Ding! Ding! All change, please... (now replaced with new diary on MFW)

EssexHebridean

Ooh - forgot - MrEH before he went out last night investigated the dregs of the kitchen paint - bearing in mind it was last used in 2017 and has been sitting either in an outside storage cupboard or in the garage since then, we weren't optimistic. astonishingly though with a good stir it was surprisingly OK. It had separated but the stirring sorted that - it had also gone almost "gloopy" though - sort of gelatinous, which was odd! It went onto the wall OK though, so MrEH very neatly went over anywhere that needed a bit of touching up, and it's dried invisibly thank goodness. It's particularly nice to have the bit over the archway where the masking tape pulled the paint off covered over again! 

beanielou

My dad used to say he was keeping his powder dry. 

EssexHebridean

It's a good phrase Beanie! 

Spendiness: £25 on a pack of rechargable motion sensitive stick on lights - we hope that one of them will sort out our "dark corner in the kitchen" issue without us having to faff about with the LED light strip (which we'd really like to hang on to now as it might be useful wherever we end up!) 
Also another Christmas present for my Mum - the moisturiser that she (and I!) love. I was debating about a book for MrEH but the only vaguely sensibly priced copy I can find is in pretty rubbish condition, and frankly looks like it might be ready to lose pages, so I think I'm holding off on that at the moment. 

EssexHebridean

Hope everyone out there in diary land is managing to keep at least a little bit warm at the moment? MrEH’s car helpfully told me it was  -7° when I left home this morning - unfortunately that was just after I’d realised that we’d forgotten to put the windscreen cover on last night….10 minutes with a scraper later and my hands felt like someone had blast-chilled them. Thank goodness at least the rear screen and mirrors defrost themselves! Astonishingly even by the time I got into London it was still -4 - not temperatures we see there that often. 

Half a day at work this morning then, then home via Mum’s to pick up the roll of masking tape that she had going spare. Rather than parking the car where I usually do for the office I made use of a couple of free but shorter term spaces nearby - on the street first off, then shifting to T’s car park for the rest of the time. That meant needing to pop into the store to be a customer to qualify for the free parking, so I bought two bottles of screen wash concentrate that they stock and out local store doesn’t. Total £6.50 spent (up to £3.25 a bottle from £2.75 last time we bought it) but it was needed - I can top both cars up with a stronger solution now and the washers might not freeze as solidly! 

After lunch I masked round the hallway floor, and the skirting boards have now had two coats of white paint all the way round and look far better. I confess it’s only emulsion but neither of us can face the idea of best part of a week with the smell of satinwood drying so that will have to do! I’ll go and strip back the tape in a second. Also finished the shredding mountain and emptied the dishwasher, got the curry and daal out of the freezer plus loaded the WM and set it ready for tonight, so that feels like a fairly good use of a few hours.

Other MSE stuff:
Mid month DD’s have now all left the bank so I’ve got a clearer idea of the surplus this month and I’m pleased as it’s looking like we’ll be able to wipe another chunk off the 0% card. The remaining balance will easily clear next month now - so mission accomplished there. 
We’ll need a tankful of fuel for MrEH’s car yet this month, plus he will be topping his Oyster up on Monday - that will do him next week though and then he won’t top up again until probably the second week in January so all under control there. 
Both storage heaters got turned up slightly again last night and it’s still slightly chilly in here today - the Met Office tells me it’s back to -3 outside already though so not surprising, with another day of not getting above freezing planned for tomorrow. Thankfully it looks like the suggestion that temperatures are going to rise sharply into next week is sticking about. 

There are more Christmas presents to buy still - I really need to get those sorted and will probably dive into town at some stage over the weekend for odds and ends. 

I’ll need to have a think about jobs to get done tomorrow I think - although assuming the skirtings look OK and we can get the final bit of caulking round the coving done this evening, I’ll likely get the stainblock out to go over a few areas of that where the caulking has left slightly discoloured marks. We’ve a list on the go for where else needs stainblock using too so I’ll do the lot in one go. Filing is still very much in need of tackling, mind you…ugh! 

Stay warm, all! 

enthusiasticsaver

Sounds like you have been busy.  Sorry your first offer not accepted but from the sound of it you were not surprised.  

Fixed  v tracker when you eventually get to apply for a mortgage is a tricky one at the moment especially since the latest increase today.  My DD1 is moving house at the moment and hoping to complete before her mortgage offer expires as rates have gone up since then. My view is that fixed gives you certainty at the moment and there is  certainly no indication the BOE are about to change their mind on using interest rates to halt or reduce inflation.  I am not convinced they have gone as high as they can but obviously I have no crystal ball.  If your budget is tight I would definitely go for fixed. 

EssexHebridean

Hi ES - I think we’ll see another few rate rises yet too, yes. The smart money seems to be on it maybe going to 4,5/4.75 - which “feels” about right, but of course any manner of things could change that. Allowing we’re looking at products with no limit (or possibly a high limit) on allowed overpayments, our aim will be to just start OPs almost from day 1, and we’ll be making additional lump sums where we can, too… we can potentially make a decent impact fairly fast, and be in a better situation. My thinking right now is that as long as we could get something which tracks about .25% above or just a little more, then it just might be similar to the sort of fixes we’d be looking at, but with more flexibility. My dread is finding ourselves stuck on a “too high” rate again - allowing that with the first mortgage we had from 2003 - 2016 the lowest rate we ever saw was 4.34%, when all around us people were talking cheerfully about 2.5% and thereabouts… 😆

Coldest temperature I think I’ve ever seen the Met office suggesting for here this morning at -9°C first thing. Felt like it when we went out for a walk too! 🥶 Glorious morning though, and the sun has been shining all day which has definitely helped with some solar gain for the front room. Looking across the road to the woods there is also a constant little movement of snow dropping off the trees now, too although there is still,plenty up there at the moment. 

Banks checked and all good - and the interest landed on the second Atom Fix this morning too. Only my little 6 month one still to go for its first interest now - it’s definitely an incentive to see it. CC money shuffling done last night to square up the last of last month’s stuff - I could do with a few days with no transactions to let everything settle now but at this time of year, yeah, not going to happen I reckon! Money transferred from the food account for the oil/mayonannaise too - and I need to email them as they’ve sent me an extra jar. (Which I’m hoping they will say just keep, but I’ll offer to pay for) Also had the first lot of Amazon deliveries so can shuffle the funds for that around later. 

Been continuing with the clearing/cleaning this morning too - going to do another burst in a moment getting the kitchen sorted and will probably then switch to some decluttering in the spare room, although that depends if it will be distracting for MrEH who is working in there, of course. Jaws got shoved round the floors last night, so a job saved for today, although it must be said if I had realised how life changing a lightweight vacuum cleaner with no trailing cables was sooner I would have bought one long before I did! We seem to be making a gradual positive impact - just getting areas to look clearer, and it all helps. Jobs for tonight are the rest of the stain block application I think - MrEH needs to do one more bit on the kitchen ceiling, and we have a list of other areas that still need a little attention too. We did more caulking last night and are calling that task officially finished.

Cheery_Daff

Excellent work all round there! 😊😊 Sorry your first offer wasn't accepted - are you waiting til after the weekend to put in another one? 

Impressed with your progress!

foxgloves

Same here re thoughts on Jaws! I'm getting on so well with our newish triangular-finned friend that I'm wondering why I didn't try one before. Well.....of course, I do know.....our old heavy corded vacuum was working perfectly well until its motor meltdown & I don't like to replace stuff that is still in good working order. 
I have arthritis in my hands & find the bitey finned vacuum SO much easier to lift, push, manoeuvre, etc. I wouldn't go as far as to say I am enjoying cleaning more, but I'd say there's less active moany dislike going on! 
Shame about your house offer btw, but as you said, not unexpected. A similar thing happened to us......we offered full asking price for a 3-storey Victorian house in town. The owner was emigrating & absolutely desperate to sell. My house wasn't even on the market, so we were not in as good a position as another couple who made an offer the following day & we lost it. No matter, as we found this one & progressed that, BUT well nto the process (my house had sold v swiftly & we were packing), the estate agent phoned & asked if we were still interested in the first house because the chain the other couple were in had collapsed. We declined. Utterly loved the house & I know it has shot up in value, but there was a historical shared access 'solution' we felt could well rear it's head as a problem. Funnily enough, after this, another estate agent phoned. We'd expressed interest months before in viewing an old estate worker's cottage & she had extremely snottily informed us that the vendor had changed her mind & was withdrawing it from sale. Guess what? Vendor now defo wanting to sell it & snotty estate agent phoned me all sweetness & light practically begging me to book a viewing. 
So the point I'm making, @,EH, is that properties which look like they've passed us by, can sometimes turn up back on the market. Three of the properties I've been monitoring in Suffolk (out of interest only as we won't move till Mr F retires) have been reduced in price. Worth keeping an eye out & getting a real feel of the market.
Exciting times.
F x

beanielou

Enjoy your weekend

EssexHebridean

Thanks Beanie - you too! Cheery - MrEH is going to have a chat with the agent to get a feel for the way things are going, but there is little point in us making an offer at least until this place is on the market, and possibly even not then, although there was a hint that they might be willing to consider something once we were actively marketed, so… Foxgloves thank you - and yes, that’s what I’m trying to remind myself - “even if…” We know that there could be issues with people getting mortgages for it too - it’s got an area of flat roof, and an area of flying freehold, so some folk could well find that an issue. Ahh, we’ll see - everything is staying crossed! 

This afternoon/evening has mostly been about paper, paper and yet more paper! I moved my attention to the spare room as threatened - quite a bit of old stuff cleared from the filing cabinet, then I’ve also gone right through the big (BIG!) pile of filing stuff and have cleared the rubbish from there, too. We’ve also cleared a load of stuff from 3 wooden magazine files, and out little 4 drawer desktop unit - more old computer related stuff in there than you can imagine! I’ve got one black sack of mixed ordinary rubbish and shredded paper ready to go tomorrow and am now working on the next.

had a good day on Prolific today - only two studies, and neither over 15 minutes, but I now have £16.50 pending - I nearly fell over when I saw a £9.50 one earlier! Definitely calling that a small win! 

Right - allowing for the sheer amount of stuff we have to do tomorrow, it’s bed time for me!