Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

beanielou

Hope you are enjoying a happy weekend 😊

milann

Hope you’ve got your garden done and had a lovely day out at the NT. We tried to book into a local one about 200 minutes away but it was full. A lot of people I know aren’t happy around here as they’ve said you need to be on the phone as soon as the lines open. I’ll give it a miss for now as there are lots of other lovely places an hour or so away.
I can’t believe we’re half way through the school holiday already.

foxgloves

Nice to hear you are getting back to your favourite NT places, HHoD. We have been to one of ours, too. Hoping to get to another couple soon. Our town has been in the news with a localised Covid spike, so we are hoping the mobile testing unit which is apparently on its way will get on top of the problem & we won't need to be locked down. 
It wasn't difficult to book an NT slot online, we prefer to get to places early so I think we probably avoided the most popular times. I expect it takes more time to get a young family up, fed & ready compared to the time it takes us, so it often feels as though we are on our way to somewhere else or back home by the time everyone else is just arriving.
F x

beanielou

Half way through your school holidays Milan & ours go back this week!!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sun_Addict said:

Good that you’re getting out and about to the NT places. Enjoy 😁

Thanks SA .

Onebrokelady said:

You have visited one of my most favourite NT places this week,I went there for one of my 50th birthday days out, I loved the house and garden but my favourite bit is the walled kitchen garden 😍😍
Boo to filling out the tax credits application,I used to hate doing mine,it used to take ages and then I would keep re reading it in case I had done something wrong 😟

It's one of my favourite NT places too .

elizabethhull said:

I've bought a NT membership for DD2 for her birthday, and tbh, I thought it would be more expensive. And only £10 so DGS can go as well.

Your garden sounds as if you are really getting it sorted, so satisfying when jobs are done. It'll be lovely when the rubbish has gone too !

Thanks EIizabeth. I think NT membership is very reasonably priced.

Nicnak said:

Although it wasn't what you wanted to do, your house will be looking so much better now that you have decluttered so many items. I would have probably written the day off and sat down! 

Yes it all needed doing Nicnak and the house is starting to look tidier.

teafor2 said:

Hi HHD It's frustrating when you can't get on and do what you want isn't it, but at least you didn't just sit there doing nothing and from the sounds of it had a very productive day cleaning and clearing. The weather is lovely today, so hopefully you'll be able to get in the garden and do the jobs you want xx

Thanks TF2 . It's too hot for me now but I'm trying to get things done.

HairyHandofDartmoor

beanielou said:

Hope you are enjoying a happy weekend 😊

Thanks Beanie .

milann said:

Hope you’ve got your garden done and had a lovely day out at the NT. We tried to book into a local one about 200 minutes away but it was full. A lot of people I know aren’t happy around here as they’ve said you need to be on the phone as soon as the lines open. I’ll give it a miss for now as there are lots of other lovely places an hour or so away.
I can’t believe we’re half way through the school holiday already.

Thanks Milann . It seems to be easy to book into our local NT places, but I guess they have competition with all the beaches and whatnot locally.

foxgloves said:

Nice to hear you are getting back to your favourite NT places, HHoD. We have been to one of ours, too. Hoping to get to another couple soon. Our town has been in the news with a localised Covid spike, so we are hoping the mobile testing unit which is apparently on its way will get on top of the problem & we won't need to be locked down. 
It wasn't difficult to book an NT slot online, we prefer to get to places early so I think we probably avoided the most popular times. I expect it takes more time to get a young family up, fed & ready compared to the time it takes us, so it often feels as though we are on our way to somewhere else or back home by the time everyone else is just arriving.
F x

Thanks Foxgloves . We haven't had any trouble booking slots and at least we know that they won't be crowded.

HairyHandofDartmoor

On Friday we had a nice day at the NT place with my aunt, uncle and cousins. It was uncomfortably hot and all the benches seemed to be in the sun, so we ate our picnic really quickly and then walked around on some shady paths and enjoyed each others company. On the way home I called into Mr M and did our weekly food shop, so I felt hot and tired by the time I got home, but it felt like a good day 🙂.

On Saturday it was baking hot again so I got up at 7am so I could do some gardening before it got too hot. I was in the front garden by 8.30am and managed to finish by 10.30am. I took up two shrubs that were too big/floppy/look like bare twigs in the winter. I replaced them with two dwarf evergreen rhododendroms. I was pleased at first but then I belatedly checked the plant labels and realised I may have made a mistake 😐. The labels said put them in dappled shade and I'd just planted them in our front garden where they'll be in full sun all day 🙄. This afternoon I checked them and the leaves on one of them are turning brown, so I think they're getting scorched by the sun. So I feel disappointed that I didn't do my research better before I bought and planted the shrubs 😒.  In the early evening we moved a few pots in the back garden into better positions. The back garden looks really good now and we are very pleased with it, so at least we've got that right! After my early morning gardening on Saturday it got really hot, so I did some ironing with the fan on me and tidied up the house and did some washing.

Today I've been feeling really hot, tired and listless. I'm also feeling disappointed about my mistake with the front garden shrubs. I'm probably just tired but I've been feeling a bit fed up today 😞. It's probably the heat disagreeing with me. DH did come up with a good solution to our problem of our bench being in the full sun though. He suggested an umbrella that has a hinge on the pole and that we can tilt forward, which would mean that our wall with a clematis growing up it behind the bench wouldn't get in the way of the umbrella ⛱.

Tomorrow we're meeting my niece and nephew for a picnic and a walk on Dartmoor, so hopefully it will be cooler there.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend 🙂.

jwil

Your garden sounds great!  Hopefully the rhododendrons will survive - it is particularly hot at the moment!

Have a lovely day on Dartmoor today.

Willowtree222

Hope you had a lovely walk around Dartmoor. It has been very humid and I had to sit in the shade at the beach because it felt like I was burning.
Your garden must be looking fab now. Enjoy a lovely week x

Bubblesmum

Morning your posts sound like your balancing jobs and have vsummer holiday fun well.

if it was me.... and I have made plenty of gardening mistakes and got patient oH to dig up... the rhodondenrums And either put them in pots in the shade or in the back garden....   

Our next door neighbours dug up some beautiful bushes between us, leaving us with a big empty border ( after putting a fence up) we left it clear and neat for quite a while before we tackled planting it 
better to learn now than when they have died ! 

Have a good week .......