Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget - 2021

sugarbaby125

Phoebe and Helen your gardens are looking lovely 

helensbiggestfan

Heres an interesting factoid😱. And most definitely not a champagne moment.  😡

last May (2021) I used 1572 kw (duel fuel) cost me £76.73

this Month so far I've used 602 kw at a cost of £103.    

Says it all really doesn't it.  

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moment yesterday was taking part in the monthly Saturday session with Ola for Neighbourhood Voices. I almost completed one of the ideas I had for a play yesterday, as we have a 4 hour session on Saturdays, 2 hours then an hour lunch break followed by another 2 hours. 

When we were working in smaller groups, I got very positive feedback from the other 2 women about what I had written. 

MrsPorridge

Three champagne moments this morning.  One neighbour inviting us to a BBQ this afternoon, another one giving me some eggs (I make cakes for him in return) and another neighbour giving us some sausages

weenancyinAmerica

The garden pictures are wonderful! 

weenancyinAmerica

Actually I am jealous of the wonderful gardens. Saved the pictures to drool over. We are on drought restrictions and so can't really grow anything. Plus have a husky that likes to dig up plants lives in the backyard. Will be planting my tomatoes in front of the house this year. Those roses are beautiful.

Wednesday2000

I had a lovely weekend but it wasn't lemonade budget. We went to a local Indian restaurant on Friday night and then got pizza Saturday and then went to a local Buddhist cafe Sunday morning for brunch. We went to a few bars as well on Saturday. Oh well. We had been quite frugal leading up the move so we can afford it, but I do need to start going back to sticking to some type of budget now. It is almost a new month so I have to turn over a new leaf.:)

helensbiggestfan

weenancyinAmerica said:

Actually I am jealous of the wonderful gardens. Saved the pictures to drool over. We are on drought restrictions and so can't really grow anything. Plus have a husky that likes to dig up plants lives in the backyard. Will be planting my tomatoes in front of the house this year. Those roses are beautiful.

You could always cheat with faux plants.  No kidding.  They have come a long way in recent years.    

If I lived in a hot dry climate I would probably go for a more architectural look, using texture rather than a lot of plants for interest.  Some large stones or boulders, gravel, some interesting metalwork sculptures, colourful tiles, painted wood, nice lighting for nighttime.  I would treat it as an outside room.  A few faux trees or plants

You wont be able to replicate an English country garden but you could still create an amazing space. I would like to live in a warmer drier climate.  Winters here play havoc with my old bones.  I envy you.  Lol. 

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moment today is receiving the credit that I had sitting in my rent account of £809.89. That has given a nice healthy boost to my savings account.   

liberty_lily

Nothing wrong with treating yourselves, Wednesday...you deserve it after how long your move took to go through 😉

Today's champagne moments - discovering I'd made a mistake about our council tax band. We're in D, not E after all, so do get the £150 refund 😃

One of DH's non-paying customers (the smaller amount) resolved his cash flow issues and paid up today. We're still awaiting the larger amount. 

I've moved our Gloster polyrattan dining set to a better location in the garden and I'm so happy with the new position, looking out over the white bed and woodland beyond! The set wasn't a lemonade budget decision - although we did save about £1k on the purchase price, buying from a garden centre out of season - but it was what I treated us to shortly after receiving the news my mum had died in 2015, so I'll always associate the set with her. Seven years on it looks as good as new so definitely a great investment! Our nine year old parasol could do with replacing though as that has seen better days 🙄

Finally, the two hardwood double glazed doors (in lieu of the third window which we changed our minds about) that our joiner has owed us since Sept 2019 were delivered today 😀