Cheery's country living adventure

Cheery_Daff

Afternoon chums :hello:

Hope you're all doing well. I WAS doing well, until I had to pop into online banking for something :eek: Don't panic, I'm a way off the overdraft, but FAR lower than I'd expect at this point in the month :eek: Had to take a deep breath, and sort out YNAB (which I've not done since the last week of July, which explains a few things...)

Trying to look on the bright side...

* we are NOT destitute. We have enough for our needs, and we have savings. We have a roof over our heads, enough to pay the bills and have some treats, and we are nowhere near starvation.

So. Now that's out of the way, what's been going on?!

* Both cars have had 'issues' in the last few weeks. One cost £420, and the other £292 :eek:
* I've had to have a crown at the dentist, which was another £256 :eek:
* I rejoined slimming world £55 but that covers 12 weeks so not too bad
* Farmer unexpectedly offered to take our chimney down - we didn't have to pay him, but did have to pay £250 for scaffolding.

Come to think of it, that £250, plus another £100 we've spent on tools, dust masks, ear defenders etc for Mr Cheery to do some more of the work himself, should really come from the savings we'd put aside from the work, rather than just general income - that feels marginally better :rotfl:

Anyway, an unexpectedly spendy few weeks...

Also some stupid things:

* stupidly let a magazine subscription (initially £3 for 3 issues) roll over at a cost of £20 :mad: Completely my fault, not impressed with myself!

Still haven't rung the wayleave people to sort that out :mad:

Did get a refund from an event I was going to that got cancelled - £85 returned, but I hadn't claimed it from Paypal so I've done that now.

Basically completely taken my eye off the ball of all things MSE :eek: SO easy to head down the slippery slope :eek:

Mr Cheery's birthday is tomorrow too and I confess I splashed out a bit on something he *really* wanted but couldn't bring himself to pay for... (but it was covered by the refund from my event so not toooo bad). We'll likely end up going somewhere for lunch and a cuppa though.

So all in all, I need to pull my MSE finger out again, keep on top of YNAB, and pop in here more often!

Anyway, enough beating myself up. Everything is fine really, as I say we are not even anywhere near the overdraft and it's payday on Friday :j Also, (trying to make myself feel better now... )

* if we get this wayleave payment, that'll be £2000 for the savings account, which will make me feel a LOT more comfortable
* next payday (September) I get a pay rise :j should be about £60 a month which will hopefully help things feel a little less tight - I'm going to try to put it into savings, as we're not adding to savings at all at the minute which I don't like
* in another 6 months, LPG payments will be reviewed. Currently £84 a month, but I don't think we use enough to warrant that. Hoping we'll have a surplus at that point so payments can reduce
* Electricity is currently £58 a month - we used a LOT when we first moved in cos of the electric heaters, and we still haven't paid off what we used then (they want us to increase the DD to £90! No!) but it's going down and in a couple of months we'll be building up a surplus ready for winter. We'll also have new radiators fitted in the rooms that don't have them before it gets too cold.

So all in all, hopefully things will get a bit less tight soon. I HATE not adding to long term savings Stupid really - I didn't even have any savings for years and managed fine!

Anyway, on that note, I'm off outside to do some digging :j :j Got a few plants in the greenhouse that need to go out, got some willow wands that have been living (and growing) patiently in a bucket for the last 6 months, and got a chicken house to construct! :j

julicorn

That's quite a lot of irregular expenses at once, no wonder your account balance is lower than usual! Sounds like you've got it under control though

Cheery_Daff

Vaguely under control julicorn But I remember the days when that type of thing would have crippled me SO very grateful those days are behind me!

Forgot to tell you we actually witnessed a cow giving birth the other day! :eek: just coming back from my run & the farmer came up behind me on quad bike to assist, so I rang Mr Cheery and we watched (we did ask first!!) Quite an experience!

rtandon27

:wave:

Oh Cheery - sorry to hear about your ouchy month!

...but remember how it used to be pre-MSE...

...and as you said...

you are NOT destitute... you have enough for your needs... and you have savings...

...don't forget that you are blessed:A:A:A

Cheery_Daff

Oh I have not forgotten that RT, don't worry! I know how fortunate and privileged I am and remember that every single day. Just had a moment of concern when I thought about the prospect of spiralling downwards again! :eek:

Done some good digging this afternoon and listened to some cheery podcasts - all good. Tired now - not exactly a good precursor for running :rotfl:

themadvix

It does sound like it was an unusual few weeks expense-wise, rather than the norm!

Wow to the cow giving birth - how lovely!

starnac

Wow! To the cow giving birth! As kids we were regularly taken up the farm to help with lambing but I can't say I've ever seen a cow give birth! That's amazing!


That is a lot of expenses all at once! But like you say you are okay. Thankfully you have MSE knowledge behind you so that you are able to deal with month's like this.

Cheery_Daff

Indeed. Good job really as now apparently Mr Cheery has to have a crown too! :eek: :eek:

pinkypig

Hiya Cheery :wave:

Dentists are so expensive:eek: Necessary though! I had a month of unexpected bills a while back and it's so frustrating but at least you have the money put by. Frustrating is better than stressed and anxious.

Good luck with your renovations, your new home sounds just fab:D

Cheery_Daff

Thanks Pinky :j We are indeed loving it here

Been having a bit of a phone palaver here this week. Mine just turned itself off, and then half of, and then back off, and on and off and on and off and wouldn't ever actually get to the on screen - just buzzed off and on like a stuck fly :eek:

Put the sim card in an old one, which has a cracked and half-black screen and doesn't have most of my phone numbers.

Ordered a new one, which arrived the next day - but it wouldn't turn on properly and the screen was damaged :eek: My only choices for return were either to take it to the delivery office (5 miles in the wrong direction and I was very busy last week) or have someone come to the house 'the next working day'. I chose the latter - waited in til 6pm then gave up and cancelled, figuring I'd get round to the delivery office eventually.

The following day (Wednesday - I'd ordered the return on Monday evening), someone rang me at work to tell me they were at my house :mad: Most vexing, given that I was 30 miles away :mad: To me 'next working day' means, er, the next working day - so ordering on Monday means someone will collect on Tuesday, not Wednesday...

Ordered another phone, which has now arrived - but apparently I have a micro sim and it takes a nano sim, so I've now had to order a new sim card. Aarrgghh! At least this new phone works as a tablet with the house wifi, although I can't make calls on it.

Still need to return the first new one at the sorting office tomorrow (why can't I just take it to the local post office?!)

Deep breaths...

Anyway, I'm off work for a fortnight now :j Had a nice day with friends here yesterday picking blackberries :j and planted my willow dome yesterday FINALLY - poor willow has been growing literally in a bucket of water since we moved :eek: I'm very impressed that most of it is still alive! :j

Raining today. I'm just gearing up for a run :eek: and then I think I'll find some INDOOR activities for the rest of the day... Weather is meant to pick up later at least...

Hope you're all good :hello: