Simple living in the country - back to basics

themadvix

I think it's probably wise to consider a replacement - if it's that old, if it's anything other than the brushes, it's probably not possible to get parts.

On the mattress front (if you're still thinking about it), we are making progress with our issues and have discovered that the issue with ours is likely to be that the 'pillowtop' has settled - this is not an uncommon problem by the looks of the Internet and so I would recommend you avoid a built in topper. We found this website seems to be very helpful - and while extremely pricy, they seem to be interested in giving good advice even if you aren't looking in their price range: https://johnryanbydesign.co.uk/understanding-beds/

Cheery_Daff

Thanks, that's helpful. Don't think I can bring myself to spend on a mattress right now! I don't seem to have the issues I was having a few weeks ago unless I stay in bed linger than about 9 hours so it may be that it was more about spending too much time sitting during the day? I've certainly upped my walking in the lastfew weeks. 

£11.18 withdrawn from Prolific - I know it's not quite the end of the month but we'll be out all day and evening tomorrow. Already transferred to the mortgage - my first OP in months! 😊😊😊 Feels good 😊😊

Mr Cheery's pension goes in tomorrow so more shuffling, probably Thursday or Friday. 

Ooh, and we cobbled together a haybox! Literally a plastic tub filled with hay, and a pillowcase stuffed with hay on top 😂 Mr Cheery is currently making soup to go in it for tonight 😁 Then we made a second haybox, as I'd already decided I wanted to use the first to hold the contents of the freezer... but I didn't want to squash his soup enthusiasm. 

I don't think either will be the final version, but quick and simple for a nice experiment!

themadvix

The haybox sounds fun. I've used the wool insulation we've had with a couple of chilled deliveries to insulate freezer stuff before when defrosting - it works well.

And a nice OP too! I bet that felt brilliant, I'm a bit envious!

badmemory

I'm not sure a fully frugal September is the answer.  I will be carrying on stocking up with everything that I know we will use.  I just need to find somewhere that sells prune juice at less than £4 a litre because that certainly is not frugal.

themadvix

You make a good point badmemory and have reminded me that as it's organic September and there'll be offers on some things from our preferred supermarket, I will be stocking up on those quite heavily.

Just had a read of your very different life way back Cheery! Rather fun, and what a difference the Uber Frugal month made!

LadyWithAPlan

Well done on happy wheel and your weight loss.
Most I have won was £500 from 3 free spins - I had to wager the free spins winnings 35 x  so over £4k!- so  was doing £1-£4 spins  and finished with £500 profit  

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, that's very exciting LadyWithAPlan! I've never had one of those loads-of-wagering offers end up with anything 😂

Good point indeed badmemory, and I agree - no point letting a short term frugal challenge hamper long term frugality! I certainly won't be - I still would have bought this morning's charity shop boots, for example, if I'd spotted them in September, as they'll save a bigger spend down the line. Plenty of frittering to tackle though!

Another 1.5 hours of scything done - certainly good exercise 😮😂 Freezer is defrosting very quickly - I suppose it's pretty warm. Last time we did it the weather was cold (the door had iced over and wouldn't shut) so it took forever! By the looks of this we'll be able to get everything back in tonight, which will be great. 

Found a couple of Mr Cheery's home made scones in the back of the freezer so they've gone down very nicely 😁

Cheery_Daff

An evening of mixed fortunes in the Cheery (or not so cheery...) household this evening. 

Mr Cheery found a washing machine on ebay, within easy collecting distance, hooray! Left putting the bid until the last few minutes. I asked if that was wise, given our dodgy Internet. Yes, done this loads before. Left it til 9 seconds... and it didn't go through 🙄

Then almost immediately the mouse trap went, so we took our furry pal a few miles away onto the moors 🙄

On the plus side, both hay boxes worked fantastically well! Green lentil soup was tasty, well cooked, and still warm enough to eat (after about 4 hours), and in the freezer box, after five hours, not even a single ice pop was showing signs of being even the slightest bit melty. Excellent work home grown hay!

Might be time for a stiff drink I think 🙄😂 although I might pack bag for work tomorrow before I do that...

Cheery_Daff

Morning MSE chums 😊

£13 on the Happy Wheel today, bringing August's total to £404.74 😁

Very pleased indeed with that!! 

And now I should really get out of bed and go to work 🙄 Long day today!

Karmacat

Some really good news there!  Sorry about the washing machine, though