Cheery's country living adventure

greenbee

I've got an oil tank top-up shortly, so that's going to be fun. I have over half a tank left, but the village coop was putting in an order... 

Definitely get rid of the clutter. It will definitely help. 

Cheery_Daff

I'm hoping the gas bill will get more reasonable as we get the house a bit better insulated and the radiators balanced properly. But LPG is just more expensive anyway. We'll see...

Yes, decluttering will help - it's a mammoth task here though. I've never exactly been minimalist, but I have NOTHING on Mr Cheery. At last count he had over 50 jackets 😮 and there are at least 15 guitars, and 3 harmoniums 🙄 it's going to take a while... It's always been impossible though, as he never wanted to get rid of any of it, so I never really bothered clearing out my stuff, because what was the point? He's changed his tune now though and has started getting rid of stuff - and if I don't start too, it's going to become rapidly apparently how much of it I can't blame on him! 😮😂

Downloaded the nectar points app again today - and got a grand total of 15 points 😂 I did notice that we have about £13 in total though, mostly through ebay rather than the actual shop. 

Need to make a plan for the weekend... with the usual caveats of not getting it all done...

* more plasterboard
* start painting!
* get set up for seed sowing (and maybe sow my loofahs!)
* change sheets
* at least one trip to the tip
* clean out chickens
* video call with pal
* bike ride!

Not sure what else, general sorting and tidying and clearing out...

greenbee

My oil bill has definitely gown down with new windows, loft insulation, floors etc. I’m hoping the new doors help too. Although I’m not sure being home all the time does.

rtandon27

Our electric and oil have definitely gone up over the past year of working from home, but not nearly as far up as my commute cost has gone down!  A few hundred a month now gets put into the 'if we every travel again' fund 😂

ElmoR

Predict that your fuel bill will go down dramatically once the work is done. Do you remember the internal kitchen door that closed up our illegal kitchen/conservatory area that I agonised about on the forum ages ago? The door went in and we also had a new boiler installed. Our leccy/gas bill dropped by approx 15% in the first year. DH added more loft insulation last summer and this year, despite WFH for most of it, our bill is down by another 5%. That's on usage, not the price we pay (which happens to be the same tariff thanks to constant switching (yawn).

Every home improvement you tackle and accomplish will save you in the long run, at least that's our experience. Keeping chipping away!

15 guitars?? My daughter has two: a proper electric one and a half size sponge bob one

ElmoR x

South_coast

Cheery_Daff said:

I'll certainly be factoring all this into my choice of next house 😂😂 Might just try to get straight into some kind of retirement village 🙄

Have you seen those ads with Jane McDonald for retirement villages for the over 45's 😮😮😮? Much as I would love to retire, at (almost) 38 I find the idea of moving there in 7 years quite terrifying 😮!

greenbee

rtandon27 said:

Our electric and oil have definitely gone up over the past year of working from home, but not nearly as far up as my commute cost has gone down!  A few hundred a month now gets put into the 'if we every travel again' fund 😂

I didn’t have a commute cost - on a home-based contract they pay me as soon as I set foot outside the door 😇 Although on 75-90% travel it wasn’t really ‘home’ based! The house was permanently cold in winter as it never had time to warm up during my brief visits. I’ve still managed to spend less, despite having to pay for heating, lighting, hot water and food myself! So that’s being chucked at the mortgage, or spent on house and garden stuff.

Cheery_Daff

Retirement living for the over 45s?? 😮😮 Goodness 😮😮

Yes I do remember your doors ElmoR, and good to hear how much they've cut your bill! It'll be interesting to see how next winter's fuel bills compare, certainly. 

Dragged myself out for a bike ride this morning. I'd been putting it off partly out of laziness, and partly because it requires driving somewhere flat and I don't think technically we're meant to do that right now... However, this morning I decided that a ten min drive at 8am to a deserted old railway trail probably wouldn't do any harm... There was one other car, and I saw a couple of dog walkers, but overall it was fine. Only did five miles - I've not cycled anywhere for ages and it felt like hard work! Will try to do it again though - I got into the habit of cycling before work last summer and really enjoyed it.

Pancakes for breakfast, and now I'm going to do a bit of garden pottering, and then I may even come back in and take the Christmas tree down 😮🙈😂

rtandon27

Cheery_Daff said:

...take the Christmas tree down 😮🙈😂

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Oh dear Cheery - it's almost March - I love it!

OH did remind me this morning that I've still not taken the Christmas table cloth off & replaced it with the new flowered one that is still in it's packaging!

Baileys_Babe

I would like to get back on my bike, it has been 16 years since I last cycled, I definitely need somewhere flat to get me started.
We moved to Yorkshire since I last rode, it is going to be a while before I can face the local hills.