Pay off mortgage and start having even more fun 😁

Debsnewbudget

Put the heating on 
life is too short to be be cold and miserable.

I also have a heated electric wearable back warmer !  When you are sat still its a game changer, but difficult when you need to move.  My daughter bought it me to help my back pain.
just tried to find a link and cannot find mine but noticed there are now rechargeable shawl type ones which I might put on my list for Father Christmas 

themadvix

NG, I'm pretty sure that people with heart conditions need to have the heating at a reasonable temperature - so put it on! If you're on blood thinners, that's going to make you feel the cold more and if you're not, colder temperatures can increase the risk of stroke, which I imagine may be more of an issue for you? (I might be way out!). But you mustn't be cold. It's definitely heating on time now. (She says, as she's about to suffer a week of no heating while they fit the heat pump - we do have and will use an oil filled rad and the heated airer though.)

South_coast

Turn the bl**dy heating on!!! 

1. You need it for your health
2. You are drying washing indoors, which is not good in cold rooms 
3. If you are shutting off the conservatory with a massive set of curtains, that area is going to get extremely cold and have a lot of condensation

It's not indulgent, it's necessary to look after your own health and that of your home. You didn't spend all this time getting MF just to turn the house into a damp, mouldy wreck

newgirly

Ooh that’s me told 😆 thank you everyone, I did put it on for about half hour today but I was out for half the day and rushing around the rest of the time. I am also about to order a small heater, perhaps a 500-800 kw one I think to keep the chill off. I will be putting the heating in a few times a day though now 🙄 dh came in today and said it felt warmer tonight, not sure if it’s the curtains, the weather or the heating being on for a bit that’s helped. I will track the weekly costs though as I’ve no idea how much to costs per hour to run nowadays? 

Made dh a weird lasagne type dinner in the sc today, I cooked some some leftover spag Bol then broke up some lasagne sheets and mixed in uncooked, then topped with some white sauce, pretty lazy but it did resemble a kind of lasagne 😆 

Back to hospital earlier than planned tomorrow as self testing has shown a spike in INR levels, it’s impossible to ever work out the reason, it could be the way the stars have aligned this month 🤣 I’ve asked so many times why it suddenly changes if diet stays the same and am told it could be anything. 

newgirly

Busy couple of days, I’ve been rearranging the living room now we have curtains.  I did a long forest walk with dil and her sister and came home with some big silver birch branches found on the floor there so now have a lovely big vase full on the table. It’s looking and  strangely feeling cosier and warmer, hopefully it’s all helped. 

Yesterday I popped to ald! as it’s near hospital and bought the biggest sweet potato I’ve ever seen in my life 🤣 I’m not kidding it was about 25cm long and huge! Priced at 69p rather than sold by weight, so lovely and cheap and it made a whole sc of curry along with a couple of onions and some coconut milk/chopped tomatoes and spices, surprisingly enough for four decent portions. I’ve never made just sweet potato curry before , usually there’s chickpeas or something else but I have to say it went into a  dhansak-y type consistency, very nice so I will be making that again, cheap and healthy 😬

Spending is now at £671.41 /£1000 after an Aldi shop, hospital parking, as well as forest parking.  I did order a heater but it arrived today and was useless so that will be going back so no need to add that to the spending. 

newgirly

Time for another spending update, I should do it later really as I’ll be going to ald! after I’ve had breakfast with friends 😆 yesterday I spent £9.98 so new total is £681.39/£1000.

Dh has gone to work this morning and I’m out, not sure what we will do this afternoon but I want to finish my yearly budget from now until the end of next year. There’s so many things we have committed to pay for that need to be worked out, as it’s Black Friday month we may well get some small discounts on certain things for the trips we booked next year like Wi-Fi etc. so I’ll prioritise that first. We never used to get it but the last few cruises I’ve had it and I’m so much happier being connected and as I tell dh I don’t drink so I have internet instead 🤣

No trick or treaters yesterday as I didn’t buy sweets this year so shut the curtains, how miserable! We usually have probably around 15-20 knock if we do make an effort. I did spot a huge inflatable T rex walking past as I was shutting the curtains so regret being such a humbug. Such fun when having young kids when it’s Halloween. I remember years ago throwing parties for them and their friends, it did eventually get rather big as one year we had 63 people for a proper party, it took me a week to decorate the house and cover all the walls with those scenes setters, I think we had a haunted house and a dungeon disco in the conservatory- great times! I doubt if I know 63 people now though 😆 instead I went to bed early and watched the film scre@m. 

