Simple living in the country - back to basics

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff said:

Hope you're all good. Fortune, I have filed away your advice for future reference - please don't think it has gone to waste! 😊

"The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right." - Henry Ward Beecher

I'm always happy for any of my advice to be given a stiff ignoring Cheery - it's good to get advice from others but always, always better to be yourself.

Fortune x

Cheery_Daff

That's a lovely quote 😊 I always think with these diaries that you never know who's reading and will take something useful from them - you just never know whose life you're helping to change 😊😊

Anyway, surprise, surprise - not ten minutes after I sent my email saying I'd do it myself, I had a missed call, answerphone message, and text from the granite guy, and an apologetic email from kitchen geezer saying basically 'please let us sort it out, we don't think it was done properly and can't have customers rectifying our mistakes themselves' 🙄 certainly not giving any more headspace while I'm at work, got enough to deal with today, will talk to Mr Cheery again but don't see any reason to go back on yesterday's decision. 

He's meeting me at work later, bringing the van back to its owner which isn't too far from here (or i might go and collect him if I'm feeling nice!)

Want to get my teeth into the banks tonight, lots of shenanigans with gas bill and other things so I want to make sure all is in order.

Right, need to get on...

greenbee

Cheery - i'd give them one more chance, as then if there are any future issues, you have some kind of comeback. But tell the kitchen guys you want them to organise it, these are the dates/times that are convenient, and you need confirmation within the next 24 hours. If the appointment is missed that's their last chance as you're losing leave/money however you want to put it (peace of mind?) and you're only agreeing because it's them (oh, maybe ask that they not only organize, but supervise and make sure the job is done properly before they let the granite guy go). Be specific. Get it done, forget about it. Beats listening to Mr Cheery being annoyed by it but not getting round to doing it for a year... 

rtandon27

Cheery_Daff said:

...lots of shenanigans with gas bill and other things so I want to make sure all is in order.

Hope it's not too much of a faff! 

Our leccy/gas supplier sent an e-mail yesterday to say they were adjusting my direct debit.  First I was a bit miffed but after spending all of 10 minutes having a proper read through, looking at our bills and at YNA3, I realized that past me had already set aside the extra for just such an eventuality.  So the new amount is what I would have expected to pay in the first place had they not insisted in setting up the account based on an empty house with no to low usage!

Hope that past you has already sorted the gas bill, as I'm always amazed how well you plan out and shuffle the finances!

Cheery_Daff

Past me had indeed already allocated £1000 to the gas fund, more than enough - it's just not necessarily in the account it's going to come out of... 😂 Which wouldn't be a problem without also having to shell out £500 for the electric water heater, and car and house insurance next month too. Just need to check whether I'll need to withdraw from premium bonds - hopefully not, and certainly not til after the next draw!

starnac

Fortune what great advice! I too will be keeping that locked away in the "currently useless but could be useful in the future" storage part of my brain! 

Cheery, I would be leaning towards letting them try to rectify it. But as said above, the kitchen guy should organise it and it should be on a day convenient to you. That way if there's any issues in the future they can't wash their hands and say it was because you botched the fix. 

EssexHebridean

I'd be another in favour of giving them one final chance - however much MrC is annoyed by it now - if he does it and ends up with it looking not quite as he would like, it's going to be even worse, and once the epoxy is in there it won't be easily redeemable, either! It REALLY shouldn't be so much faff though, I agree. As I think you know, we ended up owing the builder who did our kitchen money still as we withheld a chunk ahead of the final snagging being done - in spite of several chases he never did come back for the snagging, some of which we've sorted ourselves and some of which is still WIP - but either way, he's not having his final few hundred £'s now!  

Cheery_Daff

Thank you again for all your advice.

Talked to Mr Cheery, and then rang Kitchen Geezer. I've given them 3 days when Mr C and I are both here, and asked them to pick one and give us a specific time. Also specified what we want them to use so there's no misunderstanding. 

Only thing I forgot was to give them a deadline to respond, but kitchen geezer knows how vexed I am, and the first date option is Thursday, so I would expect to hear before then. 

Anything else goes wrong, and it's all getting passed over to Mr Cheery - there's no way he'll ring or email them so he'll have to do it himself.

That's the final decision, it's wound me up no end just having to find dates and ring kitchen geezer this evening, and obviously now I have to wait for a reply as well 🙄 

Local friend and I have booked to see the panto at the weekend 😂 Not a massive fan of panto but she was keen, and goodness me I need a night out and a bit of cheerful fun. We're going to the pub for tea first, to hell with uber frugal January 🙄😂

rtandon27

If you shift the spend for the pub to February expenses then you can still have an uber frugal January!

Cheery_Daff

rtandon27 said:

If you shift the spend for the pub to February expenses then you can still have an uber frugal January!

I like your thinking... 😂😂 to be fair I've barely spent any personal spending money this month so I don't think it'll look too bad even without a bit of creative accounting...