Cherry takes the reins

parsniphead

Cherryfudge wrote: »

I don't think this man is a 'bad' neighbour - in fact he told me he burns the rubbish at night rather than daytime as people have washing out during the day - and we tolerated it for about a year, but in the end having to close windows on hot nights and still smelling the smoke... that was too much.

I hope he doesn't think I'm a 'bad' neighbour now!

I'm sure he doesn't think you're a bad neighbour. It was nice of him to not do it while folks have washing out. I've had many loads of washing ruined by garden fires. Mind you a few of the have been put out quickly when they heard me ranting. Being a row of terraces it's not easy to see who the culprit is..

Cherryfudge

Not much to report today apart from blowing £1.30 on some focaccia which I am now not all that bothered about.

Spending:
Housekeeping £1.30
MS:
An hour and a half of gardening and an extra hour and a half on my shift = extra towards the mortgage.
Reading Earthgirl's thread, I drifted onto the FutureLearn website and signed myself up for a free course on resilience. (Thanks, Earthgirl and friends).
No decluttering (again).

I'm thankful for not having the heavy responsibilities this shift, and for time spent in the great outdoors.

Cherryfudge

Weekend off!

DH is taking DFiL out this morning so no car boot sale - we are supposed to be going out somewhere this afternoon but haven't decided on anywhere. Gorgeous visits to gardens in previous weekends off might be a good indicator of what we end up with today.

We are still planning our September holiday. I have probably already explained that the original plan was put on hold because the flights rocketed in price. Plan B is Barcelona... for some reason DH asked a travel agent for quotes for 4 nights, but I've found we can do another 3 nights at the hotel for £22 more... not sure if that includes breakfast though. It probably doesn't, and flights may be more expensive too. I'll discuss it with him later.

The house is in real need of a clean and tidy and it looks as though most of the offspring are up for a games night tomorrow evening. DFiL isn't strong enough now to make it up the steps to our house so we aren't planning around him. He will have good days when he can manage more but not regularly.

Right, I need a plan of action. I'm going to do 15 minute sessions on each room and report back later.

Cherryfudge

A little progress made... L popped round to borrow the vacuum cleaner and add some sheets to the laundry. This is what happens when people get a flat: electrical leads won't reach to the car and there's no washing line outside. No worries, it was nice to see and chat with him and he gave me a glowing recommendation for Barcelona.

The upshot was that, having done 15 minutes of putting away our own heap of washing (it's taking longer to dry when nature seems to have other ideas), I've done two loads of bedding which is now out on the line. Of course, I hadn't taken into consideration that when they collected J's single bed for the spare room at the flat, her old bedding could go too! That will be 16 items decluttered once it's dry and collected.

DS2 amazingly jumped on the bandwagon and helped me sort through the large divan drawer where bedding lives: four sheets have gone to be dust sheets and a duvet cover is going in textile recycling. Again, I can't count them till they've actually gone, but the drawer is no longer stuffed full.

Over lunch (DH got fish from the supermarket which is cheaper than the chippie) we watched F@ke or F0rtune then continued watching it while I did the rest of the ironing, most of which is now put away.

The house is still a mess.

Cherryfudge

A very spendy afternoon - I paid for our holiday on my CC. This evening I dutifully transferred the money to the current account and went to pay the card off, only to discover that (of course) the cost of the holiday exceeds my debit card allowance so the transaction was refused. I've therefore made a start on paying it (£230 has been paid off) and will have to be vigilant and make as many payments as possible as that's the account that's going to start charging me interest soon. However, it should also net me a few loyalty points.

We've gone for five nights away which will of course add to the total but that's nearly all to do with the flights, plus extras like transfers. Note to self: get currency, sort insurance, get passport details to the travel agent and arrange transport to the airport.

One unexpected nice thing was that we can take our own food on the flight. This was so totally not what happened with our holiday last year that I nearly got distracted into planning our sandwiches! I have just noticed, though, that we haven't included hotel breakfasts, so we need to make a decision about that. Another thing to check is Martin's :money: guide to airports where you can fill a water bottle airside. Getting excited now!

