Frugal, thrifty, make do, mend! Let this debt come to an end!

Elisheba

SuzeQStan said:

Sorry to hear the bad vets news - can hear the heartbreak in your words. 😢 so thankful that that you gave her those extra 4 years when it happened the last time - don’t give up hope!

hurry up and wait for other people to do their thing made me laugh! Clearly they don’t know who they are dealing with - Elisheba organiser extraordinaire!  🎉🎊 It will happen - and you have done absolutely everything you can to make it happen. Well done to you - honestly I would have sunk into a gloomy heap!  Proud of you xx

ps WI plans sound great - just the thing to get to know the new village. 

Big hugs to you xx

Thank you 😊. I'm trying really hard to just keep my head up and keep going! I'm always pretty good in a crisis, it's when it all over I start reeling a bit. Hopefully by then though I'll be all moved in and settled!

Elisheba

SuzeQStan said:

Ps get that heated hoody on!

The heating part of it doesn't work very well anymore sadly!

Elisheba

Thanks @beanielou, @themadvix, @weenancyinAmerica and @Moorviews. I still haven't heard back from the vet, so the earliest now will be Monday. I'm increasingly thinking that if they think she can tolerate the medication then it's worth trying. The solid mass around her throat is causing her some discomfort but she is mostly still herself. If the meds might shrink it a little then it would be work trying, but I'll see what the vet says.

Elisheba

Morning all and happy weekend!

I went out for some post work drinks will a friend last night which was fun. It'll likely be the last time I can do that as from now on I'll have to drive the 3 hour commute home. It's a famous University city where I work, and the as always the strange mix of young lad in fancy suits and ties, folk in tuxes and pretty dresses, hippy style people with dreads, and tourists from all over the world, mixed together in tiny old worldy pubs was very amusing.

Busy weekend ahead. I'm visiting my new house to have another look and plan what I'll need immediately, and measure for any curtains I'll need, tomorrow morning which will take 4 hours out of my morning.

Other things I want to get done, in no particular order are -

* Weed the driveway - weather should be dry so that should be fine.
* Get a pile of things for the tip together
* Tip run

* Clear out under my bed
* Take some old clothes to the charity bin

* Sort out the utility room

* Drop a box from the social organisation I'm a member of off with someone

* Finish sorting the cupboard under the stairs

* Dog walks 
* Sort out the freezer

Not sure if I'll get all of that done, but I can make a good stab at it!

I've booked and paid for the removal people now so that's one thing off the moving list. I've decided to get them in the earliest I can do they'll be packing up on 30th November, and moving on 1st December. That'll give me the Saturday to start unpacking, then on the Sunday I can run back here to take some stuff to the tip and I've got an afternoon tea booked with friends.

I'm not sure the exact date the cleaner is coming in but it'll be the Monday or Tuesday I think. She's collecting keys from the estate agent so I don't need to be here for that, and can get more unpacking done. Then I need to come back for a wreath making session on the Wednesday I booked and paid for before this all happened.

I'm trying to be positive about it all. Although I had considered moving out to Wales before it's unlikely I would have done it without being pushed. The expense, the commute and the upheaval wouldn't have been worth it. But since I have been pushed, I'm now going to be in a little house in the country (albeit a 1970s ex council house not a pretty old stone cottage) and it could very well be wonderful. 

I can just imagine me driving to Hay (the nearest town) on a Saturday morning. Taking my dog a walk round the Warren (a nature area), then popping to the library to get that week's books, getting a paper and some treats from the independent shops, browsing a few bookshops, then home for some lunch and to lounge in front of the wood burner. Sunday's visiting the tiny, old non conformist chapel a couple of miles from me and a long walk with the dog over the hills. Maybe some batch cooking in the evening before I collapse in front of Antiques Roadshow and some murder mystery or other.

Then the week will be busy with work, and dog walks, and the evenings with groups I'll join or reading. Super long Fridays with the six hours of commuting to the office and back, and then repeat. It could all work out very well indeed 😊.

So yeah, just need to focus on that and get this liminal period of waiting and trying to get organised out the way!

Have a great weekend, everyone. Hope you are all toasty and warm and do some lovely things.

Elisheba

Evening, frugal friends,

Hope you have all had fabulous weekends! Mine has been quite productive and I'm blooming knackered now!

Yesterday I managed to get to the tip with a boot full of stuff so that was good. I've looked out some things for the charity shop as well. Got the freezer clear of the stuff I wanted gone as well, so another thing off the do do list. Dropping a box of stuff with someone tomorrow evening, so that'll be more gone.

Didn't get the driveway weeded, but it might actually be easier to do that once I'm out as I have some time off. I didn't put it on my list but I needed to get some varish for the doors so that's done as well. Had a quick look round The Range while I was near it, just to get an idea how much they were selling curtains and rugs for.

