Simple living in the country - back to basics

rtandon27

Cheery - I have such a random laugh for you!  - OH called me over to the area behind the kitchen and the bathroom proclaiming loudly that the dehumidifier had 'packed up' - It had actually gone into standby as the optimum humidity had been met - probably only the second time ever this has happened in this house as we usually have a load of laundry up drying during the months we run the dehumidifier. Who would have thought that our kitchen/bathroom area would have every reached optimum humidity especially on a day when it's raining cats & dogs!

Cheery_Daff

Ha!! 😂😂 wow, that's very impressive! That's never happened here - I suspect it's not physically possible, but now I shall attempt it now I know it's a thing! 

Tackled a dragon today - sorting out work expenses 🙄 Been putting it off as I had a purse full of receipts but in fact most of them were NOT related to expenses, and most of the train tickets had been bought by work anyway - just one lot that I'm claiming from elsewhere, so I needed to separate them.

Anyway, it's all done and submitted now. Added up to £278 so a nice chunk to add to the budget when it arrives! 😃 

£45 cashback has arrived in PayPal too, so that can go into the budget too 😊 Might do a bit of budget fiddling later.

Got the evening to myself now, so a little plan:

7.20-8.20 FOOD
* tea into oven
* workout
* eat tea
* sausage casserole from hay box into freezer

8.20-9 HOUSE
* unpack from trip
* put other clothes away
* hoover and mop kitchen floor

9-10 ENTERTAINMENT
Choose from...
* budget fiddling
* flute practice
* video editing
* curling up under a blanket watching the TV 😂

LadyWithAPlan

All action on here! I cant believe you missed the Berlin boat! especially as it was me who suggested it !
Sounds like a fun Berlin weekend and really some of my most fun weekends away have involved drinking far too much with good friends..

Fingers crossed on the new job.
Well done on the work expenses - I actually take receipts etc with me on trains and plane trips and process them where I have wifi  

I have decided to try ynab which for me will be entertainment - new financial software -ohh! Playing with spreadsheets However I need to get some actual work done and my taxes complete before I start ... or I will be playing with the setup forever

beanielou

Good news on expenses. 

I used to process them in another life. 

Hope you are under a blanket 😊

rtandon27

Aye - I second that - curled up under a blanket would be my choice too!

EssexHebridean

What an eventful weekend! A shame about the boat though - and the christmas market come to that, you really weren't meant to get to one of those, were you! 

Well done on tackling the expenses claim - I think you earned a curl up under a blanket after getting that done! 

Cheery_Daff

Ha, thanks all! I did end up under a blanket eventually 😂 But in the meantime ended up having a monthly goals meeting with my sister, so that was good to tick off, and I did a bit of flute practice too. 

Struggling to get back into work though 🙄 Putting off things that need doing, messing about when I have a list of exactly what to do 🙄 In the office tomorrow so maybe that will help, but really need to crack on this afternoon! 

Not helping that we have run out of teabags 😱 We have decaf, but they're no use 🙄 Mr Cheery has promised to go and get some, but if he's not left within the next 20 mins I might just nip to the village shop myself as it looks like I won't get any work done without them! 

Going to set the timer I think, see how manythings I can tick off the list...

Baileys_Babe

Cheery I hope you now have tea bags.

To prevent a similar terrible event in the future please buy a second box very soon and as you open the 2nd box add tea bags to the very top of the shopping list. I can not imagine running out of tea bags, our favorite tea was on offer the other week so I bought 9 months worth 🤣 

beanielou

Also hoping that you now have tea. 

Cheery_Daff

Thank you both, we did indeed end up with 2 boxes of tea, although sadly I think the grumps had already set in by that point and it's been a most unsatisfactory evening 🙄

Still. I have checked the banks today and shuffled things where they need to be. Had to poach a bit from the monthly holding savings pot, which annoyed me until I remembered the £278 worth of expenses I just claimed, which will more than cover what I swiped, so that's fine. 

I don't think we'll need any more diesel this month, although we'll likely do quite a bit of running round next month.

Happy wheel is NOT behaving this month, down around £57 I think 😱 I did a few Prolific surveys today, been ignoring that all month but up to about £10 now. Nothing else will payout in November. But it's all overshadowed by the bank switching - £350 plus £45 cashback plus £96 retrieved from old accounts 😊😊 and now I'm saying that I've realised I've not actually added the switching money into the budget! Plonker. I've not added the switched account as I don't intend to keep it, and I only reconcile the ones I use regularly. A job for Thursday evening - Mr Cheery's pension will arrive then so I can add everything in together.

What else? Need to instigate the next switch by the end of Thursday, so I'll attempt that tomorrow i think - forum discussions suggest doing it during working hours is more reliable - a little annoying as I could have done it at home today, but I was too grumpy 🙄😂 Will take the relevant docs to the office tomorrow. I was waiting for the second of the DDs to show in the online bank, but they're not yet and I'm running out of time 🙄 I've had email that they're set up on both accounts though, and the first payment is due on Friday, so it should be fine. I can request the switch tomorrow, but set the switch date for next week, and that should cover it. All good.

LPG people emailed again asking for a gauge reading - did they not set up telemetry on my tank?! Yes, they did - must check it's actually sending readings. No point having an automatic gauge if I also have to schlep out into the field and check it all the time. Had a reminder that our fix ends in April - something to keep in mind nearer the time. We had an excellent deal fixing for 2 years, no idea what LPG prices have done in the meantime but I can't imagine they'll have gone down 😂

Office tomorrow, and Mr Cheery is coming with me then trekking on to see his dad, so we can at least share the driving. Will probably make it quite a long day though. I've packed lunch, snacks, and have breakfast ready too. 

Provisionally said I might see my dad on Friday - he's out of hospital but can't move far. Need to decide if I'm going to do that, and also if I'm going to tag on a visit to my mum. They live quite close to each other, it's my mum's birthday next week, and she's currently signed off sick, so I should probably drop in 🙄

On a more cheerful note, a friend I've not spoken to for months texted today and we're going out for lunch on Sunday 😊 

Right, should probably go to sleep and get this grumpity day over and done with 🙄😂