newgirly

What a miserable wet day again, dh has gone to work - when I say work I still mean the weekend visits to where he’s put his equipment and given someone his jobs, they are still clearing and setting up. I’ll probably do some cleaning  and washing and get it on the heated airer. Spending yesterday was £18.65 on breakfast , £7.80 ald! and £2 on a t0blerone for ds2 which I dropped into him at work as he had popped by on the way to work and seemed a bit down. I made another sweet potato curry in the sc then didn’t fancy it so had cheese on toast, so will freeze that for the week today. 

We visited the in-laws yesterday, well mil as fil is in bed and can’t really come down now. It’s a nightmare there, he refuses gp appointments, aids in the home, stair lift, carers etc. He doesn’t listen to anyone except dhs older brother who - no actually I won’t write anywhere here about 😒 but suffice to say he doesn’t think they need carers as “mum likes cooking so no point in carers coming to make food” 😡 frustrating but eventually you have to accept that you can’t help if the help you put in place is cancelled or refused repeatedly. 

It’s sure opened my eyes to being open to what we might need in the future. It does seem a re- occurring  theme among my peers parents generation of not wanting to appear “old” by having aids to help or making changes to living arrangements etc. my parents would never live in a bungalow as they are for old people, I’ve friends who have parents who won’t use aids to help and end up stuck indoors, it’s seems a waste and nobody cares anyway 🤷‍♀️

Right, I’m off to make a coffee and then take a look and do the dreaded year ahead plan 😳

daisy_1571

I find that really annoying.   People somehow think that the world can't see that they've gotten older just by looking at them or by realising 'well I'm 64 and they were always 10 years older than me'.  No, its the handhold near the shower in the en suite that nobody except them goes in, THATS what makes everyone suddenly realise.  Jeezo, folk are touched in the head sometimes. 

I've tried to make things easy now early so we didn't feel we were making adaptions later in life.  Taps were the lever type when we replaced the bathroom in our last house.  Ones we loved (old fashioned looking with the white China handles) but so easy to use compared with cross head or round ones.  I looked at that sort of stuff in case we ended up staying in that house till we were older or for those times when we hurt a wrist, fingers or elbow.   It just makes life easier so why not.

I might add that was in a bungalow that we moved to when we were 38 !  Our house before that was a semi detached bungalow and even our flat together was on the ground floor 🤣 The house we are in now is the first house I've ever lived in that has proper stairs up to a proper first floor but I wouldn't hesitate to get adaptions to it if we needed it.  If we were making any other changes I'd also be thinking about future proofing.

What about these domestic little lifts?  They seem a great idea.  I think your in laws aren't short of a bob, if they have the space that could work well.  How bizarre to not want to use whatever is available to make your life pleasant and easy.  How ridiculous for your mil to have to run up and down to see to him all day long.

What is the bil problem?   Is he after the inheritance?   Better to spend a bit now and keep them in the house living independently for longer otherwise it'll be care home due to a fall or further medical issues due to not being mobile.  Dearer in the long run.  Must be very frustrating if the children and parents can't all have a sensible meeting to discuss the best way forward. 

I feel sorry for your dh being in the situation 

Dxxxx

newgirly

That exactly how I think daisy, to remain independent you need to embrace what you need not pretend you don’t. It’s very much about money too, not just with BIL but FIL too, he’s always been way beyond frugal and into miserly so that’s part of the problem. BIL just re enforced that view and although we tell mil, spend the money you need help, she won’t I know partly because the man gets the final say and partly as she’s spent a life like that too. We offered to buy a lift up chair, they said no thanks, then BIL offered and they said yes (we offered to pay I guarantee he didn’t 😆) dh offered to sort out online shopping for them , got them a tablet etc. all refused or not used and BIL now does the online shop. There’s only so much you can do and the eldest of the three is the trusted one and I honestly have no idea why! Younger brother is one helping properly and living there part time, he should be the one with more clout. 

Watty1

I love the approach of @daisy_1571 in adapting a house for future needs whilst keeping the look too - my sister's house as a fabulous downstairs cupboard and the same upstairs - designed to be able to fit a wheelchair lift and a person should ever one be needed.  Now that really is thinking ahead