Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget.

MoonChild91

I'm nowhere near retiring but this thread has given me so many good tips! I am very money conscious and I'd like to think pretty good at saving (I earn around 1100 a month and save 200 of that, luckily my rent is dirt cheap), but I do think sometimes I feel guilty about spending and this comes at the expensive of me treating myself or having a little fun. Maybe I'll take a page out of all your books and splash out every so often - reasonably of course!
One thing I do like to do is keep an eye out on the free cinema and theatre tickets available (showfilmsfirst is a good one) - I went to the opera for £3 a few months ago, ended up sat in a £52 seat!

helensbiggestfan

hi Moonchild.......Wow.....that was a bargain.  

Yeah it's all about balance.  I don't have a huge income either - around £1k net a month but I'm determined to both save and spend.  And yes, to live a life of luxury and ease.  

All work and no play would make Jill a very dull girl.  😂🤣.  So my motto.......

Take the trip, buy the shoes, eat the cake....💃🥳🥂.  

needmoney

@helensbiggestfan said "I will be going for under counter drawer units rather than cupboards and a chest height wall oven rather than an under the counter oven. "

  -Me too my oven door opens downwards and I'm always forgetting it's open and bumping my legs on it. The reason I dithered so long was the kitchen planner said a larder would look out of place and moving the oven would complicate things then the fitter came for a chat and said the larder was no problem and would be good for me.

@MoonChild91 said

"I feel guilty about spending and this comes at the expensive of me treating myself or having a little fun"

Me too I always feel if it works it would be watsteful to change it but realising if it no longer works for me and I can afford it then it's justified

phoebe1989seb

Hi everyone, Sounds like lots of champagne moments have been had over the weekend - and plenty of hard work too 

LL, it makes perfect sense to give a new lease of life to the kitchen you have if your plans for the house aren't long term - especially as your cabinets are solid pine which lends itself to being painted! I've painted ours twice already - although they were new when we put them in during 2018, but they were purchased unpainted from a company that sells them that way......

It's a tedious and time consuming job though - even when they don't require rubbing down/a lot of prep. We have all drawers - except beneath the butler sink, one curved cupboard and the larder - and I can highly recommend them. Our larder was an eBay find that we've adapted so it looks like it was bought with the rest of the kitchen - I wouldn't be without the amount of storage space it offers 

We've had another productive day in the garden today, digging over and planting up some things in the architectural bed. It's really starting to take shape and hard to believe how far we've come and what's been achieved in a relatively short space of time. We have always made a point of tackling the garden at the start of a project and it sooooo pays off, as by the time the rest of the house is finished the garden had got established. Plus it's so much nicer to have a pleasant place to sit outside between building/decorating jobs indoors when the weather allows 

Yesterday's champagne moments included a trip to the garden centre formerly known as Wyevale - first time I've been in a shop since two days before lockdown started! We picked up a few heucheras and some odds such as galvanised wire (we know how to live, lol!), then DH popped into M&S - again haven't been there for about 8/9 weeks. He treated us to lots of stuff including the wonderfully named yumnuts! Final stop was to collect a small order of focaccia, rare roast beef and snacks from our favourite eaterie that hopefully will survive the current uncertain times.......

Glass or two of wine with supper tonight 

joedenise

I can highly recommend under counter drawers and a huge larder cupboard.  I've gone for a corner larder but you do need quite a large corner area to fit one in, mine is 1 metre x 1 metre footprint, and has so much storage, it houses all our tinned and packet foods, plus things like condiments, spices etc.  I found a couple of of spice racks which fitted onto the cupboard doors which really look good.

The kitchen looks so much bigger without the wall units too which is brilliant.  I was also able to move the white goods out of the kitchen into the extension to make a utility area which is just beyond the kitchen.  I have far more storage space than I had before when I had all base and wall units.  Drawers are much easier to see what you've got too.

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moment today was seeing my younger son when he came to drop off his laundry and collect his clean laundry as he actually spent some time visiting us, now I seem to be clear of Covid-19. He is still keeping 2 metres away from me though, as there is no guarantee from anyone medical that I am unable to transmit this virus to him. 

My Champagne moment on Saturday was finding the hardback version of the autobiography of The Two Ronnie's, which I know will be a very enjoyable read for me, as I always loved their particular brand of humour in a local Poundland which saved me £19.

My other Champagne moments are having the time and books to do so much more reading, which gives me enormous pleasure as it is my favourite hobby. 

helensbiggestfan

Good morning my lovely friends....,

Good to hear from Sugarbaby......glad you are feeling so much better.  The virus really took it out of you didn't it.  Good you managed to see your son.....

that's the problem isn't it.......it's such a new virus we don't know much about it.  I am pretty certain that my eldest son, dil and myself all had a mild version back in January but without testing we won't know, and we won't know whether we have sufficient anti bodies to give us some immunity. And even if people are immune can they still be carriers. So much we still need to learn.  

Lots of lovely little champagne moments here, enjoying the beautiful weather, happily gardening and cracking on with the diy but best of all, because of this beautiful weather, I can meet up with one of my son tomorrow, we shall be sitting in his garden and maintaining social distancing of course 😉

Watched some of the Marie Kondo programmes on Netflix last night.  I am really looking forward to having a big Kondo session when the charity shops and the recycling centre open again.  

I am running out of new "proper" books to read but I have amazon prime so have loads on my kindle.  I have been downloading magazines as well. I am an old fashioned girl and do prefer "real" books but the kindle is fine.  

Right time to get cracking.......a quick whiz round with the hoover, mop the kitchen floor and then get outside.  

Have a great day, stay well and happy and keep those champagne  moments flowing.  

phoebe1989seb

Not so many champagne moments here, I'm afraid 

The weather has been rubbish for the past couple of days - it actually rained last evening, although not enough to be a positive for the garden. It's been dull and cold so I haven't felt like doing much outside. Most of my hundreds of seedlings are already pricked out so nothing to do there.

Of course, being in Wales we are still not allowed to visit family in England and that is really starting to bug me now. Our DGD will be two at the beginning of July and I fear we won't be able to travel to see her. Posting gifts is just not the same.

DH managed to drop my dinner on the floor last night - fish, so the floor tiles (despite thorough scrubbing) stink! Nothing was broken and our dogs had fun licking the mess. It was actually quite funny, but I'd had a grim day so got rather angry at the time!

Even more frustrating at the moment is the attitude of the joiner we employed to build new timber windows for the front elevation of our cottage. He insisted on a massive deposit of £3500 (total price just over £4500) in September and has disappeared with our money.

At the outset he assured us they'd be ready before Christmas 2019, then he got behind on another job and by early March he still hadn't begun working on them. We almost requested our money back, then lockdown started and next time we spoke (text) he said he had the timber/was about to start.

Fast forward a few weeks and having chased him again he said they were nearly complete but because of lockdown he couldn't get the glass (understandable) so we asked for some pics of his progress. That was 6th May and since then he has blanked us, not responding to calls, texts, emails etc.

I am furious (especially as our current windows are rotten and leak like sieves) and DH is coming round to my way of thinking (he's usually far more forgiving than me) - that our windows don't exist.......

Apologies for the rant!

Btw, LL, we also think we had the virus very early on - late December - we had all the symptoms including the loss of taste/smell, as did the family members we had been with. It affected some of us for several weeks. As you say, of course without testing there's no way of knowing for sure......

Glad you are getting on with your DIY/gardening!

Stay safe everyone.......

needmoney

@phoebe1989seb I'm so sorry about your windows and yes that was a huge deposit.

Floss

Candy, I had one of those t-shirts!

Phoebe, how frustrating...I would suggest contacting Trading Standards about your windows and asking them to make contact with & determine the situation with your contractor.