Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

savingholmes

Thanks Beanie and Jwil

I have a viewer in 2.5 hours and need to get the house ship shape again. Mainly the kitchen, front room, bedroom and work from home space. I also need to shower.

I washed the outdoor cushion covers last night so they are now in the dryer - hoping they don't shrink but they smelled damp so needs must. Unfortunately they'd got completely soaked in a recent storm.

I went to L1d1 last night as I had a £5 off £25 spend voucher. I spent £77. I managed to get lots of 30% and 60% off priced meat.

Corn fed chicken - saved £5.36 - put in the freezer
Chicken stir fry - saved £2.40 - will have today possibly with sweet potato fries
Diced steak - saved £2.52 - slow cooked - will freeze some
Cajun chicken saved £0.99 - may cook and then freeze some
Meatballs - saved £2.32 - may cook and then freeze some
Mushrooms saved 75p

I'm hoping that's enough meat for close to a month but who knows... 

I should have saved another £1.50 on another chicken but the discount didn't go through. Nevertheless some nice savings. I realised last night one of the reasons I've been wanting to eat out is a lack of variety in my diet and the second is I haven't been doing enough batch cooking at the weekends and I'm too exhausted in the week to cook.

They didn't really have fresh prepared veg - so I bought some tinned. I also bought frozen chunky chips, roast potatoes and sweet potato fries for those times I'm struggling to make myself cook.

I slow cooked a beef stew overnight - using tinned potatoes, carrots, butter beans, mushrooms, tomatoes plus half a jar of pickled onion, some Worcester sauce, gravy cubes, salt, pepper and grape juice! It made enough to feed a family!!

I think the other reason I've been going out to eat is the need to see face to face people. I need to consider how I can build that in while preserving my energy - given that recently I've had a lot of video based social with work to the point that it's felt overwhelming. I've invited DD and her BF for lunch tomorrow but not heard back yet.

I also have been doing virtually no exercise as it feels like I've barely left the house - other than going out to eat. I need to resolve that too.

Have a good weekend. 

jwil

Didn't you get quite friendly with some of the people in your balance class?  Maybe returning to that could help resolve some of the social and exercise plans without adding too much?

Hope the viewing goes well and have a lovely weekend.  I want beef stew now!

savingholmes

Thanks Jwil - I've been meaning to go back but not quite made it. Last time I went it just felt too overcrowded as post covid they are letting more in. It also clashes with the midweek night I set aside for viewings. I would like to go outdoor swimming again but the weather has been atrocious when I've been free.

I had a viewing today - ready with just 10 mins to spare. It seemed to go well but not had the formal feedback yet. She loved the views from the upstairs front bedrooms (and my art). She too dabbles with art. She asked if I was a professional artist which I took as a compliment. She loved the colours.

The seat cushions for the outdoor sofa are still drying. I've got a load of washing on.

I've had some stew and it was very tasty. I've not cooked with pickled onion before but it definitely added flavour. I browned the meat off first and sprinkled 4 oxo cubes on it before slow cooking and that definitely helped.

DD is coming for lunch tomorrow if she feels well enough. I want to do some more batch cooking.  I may empty the fridge freezer in the garage as it doesn't seem able to regulate its temperature at all. I may then turn it off, defrost and sell it. DD's mostly living elsewhere currently so doesn't need it. It would be one less thing to move and save me about £8-10 a month.

One of my upstairs bedrooms just has a desk in it for art (and built in wardrobes) - I'm wondering about putting a double bed in it off FB to help people picture the room as a bedroom.

I owe work about 3 hours from a few weeks ago when I was getting the house ready to sell. I plan to catch that up this weekend... Not started yet though.

mark55man

All sounds good.  "Not started yet" from your post sums me up at the moment

MovingForwards

If the room has space for a bed put one in or ask your handyman if he can make a frame to look like there's a bed. Even boxes with duvet and pillows on would work.

Use 3arth to measure gardens as you can rule them in / out.

Try to get some rest this weekend.

savingholmes

Thanks Mark and MF

Yesterday I went and picked up a metal bed frame and mattress for £15!!!! from a FB seller. Will need someone else to assemble it for me - and need someone to disassemble my desk but felt like such a bargain. I want to try and sell the desk. I originally bought it for £80 on FB RRP £180+ new. I'm now looking for some cheap bedside tables.

I have some spare pillows - and a bedspread - so will see if I can manage with what I've got rather than buying anything more. I wouldn't dream of using the mattress for anything other than staging the room for now but it should do the job. 

I have invited DD and BF for roast chicken meal for tea but half an hour before they were due - I realised I hadn't set the over timer correctly and its not cooked!! I only realised because the oven was so quiet that it had turned itself off. 

I've done some work on my personal laptop. My newly refurbished work one wouldn't let me log in properly but luckily I had a different piece of software that I could access via my own device that had access to images I needed so it worked out. It does mean I need to log in early tomorrow to see if it is resolved and if not log a call first thing as I have a series of meetings all morning! 

lucielle

Hope the chook cooks in time. 

L

savingholmes

Thanks Lucielle - I got DD and her BF to come half an hour later and by then it was all cooked. Have some food leftover which is always nice. it was tasty and we had a nice time playing games after. Felt like a positive end to the weekend. Her BF carried the mattress upstairs for me like it was nothing. I'm hoping the cleaner can assemble the bed for me.

I froze some raw sausages and cajun chicken.

I batch cooked some meatballs and froze some. I need to go and dish up a couple of bowls of stew and freeze those too. I need to remember the goal is variety - and therefore I need to freeze it so its available when needed. Using the freed up space that was DD's FF as she's mostly not here now.

I'm going to view a house tomorrow. Inst* style open plan kitchen diner with bifold doors and skylights. Not my usual choice but it has been done really well so I want to see it. It has integrated appliances too.

Not heard back from Saturday's viewer yet. 

I got a pitiful amount in savings interest from my matured regular saver - although it is now at 5% it started at closer to 2.5% and I mostly emptied it a couple of months ago... 

I think I'll do a savings shuffle into main accounts and clear a bit more off CC. It would look better for the mortgage company if I need it to.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Popping in to say 'hi' SH.... 472 posts since my last pop in will take me a day or to catch up.  Hope all is well  

mark55man

it's a real roller coaster / swash buckler that's for sure