Money-wise, we have another cost coming up. When we had the torrential rain the other day, the bay window leaked and the new ceiling inside is now distorted in one corner. DH went up on the roof to look for the source of the problem and found a crack at the edge which is evidently where the water got in, so he's taped it up for now. We are trying to pin down the roofer who said he'd do our ridge tiles, and we'll see what he'll charge to replace or repair the flat roof. I know it will be much more than I want to pay but it's only a very tiny roof so perhaps he'll be kind.

The rain has also made a damp patch in the corner of the hall, as there's a drain on the outside with an airbrick close by (foresight-ful planning, huh?). Years ago we had a joist replaced in that corner as the original had rotted through due to spray from the drain. I wonder if we need to get the airbrick moved, or if we can simply put some sort of splash guard over it? Anyway, we need someone to 'look at it'.

This evening I got stuck into the online learning and am really enjoying it. I got deep into the learner contributions which took rather longer than I allowed for, then I started looking at other courses available and have bookmarked probably about 20!

Spending:
Holiday £1174.50
Housekeeping £13.08
MS:
Loyalty points added to CC which I can eventually spend on food.
Played around with holiday dates for the cheapest combination.
Trying a cheaper clothes whitener - £1 instead of about £3.
Free course on resilience which I'm hoping will be useful at work as well as generally.
A has invited us for lunch tomorrow so the food we bought will feed us another day.
DH's jury-rigged repairs should save us from future water damage.
Decluttering:
J's bedding is washed and dried but hasn't left the house yet. Apart from that and a big declutter of the holiday account, I've only got rid of a paper bag!

Today I'm thankful I can have a holiday with DH where we will probably get some sunshine.

Cherryfudge

It's just occurred to me that the luggage allowance (which I tried to reduce but was told it was free) could be very useful on holiday. If we are really okay to take food, then tea and coffee, biscuits, cereal, things that provide easy snacks... we can take a selection with us. Of course I will still want my holiday treat of finding the local supermarket and shopping there, but it could save us from a late evening restaurant visit if we are tired when we arrive.

NoOneAround

Hi Cherry, #all sounding good
FutureLearn is brilliant isn't it! I've done some of their courses in the past, haven't always finished them due to over committing, and it does take longer if you actually participate with the online learning community. There are so many I want to do, and keeping an eye on. I may or may not have more from September, when I had put them on hold for later, I had not anticipated that I would be working term time.
Holiday sounds good - ours has ended up costing a lot as travelling in August peak season, and we have minimal luggage allowance so will need to travel light - I do always take basics like tea bags though!
NOA
x

Cherryfudge

NOA, I am spending ages in the discussions! The one I'm on this evening has some really helpful research by very thorough fellow students. I'm getting as much or more from them as I am from the course itself.

It keep me from wasting so much time on games on the computer.

I will certainly be taking tea and coffee with me on holiday: buying locally seems such a waste as I always have loads at home and a small jar is expensive and not always as nice as the ones I regularly buy. We did make some lovely food discoveries on various holidays, though: we stocked up on a particular cereal bar in Australia, but I don't think we'll be popping back for a refill! Ditto basil and garlic from the south of France. However DH found a paper bag of tagine mix in an old bag yesterday which must have been from a French holiday so at least three years old. I think it will be past its best.:)

So, nothing spent today. We went to church this morning (where I bumped ito two people in the space of two minutes who told me they'd seen my 'gorgeous daughter'!) then spent a while talking to an old friend about getting together a reunion of a group we formed years ago. Oddly I'd been reminiscing with someone else about the same group so perhaps this is a good time to pull things together. It sounds as if not everyone will be there: one lady has died, another emigrated, others have moved to different parts of the country or made it rather clear they had finished their involvement. Nevertheless there could be a good group of people likely to come along.

DH and I then had the afternoon cleaning DFiL's flat and tidying things away. We are hoping the estate agent will be taking photos this coming week and the idea is to have it serene, clean and uncluttered. DFiL is not a clutter bug but it's amazing how many little things there are that can be moved out of sight. I deep cleaned the kitchen (again), DH rehung a cupboard door, and the carpets have just been professionally cleaned, in addition to all the cleaning we've already done.

