Light the fire...

themadvix

Hi Woodfired! Just finished reading your diary from the beginning.... what a happy ending! Glad you got your dream house. Will be following along from now on.

Obviously not yet, but do you think you'll install another Esse? It sounded like such a good heater and your house always sounded warm and cosy! (I'm sure this one is too, it's got a woodburner after all )

woodfired

themadvix said:

Hi Woodfired! Just finished reading your diary from the beginning.... what a happy ending! Glad you got your dream house. Will be following along from now on.

Obviously not yet, but do you think you'll install another Esse? It sounded like such a good heater and your house always sounded warm and cosy! (I'm sure this one is too, it's got a woodburner after all )

Hi Vix,

I follow along with your diary, bit of a lurker though I'm afraid!  Thanks, it si a happy ending and I still can't quite believe it, I keep saying "I can't believe this is our house and we live here"
The Esse is an ongoing debate to be honest!  The problem here is that the kitchen/diner/snug are open plan and we plan on them being even more so in the future when a couple of walls come down.  The wood burner is in the snug and heats all of this room so it may be excessive to have an Esse in the same room?  However, I did really love it and I do miss it a bit.

Phew, busy couple of days.  Dryer arrived but I may well be too tight to use it! as I was surprised how long it took to finish drying half a load.  I seem to remember an old one i had many years ago being much faster.  Hmm. It is there as back up though and will finish off odd loads that I'm struggling with.     
Today has been eventful and busy. Met a man from local hospice shop to donate some furniture that previous owners left, then travelled to drop some firewood off, collected some bits for DH work and nipped to B&Q for some large trug buckets for firewood (pale blue to match the colour scheme :LOL:).  Then home for lunch and I popped some washing on.  DH discovered the utility flooded an hour later, turns out the waste pipe had come loose so much mopping ensued.  Followed by washing many towels .  Then DH fit cat flap whilst I organised my new birdy feeders and filled the wood containers.  Plumber called to disconnect the gas to the gas fire in living room so DH has removed that also.  Just had a quick pasta tea and now relaxing with a glass of wine.....

themadvix

I see the conundrum with the Esse... tricky!

 That does sound like a busy day - enjoy the wine!

woodfired

Another busy day yesterday, continuing in the same vein, pottering around the house.  I sorted through my bed linen and towel cupboard and organised it all, changed all three beds (washing on the line for a couple of hours then 10 mins in the dryer), hoovered and dusted right through the house, cleaned the main bathroom and downstairs loo and tidied up the utility.  I also had a further sort of the office/playroom and found a home for the hats/gloves and some other bits.  I think that takes a while, finding homes for everything in sensible locations and then remembering where you put stuff!  Especially as this is a fairly big house, I keep thinking "I've seen it somewhere"  :LOL: .

Friends came last night and we ordered pizzas, we already had plenty of wine in from the housewarming/gifts so just a £20 spend on the food.

I have set a rule for myself with regards to the dryer, items have to have been on the line and be almost dry or have had an overnight hang on the airer.  My friend gets a wash out of the machine and throws it straight in the dryer
even in dry summer weather! .

We are now wondering about a water meter.  We have had a shock this week with the news that our yearly water bill is over £1250 this is in comparison to our previous house where it was around £200 per year.  The online calculators suggest that we would be better off with a meter even in a few years time when teenagers are showering every day and we are doing significantly more washing.  I've always assumed meters were the more expensive option but perhaps not in this case. Any thoughts?

Anyway, I'd better go to the shop and sort out my order for the wholesalers.  Have a lovely sunday.x

themadvix

That’s a big water bill! It’s a tricky  one - we’re only two, so it’s a no-brainer  for us, but it sounds like it might still be better for you. After all, hopefully the teenagers will move out eventually and you’ll still have saved all that money in the meantime. I think we were on a meter when I lived at home and my parents still won on that front.

greent

We have a meter (4 at home all the time, 2 others in uni holidays) Our bill for the year is around £650 - washing machine is on  8-11x/ week (depends if the students are home) and the students shower a lot and have long showers/ deep baths when they are here.

woodfired

themadvix said:

That’s a big water bill! It’s a tricky  one - we’re only two, so it’s a no-brainer  for us, but it sounds like it might still be better for you. After all, hopefully the teenagers will move out eventually and you’ll still have saved all that money in the meantime. I think we were on a meter when I lived at home and my parents still won on that front.

That's what I'm thinking, overall it should be a saving.  Thanks!

greent said:

We have a meter (4 at home all the time, 2 others in uni holidays) Our bill for the year is around £650 - washing machine is on  8-11x/ week (depends if the students are home) and the students shower a lot and have long showers/ deep baths when they are here.

That's really useful, thanks.  The water meter estimate tool that I was using to try to predict our usage in a few years time was coming up with a similar figure so it's good to know it tallies with real life! Thanks very much.
I need to complete the form and get the ball rolling.

woodfired

A happily thrifty couple of days with some good news on the money front thrown in.
Sunday we had visitors (again!), BIL in and his two children called in the afternoon and ended up staying for dinner.  Luckily I had a couple of packs of chicken breasts in the freezer that had been frozen on the last day at the shop (so free to me).  I wrapped these in bacon and made a big pan of mash with veg, stuffing and gravy.  I also had a couple of cheap 'fairy cake kit' boxes in the cupboard that had, again, gone out of date at work.  I fished out and made up the batter mix and spooned into a pudding bowl with the last of the raspberry jam that nobody had been eating, it made a lovely jam sponge pudding served with custard and cooked alongside the chicken so saved electricity too.  I saved the included icing and bun cases for another time.
I sent a portion of dinner home with BIL for SIL when she got home from work and DH took a portion for lunch yesterday then turned the remaining leftovers into a big pan of stew for dinner last night.  I have a portion for lunch today and there is one remaining.  Not a bad meal count for some free chicken!
The SC is on today with some yellow stickered low fat mince made into chilli con carne.  Pancakes for dessert.

woodfired

Hmmm, lost half of my previous post.

The good money news was 1. a refund of my last mortgage payment (£662) which was totally unexpected.   And 2. a £400 bid on a gas fire that we inherited with the house and were planning on giving away on the local fb group!  A closer inspection revealed it to be relatively new and with an RRP of £1600!  I was skeptical about a starting price so high but it had a bid within 24 hours.  Happy days!  

themadvix

I never ceased to be amazed at how far you manage to make a chicken stretch!

 That’s some excellent money news too! Fingers crossed for more bids on the fire!