Simple living in the country - back to basics

greent

Definitely DIY - I've done/ helped with several - it's a case of reading things through thoroughly first and just following the instructions. Plus the helpline is super helpful if you have any questions

Cheery_Daff

Ah, didn't realise there was a helpline, thank you! 

Well, we have had an unexpectedly cheerful (and not remotely money saving) afternoon. I was out raking the field, Mr Cheery decided he wanted a social occasion... ended up ringing a friend who mostly lives in Wales on the off chance that she was at her old house - and bizarrely it turns out she was! Ended up driving over there, had a cuppa with her and her friend, then went out for a curry. 

Extremely tasty, and now we are extremely full. Not sure I'll need to eat anything at all tomorrow 😬 Although I brought of mine home so I might have to find room for that 😂 £40 for the pair of us, including drinks, plus £2 parking. Having a rather spendy end to the month 😮

Cheery_Daff

Just popping back to report I cancelled the gym membership today - had to give a month's notice and the next payment is due Monday, so I'll have to pay that, but then it will run to the end of May. Will have to pull my finger out and use it a bit!

Bit of a list for tomorrow while I think of it (this might not all get done but at least I know where to start...)

* finish raking hay - maybe an hour or so left to go?
* finish sorting the study - couple of hours probably.
* start moving clothes into new bedroom (once the rail is up) - will need to sort some clothes out on the way.
* sow some seeds! * get Mr Cheery to help me fix the greenhouse window
* get clothes dry ready to take on our weekend jaunt on Saturday

That'll do! 

Cheery_Daff

Morning chums

Despite my giant list, I've been having a nice lazy morning so far watching some cheerful homesteading videos while I did the Happy Wheel and the banking. 

Happy Wheel at £105.59 for April, plus £91.44 other extra income = £197.03, which is £6.79 a day. How do those 'make £10 a day' challengers do it?? All respect to them! 

Banking looking ok, although not as healthy as I'd like. £157 on food, which isn't as good as it sounds as we've also used almost £65 worth of vouchers. But better than it has been (and also includes all cleaning, household, toiletries, and alcohol). £116 on cafe trips, which is just about within the bounds of what I'd call reasonable. 

Other expenses this month - two unexpected meals out, total cost of £85. £282 at the dentist for me (although work not actually being done til July). £321 on diesel Up from last month's extortionate £285. But we've had a few trips over to see Mr Cheery's dad, and I've had to be in the office quite a bit more than usual in April for various reasons, so hopefully that will settle down again. Power scythe hire was £108. It all adds up. 

And of course we're going away tomorrow night to stay in a hotel. Car is already full so won't need any more diesel tomorrow, although obviously we'll need to fill up again sooner than usual. I don't think the hotel money has gone off the credit card yet either, so that's another £135. 

Anyway, the sun is shining, best get outside. 

beanielou

Enjoy your wee break 

Cheery_Daff

Thanks Beanie 😊

Bit of a funny one today for various reasons, but some stuff did get done. I did a load more raking - there's a bit left but not much. Distributed hay to relevant places round the garden as mulch. Did a bit more sorting in the study, but nowhere near finished. 

Big job of the day took forever and has very little to show for it (as usual) - making decisions about clothes storage in the bedroom. Involved shifting a bookcase, then dismantling and rebuilding, sawing some of the legs off in the process, shifting into place, shifting again to add a bit to one of the legs to take account of the slightly wonky floor/ceiling 🙄 shifting back into place properly, trying and retrying curtain rails, blah blah blah.

Still, we have a solid set of shelves in the new wardrobe area now, and decisions have been made about the hanging rails so Mr Cheery can get on with that next week while I'm working. We've got a set of gold velvet curtains which will go nicely so they're out of the loft and airing/draping to get the kinks out.

Spent quite a lot of time outside today, some of it just lying on a pile of hay in the sunshine listening to the tweeting of the birds. Some of the day has been a bit tense, but that bit was very nice indeed 😊😊

EssexHebridean

That sounds like a really productive day there Cheery in spite of the “blah blah blah”! Great that you had the perfect curtains stashed away already too! 

Cheery_Daff

EssexHebridean said:

That sounds like a really productive day there Cheery in spite of the “blah blah blah”! Great that you had the perfect curtains stashed away already too! 

We have a surprising (or maybe not, if you know us well 🙄😂😂) number of velvet curtains stashed away 😂😂 Hoping more of them come in handy over the years! These used to cover the back door in our old house - I had to add to their length with the bottom off another pair years ago, so it's nice to find that they are now the perfect length for this job and I don't need to alter them again 😂😂

Very exciting experience this evening when our resident tawny owl landed on top of our swing seat, not far out of the living room window 😂 I was peering out, thinking 'what on earth is that blob up there, it looks a bit like the shape of  a chicken!' 😂😂😂😂 my mind always drifts to chickens first. Had an expression a bit like a chicken though, glaring in the window at me 😂



We hear them all the time (both male and female) and do sometimes accidentally disturb one in a tree in the garden, but above never seen one this close to the house before, very jolly.

Cheery_Daff

Anyway, serious time. I've been reading Digital Minimalism again and feel it's time for a serious digital declutter. Spending more time than I'm comfortable with online, and while some of that is for good reason, much of it is idly scrolling and heading down rabbit holes. 

My phone tells me I've spent an average of 6hrs 52 looking at it PER DAY in the last week 😮😮😮 and while some of that is a sleep story at bed time, or QMee, or reading an ebook (rare), or Duolingo, or whatever, much of it isn't. I don't even do the Happy Wheel on the phone, so it doesn't even include that, or watching the occasional homesteading video, which I do on the tablet. This is just picking it up a million times a day, and having a quick scroll, or reading diaries on here, or whatever.

Seven hours a day 😱😱😱 

So there's a need for drastic action. I've been listening to the audio book written after this blog post

https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2016/12/18/on-digital-minimalism/

(I suppose audio books add to screen time as well...).

Think I'm going to jump right in with a full on digital declutter, no messing about. Working out what my rules are, and what I'll keep/drop. Thinking it will last the whole of May, then I'll decide what to reintroduce.

* I uninstalled Twitter last week, and will get rid of Facebook, Instagram too.

* Iwill keep on with the Happy Wheel and QMee as money-making activities, limited to a max of an hour a day between them.

* No MSE. 😮😮 I've agonised over this one for a few days now, but it's one of my biggest time sucks... 

* will check email every day or two. Don't have any kind of compulsion towards this and rarely use it anyway, but some bills come to it

* will keep WhatsApp and messenger for messages

* will keep doing duolingo for 5-15 mins a day - I'm on an 82 day streak and don't want to lose that! 

* phone will stay downstairs at night, which means analogue alarm clock, and no sleep stories (and also no 60-90 mins of !!!!!! about on the phone before I get out of bed!)

* not going to limit audio books/podcasts - I usually listen to those either while I'm driving or gardening or doing DIY anyway

* also think I'll keep the odd homesteading video which I usually watch while doing the Happy Wheel, but not decided on that yet.

And an important part of this is identifying what I'll replace all those things with...

* gardening! 
* morning walks
* writing letters
* reading actual books
* sewing
* finishing sorting out the study
* finishing the decorating!
* exercise (swimming, running, cycling, yoga)
* blogging (I realise it's ridiculous to keep that in, but I blog about once a month, and really miss the days when I used to do it more! Won't be reading anyone else's. mine is mostly just a place to put pictures and keep track of what I'm up to)

All those things I feel like I don't currently have time for... 🙄 Might even do some housework!! 😂😂 (but don't hold your breath...)

Anyway, still working out finer details, but I think the fact that it feels daunting and scary is a darn good reason to do it. Think what I could do with an extra seven (or even three!) hours a day! 

Of course I will miss you lot, and I WILL report back at the start of June... And of course I reserve the right to cave in the middle of May and abandon the whole thing 😂 

One more day of April left, but we'll be away for most of that, and the 1st of May, and have friends here all day on 2nd, so that's a nice way to start things...

EssexHebridean

I had a good hard think about all things screen-based during one of the lockdowns - and really analysed the stuff that added to my life and the stuff that didn’t. I might explore this one a bit more but will take that to my own diary - the purpose of mentioning it here was simply to say that I think it’s a really valuable exercise and it’s almost certainly something that everyone should consider doing! 

Goes without saying you’ll be missed on here, but looking after your own life and time management always comes first! Have a lovely last few days of April and whole of May, and I hope to see you back here in a month having decided that it IS an area you want to keep! xx