Little by little, and with love

RosaBernicia

EssexHebridean said:

Annoying when prices on things increase in between the time you decide they are "just right" and the time you can actually buy them - and funny how often it feels as though that happens!  depending on exactly what it is you're after it may well be worth biting the bullet and accepting that it's the "right thing" so the cost is still justified? Otherwise, sale time may be worth waiting for just in case? 

thanks EH, I was thinking similar so just waiting on some other finance info and quotes before I decide. 

RosaBernicia

Plans for keeping spends low til the end of the month now busted, as the fridge freezer stopped working at the weekend so that meant several packs of meat had to go in the bin.  Fortunately after clearing around the back, switching it on and off and emptying the admittedly crammed shelves of the fridge it seems to be ok again and is coming back to temperature.  Won't be buying that brand again though, as it appears the indicator lights are exactly that - an indicator of what temperature it should be at, with no relation to what it's actually at!  Fortunately I already had one separate thermometer in the fridge and another I brought in from the van fridge, but I think I'll buy an extra just so there is always one in the freezer.  I have a vague memory of it doing something similar last year in a warm spell, so although I am guilty of cramming too much in and keeping too much stuff on top (which I will try and minimise now) it doesn't seem it reacts well to changes. 

Will have to run out later for a top up shop, putting off the supermarket delivery until I know if it's running ok. 

And still need to chase the pet insurance again... sigh...

EssexHebridean

Oh what a faff about the freezer - how annoying. Good idea to put off the grocery delivery until you know it's working OK again too. The problem with stuff like that is it just leads you into failing to trust appliances I think. 

RosaBernicia

EssexHebridean said:

Oh what a faff about the freezer - how annoying. Good idea to put off the grocery delivery until you know it's working OK again too. The problem with stuff like that is it just leads you into failing to trust appliances I think. 

Absolutely, I won't feel comfortable with it at all until I have a separate thermometer.  The one I bought at the last house had a temperature alarm but this one is a cheap brand and I guess now I know why. 

RosaBernicia

Well, we're back to the cold weather again and I have had a change of plan about the heating.  Since I'm in the office all day, and I have the electric radiator with a timer that I rediscovered in the shed, I'm going to leave the heating on just morning and evening and use the electric radiator during the day.  It won't take very long to warm my little office and I'm guessing it's cheaper than heating the whole house - though this may be wrong, so I might have to try and work out consumption later! 

EssexHebridean

The usual wisdom is that electricity is by far the most expensive way to heat your home - but obviously the difference between being able to just get the one room using electric, and having to heat the whole house using gas, has to be taken into consideration. Could you turn radiators elsewhere in the house off during the day and just heat the office room using the normal radiator? (Assuming it has one!)

RosaBernicia

EssexHebridean said:

The usual wisdom is that electricity is by far the most expensive way to heat your home - but obviously the difference between being able to just get the one room using electric, and having to heat the whole house using gas, has to be taken into consideration. Could you turn radiators elsewhere in the house off during the day and just heat the office room using the normal radiator? (Assuming it has one!)

Hi EH

Technically I think I could, but it would mean going round the whole house turning things off and later on again which I am liable to forget.  Also the radiator in the office doesn't function very well and I haven't done anything about that yet, because that means moving furniture and I want to clear the spare room to move things into before I do that... so for the moment, it's probably simplest to just heat the office with the electric one when I need it and see how it goes.  I have got my lovely wool blankets back out too!

RosaBernicia

Little thing done - interest and points CC cleared completely.  It's provided by a horribly unethical bank (despite getting points for a highly ethical store) and I can't really shop there any more, so decided to pay it off in this tax year and then close it.  I already have more credit than I need and am wondering whether to close the empty CC too, or whether that would be unhelpful to my credit score as it would mean I'd reduce my overall available credit and be using a bigger percentage of it.  But no major hurry to decide, since it's clear anyway! 

I've moved most of the balance of the ethical one to a new 0% deal and will now be using that one for spending, plus clearing a bit more of the balance each month.  There is already quite a bit of money in its YNAB category but I still get really confused about the CC allocation so I'm not confident in it.  I just want to get rid of it ideally over the next 3 months, so that it will be gone around the same time as the van loan! 

RosaBernicia

So the little by little and doing things with love approach seems to be working for the garden... today I am rather pleased with myself as I found a solution for part of it that is less than half the price I was looking at online, matches the house better and was all just out of Bee&Kew!  Lots more to be done but I am hoping I can find ways to still keep costs down.  Need to start sowing things as I have a really good supply of seeds and it will be cheaper than buying them. 

Tomorrow is hopefully a long walk on the beach and then decluttering. 

EssexHebridean

We all seem to be forging ahead with the decluttering at the moment - must be something about this time of year!

Great work on the garden too - always nice to find a more budget friendly solution to something!