Cheery's country living adventure

Cheery_Daff

Afternoon MSE chums :hello:

Well, we have driven a four hour round trip :eek: and come back with a new car :j :j :j VERY pleased with that! £1300, MOT til October, professionally cleaned inside and out :rotfl: :rotfl: We almost didn't dare even sit in the damn thing it was so posh :rotfl:

Anyway, temporary insurance covers us for today so going to sort out proper insurance in the morning. You know how I feel about insurance comparisons :eek: and I need a sit down and a cup of tea after all that driving

We do have a multi car policy thing though so I'm hoping it will be as easy as taking one car off and sticking this one on (no doubt with a hefty admin fee... :mad: )

Also need to sort out getting the old one taken away over the next couple of days.

VERY pleased to be able to tick that off my list! :j :j

Karmacat

Brilliant news, well done to you and Mr Cheery!

redofromstart

Re the walls, ours house is limestone, and needs lime mortar. We left a few walls as exposed stone, but redid the pointing in lime. It lets the house breathe, and looks lovely. The spiders like it but no other issues. When we first did it it was like the poor house let out a massive breath and it was drafty for a few days but soon settled down, even though at that point you could see through the stone to outside.

Could send you pics if it would help? Wasn't a Particularly skilled job. He chipped off the plaster and pointed what was left.

themadvix

Ooooh, so pleased you got the car!!

Hope you managed to sort the insurance - hopefully it was just as simple as switching onto the multicar policy.

Cheery_Daff

Thank you all :j

Redo yes photos would be lovely if you don't mind, thank you!

Yes I did sort insurance - but not before I ALMOST went out in the car :eek: fortunately remembered in time and took the other one

Planned to ring insurance in the cafe but turns out my purse wasn't in my bag :eek: Mild panic until I mentally retraced my steps and realised it could ONLY be in the house

Nice trip to the cafe - joined by a pal who came home with us for a day of crafting :j Most jolly :j Had a little walk round the fields in a brief moment of sunshine too :rotfl:

Rang insurance - turns out with a multi car policy you can just swap cars online for no admin fee :money: So I got off the phone pronto, switched cars - and it seems the new one is cheaper to insure as they are now apparently refunding me £8.37 :money: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Sorted tax too - that's £30 a year so all good :money:

No need for breakdown as our current policy covers us in any car, so all good there too.

MOT due October so no need to worry about that for a while.

Insurance runs out at the end of Feb but that's a while away yet :j

Now having a tedious evening of MB admin (yawn) but going to stop soon and do a bit of knitting I think :j

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, just remembered something else - actually remembered to do a meter reading on time yesterday - they've been estimating since September. Bill has arrived, and apparently we've used £3.12 worth of electricity in November :rotfl: which is clearly a lie, but shows they were rather overestimating - and we're now £196 (ish I think) in credit :money:

Hoping this means they'll reduce our direct debit down AGAIN - it's gone from £90 odd to £75 to £53 since we moved and I'm hoping it'll get far more reasonable soon!

Having said that, Mr Cheery plugged the electric heater in in the kitchen again today :eek: there is SO much DIY to do but we keep putting it off because it's SO DAMN COLD in there (and will be til plastering/insulation etc is sorted out). So they might put the direct debit back up again in a few weeks :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Morning chums :hello:

Just had the MSE credit club email - never usually bother checking but I did today - quite interesting!

Credit score is 999 out of 999 :rotfl: I do like 100% in a test :rotfl:

Likelihood of being accepted for one type of card though was only 37% :eek: and affordability score was low for everything :eek:

Seems my income to debt ratio is excellent- doesn't include mortgage a fs I literally have no other debt so I'd expect it to be :rotfl:

But credit utilisation is "fair" - personally is say pr ad in not using any :rotfl:

And disposable income is apparently "very weak" :eek:

Interesting as they don't ask any questions about that - they just make assumptions about what someone like me will spend - and they've concluded I have no disposable income

I wonder if they go on household income? Because we have quite uneven incomes at the minute and if you divide our actual household income between the two of us we have the equivalent of under the average wage each, so maybe that's it?

It's funny - I consider my own salary quite high, so sometimes I feel I should be able to manage better. But I'm not on nt own, and between us we've got an average level of income, so not really surprising that we're have what feels like an "average" level of managing :rotfl: not poor by any stretch, but not rolling in it enough to not have to think about it either.

Anyway that's a lie of pondering before breakfast isn't it?? :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Me again, sorry

Had breakfast now :j Sun is shining again, and my thoughts are turning to what the day will hold... Tomorrow is my last day off work, but I'm actually out all afternoon and evening, so today is last full day and I want to make the most of it. Feeling like I've not achieved much while I've been off but actually I've

* bought a new car and done all associated paperwork
* dug up old path across lawn and half laid new one
* made a decent start on pulling paper and plaster off the upstairs room
* had a lot of time in cafes
* been for a nice long walk with a friend, and spent a day crafting with another one

Various other things too. Anyway - today.

Need to get and post my mum's birthday present, do some washing, possibly meet a friend for lunch, sort out the building regs man, lay more path, sort out some plastering, blah blah blah... Will create a nice rainbow list :j

Cheery_Daff

9.30-10: Getting started
[STRIKE]* Text friend to see if she wants to meet for lunch[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE][STRIKE]Put some washing on[/STRIKE][/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]Do washing up[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]Swish bathroom[/STRIKE]

10-11.30: Garden path!
* [STRIKE]Get outside and find and lay as many stones as I can (probably not many, as Mr Cheery isn't available to lug stones, and the chickens are out and will no doubt want to 'help')[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]Clean out chicken run[/STRIKE]

11.30-12: Getting ready
* [STRIKE]Hang washing up[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]Get stuff ready to go out[/STRIKE]
*[STRIKE] Ring building regs office to book appointment[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]Put curry in the slow cooker for later[/STRIKE]


12.00-3.00: Lunch and errands
* [STRIKE]Meet friend for lunch (if she's free)[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]Nip to little market town to get mum's present, and wrap[/STRIKE] and post on the way back
* [STRIKE]Remember milk![/STRIKE]

3.00-4.00: Making the most of the light
* [STRIKE]Shut chickens in[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]Bit more path laying[/STRIKE]
* Might go for a walk round the lanes in the last of the light

4.00-6.00: DIY time!
* [STRIKE]Quickly check progress of curry[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]Turn washing on radiators if necessary[/STRIKE]
* Tog up, plug radio in, and strip plaster for a bit
* Might even try to get some new plaster on the walls to feel like I'm making progress!

7.00-8.00: Tea and MB
* [STRIKE]Eat tea[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]Wash up[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]Sort out MB (including checking account amounts)[/STRIKE]

8.00-8.30: YNAB and banks
* [STRIKE]New month, need to make sure everything's on track[/STRIKE]

8.30 onwards
* [STRIKE]Knitting[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]Find something only I want to watch on the TV (Mr Cheery isn't here :rotfl: )[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE][STRIKE]Have a nice hot chocolate[/STRIKE][/STRIKE]

Sounds like a plan! :j (possibly an over-ambitious one, but I do find my days rather drift in a haze of internet rabbit holes and non-productiveness when I don't make a plan so let's see how we get on...)

Already 7 minutes into my first segment so best get on with it! :eek:

themadvix

I love your timed lists Cheery - I'm sure they must make a difference!

Glad you remembered to insure the car before you went out in it! :eek: