Rambling Man's mutterings.

PositiveBalance

patman99 wrote: »

Thanks PB.
This week was looking very grim on the finances front until I got a £200 refund from Co-Op energy and £94 from TopCashBack. That sorts me until payday on Tuesday.

Result! :T

patman99 wrote: »

Also sold a couple of items and made myself £50. Invested £30 of this in a biscuit jointer (brand new, never used).

Forgive my ignorance, but what's a biscuit jointer? I'm assuming that it is DIY not patisserie-related! :rotfl:

patman99

A biscuit jointer is basically a variable depth plunge saw. It gets used to cut a slot in to which a biscuit is glued.


Think of drilling a hole for a dowel, but instead of drilling, you plunge a circular saw blade into the wood instead.


Anyway, this week's update.
The big trailer made another tip run as we got rid of 2 sofas (1 from the house and 1 from the flat) and collected 2 armchairs our friend was getting rid of for free.



This week also saw the addittion of a free computer desk and free office chair from 2 facebookers. These are for the back bedroom which my son uses when he stays over (he is in his mid-20'sand has a nice flat of his own, but still wants to spend the weekends at ours).


Jobs to do this week include cutting the lawn if the rain holds off, sorting the front garden and placing the storage box for the rubbish sacks and setting up my Triton Workstation that I got last year but have yet to use.

mark55man

Hello - just joining in

sounds like you are getting things under control. always difficult in the short term, when you get dropped into longer term projects

but I am so jealous of your handiness so I am sure you will do fine. well done on getting the job that should make things happen quicker for you, as its lack of money that slows things down the most

Siebrie

patman99 wrote: »

Money wise, things are very tight. Had car insurance and house/contents insurance come out in the same month so had to put car insurance on monthly payments.

Will this cost you more? My insurance charges a monthly admin fee if I pay in installments. No fee for annual payment. They did not inform me of this, I just found out when I properly read the paperwork.

patman99

#Mark88man. I have always had an interest in fixing and making thinks. Now, I have an entire 3 bed house to work on.


#Siebrie. it will cost me £26 more, but if I had waited until payday I would have lost 3 days work, so that would have cost me more.


Anyway, this week's update. Forgot to mention last time that I have been approached by an agency about another, higher-paying, permanent job. So Friday week back I had a trip down to Maldon to register with them.


On the way home, we called in to the Maldo branch of Aldi to do our weekly shop. Ended-up buying a weed burner and a fire extinguisher (for the car, not to go with the weed burner). The weed burner will run off the gas canisters I use for my small infrared heater and I have loads of those.


I can also use the weed burner to 'burn' wood (burned finish seems to be the 'in' thing at the moment) and light my bbq/bonfire/chimnea so a god buy.


Today, we went to check on my deceased f-in-l's house and had to battle through the foliage to get in the front door. Decided the best way to deal with the problem was to purchase a strimmer to cut the weeds down to size. So off to Machinemart and £93 later, I became the proud owner of a Ryobi cordless strimmer with charger and 1.3Ah batery. I already have Ryobi kit, so have a few 4 & 5Ah batteries, so will use these and keep the 1.3Ah for powering my drill and impact driver.


Last weekend also sore a collection of a trailer load of free pallets to break down to make fence panels out of.
Having seen the price of close board 6x3 panels, it is cheaper to buy than to make. I now have a pile of pallet wood to use on other projects.


This week will see me construct and list wooden planters with the pallet wood (or, maybe I will make panels to extend the summerhouse to create a large 'shed' for dry storage so I can move more stuff from the flat and sort it at my leasure).


No work done on new trailer, but did construct a trailerboard holder for the old one and fit an upper bracket to one of the mud guards.

PositiveBalance

patman99 wrote: »

A biscuit jointer is basically a variable depth plunge saw. It gets used to cut a slot in to which a biscuit is glued.


Think of drilling a hole for a dowel, but instead of drilling, you plunge a circular saw blade into the wood instead.

Thanks for the explanation.

patman99 wrote: »

Anyway, this week's update. Forgot to mention last time that I have been approached by an agency about another, higher-paying, permanent job. So Friday week back I had a trip down to Maldon to register with them.

Best of luck - I hope you get it! :T

patman99 wrote: »

Last weekend also sore a collection of a trailer load of free pallets to break down to make fence panels out of.


Having seen the price of close board 6x3 panels, it is cheaper to buy than to make. I now have a pile of pallet wood to use on other projects.

Don't get me started about fence panels...they are currently the bane of my life! :mad: I hope you make some lovely ones out of your pallets.

patman99

Decided to make planters out of the pallet wood instead. I can sell these and use the money to buy fence panels as I have worked out it is cheaper to buy them at £18.95 each than to make them. Especcially as I would have to purchase the wood for the framework as I no longer work in sheet metal, so no longer have access to large pallets.


Anyway, spent last Sunday afternoon chopping down a load of trees in the garden. Now, just got to shred the small bits and burn the big bits.

PositiveBalance

patman99 wrote: »

Decided to make planters out of the pallet wood instead. I can sell these and use the money to buy fence panels as I have worked out it is cheaper to buy them at £18.95 each than to make them. Especcially as I would have to purchase the wood for the framework as I no longer work in sheet metal, so no longer have access to large pallets.

Good idea about the planters - I see these for sale on local FB groups all the time. Perhaps you could advertise them on FB for free when you have made them?

patman99 wrote: »

Anyway, spent last Sunday afternoon chopping down a load of trees in the garden. Now, just got to shred the small bits and burn the big bits.

I understand that this isn't always possible due to the sap in the trees, but perhaps you could advertise them for a free pick-up for someone with a wood stove or similar?

patman99

I filled 2 Coucil green waste bags with shredded wood and another 2 with grass.
Today, I shredded another bag full ready for green waste collection in 2 weeks time.
Sold 2 pieces of 1960's Italian glass from the Empoli region. My mum purchased a load from car boot sales over the years, but she never knew what they were.
The lady who purchased the 2 from me knew though. She told me what they were and what they could be worth.


This month has been a financial disaster thanks to my dog eating honey bee Monday night. Cost me £193 at the emergency vets for a check over and a steroide injection.


My aim for next month is to not spend anything other than on bills and food.

PositiveBalance

patman99 wrote: »

This month has been a financial disaster thanks to my dog eating honey bee Monday night. Cost me £193 at the emergency vets for a check over and a steroide injection.

Ouch, in every sense! :eek:


I hope your dog is feeling better and I hope that your wallet recovers soon from the shock!


Perhaps you can recoup some of the money from selling the pallet planters...?