We will get this debt down & the savings up

Makingabobor2

So here we are in September. All ready to make an even bigger effort on saving and debt busting and all things MSE. Its the start of Autumn making me feel like I really need to make a big difference with it all and try extra hard going into the winter. 

So we measured spaces for possible green house. DH says its up to me to sort out what and where I want it, and he will do it. So I am proposing to do a bit of a garden plan to see what other stuff we could fit in as well as the greenhouse.  I have 2 possible spots for the greenhouse. So a question for all you experienced gardeners......I read that it is best to put it somewhere where it will get morning sun, but not so much hot afternoon sun.  It will be a polycarbonate one, not glass, and looking at just a small one 6' x 2.'6". Does it need to be completely clear on both sides, or will it be ok, if it is close to a small wooden planter on one side? (that is the 2'6" side),  I know most of the sun will come from higher up, but want to give stuff a good fighting chance.  Should I not put any pots or plants close to it?: The long side will be up against the fence, but the sun doesn't go that way, so it will be facing the sun until about late afternoon in the summer,  when it moves to the front of the house. 

So next catastrophe is the water butt!  DH said he set it up as per the instructions....but quite clearly something is wrong as now we have had heavy rain and the butt is full, the water is pouring over the top all over the patio, instead of carrying on down the drain.  He says there is a diverter in there, but quite clearly it isn't working properly. I read up on internet about putting in an overflow pipe, and also some info that said your inlet pipe from the drainpipe should be the same height as where it enters the butt. Ours looks to be a bit higher and also is a bit kinky. When I mention it to DH, he just says he's done it the best he can and nothing he can do about it!  I said well in that case we will have flooded patio and damp dining room every time it rains!   Why don't men like to admit when they have done something wrong?  and why can't they just look at how to rectify it? 

So everything else is ticking along ok. Savings pots are starting to look up and debt is slowly going down....still not as fast as I would like, but at least its moving.  Housekeeping pot is looking good for this period with another week and a half to go, and all I need to buy this week is a few fresh bits, so should be plenty in for the last week of the period, next week. The weekend chicken stretched a good way, so they are always a good buy, full of all that extra protein that we need as we age as well. 

Took another bag of stuff to the CS yesterday and also a lot more rubbish been recycled.  My decluttering total is creeping up now, which makes me feel good. Still hoping to get to the 2025 total.  It really is surprising how much stuff we can live without, despite thinking we needed it for years. 
Took a big bag of plant pots back to the GC, had far too many. 

Finished another book and jigsaw puzzle that will be passed on to my friend. 

Went to the gym this morning, almost didn't go after a bad night and feeling really tired, but although I got there later than normal, I really enjoyed it in the end.  Also, not sure if I mentioned it last week, but its only £4, not the £5 I had thought.....discount for being over 65!  Some perks to getting old....lol. 

Looks like P/fc has started to pick up a little bit, had a couple this week which is better than last week. 

So that's about it for now, my To Do list for the next few days, says....
*Tidy and sort garden & do my plan for greenhouse. 
* Write a list for food to take on our SC break at the end of the month, ( got a few bits put by already and already got "spends" saved, and the holiday is paid for except for the petrol. ). Its for our 28th wedding anniversary, so really looking forward to it. 
* Do more decluttering

So off to prep dinner now and then wash my hair before dinner. 
Have a good evening all, 

foxgloves

Hi @Makingabobor2 - I'm not sure what the optimum siting for a greenhouse is considered to be but light is very important in plant growth. My greenhouse does get hot sun, but in the hotter months, most greenhouse owners put up shading. We certainly do. You can either paint it on in the form of a white gunk or fix up panels of stuff which comes on a roll or in big sheets. We did the latter as I remember my Mum having to clean the white gunk off the glass every September & didn't fancy it. We bought our shading in 2003 & we are still using it. Although we bought the proper clips for fixing it up on the inside, we found this just makes it a more complicated process. I have since sewn ours into double-length sheets & I stand on one side of the greenhouse to catch the other end of the piece of shading as Mr F throws it up over the roof. Then it just gets pegged to the frame on both sides. You don't really need this level of detail, I was just saying that light is important & shading is usually fixed up during the summer months to help avoid sun scorch.
Our greenhouse is about 1m away from a big hedge so is more shaded on that side than I would like. I didn't have a lot of choice, as although our garden is about 135' long, it is only 30' wide & there is hedge on both sides. One of the ends is shaded a little by our water butt, but I want that for catching all that lovely rainwater running off the greenhouse roof. From the end of May to early September, the other long side of the greenhouse has 6 tall outdoor tomatoes growing in a narrow strip of bed right up to the glass & this doesn't cause a problem. In fact, they help provide shading from hot summer sun & mean that we only need to apply shading panels to the roof. Everyone's circumstances/situation will be different as gardens come in so many shapes & sizes. Light is very important because plants need it to grow & if you site your greenhouse somewhere very shady, your seedlings will become lanky because they are stretching as they try to grow towards a source of light. Yes, they can fry in hot summer sunshine but applying one of the usual types of greenhouse shading should help to mitigate this. Ventilation is important too, not just for keeping the plants cooler on hot days, but because good air-flow helps prevent plant problems like tomato blight & those exacerbated by damp conditions such as botrytis & other moulds.
I don't know anything about water butt diverters.....apart from Mr F keeps going on about buying one, but hasn't yet got around to it. Oh & gardeners usually say that whatever size of greenhouse you buy, you'll wish you'd bought a bigger one! Already hoping that when we move, we will find a bungalow with gardening room for a small polytunnel!
Hope this maybe helps a bit. have you tried the library for books on greenhouse gardening? It can be useful to have a browse through to get a good general overview.
F x

Makingabobor2

Oh @foxgloves, thank you so much for such a lovely, helpful & detailed reply. 
We have no choice but to put the back of it...6' side, up against the fence, so hoping it will be ok. The end of the garden where it will go, gets sun from early morning until late afternoon in summer, but obviously moves round quicker at this time of year. It has a window in the top to help with ventilation and thanks for the tips on shading. Its all an adventure and a learning curve...lol. x

Makingabobor2

Hello everybody, sorry for the radio silence. Still trying to get the happy medium of less screen time but still budgeting and reading threads on here.  Not much exciting news to impart really.  Everything is ticking along. 

Debts are still reducing slowly in the right direction. Also saving pots are going up. I do keep wondering if we should leave these for a while and get more into the debt pot, but think the savings should get a bit higher first. 
Studies/surveys seem to be slow again this month. There seem to be a lot of silly ones come up, like take 14 photos of your hands....or put on makeup following a tutorial.....!!  They are definitely not for me. 

DH has sorted the overflow on the water butt so its not overflowing when it rains now
Bit more garden tidying has been done and there is now a space for when we get the green house. 
Christmas potatoes are growing, which is a big surprise as I have never done winter ones. Well, I say they are growing...the tops are doing well and flowers are starting to appear, so fingers crossed. I have 2 different varieties, one in a large tub and one in one of those green flexi bag things, which I have never tried before

Nipped into L!d! for a couple of bits before WalkFit class this morning and there were actually some £1.50 veg boxes available. But on inspection I decided against one, as they were all very full of lots of not very ripe tomatoes, that I probably wouldn't get anything done with as I have a busy week and we are going away on Friday to see my dad and then a few days SC.  There were also a lot of onions in them, which we don't eat. So seemed a false economy really. Hoping there will be some better ones next time I go. This is the first time I have dropped in early on a Monday, so maybe that is the best time to go. Maybe I need to get a new routine. 

Decluttering is still continuing and I have finished another book and another jigsaw, which will be passed on to my friend.  Latest book was The Night Train to Marrakech, which I can highly recommend.   Hoping that when the winter arrives and not so much to do outside, that I can read more, as I actually have about 3 non fiction books on the go as well as the novels I keep starting. Also hope to get back into my free OU course that I started months ago and then get signed up for some more. 

Well that's about it for today. Have a good evening all. 

Makingabobor2

Just popping by to say we are back from our time away. Got back Saturday evening, but had GK duties on Sunday & then an appointment & shopping yesterday. So still playing catch up. Have caught up on diaries on here. 
All seems to be going well, but our time away made me re-think some budgeting ideas & different things, so got plenty to do. Need to finish some chores off & then got gym tomorrow
Will do a better post tomorrow to see where we are at & how I hope to move forward. 
Hope everyone is ok. 

foxgloves

Nice to see you back x

Blackcats

Welcome back!  Holidays are great for thinking through new ideas and re-focusing.  My notebook has got lots of jottings and workings out after our few days away last week.  Putting them into practice tomorrow for October's budget.

Makingabobor2

Well, what a dismal day. Sending hugs to those who seem to be suffering with colds/coughs/covid and noroviruses at the moment. Seems to be so much going round.   I felt like I had a cold starting yesterday, but thankfully doesn't seem to have developed. I have been having my daily shots of lemon/ginger/orange/apple/honey and tumeric and I'm hoping that's what's keeping us healthy. Also drinking lots of ginger tea. I also had a spray of Vick first Defence last night, so think that killed it off.  I just feel tired and a but "yuk" today, but can't put my finger on it, and can't get warm. But that is probably the change in weather plus a bit of post holiday blues.  Have my flu jab tomorrow, so need to be ok for that.  

I cleaned the lounge from top to bottom earlier, so that warmed me up. no way I am putting the CH on yet, although we did have the gas fire on in lounge last night for about 15 mins, as I was just so cold even with a blanket on. . It warms the room quite quickly. Trouble is a lot of the heat goes straight up the stairs. When we ever move, we will have a house with a proper hallway.  Was hoping to get a wash done and out on the line, but looks like this wet weather is going on for ages, so the question is to I wait and do bigger loads on Monday, or do I do some now and end up having to dry indoors?  As the heating isn't on, that would mean putting TD on and I don't really want to do that. Think I'll wait....its not like we are going to run out of clothes, I did a dark wash yesterday and towels the day before. We are currently £390 in credit with the tentacled ones.  Should I leave it all there, or take some of it back?,  as it does seem an awfully big amount of credit, even going into winter, we've never been that much in credit before an always managed.  Tempted to take back about £100 maybe. I'll have a think about it. 

Done some surveys today, P/fc, 1P*!! and Op*n**m.  First time for ages I'd done any other than P/fc, but thought with the weather changing now I may spend more time indoors, so time to get back into the others again.  Not enough on anything to cash out yet, but its mounting up.  Not had an Y!*ve ones lately. They have really slowed down. 

Grocery budget is going well this period. Still got plenty in the freezer/fridge and going to do meal plan in a bit, to see if we can get away with using stuff from, stores and not have to spend too much of remaining budget next week, which is the final week of the period.  Got a few good orange stickered items this week, bread rolls for 40p, 30% off salad bag and pork mince and lots of good 15% vouchers for things I actually needed in L!d!. 

Still not had time to sit down and re think/do my new budget ideas that came up when we were away, but will hopefully be doing that soon.  In the mean time, the transfers are still continuing to the savings pots as normal, so can easily move them around if needed.  Really want to devote at least half a day to it, so I can concentrate.  Can't believe how busy I've been this week since we got back, what with DGS4 on Sunday, then WalkFit class on Monday, gym on Wednesday and Line Dancing yesterday.  Most of my Personal spend pot now goes towards keep fit stuff and trying to keep healthy. 
Need to get out in the garden again as soon as the weather improves again as go some cutting back etc to do.  Am I right that I should cut raspberries back to the woody bits once they've finished this year?  Is that is, or do they need covering over winter or anything.  How about blueberry bush?  Bought it last autumn and obviously it didn't fruit this year, but has grown and lots of healthy leaves.  Should I cut it back, or leave it? 

Another job I need to do is to put some draught stuff on the door between lounge and porch.  Got some great stuff that looks like it will work a lot better than the normal old stuff, so hoping it is as easy to apply as it looks. Otherwise I will have to get DH to do it. 

Well, best get on. Have good day everyone. 

Makingabobor2

My diary entries are never very interesting, but I'll post all the same.  Things are plodding along as normal, and in the right direction.  
We had flu jabs on Saturday and both felt pretty " off" on Sunday, but back to normal now. I did miss my WalkFit class yesterday as my arm still hurt a lot and I had no energy still, but all is fine now.  Covid jab is booked for 21st and I am not happy that I have to pay...but we had money in the relevant pot, so all good there.  Next week I have my eye test, which I'm sure won't be cheap, but needs must as they say. I can tell my prescription needs changing and I need prescription sunglasses as well, as I struggle in the sun, even in winter with watery eyes etc due to allergies etc. I seem to wear them loads, especially for driving.  So hoping that at this time of year they have some good offers on sunglasses. 

Had quite a few NSDs recently which is always helpful. 
Determined to use up food we already have if I can for the rest of the week, although I may have to get something from the butcher for Sunday, but that will last 3 or 4 meals if I do.  I have made a meal plan, but it includes salmon more than once, and DH will only put up with it once a week.....lol.  I could live on it personally, if it wasn't so expensive. I have got frozen fillets though, which is cheaper than fresh. But also L!d! salmon pieces are good value. 

Raspberry bush is still producing a few nice fruits.

Just started going through wardrobe again for stuff to put on V*nt*d, for a few more ££. Also decluttering is continuing and I am definitely following a 1 in 1 out policy. So when DH bought a new t shirt from the Bay of E the other week, I went through his drawer and chucked an old on out. 

Decided to take some money back from the tentacled ones as we were £390 in credit. Tried to take £100 and it said if I took that much they would have to increase our payments as they estimated we needed to be £390 in credit at this time of year, to stop us going into the red in the winter!  That is stupid as we have never been this much in credit before and our new tariff that started in August is cheaper than the old one was.  So it did allow me to take £40, and then I will try again after the next payment goes in to them on the 24th. Winter fuel payment will be soon, so will always have that as a back up if we need it. 

Studies and surveys coming along slowly. 

Will see how things stand by the end of the week. 

Sun_Addict

They tried to put up our monthly payments when we’re £730 in credit (this will reduce as this month’s bill but will still be around £500 ish in credit. I told them no but will review if the credit starts to get eaten into by a large amount. 

I get offered a free Covid jab as a carer for Mr SA but they make me feel so grotty I’ve declined the last couple. Mr SA is having his tomorrow though. The flu jab doesn’t affect me normally so hoping next week’s won’t.