So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

QueenJess

Congrats on your mortgage btw - I’m not at all jealous 😂. One day I’ll get there! Getting pretty glad I paid it down now as I suspect my next fix will be at a much higher interest rate!

themadvix

Morning all,

Thanks Jess It's definitely been a long journey, but we were really lucky with the price we paid in the first place (2012) - compared to my sister's mortgage (taken out 2020) it was tiny!

@Karmacat, you make a good point - medieval people must have lived in a lot more fear, even of things they didn't need to fear. Pleased to say it's bright and sunny here again this morning though! 

Dinner last night was very moneysaving in the end - didn't fancy the pasta/BNS with garlic and herb sauce, so we just dipped free baguette in free sauce and ate that (not nutritious at all!) and followed it up with a cookie each (DH had bought a bag for his employees). The BNS will get eaten tonight in a curry, along with some random other bits that need finishing! No energy required for cooking dinner then!

Veg box has been delivered and I have a few ideas for the contents, so I feel my cooking mojo is returning. 

MS things: 
* Octopus did another 'turn down' exercise last night, between 12am and 2am - so we had to delay the car charging/washing machine until 2. I forgot to say we were in (it's an opt-in thing), but hoping that my late acknowledgement this morning will count! (Imagine it may just reflect whose data they pull).
* WM on in the night again
* Currently using zero electricity, thanks to the sun (and only running computers and background stuff)
* Clicks done
* 1P surveys done
* Cats sat and money has been paid
* *Another* new cat client to meet this evening! (Apparently I'm the only cat sitter in town!) With a short break next week, I'm now cat sitting solidly until the week before we go away and have a booking for the week after too!

Gratitudes:
* Progress with one of the cats, she discovered I give good butt rubs this morning
* Sunshine
* Dad is still testing negative (his fiancee has it) - hoping he might visit me at the allotment this afternoon!
* Entertainment of the photo booth videos from the wedding 

Have a good day all!

edinburgher

@themadvix - how do you find cat sitting customers?

themadvix

@edinburgher, through Catinaflat, although I think there are more generic pet sitting gig sites. They take a cut but provide support insurance etc.

edinburgher

Thanks TMV, something I'd consider too, although quite a few people near me doing it

themadvix

Worth a punt Ed, when you’re feeling better. I started slow but it has gone crazy this year. There are quite a few people near me but actually when you look carefully, they haven’t actually had any bookings. Some of the profiles are interesting too!

themadvix

Just sitting with my two furry charges who would really rather I wasn’t here, but I’m persevering! Have visited another new client and they seemed happy with me too. A beautiful ragdoll kitten to look after. 😊

I have apparently become the sort of person who orders compost by the tonne… except delivery is £24 (against £48 for compost), with free delivery over £100. Am going to look in the store on Saturday to see if there’s anything else we need to eliminate delivery cost (have also asked mum, dad, BIL etc). If not, will suck it up as it’s still much cheaper than buying it by the sack and easier on my back too! Have continued to potter on allotment today  and will return tomorrow if the weather is as nice as it says it’s going to be. Limited in terms of what I can do though until compost is delivered next week.

 Heard from client that asked for a quote for April project, it’s a no-go unfortunately (my client was in agreement with me about the end client’s expectations). Main client hasn’t heard back about the project that should have arrived yesterday, so assume that isn’t happening either. Other bits continue to trickle in though and I do get paid to cat sit, even though it never feels like work!

 Have a good evening all! I must head home and see about dinner….

killerpeaty

I shall have to tell my mum about the link. Her plan for retirement (pre world ending) was to pet sit around the country.

Sorry to hear about the no go from the client.

themadvix

Ooh yes KP, you can be a residential cat sitter through the website too. I’ve not signed up for that but my friend did one the other week (albeit still in the town we live in).

themadvix

Morning all,

Work is quiet, so I am being super-ambitious in my to-do list today. I want to get to the dump with the rotten wood from the allotment (and the garden from the fence rebuilding shenanigans - we finally got the fence back up yesterday!), visit the place where I'm getting the compost (probably with mum), help mum with some gardening as she helped me with some the other day, visit the zero-waste shop and finish a birthday card for my aunt. 

We're currently in the middle of another Octopus turn down, so I'm using the battery on the computer. They want me to reduce my usage by 40% which is an average of 0.08 kWh! Fairly tricky to do then! The sun is shining though, so that helps - mostly we're exporting energy (which may confuse Octopus!). I boiled the kettle and put it in a flask before the 2 hours started, I've turned the pond pump off (which is something we could investigate longer term - in the winter it certainly doesn't need to be on 24/7) and various other plugs are off. It's not feasible realistically for our household, with its already low usage, to reduce by this much, but then we're probably not the targets really! (We might make 20p from the exercise though - every little helps!)

Mr MV has booked a call with Eon about solar for 4 April and we need to speak to my sister too, as she works for a solar installation company. I don't know if I mentioned it, but we've also become part of a coop through Ripple to part own a turbine on a wind farm - when this comes online (beginning 2023) it should reduce our electricity costs by 50% (obviously there's more than just the raw energy cost involved in getting electricity to the house). If anyone else is interested, our referral code is https://rippleenergy.com?ogu=3105. Between this and potential solar, we reckon we would have very low electricity costs, even with one/two fully electric car(s). (We use more than an average household anyway - given we cook on electric and have an electric shower.)

MS things:
* I've been booked by the cat client I met last night. I've decided no more bookings between now and when we go away (with the possible exception of my oldest repeat client, should they ask)
* Clicks done
* Dinner was BNS curry, despite being exhausted by cooking time last night - it was actually quite tasty.
* No heating used at all yesterday

Gratitudes:
* Dad's help (briefly) at the allotment yesterday
* Sunshine
* It's Friday!

Have a good day all!