Learning to walk before I run

edinburgher

Woohoo - coffee maker sold for £205! £177 after fees and postage, the courier was £19 I suppose it did weigh 14kg...

Suffolk_lass

Oh gosh. We are up to £194 in items sold this month. I bought a job lot of catering stuff, expecting the big gastro-norm pans but also got a quantity of commercial dinnerware (selling/sold) 25 cast iron round eared dishes like these (that make, cheaper versions with no wooden trivet) plus four or five crates of the stainless pans in all sizes except the one we thought we were buying.  At least I am only £6 down now. And some will go, and some can be gifted to fellow beekeepers.

Do shout if you would like any of the cast iron things (or anything else, but I can't imagine you would). We will be in sunny Scotland (East Ayrshire) from 10th and driving near your city on 15th and 22nd, en route to and from cottage near Oban, and happy to divert to drop off or meet to pass over, if you want a few. I'm currently using a big stainless pan for apples, one for washing up things that can't go in the DW, and one as a peelings pot with a lid, Oh, and the small cube ones fit perfectly on a fridge shelf and in the freezer drawers so the 1 litre ice cream pots that hold two big portions of chilli or curry may get retired. DH will use some of the smallest ones in his workshop stacked at an angle so he can see what is in them

edinburgher

Stainless steel pans are great, I have a couple of outsized ones that I use for making stock. Thank you very much for the generous offer (which I might have gone for, were we not on holiday in Northumberland when you're up). Where is "near Oban"? I ask as it's a part of the world that we're familiar with Probably for the best that I don't pick up any more pots that require any real attention or specialist cleaning to take care of (Mrs E still hasn't got over the carbon steel wok)

Yesterday was somewhat tiring. As well as a family swim and trip to a couple of shops, I spent 3-4 interrupted hours building another Ik3@ purchase (a stepped Tr0fast toy storage unit). I like that it is stepped (matches the slope of the roof), I like that it is sturdy. That said, does it need to be quite so sturdy? Ik3@ definitely don't build them like they used to (in a good way) - this thing had c. 50 dowels and 50 screws to assemble and it only has 6 drawers (which are plastic buckets that just slip in). Anyway, (relatively) cheap and cheerful, the teal buckets add a bit of colour to the very white room.

Today has seen more regretted spending after we went out for a family breakfast to a local place. A rather lacklustre cooked breakfast for me, a very nice egg dish with pulled pork (not carnitas as was advertised) and a single pancake with chocolate sauce and a tiny metal sauce ramekin of fruit for DD1. Those with a coffee and 2 fruit juices was £37 including the tip! I have asked Mrs E to work with me in trying to save our spends for places that we actually know we will enjoy and be a bit more mindful with our spending. In 2 days we have blown something like £70 between us, I definitely don't feel like we've had £70 of enjoyment. Still, our personal spends accounts, so it doesn't hurt the household budget.

I've just updated accounts (£248.32 paid off the larger CC) We are looking a little poorer, however, as I have updated the spreadsheet to not count our small endowment-like ISA balance (c. £850) and my personal spends account (usually £200-300) under total available cash. While I appreciate that it is all money that we have access to, I don't think I'm ever going to be able to FIRE unless I can break the bond between our main household budget, investments and my personal money. It's probably quite a simplistic approach but I think it's sensible.

Now off to make a stew with some lovely beef shin that I picked up in MoMo's the other day, they are consistently good value for said cut, although they don't always have it in. I suspect I'll need to go back to Ik3@ as well, DD1 will also need a chest of drawers and a small bookcase for her room. A daddy/slave's work is never done

Suffolk_lass

I've messaged you, so as to be less of a distraction in your diary!

South_coast

edinburgher said:

While I appreciate that it is all money that we have access to, I don't think I'm ever going to be able to FIRE unless I can break the bond between our main household budget, investments and my personal money. It's probably quite a simplistic approach but I think it's sensible.

Makes sense to me, Ed. It's not going to get you to FIRE if you have to spend it on petrol in the meantime. It'll only make you look poorer once, as long as you continue to account in the same way going forward you'll be back comparing apples with apples 👍

Sorry the breakfast was a let-down. At least you know now, so you can chalk that particular place up to experience 

savingholmes

Well done on parting with the whisky and the coffee maker. 

Congrats too on making up the furniture - enough to frustrate the patience of a saint. For future Ikea purchases perhaps look on FB as I've had fantastic deals on there - and they then come ready assembled... so double the win. Teal drawers sounds nice though.

newgirly

Hi Ed, glad to see your conversion is done and you are back home now, even if was a rather stressful process! Worth it in the end though 🙂

killerpeaty

I second looking on marketplace for already assembled furniture but it depends on whether you can fit them in your car!

It really is so disappointing when your meal isn't what you expected

edinburgher

@savingholmes @killerpeaty - not to mention what you can fit up your narrow attic staircase! 

badmemory

killerpeaty said:

It really is so disappointing when your meal isn't what you expected

I must confess that meals I have eaten out in the last couple of years have mostly been very disappointing.  I normally try to have something that I wouldn't cook myself because those can be extremely disappointing, you know what I mean, when it turns out the only good thing about a meal is you didn't have to cook it but wish you had.  I will never again pay for a "sunday dinner" the height of rubbish meals.  Saying that I have friends who think they are great.