So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

badmemory

If I do decide yes then definitely a battery.  Cheery if you can't use your roof would you be able to use your land or an outbuilding or would that class as the same?

Suffolk_lass

We have recently accepted the Solar Together offer (group purchasing scheme, coordinated by our County Council) but will be increasing the battery power above the initial proposal to do the same as you TMV!

themadvix

Afternoon,

So many solar comments @badmemory you can get kits for flat roof mounting - see here. This is what we had on our garage roof prior to the proper installation (and which we're now trying to shift on Ebay). If you had them right on the edge by your neighbour's it might be a problem, but the shadow from ours just fell on the roof of the garage. They are weighed down with rubble and didn't move, even when half our fence came down in the storm earlier this year. One panel would give you 330W (ish), which would more than cover background usage - obviously without a battery the rest would be exported to the grid.

Interesting thought Cheery, although it would be pretty depressing if solar wasn't allowed, given the state of the climate. SL, glad to hear you've accepted. I think it's a very popular option at the moment - my uncle and our good friends are both in the process.

We had a lovely (long) weekend celebrating Mr MV's birthday - dinner out with friends on Friday (shockingly quiet in the Indian restaurant for a Friday night - the football seemed to have no impact whatsoever), dinner at some friends' on Saturday (a very late night - didn't get home until 1.30am!) and then we enjoyed London (despite the crowds - it's much better early in the morning!) - drinks at OXO tower bar (courtesy of the Amex Platinum), ice skating at Somerset House and then fondue at one of the pop up restaurants there (early booking courtesy Amex too). Mr MV took yesterday off and we had a very quiet day of recovery. I did quite a bit of work though, although sat on the sofa.

Today has been a very spendy day so far - mostly budgeted for though. Z00plus order for some cat bits - with a 10% voucher for their 'late' delivery last time, plus TCB, plus their 3% savings scheme, plus a free toy with the points scheme (£35); a smoked salmon gift box as a TY to our friends for their hospitality over the L2B weekend (£65); some Ne4ls Yard face cleanser (£35) as mine had come to an end (suddenly lost its scent too) and it was on offer (and TCB too); and then in town Wilkos (£8), Tesco (80p off voucher for Yeo Spreadable, which I buy anyway), Aldi (£18 - inc some gluhwein) and Sains (£11 - inc brandy for Christmas Pud) for various bits. I also paid in the first cat sitting cheque for the 3 months of cat sitting which started today, paid in Mr MV's birthday cash (to transfer to him) and £5 I made selling something for Dad (who didn't want the money). Also picked up keys for cat sitting next week. After a bad night's sleep, I'm exhausted now... 

Back to work now for a rest! I have a project from my main client which is quite enjoyable and I need to do some Cambridge work too. 

MS things:
* Zooplus order - it does feel like they're paying me!
* Ordered a beanie hat for me from Ebay for £6.99 - it came and is perfect - have been looking for a long time
* Clicks and HW done - a few pence won today
* Lots of work
* TCB earned where possible (ooh and Airtime Rewards too on Wilkos spend - remembered to use the right card for it)

Gratitudes:
* A really lovely, social weekend
* Quality time with Mr MV
* A padded seat - I fell over (only once!) while ice skating and, my goodness, is ice hard! 🤣

Have a good afternoon all!

Karmacat

That's a lot going on!  And all of it good, yay.  That linkie to the solar people is very interesting - I've been looking around on one or two other forums, and people get so technical so quickly.  There's a lot to think about , aieeee.  

Never mind that ... ice skating at Somerset House!  Wow!  I never went ice skating, but I've been there lots of times, such a lovely atmosphere.  I'm glad it all went so well.

badmemory

2 minutes in & I've already learned something.  I didn't know that if one panel in the usual set-up isn't working it reduces the efficiency of the others whereas with this set-up it doesn't.  I suspect this may involve a massive learning curve!  Still the more I learn the more I know when speaking to someone as unfortunately there is absolutely no way I am going to be able to DIY - I'll leave that to Cheery.

Cheery_Daff

Ha, no chance of me DIYing solar panels!! 😱😱😂😂 However, I did just check the national park guidance which looks like it's changed since last time I looked (when we moved, almost 5 years ago) - solar panels may not even need planning permission (but it dies depend on the location of your house and the panels themselves - we face a footpath but not a road, and are not in view of a road, or any kind of tourist viewpoint, so we may be ok...)

Not a consideration for just now anyway mind you! 

Not surprised you're exhausted after all that!

themadvix

Morning all,

I'm glad it's been useful Badmemory. We are E-W facing, so to counteract the loss if you don't have microinverters we have two arrays - one on each side of the roof (only 4 panels on each), so that we get the sun on one in the morning and on the other in the afternoon. Not that there's a lot to be had at the moment - yesterday was dire, but today it's a bit brighter and we're bringing in 380W at the moment. The battery is taking a beating today though - shower, dw and wm. And I haven't put the heated airer on yet! Hoping that once dw is finished I'll still have some time to top up the battery from the sun. The pause buttons on our appliances have never been so well utilised!

Cheery, that's useful to know - I totally appreciate that they need to bear aesthetics in mind, so nuance is the way forward in a NP.

I was utterly exhausted yesterday - curled up in bed for a nap about 4.30pm and still cried off my evening class (as did the rest, so suspect we'll be in credit - our teacher is lovely like that and also appreciated the chance of an early night!). Did watch the football, just about, but was in bed very soon after.

Lunch yesterday was a fried egg in an Olio ciabatta; dinner was the free pulled fake-pork I was given at King's X a few weeks ago - we had it in tacos (bought) with lettuce from the garden (and bought guac and sour cream). It was pretty good, although beans would have been just as good. Still, free food! Mr MV is out today so will have to buy something out - at a trade show so didn't want to be carrying food with him. I've got Monday night's leftovers for lunch and then I think we'll probably have masala carrots and dhal, maybe with some brussels thrown in.

I dropped Mr MV at the station this morning and went to visit cats first thing, so I've got a nice clear day to get work done. I've dealt with some queries and bitty bits and am about to settle down to the project for my main client. In Cambridge tomorrow, so would like to get this out of the way by then. Tomorrow I'll buy (subsidised) lunch and then it's the Christmas party in the evening, so food supplied there. Mr MV is away with work tomorrow (also enjoying supplied food and booze!), so no need to worry about him. It'll be a very good day for power tomorrow I suspect! 

I still need to get my brain in gear for the weekend - we're off early on Saturday to Manchester and a) I need to be packed and sorted on Friday night, b) I need to  know what if anything we'd like to buy from the Christmas markets for presents (which means going through who we need presents for and what's in the stash of homemade/grown goodies), and c) I need to have done my invoicing and money shuffles.... 

MS things:
* Clicks and HW done (no wins)
* Opted in for tonight's Saving Session - despite the existence of our battery, I suspect we'll be sitting in the dark unless the sun comes out this afternoon!
* Use of free food
* Cat sitting

Gratitudes:
* The lettuce in the garden, which Dad gave to me when he went away in September - it's still going strong
* Sunshine (just a little bit)
* Sleep - I still didn't sleep brilliantly, but better than I have been, so actually feel productive today

Have a good day all!

themadvix

Managed to get battery charged back up to 30% earlier but it’s back down to 15% now. Have been round and turned off everything possible and am sat in living room with one dim light on and my book (Saving session is 5.30-6.30). Battery should easily last the next hour (4% is its cut off), but dinner will be using the mains. It has made me realise how much more battery power you would need to be truly off grid at this time of year (and that’s without factoring in heating and hot water - and the fact we charge the battery from the mains overnight!!) Will have to go pick Mr MV up at some point in the next hour, so that’ll be a change. Quite happy with my book (and pre-5.30 cuppa!)

savingholmes

Sounds like you had a fantastic weekend and then lots of recovery time. Sounds fun though 

themadvix

Morning all,

It looks like I've been a bit AWOL lately! Just busy with work, Christmas prep and having fun. Had work Christmas party last Thursday, which was great (food was lacking but it was lovely to chat to people - they're a very welcoming bunch). Also meant I did a day in the office, which is good for the coffers. At the weekend we were away in Manchester - women's football, Christmas markets, saw friends and had an amazing Indian street food dinner that was all veggie, so we could share everything. Back on Monday via an NT place. Not a cheap weekend (although football food and drinks significantly cheaper than the Emirates), although dinner at the Indian/brewery (Bundobust - highly recommend) was an absolute bargain at £55 for a combo that included more than enough food for four of us (plus drinks). Markets were distinctly poorer than pre-pandemic and pre-Brexit - partly because Albert Square was out of action as there's building work, but mainly, I suspect, because it's not worth the traders coming over from Europe - some foreign food stalls (it was mostly food stalls), but none of the Dutch bulb stalls or the decorations or other European Christmassy bits. Next year we are definitely going to Europe! On the moneysaving front, we had our cooked breakfast at the hotel on Monday and then only stopped for a bag of tortilla chips and some milk on the way home - tortillas  sufficed as snack and complimented dinner which was leftover chilli from Friday night.

Tuesday I spent most of the day working (mainly my stuff) and yesterday, after a bit of a panic as I'm normally nearly finished by now, I actually did some Christmas shopping - mainly in charity shops and very pleased with what I got! Still a lot to do, but my brain is happier with where I am!

Olio collection last night, so we have sandwiches for lunch and some snacks and bagels for the freezer (not a huge collection). I'm about to settle down to a solid stretch of Cambridge work, potentially with a couple of meetings too. Mum may pop round later and if I feel I'm ahead with the work, then I'll pop out for more Christmas shopping. 

MS things:
* Used NT membership
* Collected M&S Christmas freebie
* Olio food (dinner last night and the night before was an onion tart using Olio onions and pastry from previous collections and last of HG potatoes)
* Surveys - PA, NV, MM - have been very good at doing them. V close to payout from MM now.
* Clicks and HW done - slow progress here (I think some of the bookies have cottoned onto me)
* Refund achieved for some damaged cat food tins from Zooplus - will still be able to use, but now, whereas they were ordered for a backup when we run out of chicken, so not much use sat on the shelf!
* CS bargains - brand new puzzle for niece (Mr MV's niece) £2, perfect condition book for Niece (my Niece) 80p, diggers for nephew (£3.50)

Gratitudes:
* Lovely to see friends
* It felt so lovely to be able to have an inclusive meal where I could join in with the food sharing
* A lovely walk on Monday (after a lot of food at the weekend!)

Have a good day all!