This evening DS1 (A) invited us all to dinner and afterwards we played a card game but didn't stay late as A was due to feed a friend's cat and people have to get up in the morning. I'm glad I checked my calendar as I'm on an early. I'll go and make my lunch soon then get ready for bed.

Nothing to report for spending or money saving but J has accepted the big bag of her bedding plus a hot water bottle cover and a toy bunny - 18 items out of the house!

Today I'm thankful for themes of resilience and lots of online resources.

VelvetFreak

Sorry about the troubles you’re having with the roof. I hope it doesn’t cost too much to fix

Cherryfudge

I've moved some money around today: it occurred to me that if the banks don't like to pay out too much at a go (even though the money is there), I can trick the system to some extent by moving money between our accounts, I've therefore moved money from holiday savings to the larger current account then transferred some of it to the smaller current account, and paid off as much as I dare from each. I still owe my CC £444.50, but that's a lot less than it was a few minutes ago! Phew. I think if I do the same next week I should be in the black again. So annoying when the money is all duly saved up and being used for exactly what it was intended for, but maybe I'm just not meant to play around with big amounts of money.

Talking of money, DH is sounding downbeat about his job again. Next month is the decider: will they keep him or make him go? He has improved the things his manager was unhappy with, but he doesn't think he's made enough difference. I'm not sure his manager is being realistic, but my opinion isn't going to make a difference. Our finances would be very different without DH's income, though he could retire if necessary. Neither of us feels ready to retire though!

The house is also likely to cost us a bit: we don't have costings for the roof yet, but a man came to inspect the damp corner today and would do the repair for £450. However he was very helpful on seeing my photo of how the drain looked in a rain storm: he said the row of houses probably originally had another downpipe on that side and if we can find where it was, we could talk to the owner about reinstating it. It would probably be something we'd have to pay for, but would be a good move in the long term - and I think I know where it would be: Mr Bonfire Man's house! So there may be further episodes to follow.

Off the top of my head, the list of work that ought to be done to the outside of the house now stands at: new ridge tiles and a couple of replacement slates, repair flat roof of front bay window, renew guttering/downpipe, repoint around the back bay window, replace the back door. The door will probably wait a few years yet.

Inside jobs are too many to contemplate but the most urgent are new carpet and curtains in the lounge, fix damp plasterwork once the exterior is sorted, finish the kitchen cupboards and tile the kitchen.

This is all looking expensive and stressful but we tend to bumble along getting things done bit by bit so I'm not stressing yet.

I did notice how expensive things are getting at Mr T's, though! It made me resolve yet again to learn to grow veg, but for that I need to spend more time sorting my garden out. I have enough space to do some useful growing, but the ivy and brambles are after it, too. The brambles are looking like a splendid crop this year, though, and I've tied in some very strong shoots to form the basis for next year's fruit.

Today's shift was very tiring: just intense but we made it and I think I came out of it looking reasonably competent, though it's never likely to be a glowing report from one particular person. At least I came up with a few written proofs of things that had been questioned, and my manager seemed to find them useful.

I popped to the shops later with not much idea of what to get for tea and came up with mackerel, which was what made me realise how much prices have gone up. It used to be one of my cheapest dinners but the pack I bought was nearly £3. I did also treat us to a large storage tub for pasta as they were reduced to £2.50 and the one we are using currently is difficult to pour from. Now I get to chose what goes in the now-empty container! This is exciting... I think I need a hobby.

Spending:
Household £2.50
Housekeeping £6.41
Gift £10.00
MS:
10th coins saved £1.20
Hopefully saved some CC charges by shuffling money... will try again tomorrow just in case it lets me repeat the exercise but I doubt it, I think it will make me wait a week.
Decluttering:
None today. Days off coming up again so maybe I will make progress.

I'm thankful for dry days after all the rain, an opportunity to practice resilience at work (:D), being able to pay off some of the holiday and the fact it isn't so hot any more so I can do some cooking on my days off.