Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

XSpender

Up at 6.20am this morning as the dog was pacing about downstairs.  It was raining heavily which should help the turf.  Tired this morning.  This being off work is wearing me out.  I am also getting restless and am ready to go back to work.  2 and a half weeks down, only 11 and a half weeks to go 

Yesterday I cleaned the floors, did some washing, made some mini egg cookie bars and avoided the ironing,  We planted some plants that have been in pots including one DH received as a birthday gift and started on the edging (borrowed a tool safely from next door).  DH also cleaned up the patio area in front of the conservatory and has transformed it.   Today we will continue with the edging and DH will jet wash the paths and patio.  We are also going to sort out what we are doing with the bit between the old patio and what will become the storage area once the fence goes up.  It was an old raised bed and is currently an uneven area of bare earth.  The front garden needs weeding too.

We finally got our fish and chips (no one had fish as there were no fish bites left!) from a different place than planned.  Cheaper and very nice.

Checked the banking and a payment of £7.99 has come out for the 2nd time.  Made DH check on his phone what subscriptions he had and it is in auto renewal for a free trial so has been cancelled and hopefully we may get this month back.

DH found an old saw with a lovely wooden handle in the shed.  After googling the makers button and a bit of research we have discovered it is pre 1940 and worth about £100.  It is now cleaned up and on display on our conservatory wall.  This is the 3rd item left by the previous owners that has turned out to be valuable. We have not sold any of them. 

The wee stuff didn’t arrive yesterday, expect it was because of the bank holiday, but the good news is the utility room blind, due early May, is already on it’s way and hopefully will arrive much sooner. 

XSpender

Happy Easter!

I spent all day in the garden yesterday in shorts and a T-shirt.  A lot of it reading my book as I did something to my back edging paths and scraping weeds out from between the patio slabs in the morning before DH jet washed it.  I am a bit red this morning, silly woman, but my back has recovered helped by a very rare lie in this morning that I must have needed.

DS has finished his Lego car and has requested a Lego corner garage for his 10th birthday.  At £159.99 I think not!  He also wants t-shirts, books, LED lights for his room and money towards a second hand i-phone for listening to music, playing games and watching you toob to replace his missing i-pod. He still has £50 of shopping centre vouchers and money from Christmas and will receive more for his birthday from us and relatives so he may be able to buy both the Lego and the phone.  I will need to get my thinking cap on of ways to make his birthday special when he won’t be getting a party, his birthday tea out or going to spend his birthday money for some weeks.  I had thought of a homemade book of vouchers for treats when lockdown is over but any other suggestions welcome.

I’m still looking for a home for my EF.  I have a Ll0yds club saver at 2% which I could drip into from my current account or could open a very low rate ISA or easy saver.  As it is my EF it needs to be accessible and earning interest is not the be and end all as it is not an investment as such.  I will also have almost another £1000 to save in the accounts I set up when we receive the refund from our holiday.  This is to be saved until I have more confidence in my job situation when it will then be paid off debt.

We should have gone on holiday yesterday.  We have had a holiday at Easter for the last 6 years, it’s our favourite family holiday Oh, well, let’s hope we can go next year again.  We have made no decision on what to do about our December holiday, except stop paying it monthly as we cant afford to do so on Furlough. We will reassess this once I know if I have a job to go back to in July.

It is much cooler today so apart from watering the turf we will be doing some inside jobs including rehanging the curtains in the dining and living rooms.  I aired and febreezed these on the line for a few hours yesterday.  They will need lightly pressing which I will do along with some of the dreaded ironing pile.  DS wants to do his annual Easter egg hunt but as I couldn’t find any suitable eggs this will be done with small kitkat bunnies and mini creme eggs after lunch.  I am also making a chicken dinner with all the trimmings.  The cake tin is not staying full for long so will make something to go in eat at the same time and DS can make his Christmas brownie kit but topped with some of the Easter chocolate treats.

I am not planning to visit a shop until Tuesday or whenever we run out of milk, whichever comes first.  I have 4 things on my list, none of which we can’t manage without for a bit longer - chicken, marmite, squash and vanilla essence.  We even avoided going to a shop for DH Saturday night beer yesterday as a friend gave him some in exchange for some bags of sand we had left over from resealing our drive last year. We still have plenty left to finish the paved areas and paths we need to do ourselves.

brizzlegirl

Glad you’re so focussed XS and using your furlough so well. Garden work sounds amazing, well done.  Am sure it’ll all be ok for you all. Stay safe and well xx

XSpender

Another lazy day today, must get back into the routine tomorrow.  Introduced DS to Indiana Jones and had a game of footie in the garden.  Cold today, can’t believe I got sunburnt on Saturday!

