My year of living dangerously

doingitanyway

Thanks to everyone who checked in with me. I’m still here. Still standing. I will catch up on other people’s diaries over the next few days. I've been a bit down what with one thing and another, mostly not feeling well/ house/repairs, job and noise due to building works next door.

I have taken my foot off the pedal a few times over the past few weeks but I am still making progress.

HOUSE PLANS
I had a flood under my sink, but thanks to Orange Ena (long since gone from here) I have an account that includes home emergency cover. They came the same night and changed the part and order was restored. This insurance gives me great peace of mind and saves me the stress of finding tradesmen at short notice.

Kitchen plastering got complicated as i am dithering on putting in a basic kitchen again as the plasterer said he could do it. Hmmm.

New bathroom quote organised for next week.

FINANCES
I am still spending too much on groceries. This is a work in progress…:o

I am on 2000/4000 on my savings goal, so half way there and a few months to go. I am feeling confident. :money:

I have saved all my car insurance and car tax so I can pay everything off in one go.:money:

INVESTING IN ME
A manicure, pedicure and Indian head massage at my beauty training college for the grand total of £12. I know! :money:

I had a horrible hospital procedure that I cancelled once. I ‘manned’ up and did it. Glad I did.

I used some of my day to day spending to book some professional support for my project in late Autumn

I went to Kew gardens. Love that place.
Tomorrow I am at the theatre

I hope you all have a lovely, sunny, happy weekend

another_casualty

Glad you're keeping it together DIA:)
I understand your dilemma over the kitchen . I had a leak in my kitchen after i thought everything was sorted . It meant that when I saw the rotting cupboard under the sink I had to replace it .
Then I thought , sod it replace all the cupboards while I'm at it .:D
It was the right thing to do . Having said that, in your situation you should stand back and think how tired your kitchen is ..or not .

Good to see that you are treating yourself properly , in your time of upheaval . Hopefully you can make that a regular thing .
Even when I was all over the place , I managed to get acupuncture which was a massive help at the time .

Enjoy the theatre . Best wishes for the weekend

jwil

Have a good weekend

in_need_of_direction

So glad to hear the procedure is done and dusted. I know exactly where your head is re the kitchen. Is it worth a chat with an estate agent if you are still working towards sale?

doingitanyway

another_casualty wrote: »

Glad you're keeping it together DIA:)
Good to see that you are treating yourself properly , in your time of upheaval . Hopefully you can make that a regular thing .
Even when I was all over the place , I managed to get acupuncture which was a massive help at the time .

Thanks AC. I am trying to treat myself properly and I will be trying to make it a regular thing but doing it an MSE way where possible.
Good to be reminded about acupuncture. My work pays for a few sessions so I had better get in quickly and use up the budget

jwil wrote: »

Have a good weekend

You too!

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

So glad to hear the procedure is done and dusted. I know exactly where your head is re the kitchen. Is it worth a chat with an estate agent if you are still working towards sale?

Good idea. I think I will do that. Thanks INOD.

doingitanyway

WFH but up early so a chicken in the oven, washing humming away and the radio on in the background. My kind of Sunday

I claimed on pay delay as my train was delayed by an hour. A cheque arrived for £80 yesterday. Very pleased as it took several emails/letters and I so nearly gave up. :money:

The theatre was amazing. It was three hours long but I can honestly say time flew. I owe my friend for the ticket but will put my cheque in on Monday and pay her from my little windfall.

I called up the gardener last week as I have been trying to clear my front and back gardens and I was feeling overwhelmed. I made some progress, but there is still lots to do. I thought how much more in control I feel when the gardeners have been and how quickly they get the garden in shape. They are coming tomorrow evening as long as it is dry. :T

When I was barely surviving financially I imagined all repairs and help, like a gardener, were very expensive but now I know this is not always the case and can often be paid for by cutting back on day-to-day spending. I am writing this to encourage anyone who needs something done on the house to at least get a quote as it may not be as bad as you think.

Happy Sunday everyone.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Good to hear from you DIA .

It's a good idea to get the gardener in and sort out the gardens if it makes you less stressed.

A basic kitchen would make the house more sellable wouldn't it? So maybe it would be worth having one put in during the plastering if you have the cash.

I think you'e right that getting work done on the house can be cheaper than you expect sometimes. We had a burst pipe last night and our plumber only charged £45 plus the cost of the pipe to replace it, so we thought that was very reasonable for a Saturday night.

Keep on keeping on because you're making great progress .

doingitanyway

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

Good to hear from you DIA .

It's a good idea to get the gardener in and sort out the gardens if it makes you less stressed.

A basic kitchen would make the house more sellable wouldn't it? So maybe it would be worth having one put in during the plastering if you have the cash.

I think you'e right that getting work done on the house can be cheaper than you expect sometimes. We had a burst pipe last night and our plumber only charged £45 plus the cost of the pipe to replace it, so we thought that was very reasonable for a Saturday night.

Keep on keeping on because you're making great progress .

Thanks HH
I still can't make up my mind about the kitchen .
You did well to deal with the burst for £45ish...

doingitanyway

I pulled down an ugly blind and binned it. I took 2 paintings off the walls and dropped them off at the CS. I've been looking at the paintings for years without getting any joy from them. Gone now

The gardener is coming tomorrow so I spent a few hours on the garden in preparation. I am really looking forward to the gardens being clear and organised.

A neighbour left 4 large pots of vegetables on my doorstep. It felt like Christmas opening my front door and seeing them there. I’m such a poor gardener I am unsure what he has given me, except beetroot. I recognise that

I finished a library book and dropped it off and paid in a cheque. I checked my accounts. Hmmm, I don’t have that much left and I have 3 weeks left to pay day! I will need to be very careful for the rest of June. However I will have a tidy garden and I booked theatre tickets and a professional support session later in the year so I have not been wasting money.

I need some pointing and new air vents in the brickwork. I will get the builder on my street to quote for that. I tried twice but he was out. It should not cost too much I don’t think. This builder irritates me but it is a small job and it isn’t inside so I should be able to bear it.

I hope your week got off to a good start

doingitanyway

The rain prevented my garden being done We are due a run off wet weather so my new appointment is for 10 days time…)

Someone who has done jobs for me before came to look at the floor sanding job. He is good at most things but he is a perfectionist and quite slow and charges an hourly rate. We agreed it would work best if he just named his price for the job. That way I can relax and leave him to it. He has given me a price that is half the previous quote.

I will clear the other room (where the bed and other furniture is stored) as he is going to do that floor too.

The bathroom man is coming in the morning too.

Things seem to be moving again on the house front :T

Something has changed: I am so eager to get things sorted in the house that I feel excited for change rather than anxious about the workmen being here. I hope the feeling lasts.