Cheery's country living adventure

themadvix

Wow Cheery, it just doesn’t get any better does it?! Do none of these people grasp the concept of how to sell things?! 

Well done for getting something out of him, at least!

Cheery_Daff

At this point I really do feel like a nuisance rather than a potential customer. Clearly the model is to get you to fall in love with something, and then tell you how much it costs and hopefully you'll just find a way to pay it. 

I get that they can do you a deal if they've already got a slab and a half in the yard so they don't have to buy two new ones, but I really do NOT get why they can't just give you a vague idea of which is cheapest/most expensive - even if it's just 'all other things being equal this would be at the cheaper end, but that might work out cheaper because we already have it in stock'.  I really don't get why it's so difficult, and why I'm being made out to be a bloody nuisance!

badmemory

I think they have got so used to people saying "oh we must have" without even considering the cost or the debt they are going to sink into, that they have lost touch with reality.  I suppose if I was in their place I would rather deal with someone who didn't care how much, doesn't make it right though.  They really do take the biscuit though don't they.  Try not to grind your teeth, it's bad for you!

EssexHebridean

I’m honestly slightly bewildered because we had nothing like that at all, in fact I think there were actually prices per square metre displayed against the samples?! 🤔 I can only assume you’ve been really unlucky, OR that industry has changed a lot in the past few years! (In which case I am ever getting a kitchen done again….oh, no, hang on, after last time that’s already the case so… ) 😆 And by way of a bit of comfort, our worktop guys did of course manage to cut one of the pieces wrong meaning they had to redo it, throwing the entire project off course as a result…it wasn’t all plain sailing! 

greenbee

Now you know why I gave up on granite after about 2 days and went with wood  

Cheery_Daff

It's tempting to give up on worktops altogether at this point I confess! 

Had today's quote through already - one of them seems to be roughly the same as the original quote from kitchen geezers, which is quite miraculous. Need to sit down and make sure everything is the same, and I might go back to them to quote for that colour now we know it's relatively cheap. As much as I'm annoyed with their wholesaler, if we go through them, they deal with everything, I don't have to deal with anyone else to arrange fitting or measuring or anything... don't want to cut off my nose to spite my face, or give myself a massive extra job! 

Home now, fridge and hob have arrived and are stored safely in the garage, hooray! 

Plasterers have started boarding the kitchen. Mostly ok, although they've boarded something I thought they were going to be bonding, and it is REALLY wonky round the window. I'm all for a bit of wonkiness round the window but this just looks stupid. 

I had to have a chat with the builder about the phone cable anyway (at the minute it just goes through the door frame and the door doesn't shut), so have told him about the wonky window and said I'll leave a note for the plasterer. He's going to come back Monday to look at the phone cable but sadly I'm going to be at work when I'd rather be here.

Anyway, we are getting there. Slowly, but it's coming together. Sorry you ended up with worktop issues as well EH, I can vaguely remember the hassles of your kitchen but not the detail! I suspect it's always like this, especially if you have some vague preferences about things rather than just letting them do whatever they like (doesn't everyone have some vague preferences though??)

Anyway, deep breaths. At least nothing drastic will happen over the weekend. I'm going to remove a temporary windowsill which I suspect the plasterer hasn't realised is temporary, and Mr Cheery is going to fill a giant hole in the other windowsill with concrete (the plasterer had stuffed it with bits of old plaster, paper and plasterboard adhesive).

I am SO ready for all this to be over! Is it worse than moving house?? Probably not but it's coming a close second at the minute 😂

beanielou

It's about as depressing as my car chronicles.Sigh.

Cheery_Daff

Crikey beanie, I've just been and ploughed my way through your car saga, what an epic fiasco! 😮 so sorry you had to go through all that.

Bit of a wash out evening, we're both feeling a bit below par today and didn't really know what to do with ourselves. I did get a bit of scything done though so that's a start!

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, premium bonds results are in! 

We are continuing our winning streak with another £25! Not exactly a million, but it makes £400 over the 6 draws we've had them for - we've won something every month. Not too bad!

Mind you, this is the first time it's been only £25... I've got to take out another £3000 for the builder tomorrow (,already paid him, but wanted to wait til after the draw to recoup), and most of the rest of the costs for the kitchen will be paid out in October, so by the November draw our savings will be very heavily depleted indeed... 😮😮 I will NOT be impressed if we have a month without winning! 😮😂😂

Cheery_Daff

Gosh the weather is vile today! We've sat in the cafe, had a quick (unfruitful) trip round a couple of charity shops, picked up some sand at the DIY shop, and now home trying (and failing) to be cosy - the door is open so the chickens can come in out of the rain  

I'm going to make another cup of tea and trawl through the finances I think. 

* banks and YNAB (remembering the other accounts too - credit card and MB account which I've been using while they send me my new bank card)
* get dosh out of the premium bonds to cover appliances and the latest builder instalment
* ring bank to get them to re-send PIN number for new card - it arrived today but was SO wet the piece of paper has just fallen apart and I can't read it (we should really get a letter box rather than just leaving post in the soggy porch...)
* update kitchen paper spreadsheets - extra costs, what's been paid out etc
* transfer September's happy wheel money (and any other little bits I can find) to the kitchen fund

I think that's it for finances. Also at some point over the weekend I want to 

* take all the clothes back upstairs that have migrated downstairs
* put the dry washing away
* potentially do some more washing, but it's so damn soggy I don't think it'll even dry inside
* send another granite-themed email (YAWN)
* log in to Hello Fresh - I'm still on discounted boxes, and they sent the latest one without two of the recipe cards so I need to figure out what I ordered
* do some washing up
* email the hairdresser about next week (I'm trying to get in with the local college but they don't have many appointments)
* email builder re Monday (we'll have fixed the internet cable by ourselves, but need to mention (1) one of the plug sockets is wonky, (2) they need to properly seal the hole in the sewer pipe until they fit the sink - they forgot, we did it ourselves but not properly, and the plasterers have now accidentally shoved our fix out of the way twice, (3) (darn it, already forgot the third thing!)
* blog post
* remove temporary windowsill in kitchen
* must remember we're meeting friends at a little local event at 11 tomorrow, keep forgetting!

I think that's enough for now