Picked up the patio cleaner from Half0rds and visited B&M (both had great systems in place for social distancing) and M&S (apart from the man on the door the social distancing was a shambles) on the same retail park.  Picked up paint brushes (but they didn’t have any paint), lawn feed, fat balls and some food and cleaning items and finally found vanilla essence.  Lots of treats were bought in M&S including some reduced Easter chocs and we also picked up a YS turkey joint and family lasagne.  I expect we will need one small fruit/milk/bread/cheese/eggs/beer run before the end of the month but that will be it for shop visits.  I have spent more than I wanted to this month but less than I usually do.

Ordered a couple of books from W0rld books for DS birthday and have found a board game he may like on amaz0n.  

DH is planning to clean all the patios and paths tomorrow and relay a couple of wonky slabs.  I want to catch up with the housework as I missed today’s jobs and the ironing pile has not got any smaller whilst being left to it’s own devices.

Suffolk_lass

I find that with the ironing. I used to leave it for when the ironing fairy (my Mum) came to stay but she is 90 now and obv not able to visit at the moment - over the years I have converted most things to easy-care cotton but pillowcases and handkerchiefs (when the latter are used) remain a "need" so I do them straight away. Never more than four that way! (retreats, feeling slightly smug). 

XSpender

Suffolk_lass said:

I find that with the ironing. I used to leave it for when the ironing fairy (my Mum) came to stay but she is 90 now and obv not able to visit at the moment - over the years I have converted most things to easy-care cotton but pillowcases and handkerchiefs (when the latter are used) remain a "need" so I do them straight away. Never more than four that way! (retreats, feeling slightly smug). 

DH is usually the ironing fairy in our house but has been busy in the garden lately.  I put away everything I can that does not need ironing asap which includes work wear and DH work shirts at the moment and what I have left will need to be done.  The weather has been so nice I have not wanted to be stuck inside with a hot iron but may set myself up in the conservatory with the doors open later today.

I felt rather unwell last night and DH was panicking I had caught the virus (rolling eye smiley).  I am OK this morning.

Caught up with the housework routine yesterday and today is a light day as it’s hall/landing/stairs day and will finish the bathroom (shower cubicle and floor) as most of it was cleaned yesterday.  Wee cleaner arrived and the landing carpet will be the first to be treated.  DH has put up a new long clothes line in the garden so washed and dried all the bedding and re made the beds yesterday.

DH cleaned the patio and paths and they look great.  We have decided not to put the fence panel screen up as we will lose 10ft of garden and will turf it and some of the piece in front of it instead.  This way we will keep the full length of the garden.  We are not planning to do any of the major landscaping his year and as we are in it more at the moment it is helping us see what will work best.  We were going to move the remaining patio from left to right but it works best where it is, catching both the morning sun and throughout the day.

Not much news on the DFW or savings front.  We are still waiting for the holiday refund but the 35 days from their cancellation email isn’t up yet so no point in chasing.  I will be ordering more of DS birthday presents this week so will be using the buffer before topping it back up next month.  You can tell we are in lockdown from the type of presents he is getting; board games, books, lego.

I decided to use the regular saver to save my EF. It’s actually 2.5% so the best I can get at the minute.

I have another social video call with work colleagues but the last one went on and on so I will give this week’s a miss.

Today’s plans:

1) Email work to confirm furlough of car (if I do it and DH goes back to work I won’t have a car to use until 1st July as I will have to send the keys away but the saving may be worth the hassle)
2) Dust and vac hall, landing and stairs including light fitting which has acquired a cobweb since last week
3) Wee treatment on spot on landing
4) Clean shower cubicle 
5) Clean bathroom floor
6) Make crispy cakes with the last of my GF cornflakes and untouched Easter egg
7) Mark out and cut new border on right hand side of garden
8) Sort out shoes in porch and clean floor.  Hoping to start painting in here next week to get rid of pine panelling on wall behind door and ceiling which hasn’t been touched since we moved in.  Other walls are white.
9) Move big plant back into conservatory and vac up trail of leaves it will leave
10) Walk dog
11) Make macaroni cheese for mine and DS dinner.  DH will have the YS lasagne which will then be portioned up and froze as it’s massive.
12) Finish my book
13) Do some ironing

But first, another cup of tea.....

brizzlegirl

All sounding SOOO productive Love it..... Am gonna write a list and then get cracking myself 

XSpender

Yesterday’s plans:

1) Email work to confirm furlough of car (if I do it and DH goes back to work I won’t have a car to use until 1st July as I will have to send the keys away but the saving may be worth the hassle) DONE
2) Dust and vac hall, landing and stairs including light fitting which has acquired a cobweb since last week - VAC & MOPPED, GOT DISTRACTED AND FORGOT TO DUST!
3) Wee treatment on spot on landing - DONE & STAIN GONE
4) Clean shower cubicle - DONE
5) Clean bathroom floor - DONE
6) Make crispy cakes with the last of my GF cornflakes and untouched Easter egg - DONE & MADE COOKIE BARS WITH LAST OF MINI EGGS AND KIT KAT BUNNIES
7) Mark out and cut new border on right hand side of garden - DONE
8) Sort out shoes in porch and clean floor.  Hoping to start painting in here next week to get rid of pine panelling on wall behind door and ceiling which hasn’t been touched since we moved in.  Other walls are white.
9) Move big plant back into conservatory and vac up trail of leaves it will leave
10) Walk dog - DONE
11) Make macaroni cheese for mine and DS dinner.  DH will have the YS lasagne which will then be portioned up and froze as it’s massive. - DONE & DS LOVED IT AND ENOUGH LEFT FOR TONIGHT TOO
12) Finish my book DONE
13) Do some ironing - TOO NICE OUTSIDE FOR IRONING

