anxious for no specific reason this morning and we have a busy weekend too. It’s lovely to see everyone but I am struggling a bit with the amount of “people time” involved in stuff at the moment I confess. We’ve also had some issues with noise in the office this week - the shop next door is being remodelled and they’ve been drilling out an old access ramp - think a pneumatic drill being used just the other side of the wall…veeeery loud! I think all in all combined with being away last weekend too I’m just a bit overloaded. So tomorrow morning we’ll get out for a walk first thing, then I’ll potter a bit, get some odd jobs done, make sure the place is tidy to come back to on Sunday, and generally have a bit of chilled time to myself I think.

Returning to the CC situation, I’ve just done a quick tot-up and I think once MrEH sends his share of some spending over to me to pay across it will be roughly squared away - so I’ve dodged a bullet there! There will be some more joint spending onto the card this weekend - often with things like meals out when we’re away it’s easier than trying to balance things out from our own accounts.

Talking of “our own accounts” I STILL don’t have my second lot of First Direct information, which means I still have no access to the account. I’ve no doubt it’s been sent - we’ve just not had any post delivered in a full week now - super annoying. I’m very glad that it was my secondary Sant-And-Er account I chose to switch rather than the main one else come Monday when the switch happens I’d have no access to my own money! I think if the details haven’t arrived by then I’ll have to call up and see if I can get them to send them again in the hope that Royal Mail might finally  be bothered to deliver! I  do slightly hope that my scheduled Graze box delivery tomorrow just might prompt a mail delivery too - we’ll see!

I think the smart plug is going to do some duty on the dehumidifier at some stage so I can see the actual power draw of it over a period of time. It’s been interesting using it on the towel rail this week - and it’s allowed me to work out that even using the rail for the full period of the off-peak rate would still cost well under 15p so in really cold weather it could provide a really affordable source of heat overnight. I think I should probably start a page in my journal for some of the information I’m getting from it to be honest - geeky I know but it would be good to have essentially a central database of what things cost to run - particularly in light of rising costs. 

Right - I am sitting here yawning my head off so I think I’m going to finish watching the recorded Autumnwatch we’re most of the way through and then head to bed! 

savingholmes

Well done on all your juggling.

Hope tomorrow is more restful for you 

foxgloves

Morning @EH,
Yes, I think that feeling anxious in a very generalized way usually points to needing a quieter couple of days. Enjoy your walk & just 'being in the moment'.
Your findings on the energy use of your household appliances are interesting. I'd say it's defo worth noting them.in your diary. Knowledge is power, after all.
F x

lucielle

Hope you get to chill in your down time.  I like seeing how much things are costing  you to run, so following with interest.
L

EssexHebridean

Morning all - and thanks for popping by SH, Foxgloves & L! 

Well, I now have a nice up to date list of what is in the freezer, plus the “use ups” required from the fridge and the larder too. I also have a meal plan fully written for the next week, and partially so for the week after that too - and a shopping list for this weekend’s shop. All “main components” of this weeks meals will come from the freezer. The week after next’s plan will likely change a bit to allow for the veg box next weekend - I have a rough idea what will be in it but things do change.  I also have “prompts” added to my two week plan for things like batch cooking ragu next weekend, reminders of things that will need to be added to next weekend’s shopping list, and the freezer list itself has notes of what gets used when. 

Plan for this week:
pasta, pesto, roasted toms/peppers & salmon from freezer (salmon will also do a lunch with soft cheese)
couscous with roasted veg/chickpeas, plus feta for me, Hb or fried eggs for him
omelettes with salad (cheese & mushroom?) 
Roast lamb & gravy (freezer) with mixed grains & veg
Chicken (freezer) stew

Hopefully even by the end of next week we should start seeing a fair bit more space in the freezer. Next Friday morning’s porridge will finish the last of the raspberries I bought YS’d and froze so that will be a box space cleared too. The aim is that by the time we do the November “stock up shop” I want to be able to add to our range of frozen veg - with sliced peppers, probably sweet orn and maybe something like cauli & broccoli mix. That adds resilience and variation  to future meal plans with little effort. 

Royal Fail still haven’t delivered the second lot of paperwork from FD and the account switch is now in progress so that will be my own money I can’t access come Monday when it is officially open. Fortunately not funds I’m relying on. Really annoying - I’ve had another moan on Twitter but it’ll have no effect - they only want to tackle stuff if they can push it to DM and get it out of the public eye - and even then they just direct you to their ludicrously convoluted complaints system.  Maybe we’ll still have some post later today, or perhaps tomorrow, although I think our local sorting office barely work on Saturdays now TBH!  

Right - nothing much else to add today so I’ll head off - got to throw an overnight bag together ready to head off shortly after lunch to meet pals at Norwich Beer Festival later! 🍻😁

foxgloves

I love Norwich - probably my favourite city. Never been to the beer festival though.
F

flipflopflo

@EssexHebridean, please could you tell me a bit more about what a smart plug is. Ta very muchly ⭐️

savingholmes

Enjoy the festival. You certainly zip around the place.... 

milann

Enjoy the festival. Hope you manage to get some time to yourself to chill very soon 👍

Cheery_Daff

flipflopflo said:

@EssexHebridean, please could you tell me a bit more about what a smart plug is. Ta very muchly ⭐️

I think it sounds like EH has got something like this: 

https://www.tapo.com/uk/product/smart-plug/tapo-p110/

It connects to an app so you can control whatever is plugged into it (eg lamps) via your phone - so switching the light on while you're out if it goes dark, for example. They don't all do energy monitoring, but it sounds like EH's does, as well as the one I linked to - so you can see from the app how much power is being used by whatever you've plugged into the plug. I've got an energy monitoring one, but it's not a smart plug - so mine shows you energy use on a screen on the plug itself, but doesn't link to an app, so you can't control the plug remotely.

Hope you feel a bit less overwhelmed after a quiet weekend of pottering EH - I can definitely identify with needing one of those!