Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

And another thing! 

Had an email about price changes from the energy people. Used their balance forecasting tool. We currently pay £84.06 and they suggested changing it to £71.23, showing a nice little graph of how that would affect our balance over the year (we're currently £188 in credit).

I clicked the link to change it - and the page it took me to said they suggested my payments should be £89 🙄 No graph this time though! 

Anyway, it let me change it to £71.23, I took a screenshot of their balance tool in case anyone queries it. That's just under £13 a month for the savings pots for a few months anyway.

Happy wheel has been up and down this month but currently standing at £69 with 2 days to go. My aim now is not to reduce that too much! I've been doing a minimal amount this month and last and could do with stepping up activity, so I'll do that from the start of July.

Barely done anything on Prolific either, but I logged in yesterday and my balance was £10.98 so I'll request that and add it to the pot. 

And now I really need to go and wrap that parcel!

starnac

Go Cheery! Send that parcel back and cancel your AA!! 

Better in your pocket than theirs!

Cheery_Daff

Indeed! 

Went round Mr T while Mr Cheery was in the dentist, got most things on the list. £52 which felt like a lot, but there were a few toiletries etc in there, some things that will last a few months, and a reduced houseplant for £1.89. 

Also posted parcel and got a birthday card for nephew and posted that too (still need a present but I'll order that directly to his house).

Now visiting friend in the hospital

beanielou

You have been a busy bee as usual!

Elisheba

Toiletries really do add a great big whack onto monthly bills, don't they 🙄. 

Cheery_Daff

I was this morning beanie! Had a nicely lazy one this afternoon 😊 cafe on the way home, then we both sat around for a couple of hours, then I've been talking to my sister 😊 Havent even finished putting the shopping away, and I'm not going to tonight either! 

We've been having a chat about holidays this evening. I've got 3 weeks off work coming up, and we'd been considering going away again. We used to go away for a fortnight at a time (although not usually in August) but everything seems SO much more expensive now 😱 

Also, when we last used to go away a lot, we'd paid off the old mortgage, and I was working full time 🙄 So unsurprisingly we had a LOT more disposable income - like over £1k a month more 😱😱 Much of that got saved then spent on stamp duty when we moved 😂 but it did allow for quite a few holiday cottages 😊

Anyway, not in that position at the minute, and we've already spent the holiday budget 🙄 So instead we're going to do a bit of gadding about on a budget, like, as Mr Cheery pointed out, we and everyone else we know used to do in the old days. Already been in touch with a friend in Wales about spending a few nights with them - they're having a party soon which we usually go to but we're both busy that night, so will catch up with them another time. 

We've also got friends we've been meaning to visit for ages in Northern Ireland and Germany, so maybe now is the time we do some trips - not free, but both of those trips added together will be cheaper than the week we just had in Scarborough 😱 We might not make both this summer, but it would be nice to do one. 

We're also talking about digging the tent out of the loft 😱 This is big for us - we quite often used to sleep in the car 😂 but never really camped, although I've done it a lot in the past. We'll see...

Cheery_Daff

Elisheba said:

Toiletries really do add a great big whack onto monthly bills, don't they 🙄. 

We're both pretty low maintenance when it comes to such things, but it does add a bit, yes. The only thing we tend to spend more on is toothpaste. And fancy razors occasionally. Most things are either supermarket own brand (including 'feminine requisites' as we once saw a sign in a shop say 😂😂😂) or home made (including soap and feminine requisites 😂)

Right lovely people, I popped in to say I've decided to have July as an Internet free month. Not completely free - same rules apply as when I did it last year. Some things are allowed, in moderation

* writing blog posts
* checking emails
* searching for actual useful information/specific things
* work 😂 including work-related social media

I might set aside one hour on a Friday to check forum/do a single social media post etc, but I also might not. 

So if I don't see you, know that I am thinking of you all, and I'll see you at the start of August having completed all outstanding DIY, done several triathlons, grown a load of veg and learned several new languages 😂😂😂

Baileys_Babe

Have a productive July Cheery we will miss you 🤗

Tescodealqueen

Enjoy your July time xxx

rtandon27

Your first diary post in August will need to be in French, German or Italian or a combination of all three! xxx