Escape to the country & living off savings

Tresinia511

Sya, thai green curry 😋😋😋 I forget,  where did you get all your goose mince from?, it seems to have lasted a long time

Skint_yet_Again

It’s new goose mince Tresinia from my b-in-law at Christmas 😊

No fresh snow here this morning but it looks very icy. I should have put the windscreen cover on my car. It looks like I will be de-icing later 🥶

Aquafit this morning. Hope it’s warm 🤞Some more sadmin and some batch cooking later. Off to my friends for a cuppa this afternoon. Snow forecast from 5pm 

Dad’s online energy account is now showing the bill has been paid. However it appears that we can only set up an estimated direct debit of £57 a month. I would have liked to set up an actual direct debit to pay the actual amount monthly as per the smart meters but this is not an option so I will just check for his bill monthly and pay online. At least it’s simple and quick and I don’t have to read the meters. In fact I don’t actually know how to read a smart meter 😬

Skint_yet_Again

Aquafit was lukewarm this morning. Partway through the class part of the ceiling collapsed in the ladies changing rooms due to a leak 😳 We all carried on with the class until it was safe to get out. 

Called off at asd@ for a hot roast chicken & had some with a mug of gravy (granules) to dip when I got home. Cost extra large £6.98. Extra large raw chicken £5.94 so I will continue to buy hot so it’s ready to eat when I get home from aquafit. 😋

Thermostat this morning 12.5. After breakfast 18’ turned off. Left for aqua 10.30am and was down to 13.5 when I got back just before midday. This end of terrace house does not retain the heat despite double glazing & cavity wall insulation. My heating bill due in a couple of weeks may be huge, but I refuse to be cold. Currently £377.82 in credit. 

Edit to add within an hour back up to 18 degrees from 13.5. That new additional radiator helps warm the house back up quicker 

doingitanyway

Wow, the ceiling collapsed!! Very British to carry on regardless. Glad you were not hurt.
It was 9.5 when I woke up  I think my bills will be huge too. I seem to be ok at 15 if I can be cosy with the electric throw. Being cold is miserable so I will not be doing that.

Tresinia511

😲😲😲to ceiling collapse! Omg how scary and ridiculous that could happen in such a place.  These things are usually because someone isn't doing routine checks or maintenance,  very alarming.  I went along to my gym today,  it was closed due to a problem with the mains water.  The whole gym,  classes,  swimming, the lot of us turfed out unceremoniously, a bit annoying but rather safe than sorry. 

Skint_yet_Again

Maybe 9.5’ overnight is right dia if you are only heating to 15’. Mine is down from 18 to 12.5. Thermostat is set to 17.5 but residual heat takes it up to 18. I would struggle at 15’ unless I was doing something active like exercise or hoovering. According to my weather app it’s meant to warm up to 8’ on Sunday 🏝️ 🥵 😂

Have just been up to check dads house and the heating has to be on 24/7 at 15’ for the insurance. I turn my heating off at night. 

Tresinia I don’t think they could make us get out of the pool straight away as we were safer in the water until they cleared the ceiling off the floor 😂. The power cut off in the changing room but I presume there is no power in the pool ⚡️ 🤭

doingitanyway

Skint_yet_Again said:

Maybe 9.5’ overnight is right dia if you are only heating to 15’. Mine is down from 18 to 12.5. Thermostat is set to 17.5 but residual heat takes it up to 18. I would struggle at 15’ unless I was doing something active like exercise or hoovering. According to my weather app it’s meant to warm up to 8’ on Sunday 🏝️ 🥵 😂

I bet if you had an electric throw while you were relaxing you would be fine at 15 ' I love it. A definite game changer. Without it I too would need to be moving about or have the heating a bit higher. I sleep with it on top of the bed too. Sooo cosy  Lidlees have a double electric blanket coming up for £25 and I am tempted to buy one each for the guest rooms as apparently they use 4p an hour. 

Skint_yet_Again

Just parking this list here to try and motivate me to start to work through it tomorrow / next few days

1. House insurance renewal (mine)
2. car breakdown renewal 
3. phone building society (sadmin)
4. Phone tax office (sadmin)
5 phone dwp (sadmin) 
6. bring dining chairs out of my bedroom (maybe put in spare bedroom)
7. Once number 6 done can get to storage wardrobe in my bedroom & put away Xmas tree & decs etc 
8. Cut up Christmas cards for tags next year 

Skint_yet_Again

doingitanyway said:

Skint_yet_Again said:

Maybe 9.5’ overnight is right dia if you are only heating to 15’. Mine is down from 18 to 12.5. Thermostat is set to 17.5 but residual heat takes it up to 18. I would struggle at 15’ unless I was doing something active like exercise or hoovering. According to my weather app it’s meant to warm up to 8’ on Sunday 🏝️ 🥵 😂

I bet if you had an electric throw while you were relaxing you would be fine at 15 ' I love it. A definite game changer. Without it I too would need to be moving about or have the heating a bit higher. I sleep with it on top of the bed too. Sooo cosy  Lidlees have a double electric blanket coming up for £25 and I am tempted to buy one each for the guest rooms as apparently they use 4p an hour. 

Thanks dia 😊 I don't feel cold at night in bed so have never fancied an electric blanket but they sound like a great idea for your guests. I know if my house gets cold for any length of time it will start to smell damp & fusty and I will need my dehumidifier on more. When I got back from my sisters after Christmas it was 9.5’ inside and smelt & felt damp. 

It’s 14 degrees on my thermostat at the moment after the heating being off since 10pm so it’s a bit warmer today but it felt cold when I got out of bed just now to nip to the loo !! 🥶 Heating will be on shortly. I know I am lucky to be able to pay for heating but I don’t have holidays or broadband/ tv packages so I prioritise my heating bills instead. I pay my council tax over 10 months so the money in my budget for the other 2 months can be used as a buffer if necessary. 

I am feeling very achy today which I think is from a very energetic aquafit session yesterday. My app shows the pool lane swim is currently in session so it looks like business as usual despite the ceiling collapse yesterday 😬 I will see if we get the forecasted snow on Thursday before booking Aquafit for Friday. I would have liked to go to my sisters this weekend but cannot risk the journey to the east coast if the snow continues. 

Arrietty

Morning,

I cannot tell you how relieved I am that you are continuing with your post Aquafit hot roast chicken habit 
Something about the way you describe it makes me almost smell it as I'm reading and I'm afraid a raw one would not have the same effect!  Very glad no one was hurt by the ceiling collapse. 

I'm sorry you're still having a lot of sadmin to do; it must feel relentless. I have to admit that number 8 on your list is something I never got around to last year ... I shall endeavour to do that today! 

I have my heating set to 19 ( Southern softie  ) but it's on  timers so not on during the day when I'm at work ... which made me realise just how cold it gets while I've been on leave this week.  I have had to push the "1 hour boost" button a few times.