Simple living in the country - back to basics

scandimore

I've just applied for my donor account so I can begin the game of switcheroo! Never bothered before but I have more time on my hands now, and a bit of a credit card to pay down...so I can get over feeling bad about it, not sure why I do! 

CCW007

beanielou said:

Any ideas for super cheap DD’s I could set up? 

Moneybox have a savings account on DD at £2 a week, Simple Saver at 4%.

beanielou

joedenise said:

Transfer your TV licence DD to a different account and use that.  Do you have any annual memberships which you could transfer?  Monthly or annual charity donation - only needs to be a small amount.  Do you have Netflix or Sky?

Mmmm. Could transfer the charity donations. 

Want to keep everything else in my main account.  

Thanks. 

Cheery_Daff

themadvix said:

I am time blocking my to-do list Cheery and is working! I owe this idea entirely to you, so thank you. House is clean and tidy (enough) now and it’s only taken 45 mins. Into next hour now… and a walk to the allotment, which is much more fun!

Ooh, lovely! Yes, it's a good technique. I use it a lot for work, but also try to batch things at home too - too much context switching does my head in. I think I always did a version of it, but I've come to it more concretely listening to and reading Cal Newport's stuff. 

Exciting time here - I've just realised the FD switch money paid out. At the end of January, but they didn't send me a notification, and because I don't check that account, I didn't see it. Anyway, that's another £175 in the pot, exciting stuff! 

Sorted through a pile of paperwork, and I've got all the stuff for the TSB bank switch. Need to log into our online accounts and set up some DDs, and a standing order for each month, then leave it to do its thing for three months I think. Should be some cashback too. 

Then I'll set up the NW one - although we may possibly need a new donor account for Mr Cheery - I think we may have exhausted our existing supply if we have to leave the TSB one to stew. Not right now though - need to leave in 9 mins and doing financial stuff in a hurry is a recipe for disaster! 

Having a nice day though. Workout this morning, and spent an hour dragging soggy grass round the field this afternoon. Nice to be outside, and while I've not finished, it's good to get a bit done at a time. 

And I've FINALLY caught up with my blog posts which I am very pleased about! 

Right, band practice now.

Cheery_Daff

Well I have had a lovely morning off work hanging out with a local friend. Not relishing working this afternoon! 

Finally had the promised letter from the new house insurance company. Lots of questions - are we a working smallholding? No. Do we have outbuildings aside the shed/garage? Yes. Is the property (including outbuildings) in a good state of repair? Well, the house is fine, but the barn with no roof isn't, and the stable block has a few holes in, but they're not actually used for anything, so I can't really answer yes or no to that 🙄 Do we have footpaths, does anyone farm animals on our land?

Never been asked these questions before- and it's a bit odd that they'd wait to ask until AFTER we bought the policy... Apparently it's to 'check the product is suitable'. Thing is, if they decide it's not, does that constitute us being 'refused insurance', and mean we have to declare it in the future? Or is it just that they can't offer us a suitable product?

Anyway, they've not given us a form to fill in, so I'll have to email them. Later though, got a lot of actual work to do before that! 

joedenise

Not a refusal just unable to offer you suitable insurance I would say.

EssexHebridean

It's interesting you ask about whether Experian have changed something - I'm in a similar position to you - actual score is still there or thereabouts what it's always been,. but affordability is through the floor. I have just realised that when I had to re activate my account it lost the information I'd put in about the amount we pay for the mortgage, so I've reinstated that and we will see if that makes a difference next month. 

What a faff about the house insurance too - and yes, you'd rather think they might have made sure the product was suitable before they sold it to you! 

Cheery_Daff

This is perhaps one of the perils of going with a cheaper provider... 🙄 Although we've never had this before! Anyway, they may actually come back and say it's fine since there's no business use/visitors etc, but I suppose we'll see. If not, we'll just suck up the extra cost and go back to the one we had last year!

Cheery_Daff

Evening MSE chums 😊 

Had a nice day yesterday on a work trip, although annoyingly i packed both breakfast and food for the train home and left it all in the kitchen 🙄 so I had to buy food out yesterday, but it was all nicely packed for today! 

A long day yesterday, but a really interesting event, and got to meet quite a few people in person that I'd previously only met online - unexpected and pretty cheerful 😊 

Today was just a normal day in the office, although we nipped into town here on the way to collect a prescription - and the chemist hadn't opened! There was a delivery driver, who just left everything outside the front door in plastic boxes. There was a member of staff, but they didn't have a key. Ended up not getting work until 10.15 🙄

Interesting event at work this afternoon, and then I went to a friend's for tea. Mr Cheery's been to his dad's, and we combined trips, which saves about £7 in diesel I think. 

Working at home tomorrow. Need to do a few administrative things in the evening: 

* pay car insurance
* email house insurance with answers to questions
* do previous bank switch admin
* new bank switch
* find photos of Mr Cheery's dad's dog to put in a frame for him

KajiKita

Awwww to photos of Mr Cherry Snr’s dawg …. ❤️

KK