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

borefest

glad your job is safe and you have settled in, fire sounds lovely.  

Moorviews

It’s lovely that your neighbours are welcoming. I hope you will be happy in your new home. Despite everything you sound very relaxed. Great news about your job and a weight off your mind. Modern headlights are so bright and particularly difficult on busy A roads with the oncoming traffic so I sympathise with the night driving issue. 50mph seems quite respectable to me but many people just want to drive flat out everywhere unfortunately. I also find that the visor being down and my seat being in a high position helps to cut down the amount of glare. 

It is usual for a printed slip to be left by the oil delivery driver. A few taps on the tank will soon tell you if they have been though. 

lucielle

If your windscreen already has anti glare on your anti glare glasses won’t work. I’ve got react to light glasses and they don’t work in the car for that reason so still need prescription sun glasses. 

L

Elisheba

Sunshine_girl2 said:

Does a smart meter use electric ? 

It does, but shouldn't be that amount. One of my friends suggested it might be the boiler which has a timer mechanism which presumably needs some electric to keep going.

Elisheba

SuzeQStan said:

Oh Elisheba! WONDERFUL wonderful news so HAPPY to hear the brilliantly good job news.  

Re night driving / dazzled by the lights - it sounds daft but I find putting the visor down helps a great deal.

re the mystery leccy use - we once did an experiment to see if there was any hidden leccy guzzlers in the house by turning everything off and we eventually had to give up for a very small
amount that was being used. How long are you responsible for the additional leccy charges? Surely not now the keys are being handed over?

Thank you! I am so happy and relieved, and everyone else in the team is safe as well thank goodness!

Interesting about the visor - I'll give it a go. 

The last date of my tenancy is Sunday 10th December. It's all to do with some weird way the estate agent worked out my one month notice period. I didn't think it made much sense but I was too tired to argue the point.

Elisheba

slm6002 said:

Did you have a light in the loft that might have been left on?

Nope. A friend suggested it might the the boiler. Can't think of anything else it could be.

Elisheba

beanielou said:

Great news on the job.
I have the same problem with night driving.
Loathe it & avoid it as much as possible.

I wish I could avoid it, but won't have much choice with my 3 hour commute to work, and then 3 hours home again, during winter. Bring on Spring and the longer days!

Elisheba

Moorviews said:

It’s lovely that your neighbours are welcoming. I hope you will be happy in your new home. Despite everything you sound very relaxed. Great news about your job and a weight off your mind. Modern headlights are so bright and particularly difficult on busy A roads with the oncoming traffic so I sympathise with the night driving issue. 50mph seems quite respectable to me but many people just want to drive flat out everywhere unfortunately. I also find that the visor being down and my seat being in a high position helps to cut down the amount of glare. 

It is usual for a printed slip to be left by the oil delivery driver. A few taps on the tank will soon tell you if they have been though. 

I am feeling a lot more relaxed now I'm in and mostly settled and everything is paid for, and my job is safe. 

I'll give having the visit down and putting my seat up a bit higher a try 😁.

I had a look this morning and found the printer slip 6ou mentioned, so he did come when I was out.

Elisheba

lucielle said:

If your windscreen already has anti glare on your anti glare glasses won’t work. I’ve got react to light glasses and they don’t work in the car for that reason so still need prescription sun glasses. 

L

I don't think my window screen is treated with anything, but you never know 🙄

Elisheba

Good evening, make do and menders,

Thought I'd start by going through the list I made earlier in the week and seeing where I am with things...

🎄Deal with wood delivery and move to back garden if possible ❌ Half has been moved. It's blooming hard work! Aiming to get all of it moved over the weekend

🎄Get the TV up and running ✅

🎄Retrieve silly dog's toys from car ❌ Have brought in half of them
🎄Go to opticians ✅
🎄Empty boxes in hall ❌ 

🎄Empty remaining boxes in kitchen ✅

🎄 See if empty bookshelf will fit in porch for shoes ✅
🎄Get kitchen cupboards better organised and decide what needs donated, thrown out etc ❌

Things I need to do for the rest of the week -
🎄Organise all the rooms ❌

🎄Take remaining empty boxes to garage ❌
🎄Buy an Xmas tree ❌

🎄Decorate tree and house ❌
🎄Do budget reconciliation for November ❌

🎄Inform banks, DVLA, insurance I have moved ❌ DVLA informed, main bank informed, others still to be notified 

🎄 Wreath making in old town (Wednesday) ✅
🎄Weed driveway of old house (Wednesday) ❌ Didn't bother in end, but had sprayed with salt and vinegar so a lot had died back 

🎄Hand keys in for old house (Wednesday?) ✅
🎄Look through antique places in old town for fire pails (Wednesday) ❌ They were all closed
🎄Go to Xmas markets and buy some presents (Saturday)  ❌ Cancelled due to forecast high winds
🎄Write and post Xmas cards ❌

🎄Take faulty washing machine hose to Post Office to return ✅
🎄Register with new doctor ✅
🎄Join local library (probably Saturday if I'm there for Xmas market anyway) ✅

And things I'd like to do if I have time -
🎄Hang up pictures ❌
🎄Buy a fitting to hang a lightshade ✅
🎄See if I can get the right screws for the day bed and try to reassemble it ❌

🎄 Update blog ❌ 

🎄Do some cooking ✅

Still quite a bit I need to do by the looks of it, but I'm getting there!

Had an awful kerfuffle with the new trolley this morning. Opened the box and none of the screws and fittings matched the list on the instructions. So I emailed the seller, and they said the instructions included were nonsense, and had written their own which they sent me. So I did eventually get it built! Then trying the move the full trolley through the side porch into the house and up and down some steps was a bit of a nightmare.  Got 3 loads done but it was exhausting so I have more to do tomorrow and Sunday.

I put the heating on today now I have oil, mainly to see how well it worked, and very warm and cosy it was too! So nice not to have the icy draughts from my old house. The oil receipt said they delivered 1048 litres, and as I payed for 1200 I'm presuming they will refund me for the litres I didn't need at some point....

I've set up 3 months mail redirect today, and put in the insurance claim for darling little spotty cat. I ended up having to do it through an email rather than online due to her having been taken off the system. Nothing is ever simple!

Also today, for the first time in a week, I managed to eat 3 proper meals 😂. Finally feels like I'm getting organised!

So, my plan for tomorrow -

🎄Empty silly dog's toys from the car

🎄Move some wood

🎄Empty boxes in hall

🎄 Put stuff in garage that needs to go there

🎄 Pop to town to see the few Xmas market stalls that haven't been canceled
🎄 Clear out some stuff in kitchen

🎄 Put washing away

🎄Start Xmas cards
🎄Buy stamps for Xmas cards

🎄Buy Xmas tree (fake one? Still not sure)

Then for Sunday -
🎄 Do more Xmas cards

🎄 Post Xmas cards

🎄 Move more wood
🎄 Do November Budget reconciliation

🎄 Decorate tree and house
🎄 Inform some more companies I have moved

🎄 Hang up kitchen lightshade
🎄 Make office usable 
🎄 Write blog

Most of that should be manageable I think, and then once it's all done it will be more tasks to get the house more organised.

Think I'll head to bed soon with a book. I'm tired as I was speaking on the phone to my Aunt last night, and she doesn't have the best of health and doesn't keep normal sleeping hours, so we were chatting till past 11.30pm, which is much too late for my blood 🤣.

Sleep well, everyone, and I hope you have fabulous, festive weekends!