Cheery's country living adventure

Cheery_Daff

Ok, so salary :money:

Looks like total increase as of 1st Aug (at the new rates) is £109 a month :eek: :money: That's an extra £42 a month on top of the original £67 so that will make things feel nicely more comfortable :j Very thankful for my job and well aware how fortunate we are :j :j

Cheery_Daff

Ok, head scrambling time :eek: :rotfl:

1. Post Office, £200 (1.45%). Been drip feeding into regular savers.
2. TSB Current, £1800 (3% on up to £1500). Needs £500 a month transferring in to keep conditions.
3. TSB monthly saver, £2000 (2%). Must pay in £25-£250 a month (been doing £250 so far)
4. NW Current, £1600 (5% on up to £2500). Needs £1000 a month transferring in to keep conditions.
5. NW monthly saver, £2000 (5%)

Also wages get paid into co op joint current account which fluctuates throughout the month. Hmm. Currently I have standing orders for

* the same £1000 between TSB and NW current accounts each month to keep them open.
* £500 from PO to main Co op current account (main joint account)
* £250 from Co-op current account to TSB current, then to TSB saver
* £250 from Co op current account to NW saver

Some observations:

* Nearly run out of money in the post office now :rotfl:
* TSB saver rate dropped from 3% earlier in the year
* NW current is my MB account - and there's around another £2000 floating around between various betting shops and exchanges :eek:

Right, let me make a cup of tea and see if I can figure out the best way to withdraw £5000 for the builders without ruining my system too much :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Ok, bear with me, I THINK I've worked it out :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Going to wait til after payday and this month's round of automatic transfers (18th - builder isn't starting til 14th so won't need paying til he finishes a couple of weeks later), then...

* Withdraw £2000 from TSB saver, £800 from TSB current, and £2200 from MB accounts (which will have ended up in the NW current) all into main Co op current account to pay builder

* Change SO from Co-op to TSB current, and from TSB current to TSB saver from £250 to £25

* Change NW nominated account from Co op to NW current - keep drip feeding in £250 a month from MB dosh

Depending on the amount I make from MB each month, I might also be able to start putting £250 back into the TSB saver - but given that the rate has dropped below the TSB current account anyway, it might not be worth it. Can't close as interest payment isn't due to Jan so need to keep feeding it enough to keep it open. Given that the NW current account is 5% up to a balance of £2500, it's probably worth keeping MB money in there anyway.

All savers mature/rates drop in January so I'll be on the look out to make life complicated again then :rotfl:

Right, now that's sorted, what was the next thing on the list again? :rotfl:

PurpleFairy26

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Ok, bear with me, I THINK I've worked it out :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Going to wait til after payday and this month's round of automatic transfers (18th - builder isn't starting til 14th so won't need paying til he finishes a couple of weeks later), then...

* Withdraw £2000 from TSB saver, £800 from TSB current, and £2200 from MB accounts (which will have ended up in the NW current) all into main Co op current account to pay builder

* Change SO from Co-op to TSB current, and from TSB current to TSB saver from £250 to £25

* Change NW nominated account from Co op to NW current - keep drip feeding in £250 a month from MB dosh

Depending on the amount I make from MB each month, I might also be able to start putting £250 back into the TSB saver - but given that the rate has dropped below the TSB current account anyway, it might not be worth it. Can't close as interest payment isn't due to Jan so need to keep feeding it enough to keep it open. Given that the NW current account is 5% up to a balance of £2500, it's probably worth keeping MB money in there anyway.

All savers mature/rates drop in January so I'll be on the look out to make life complicated again then :rotfl:

Right, now that's sorted, what was the next thing on the list again? :rotfl:

I'll go with what you said :rotfl:

EssexHebridean

My head's spinning!! :rotfl::rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

YOUR head is spinning?! What do you think mine is doing?! :eek: :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl:

But I promise it DOES make sense (I think... ) I drew a little felt pen diagram to explain to Mr Cheery to make sure and he said it made sense :rotfl: :rotfl:

So. Little car is in the garage, having its brakes sorted out to the tune of £165 :eek: !!!!!!. Also steering light came on while I was driving to the garage (but then went off again before I arrived) - apparently steering column is on the way out, and given it will cost another £2-300 to fix, that's just one thing too many for a car that only cost £500 almost two years ago.

