Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

jwil

I've just caught up, you've made loads of progress as usual, and your garden sounds like it will be lovely next year!

savingholmes

Thanks Humdinger1 - I agree about the pension changes. They think 10 years is a reasonable timeframe to give notice - but it isn't when you are allowed to early retire at 55 and have a pension age of 67 - pure logic should indicate that even a 12 year time frame isn't enough to change the ceiling age!! I may try writing to my MP again.

Well done on clearing £140K of debt that's immense. Glad you've found the lessons have stuck. Yes I agree about not being pressured into expensive presents.

On the BG elec thing - having slept overnight - I think they just meant that I would have been in that amount of credit at the end of Jan - in which case I will very quickly need to ramp up direct debits again.

I've just checked my gas meter for Sh311 as I was getting paranoid about having the heating on. If I keep up the current usage - that will be three times what I used in October but my sister's family of 5 will have 2 lots of showers and baths out of that each which is above my normal usage but I have allowed for so that won't be repeated in future months. They are coming tomorrow. Their bathroom gets fitted next week. It was 10 degrees in the living room this morning - so I waited until after my Mr A delivery and then put the heating on. Trying to get to 18 degrees in a morning - then use elec blanket and extra blanket during the day - and then top back up to 18 degrees for a little while in the evening. Tomorrow I will have the heating on a lot more as littlies are coming. Sh311 estimate over the next 14 months I will use/pay £1944 in gas - however - thankfully I am currently at about £580 in credit - before the next bill gets raised 10th December. I think it will be more like mid March before I know what my true usage is in a year - and therefore a true forecast - and obviously that depends whether it is a mild or hard winter.

Thanks Jwil. My garlic bulbs have arrived - so I have 35 pieces to plant - may get the little kids to help with that tomorrow as I think they'd enjoy it. I plan to do some pruning today to put in my raised beds - which will then make filling them cheaper.  I adore messy play!! There is also something very satisfying about pruning. DD will help me empty the grow bags out of my car - I have a trundle truck I can use after that to get them around the back. 

If I can get the car emptied before DD goes to the hairdressers - I want to nip and buy a couple more raised beds. I may also buy a couple of window sill trays for seedlings.

savingholmes

Well I took today gently. I skipped the bnq visit for now - there's no rush. We picked up her bike - her lights had gone missing off it while they had it so they agreed to give us a brand new set worth £10. H!!! Should have been a 10 day job that actually took a month! Thankfully I'd taken a photo of it when I left it which showed it had lights on it originally but they didn't quibble.

Ran into some friends and suggested that we perhaps meet up next weekend while DD is away. She's off to London with a friend for a couple of nights. We're both excited - for different reasons

Sis comes tomorrow - I still need to do some cleaning and tidying. Even keeping on top of the dishwasher would help. I also probably should do some washing. Had some porridge today, home made soup for lunch and then Mr A lasagna and chips and peas for tea. The latter shared with DD. Lasagna was tasty (Frozen family sized one £4.50). The Mr A chicken delivery was on the small side so may nip out in an hour or so and see if L1d1 are doing any meat offers again. I also am potentially going to make some orange loaf cake with gluten free flour. My original food processor lid had a bit snap off it - but I got a replacement for £12.50 and it arrived today. I've not been able to use it for a few months so excited at the thought.

I did a bit of pruning to help fill my smallest raised bed. I also raided a compost pile I got the handyman to start a while ago and have put some of that in the bottom of the bed on top of cardboard. Tomorrow I I will tip out a squelchy trug I have that does have compost in it and some bedding plants but that has got overly wet (needs more drainage holes). I'll put that on cardboard in the larger raised bed that I am not planting up yet. Looking online - if I want the compost/bed to get hot - I need fresh manure. Not willing to go that far. I am debating asking coffee shops for used coffee grounds though as they would help a lot and be a free resource. The question is do I have what it takes to do that? Meanwhile I've put a layer of well rotted manure on top of my vegetation and sticks and then weighed it down with some of my unopened bags of compost. My nephews like playing with knives and scissors!!! so planning to let them cut the bags open and empty them tomorrow. Will then plant my garlic bulbs.

I also pulled some of the fluffy seed heads off my sea holly I am going to try planting some of them and see what happens. Failing that - I'll try and dig some up next year and split and plant it in other parts of my garden.

I've found some seeds I've bought in the past:
Little gem lettuce
Radish
Celery
Leaf Beet - bulls blood
Leeks -Hannibal

I also bought a 20 pack of multi seed - which I may give a few away from at Xmas (less than £6)
Artichoke, Broccoli, Brussels, Carrots, Celery, Cucumber, Eggplant, Dwarf french bean, garden rocket. iceberg lettuce, onion, pea, pepper, more radish, red beet, red sweet pepper, rhubarb chard, spinach, tomato, zucchini

I've ordered a multi-seed pack of herbs for a similar price that will include coriander, chives, dill and other things. Again I may give some away at Xmas.

I want to make sure I grow edible flowers too so will look out for suitable candidates. I recently spotted some nasturtium seeds - I just need to find them again. I have a feeling they were somewhere random like my bedroom!! I still want marigolds. 

I have saved some aquilegia seeds that I want to plant up. Again I may get the kids to help with that tomorrow as I think they'd enjoy it.
 
I expect next year's MSE diary will be filled with the delights of food and flower growing. It should reduce my food miles at the very least. I need to grow quite a lot of food to negate my outlay on materials - but while I know buying the raised beds wasn't essential it does make it all a lot neater. I also want to create my own compost as much as possible. 

I haven't found any cheap options of bark that will deliver for less than £80 a tonne - so may be better off with the bagged stuff - which is easier to move around anyway. 

Bye for now

SandyShores

savingholmes said:

...... and then rang boss and asked about priorities versus time off. Went with the time. 

Savingholmes I need some lessons from you on this.  I've got one of those bosses that always tells me to take time off, and then piles the work on, making it virtually impossible.  

Honeysucklelou2

The garden sounds like it’s coming on. Winter is valuable for getting growing spaces prepped for the next growing season 🙂.

Well done on the reducing mortgage figure.

WelshmansDaughter

Have you considered trying permaculture methods? A hugelkultur (i always spell this wrong) method can work in raised beds without the need for manure

savingholmes

Thanks Sandy, HSL and WD

Sandy - I've learned to prioritise wellbeing over work. Also my boss knows that when I say I have no concentration I mean I'll be present if she wants but I'll get nothing done as I have no focus. Whereas in flow I get loads done. I was also fortunate as I knew some of our deadlines had moved to January from next week.

HSL - hope things are going well with your garden, allotment and mortgage. I am grateful I am making progress. I very much feel like I want to 'harvest' my income appropriately - using some as seed for future ventures - e.g. AVCs - and some as food stores e.g. EF and even money in my energy account and some to enjoy now. I'm enjoying watching a blackbird eat an apple in the garden.

 WD - I watch a lot of permaculture videos - and I am trying to imperfectly do a version of what you indicated. I regret now not starting with making the veg bed - and not knowing I could have used my 2 year plus saved logs as hugelkutur back then. I did get the handyman to keep back some branches for me though - so I plan to use some to create an arbour and some for the bottom of the raised beds. I've just asked whether BIL can bring his axe. I think he'd enjoy it!

I still need to dress and tidy. One load is in the dishwasher - I think it's nearly done. I also need to do some washing. DD is supposed to be going out for lunch but not had sight or sound of her yet. Sis family could get her around 2pm or after. Still need to peel the potatoes as well and prepare veg and then cook the food but that's all for tea.

Just ordered 3 loads of toilet roll from Am as I hadn't realised we were virtually out... (minimum order).

£co - said some cashback confirmed so got another £10.60 or so being converted into an Am voucher. 

savingholmes

I went to 1id1 last night - and they had a load of 30% off meat so I bought it and put it in the garage freezer mainly. (8.30pm on a Saturday seems a good time). Spent around £44 in all - but saved £8 ish on 30% off stuff and then saved even more than that on other elements that were going out of date same day. DD owes me about £4 of what I spent. I got 4 lots of sirloin steak at £2 each so was very happy, parmentier potaotes for 90p, cooked fancy meatballs for 90p etc. Some of what I bought is for today - some is for Xmas, and some is just general for the month or longer. I also got some soft drinks.

I shouldn't need to buy meat for a while. The steaks I plan to have Xmas Eve when DS should be home. Will get some gastro chips hopefully to have with it.

While entertaining feels expensive - it's heartwarming. My sis's family coming again so close to last time is also helping it feel more natural to be entertaining 'alone'. DD is going out - and DS is down in London. It feels good to 'give back'. Sis and BIL have done a lot for me over the last 18 months in particular.

This week I've used a single joint of beef that I got 30% off a couple of weeks ago - and that has given me pretty much a meal a day - and I froze a portion yesterday. I finished my homemade soup yesterday - so will probably make another batch today. I shared my lasagne with DD yesterday - but have 2 portions left. I should have some chicken left after entertaining tonight which should also do a few meals this week.

Last night I made cheese toasties (on GF grill) - with thinly sliced red onion rings - and used jarred pepper sliced up as an extra. It tasted amazing! Jarred peppers are about £1.10 in HB but I reckon you get about 6 in a jar - so much cheaper than using fresh - and they're ready cooked and softened. They'd be nice in an omelette too or the SW muffins.

skint_spice

The peppers are also lovely in salads. I use my GF grill mainly for toasties too😂

Merlin's_Beard

My GF grill is probably the first appliance I ever bought and it's probably been about 95% cheese toasties/5% what it was designed for over the last 18 years.