I managed a good bit of my list yesterday as well as sitting outside on the newly cleaned patio doing the budget for the furlough months on the iPad.  We have discovered it is a sun trap and I have once again ended up frazzled by the sun.  We have decided to apply for a mortgage holiday while we are furloughed as we will have hardly anything left after paying our bills to cover our basic living costs like food.  

I was being too optimistic/unrealistic with our budget at the start of furlough which assumed we could cover everything even with our outgoings being reduced. Our mortgage payment is 38% of our income and we will have lost at least 30% of our income from next month.  Plus DH should have been entitled to a decent sized quarterly bonus paid at the end of next month but because he is furloughed they don’t have to pay it.  I am hoping DH will go back to work before me as I am a definite 3 months.

We won’t need to spend all the money freed up by not paying the mortgage payment so this will be saved and used to pay down debt when we go back to work. We will also be able to maintain the instalments on our December holiday. Our mortgage payment will go up for a few months until we remortgage in November.  It is kind of borrowing part of the mortgage money to clear debt at the end of the 3 months but I don’t want to apply for payment holidays on the debt instead as I am focussed on paying at least £10,000 off this year and it would still be tight if I did this.

New utility blind is arriving today, can’t wait for DH to put it up  I will ask him to change the door handle that snapped off the door too.  It’s the old exterior door that is now the door from the kitchen and is big and heavy and I struggle to open it with half a handle.  The ironing is piled in there so that is an incentive to get it done (or move it  ) so we can admire the blind.  We still have work to do in here (new cupboard door and plinth, new flooring, paint little shelving unit when I can buy paint, paint doors, recover worktop, seal sink and tiles) but it is so much better than it was.

Kitchen on the housework rota today but it wont take long as I did it on Tuesday and I will catch up with yesterday’s forgotten dusting. Everyday the beds get made, all the floors downstairs get hoovered, I do a load of washing, and the bathroom gets swiped too.

Plans for today;

1) clean kitchen and floor 
2) stay out of the sun
3) ironing, to ensure I do number 2
4) walk dog
5) apply for mortgage holiday on line
6) dust hall and stairs
7) clean downstairs loo
8) wrap mums chocs ready to post at the end of the week
9) DS to do at least 1 piece of homework to catch up before another load arrives next week
10) sort out porch and clean floor, wipe down windowsill
11) move plant to conservatory, clean up leaf trail

XSpender

Oops started this post ages ago and forgot to post.

A bit of team work and the ironing pile is cleared  . It still needs putting away though.

I completed most of my list yesterday and also changed internet provider reducing the bill by half and earning a £60 pre paid card in return which I will put to one side for DS new school uniform/shoes.  I need to check out our energy supplier as well to see if there is a better deal available there too.

I had received an email to say my blind was out for delivery but was disappointed that what turned up was DH garden tool DH was rather pleased though.  It will be put into service today edging the front garden which will also be weeded.

My housework routine today is Focus Friday and I will be cleaning the window and sorting out the under sink in the main bathroom and cleaning the loo and down stairs loo which I missed out yesterday. Downstairs will also get a hoover/sweep and the conservatory needs a quick tidy.  Next week’s meal plan will be freezer/focussed and I will only need a short list of items from the local co-op.  I want to keep our food spends under £500 this month which is less than we usually spend. 

A DD payment went out today which has completed one of the sub 0% deals on my Ll0yds CC which expires May and started on the next 0% deal which expires June.  It was nice to put a line through one of the debts on my list even if it was only a sub account as such.

DH has been furloughed for a further 3 weeks and still can’t get his head around not being at work for so long.  He has only ever had 6 weeks of unemployment once in his 35 working years and is thinking he should be at work but there is no work to go to.

We have both agreed that, from next week, we need to start doing some formal exercise again each day on top of walking the dog.  I ran once at the start of furlough and overdid it a bit and haven’t been since and DH has not been running or out on his bike either as he has been doing such heavy work in the garden.  I am going to start C25K again but at week 3 which is run 5, walk 3 x 5 and see how I get on.  I like running early in the morning so should hopefully avoid a lot of the walkers and dog walkers.  I would like to be able to run a comfortable 10k by the end of July as I have a trail race booked in August that I keep forgetting about.

janb5

I googled the Wee treatment- did it take out elderly stains?