SO disappointed we won't get it to 200,000 miles :rotfl: It's over 195,000 now - so close! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Anyway, I do NOT want to find a new car in a panic and a hurry whilst also preparing for builders who are arriving in 5 days by dismantling the kitchen, creating a new kitchen in the music room, building a temporary enclosure for the chickens etc and also both of us being full of cold. It is TOO MUCH.

So the garage are fixing the brakes (yay for being able to stop properly!) but NOT fixing the steering (they've checked and it's not in imminent danger of actually breaking), and once the kitchen is dismantled and the builders have started, we will look for a new car.

Yawn.

Don't want to pay much, but I think I'd steer (ha) away from something that had done over 170,000 miles again :rotfl: Only bought in a slight rush in the few days between exchange and completion on new house last year when we realised we were actually moving and would need a second car :rotfl: Anyway, Mr Cheery has the responsibility of actually finding one - I can't be doing with endless trawling and would happily just buy the first thing that appeared whereas he is rather more discerning (when we have the time to be) :rotfl:

EssexHebridean

Yes, when I typed that I rather thought your head might be in a similar state! :rotfl:

We found the Autotrader website MASSIVELY useful when looking for cars for MrEH previously - so many filters you can set depending on what your requirements are and you can also rule out things like previous insurance write-offs/private sellers etc. I'm also not a fan of having to go through the process of trying to replace cars - was hugely glad that mine kind of resolved itself quite fast when my first look online revealed the one I eventually bought. I fear that MrEH's next replacement won't be quite as simple though!

Cheery_Daff

Ah yes, we've found autotrader useful too, although I think we've always ended up buying off gumtree or Ebay :rotfl: not necessarily a strategy I'd recommend but there we are :rotfl:

Not too much to report today. A long and sniffly day, but some necessary things got done so not too bad.

Took lunch rescued from yesterday's buffet, although I did end up spending £1 at the vending machine in the afternoon

Obviously spent £165 at the garage :eek:

Then quickly nipped into the supermarket to get Mr Cheery a 99p sim card, and ended up spending £12 :eek: mostly on booze :rotfl: but also shampoo and conditioner.

Then this evening I've taken edwink's advice and purchased some clear plastic stuff to cover the chicken run. Not sure why we haven't before, had illusions of doing something better looking but clearly that won't happen :rotfl: we've added so many internal roofs now that you basically have to almost crawl to get to the hen house which is ridiculous ulous, and the exposed bit is a mudbath.

Spent £25 on two giant clear plastic sheets, 4m x 3m each which should do the roof and all the sides not already covered by windows. Won't exactly look like something out of country living but then it doesn't at the minute anyway :rotfl: and hopefully this will save them getting their little feet wet (and me too!!)

Currently trying to figure out what to do with them while builders are here :eek: they are bound to get in the way so we're thinking fencing off an area of garden. They won't like it...

Back at the office again tomorrow. No parking permit so I'll have to go early to get a space. Yawn. Best go to bed.

Meeting someone to get feedback on my promotion application tomorrow, might need a stiff drink after that

Cheery_Daff

Evening chums :hello:

Gosh I wish this sniffly cold would go away. I'm feeling quite rotten. Not confined to bed rotten, but slow and useless and only half functional. It's a damn nuisance, there's just so damn much to do!

Still the days go on and we carry on regardless I suppose. Work again today, and I drove round in circles before finally giving up and parking 15 mins walk away. Going to just do that from now on I think. It's extremely demoralizing leaving at 6am, getting to work at 7, driving round for 15 minutes then having to park a mile away and not getting in til almost 7.45 anyway. Coming to the conclusion that it's best to park further away from the start - I could leave at the same time and be in by 7.15 anyway.

PurpleFairy26

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Evening chums :hello:

Gosh I wish this sniffly cold would go away. I'm feeling quite rotten. Not confined to bed rotten, but slow and useless and only half functional. It's a damn nuisance, there's just so damn much to do!

Still the days go on and we carry on regardless I suppose. Work again today, and I drove round in circles before finally giving up and parking 15 mins walk away. Going to just do that from now on I think. It's extremely demoralizing leaving at 6am, getting to work at 7, driving round for 15 minutes then having to park a mile away and not getting in til almost 7.45 anyway. Coming to the conclusion that it's best to park further away from the start - I could leave at the same time and be in by 7.15 anyway.

That's so frustrating! I confess to avoiding our office when I didn't have an allocated space trying to find one in a city centre was just a nightmare.

Hope you feel better soon, get some fresh orange juice inside you. I'm sure it's totally a placebo thing but I always feel better after it :rotfl: