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Ding! Ding! All change, please... (now replaced with new diary on MFW)
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Well, that turned into a productive-feeling weekend, all things considered!
The thermal paper is now applied to the bedroom external wall, although it still needs caulking in round the edges and on the joints. We have also bought the paint for that wall, and stainblocked over the bits of the previous (dark red) paint that isn't covered by the paper - the coving and the airbrick grill. That will need at least one more coat yet. the windowsill is going to need sanding down and then painting but thankfully we do still have some of the satinwood paint from the hallway so that's useful. Not feeling any real benefit from the paper as yet as currently of course we have no curtains up which we know makes a big difference. We might be able to take a view on whether to drill the holes for the replacement rail tonight and then paint round it later, though. (or, frankly, slap some paint on the areas it will be fixed, and do the rest later just to get it up!)
Turned our attention to the spare room mostly yesterday - bits of furniture moved and the wall cleaned down behind - we knew it was going to be a bit grim as that room does have a massive tendancy to get very damp, always has. The desk will still need moving but we couldn't get to that at the same time as everything else so that's probably a job for over the christmas break. Considering what to do with our old folding bed too - it seems a real shame to get rid of it but space it definitely an issue - one to think about.
Yet more clearing out done, and ALL the shredding is now done too - hopefully the bin men will visit today and clear the backlog as otherwise no doubt it will be the second week in January before out bins get emptied - they prioritise the houses in the town over the Christmas and new year period and leave the flats to mount up which is frustrating (and one of the many reasons we want to move!) and as the bin store is already full to overflowing it will be a massive issue if they don't collect this week.
MSE stuff:
Spendiness - "some" - the weekly shop was £34.14 in T's on Saturday, and another £3.51 yesterday, plus £7.18 in Lil's and the Farmers Market spend was £50 but that included a whole shoulder of lamb (yum!), sausages, mince, haslet for lunchtime rolls, sausage rolls for lunch on Saturday and a nice loaf of sourdough half of which has gone into the freezer.
There have also been DIY shop spends - the adhesive for the thermal paper was £15.50 in Wix, then we popped into the big orange shop yesterday and got the bedroom paint, white sealant (bathroom) and another tube of caulk so £30.24 there, but a small price considering the different it will all make. We've decided caulk is the best thing in the world by the way - although I perhaps do need to check MrEH's tendency to say "ahh - a bit of caulk will sort that out" about pretty much everything!
MrEH's car got £30 of diesel on Saturday, and mine might need to follow suit tonight although I'm vaguely hopeful that I might manage without for a short while longer - it was showing 130 miles range when I left home this morning, and 20 miles later, when I parked, it was still showing the same, so mindful driving for the win...! I do need to use it again tomorrow though as MrEH is back in London and again has an uncertain finish time. On the subject of MrEH, his Oyster was topped up this morning and as it now looks like he might have to be in the office 4 days this week, that might not last as long as we hoped! Pah!
I am still hoping for somewhere around £400 to transfer to the 0% card at the end of the month.
Electricity use this week has been through the roof - partly because it has of course been super-cold, but also because we had the little oil filled rad running in the bedroom for a good part of both Saturday and yesterday to assist with the adhesive drying from the paper, AND the dehumidifier has been running at various times too. Needs must though - and with the increased temperatures this week hopefully that might balance out a little, fingers crossed! Actually managed to briefly open the bathroom window this morning which was a novelty! I did tweak the hallway heater timings slightly as there's no point in having it kicking in as early tomorrow if MrEH isn't WFH, for a start!
Lots of stuff to get used up from the veg box this week - and I also want to make a massive impact on the freezer too (she says, having put a lamb shoulder into it on saturday!). We had burgers yesterday using buns that had been frozen, and that also used half a pack of the mince I bought at the farmers market, but I need to think about what else we're eating really. I did have a meal plan, but for various reasons it probably needs at least some adjustment now. Oh - and we have ended up with yet MORE cabbage thanks to a veg box substitution! There might be a fair bit of stir-fried stuff going on this week!
🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00
Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her8 -
Morning all - we have lovely bright blue skies here in London this morning - I'm refusing to consider it might be the same at home as I believed the forecast this morning and left the curtains pulled in the front room....sigh! I'm not complaining though as it feels lovely to look out and see sunshine!
MrEH didn't get home until after 8pm in the end last night so no further progress made on home stuff - I definitely plan to do some small jobs tonight though. I was planning on heading to the gym after work but I have decided to give in and admit that my gym-mojo has deserted me. Instead I'll still use my banked time to leave early but head straight home and pick jobs from:
- blitz the front room to get anything that can be put away, put away!
- Paint the areas where the new curtain rail needs to be put in the bedroom so we can get that back up even before the rest of the wall can be painted.
- Make a start on some areas of caulking with the last of the old tube so I can see how easy (or otherwise!) it will be to caulk the thermal paper.
- start stripping some of the sealant away from the window frame in the bathroom so we can apply the new stuff.
- clear the airer
- get the next washing load to the machine
- washing up
Ideally I'd have dealt with washing last night, but as we got home to almost no water pressure thanks to burst mains in the area, that wasn't an option. It did seem to be back to normal this morning, and I'd prefer to be able to leave it an extra day to make sure everything was back to normal but the linen bin is now full to overflowing and with the bedroom in disarray I've got nowhere to put additional dirty stuff so needs must and assuming we still have good flow when we go to bed tonight I'll set it to run as usual.
One more Christmas present (for Mum) ordered on the big River site - I'll hopefully be able to get a few extra bits when I go out on Friday too. MrEH doesn't seem to have much, but he does have one higher item thing which is basically half of his present, and I'm going to try to get another thing for him on Friday too.
Banks checked and one discrepancy on the CC which is that it appears that the weekend big orange DIY place transaction may have gone through twice - it's showing on the account and also still showing pending so I'll have to keep an eye on that and get it reversed if it hits the account for the second time. The refund from the deposit on the Lake District accommodation has also hit the card so I'll need to work out how to deal with that to get the money in the right place, too. I've caved and done the transfer from Mark-us for the FD reg saver too - I know I could have left the money sitting there for an additional few days but would rather it went sooner than risk the payment bouncing. I've also transferred the money for the £30 of diesel put in my car last night - although I've also noticed that's not even showing as pending yet - I think there may be gremlins!
Tweaked the front room heater down slightly last night and it felt toasty in there this morning so that can probably go down again tonight, and I might risk tweaking the hallway one again too. The advantages of MrEH's earlier than usual get-ups the last two days has been that he's put the immersion on when he's got up rather than it ticking in and out for most of the night, so a small saving in use there hopefully.🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00
Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her6 -
Sounds like you're cracking on with the jobs, well done
Its lovely and sunny here in the Midlands as well today, and so nice not to have the heating on.Making the debt go down and savings go up
LBM 2015 - debt £57K / Now £32,245
Mortgage Oct '24 £12,261 Officially ends 06/26 but plan to be MF sooner
Total OPs 2022 - £240 2023 - £1776
OPs so far in 2024 £1353.38
EF #68 £885/£1000
Challenges
1p a Day '24 #12 £181.02/£667.
Christmas '24 £23
Make £5 a day Nov £7.15/£150
NSDs Nov 0/15
My debt free diary...https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6396218/we-will-get-this-debt-d£own-the-savings-up3 -
It's glorious isn't it MAB! (Although the heating is very much on in the office - thankfully I'm not paying for that though!)
Couple of small MSE things to mention:
- I've signed up to Airtime Rewards after seeing it mentioned on TMV's diary (which I am currently reading my way through!) so will be interested to see how that goes once I've added cards to it.
- Unilateral decision taken to cancel the next veg box. I decided that if I got sent yet another cabbage I was probably going to cry, and allowing that this is a very cheap time of year for basic veg, it probably makes sense to stock up on that from the SM's and use the saving to buy whatever "posher" stuff we want. That means our next box now won't be until the 2nd week in January - so that gives me a reasonable run of time to decide whether it's still something we want to do - but also I might just about have finished all the cabbage by then!
🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00
Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her6 -
Ooh, I must look up Airtime Rewards. Is this the 02 airtime rewards? I am on that, but don't know about linking cardsMaking the debt go down and savings go up
LBM 2015 - debt £57K / Now £32,245
Mortgage Oct '24 £12,261 Officially ends 06/26 but plan to be MF sooner
Total OPs 2022 - £240 2023 - £1776
OPs so far in 2024 £1353.38
EF #68 £885/£1000
Challenges
1p a Day '24 #12 £181.02/£667.
Christmas '24 £23
Make £5 a day Nov £7.15/£150
NSDs Nov 0/15
My debt free diary...https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6396218/we-will-get-this-debt-d£own-the-savings-up3 -
Makingabobor2 said:Ooh, I must look up Airtime Rewards. Is this the 02 airtime rewards? I am on that, but don't know about linking cards🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00
Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her5 -
EssexHebridean said:Makingabobor2 said:Ooh, I must look up Airtime Rewards. Is this the 02 airtime rewards? I am on that, but don't know about linking cardsMaking the debt go down and savings go up
LBM 2015 - debt £57K / Now £32,245
Mortgage Oct '24 £12,261 Officially ends 06/26 but plan to be MF sooner
Total OPs 2022 - £240 2023 - £1776
OPs so far in 2024 £1353.38
EF #68 £885/£1000
Challenges
1p a Day '24 #12 £181.02/£667.
Christmas '24 £23
Make £5 a day Nov £7.15/£150
NSDs Nov 0/15
My debt free diary...https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6396218/we-will-get-this-debt-d£own-the-savings-up3 -
Can you make some coleslaw with the cabbage?LTotal Debt Dec 07 £59875.83 Overdrafts £2900,New Debt Figure ZERO !!!!!!:j 08/06/2013
Lucielle's Daring Debt Free Journey
DFD Before we Die!!!! Long Haul Supporter #1244 -
My credit card often shows transactions as cleared then showing as pending, the pending always disappears. Same with some transactions not showing for a couple of days when most ping through immediately. There must be a reason for it I suppose.I get knocked down but I get up again (Chumbawamba, Tubthumping)3
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Morning L - coleslaw has indeed already been made, and I suspect more of it will be being made over the christmas period too - not least as we have beetroot needing used at the moment as well, and we love raw beetroot in coleslaw!
SA - thank you, you've reminded me to re-check the CC account and indeed the additional pending transaction has now disappeared leaving just the one that as already there. I was concerned as there were clearly two lines showing for it yesterday - but I assume it was just a temporary blip. All good!
Got some progress on my little jobs list last night I'm pleased to say:
- blitz the front room to get anything that can be put away, put away! Yes - concentrated on the table which is now far clearer!
- Paint the areas where the new curtain rail needs to be put in the bedroom so we can get that back up even before the rest of the wall can be painted. done - three little patches of paint now applied and this also confirms that the colour (which when I looked at it in the tin once opened I thought was going to be paler than we wanted) is fine.
- Make a start on some areas of caulking with the last of the old tube so I can see how easy (or otherwise!) it will be to caulk the thermal paper. Yep - quite pleased with this as I did a fair amount and STILL the original tube of caulk isn't finished! Still a lot to do though.
- start stripping some of the sealant away from the window frame in the bathroom so we can apply the new stuff.
- clear the airer No - didn't get to this
- get the next washing load to the machine No point as the water pressure is still poor.
- washing up Yes - although having cooked tea after washing up last night there is more to do this evening!
I'm going to nudge MrEH to get the curtain rail up tonight I think as it's getting VERY old not having curtains in the bedroom now - thank goodness it's this time of year otherwise we'd both be struggling with sleeping! Theoretically this is our night to do voluntary role stuff but we will have time to address that over the christmas break so can just get away with a quick check-in on emails later.
MSE stuff:
- As mentioned, the CC account has righted itself which I'm grateful about.
- I had a phone call this morning from a Manager at EDF, in relation to the complaint I made in October. I'd emailed them again last week confirming that as I'd had no response to that I would now be going to the Ombudsman. The irony is, that having had the telephone conversation with the chap this morning, I can honestly say this is some of the best complaint resolution I've ever experienced - he was open, frank and honest, he didn't make excuses, and freely admitted that I'd been treated poorly. Fair play to him. He's arranging for a £100 goodwill payment to be sent to us (the original complaint wasn't looking for any form of compensation, but he acknowledged that the Ombudsman would almost certainly award something, so asked me for a suggested amount - I went with the same amount that the Ombudsman awarded in our dispute with UW) as well which is appreciated. Ultimately, it will be a lot less expensive for them than the Ombudsman being involved would have been, and it does at least compensate a little for the increased costs we've faced as a result.
- I had a little flurry on Ipsos yesterday after a week or so getting distracted away from it - I'll be planning to get a bit more done today.
- Electricity use was right down when I checked this morning - hurrah for warmer temperatures. A little more heater tweaking was done last night and again this morning. I'll do a full review of expected temperatures in the next 5 days to take a view on whether thing can be turned down any more.
I still feel entirely unprepared for Christmas. The mad flurry of house related stuff in the past 10 days seems to have taken all my time and energy - physical and emotional. Sadly we've now heard that someone else has made an offer on the house we had fallen in love with too, and that offer has been accepted. While it feels awful to hope for there being problems with that transaction, we sort of do, hopefully understandably! Initial reaction was to ask what the accepted offer was to see if we could counter-offer, but we wouldn't appreciate someone doing that to us, so once the knee-jerk reaction was taken out of the equation, we've decided that's not the right course for us. If it's meant to be, then perhaps it will still come back to it - right now though it's looking like being a massive "one that got away". Plan going forwards is to keep an eye on the listings, and still get ours on the market in the new year, but right now I feel incredibly dis-spirited and as though nothing else is quite going to measure up. There is another possibility that we might view, but we're slightly reluctant to do anything until such time as ours is at least ready for the market, now.
We've got a relatively quick dinner lined up this evening thanks to the ham, pesto and roasted tomato/peppers I got out of the freezer. It will simply be a case of combining those bits with the last of the soft cheese that needs using, and serving with pasta I think - possibly with some additional veg thrown in. I absolutely MUST remember that we will need to do a food shop on Saturday to include stuff for boxing day - Mum's got christmas day food all bar the Turkey which I will collect on Friday, but we'll need stuff that isn't just turkey for the few days after Christmas!
🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00
Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her3
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