Went to visit the new place today. It was as lovely as I remember it so that was good. Took lots of pictures and measurements. I'll need to get curtains for the patio doors in the living room straight away, and also for the two windows in my bedroom. I think I'll be able to get away with my rug for in front of the wood burner - it might clash a little but it will do for a while. Should also be fine using my undercounter fridge in the kitchen for now, and putting the chest freezer in the hall.

Annoyingly the landlord, who was there to let me in, said the previous tenants haven't filled the oil tank and he's put 60 litres in to get me started. It's 1200 litres, so I got an online quote for about £920 to fill it. So I'll need to add that back into the spreadsheet. I don't think can be expected to fill it up when I leave though, being as it only has 60 litres in it for me moving in.

The landlord seemed perfectly nice, and said it's fine for me to hang my clothes up to dry and use solid fuel in the wood burner. He seemed as bemused about those being in the contract as I was. The old tenants are going to sell me to slimline dishwasher that's in situ for £100 so that saves me having to buy one new. I'll have to sell the countertop one I only bought at the start of the year! If I get £100 for it I'll have lost almost £200 quid. But I didn't know what was coming, and it has made my life a lot easier these last few months.

I popped into the Coop there, which is the only supermarket within 5 miles, to buy some lunch, and came out with 24 Richmond veggie sausages, reduced to 60p for 8 🤣. So they have gone straight in the freezer! I see lots of sausage stews in my future!

Things I want to get done this week -

* Clear out under the bed

* Drop off box

* Drop off some birthday presents (very belated)
* Sort out stuff for charity

* Take old batteries to supermarket

* Sort out cupboard under the stairs
* Make some final decisions about things in the utility

* Normal house tidying

* Possibly buy stairgate, and curtains for new house, and a few cheap paper lights shades and a shower curtain for this house. Will see if anything in Black Friday sales.

And of course, hopefully I'll hear from the vet tomorrow regarding what the next steps are with spotty cat. It's really awful listening to her just now, there is noise every time she breathes. And anytime I stroke her she retches. Her quality of life is not good at all.

weenancyinAmerica

Good luck with the vet. It is really hard to know what to do and what is best for the pet. My sister is going through that now. 

Hay is one of my two favorite towns (Stratford upon Avon is the other). I can get lost in the book stores there. The first time I went to Castle one, they were laughing because I had paid 40p for each of the books and was then shipping them to California and it cost more for the shipping then the books had cost. I shipped a total of 20 boxes of books from the town that year. Most of them were World War II home front books as I was doing research on it for some other people. I was glad I got them then as the last time I went, I couldn't find any. The books arrived about two months later in giant sea bags. They didn't want the bags back so we have used them for storage. My postman though asked me to let him know the next time I was planning a trip so he could arrange his vacation for book arrival time - I did let him know and he did take his vacation two months later just as the boxes were arriving! I've stayed several times at the Old Black Lion Inn. 

Cheery_Daff

Big hugs about the cat ((((()))))) Hard to see them poorly xxxx

Good to hear your setting out your vision for your life in your new house 😊 Annoying about the oil though,very pesky!

beanielou

Poor wee soul. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Morning Elshiba, sorry to hear about poorly cat.

Moving close to Hay sounds lush from a fellow booklover, gutting for you over the oil tank situation but just wanted to say I admire your resilience over the move situation. Paying for someone to pack up your belongings sounds like a wise move. Also going to do the same when my own move happens.

Elisheba

weenancyinAmerica said:

Good luck with the vet. It is really hard to know what to do and what is best for the pet. My sister is going through that now. 

Hay is one of my two favorite towns (Stratford upon Avon is the other). I can get lost in the book stores there. The first time I went to Castle one, they were laughing because I had paid 40p for each of the books and was then shipping them to California and it cost more for the shipping then the books had cost. I shipped a total of 20 boxes of books from the town that year. Most of them were World War II home front books as I was doing research on it for some other people. I was glad I got them then as the last time I went, I couldn't find any. The books arrived about two months later in giant sea bags. They didn't want the bags back so we have used them for storage. My postman though asked me to let him know the next time I was planning a trip so he could arrange his vacation for book arrival time - I did let him know and he did take his vacation two months later just as the boxes were arriving! I've stayed several times at the Old Black Lion Inn. 

Oh my, Wee Nancy!  That is a lot of books!  I must confess I have a holiday in Hay with my ex a few years ago and came home with about 20 or 30 new ones - nothing like 20 boxes though.  thats really something - an such an interesting topic!

I actually only live about 15 miles from Stratford just now, but must confess I have never made the most of it - the FourTeas WW2 vintage tearoom is lovely though!