And now we go again...

enthusiasticsaver

For those struggling with cold hands in this chilly weather I use Hothands inside my gloves while out hiking and they give out so much heat. They are just sachets of some sort of carbon mixture and when you shake them they give off heat and last for 4 hours. 

Less_Talk_and_More_Action

Hi @EssexHebridean.  I'll leave a much shorter post than I put on my own diary.  Thank you so much for prompting me to apply for a balance transfer credit card through this site when I thought it wasn't worth it.  It so was worth it - all done and will make a massive difference and has probably accelerated my intentional journey by about a year!!!  Show's me that I need to listen to people and not think I know everything - thanks again.

L x 

EssexHebridean

rtandon27 said:

EssexHebridean said:

...Mortgage balance currently stands at £111,358.04 - so I'd like to OP £158.04 at the end of the month...

...we're of a mind to go in spite of "How Low Can we go January"...

EH - the lack on "0's" at the end of that figure would drive me to distraction - I'd be tempted to take off the 4 p right away & maybe even the 8 before even attempting the 150!!! - Tilly tidying is so addicting! 😉😊

We are failing miserably at the January challenge, as everything seems to be running out all at once!  At least we know these are things we need and use on a regular basis so not all is lost!

Don’t think I like it RT - I definitely don’t, but as MrEH is the official keeper of records (he’s got the accurate all singing/all dancing spreadsheet) I do have to at least to a degree now to his wish to not be doing too many odd additions to it. If it was an odd penny, or indeed just a few pennies short of the next round £, then I probably could resist it - as it is though I will have to curb my impatience!  

On the office temperature, it’s actually quite difficult to do too much about it. Our building is an old bank building - think really high ceilings and huge, single glazed arched windows…in really cold weather the heating runs full blast all day (thermostat set to 20°) but it just can’t keep up with the heat loss. 😢 You will be pleased to hear that yesterday I did mention that leaving the slatted blind on the door pulled down, but tilted to “open” so it’s clear we are in there, means the heat stays in better, and that was acted on. I have also been very clear that turning the heating down to silly levels overnight just isn’t on unless Madam Boss is going to be in long enough before me to have allowed it to get to at least 16° by the time I arrive…there is now a note of the correct set-back temperature stuck onto the thermostat, which should help to manage that issue. I also now don’t hesitate to leave coat, hat and scarf on if needed. I’m going to search out a pattern for those fingerless gloves too I think…  ES I use the hot hands sachets when I’m doing photos of her Reds Winter training)g sometimes - I always carry some in my camera bag! They really are excellent, although I did manage to super-heat my keys one day having forgotten I had one in my pocket! 😂

LTMA - I’m so glad you were a success story on the card! It’s one thing that Martin always underlines - if you are showing ANY chance then it’s worth a go! 

It’s been another chilly day here, but that didn’t stop us getting out for a walk first thing, and very pretty it was too.

We were very much in need of the second brew of the day and some porridge when we got home though! MrEH then disappeared out to his office - substantially warmer than it was yesterday thanks to the decision to leave the underfloor heating on at a low level out there overnight. Overall we’ve not used much more electric today than we did yesterday, and today includes using the oven (for making rolls, and then again this evening), the bread machine and  load of washing too, so not too shoddy at all, and for any further “consecutive” days we’d definitely run the heating out there like that again.

I pottered a bit, intending to head out to Lil’s fairly soon, but then got a call to say my car would be on its way back to me shortly. This did necessitate the payment of the insurance excess sadly, but fingers crossed I will get that back at some stage - I must chase for an update in fact. So £300 out - but a lovely clean (!) shiny (!!) car returned, with new bumpers front and back as far as I can see, and - does anyone remember that incident a while ago where the car got caught in a cordon around a house-fire near my work? It wasn’t damaged by the fire, but the firefighters had no option but to pull their hoses over the bonnet to get to the house, and it ended up quite badly scratched…I was assuming that the very small dent on the bonnet from the accident would simply be knocked out, then just that area re-sprayed, but from what I can see it appears that they have re sprayed the whole bonnet! It will be a lovely bonus if they have - there is just a possibility that the very bright light today was misleading, but I don’t think so…. 😁

To Lil’s, then, and £15.59 spent. My coupon from the spin to win thing from last week was 20% off Rowan Hill bakery items - and I debated whether to use it or not, but eventually after a careful viewing of the bread shelf decided that a pack of seeded wraps might be a versatile choice, and one which would freeze too, so those went into the basket. Also noted that the ready to wok noodles were back down to 39p, so added a couple of those as well - if they are still at that price next week I’ll grab a couple more.  Also bumped into a pal in there so a chance for a matter! As mentioned, there will be more food spending this week as we are heading to the farmer’s market tomorrow.

The rest of the day has been the usual hoped for Friday mixture of productive and relaxing - logs in for the fire (which is burning away cheerfully as I type), bathroom and downstairs loo sinks cleaned, some washing up, laundry from the airer and the load done today hung up…we’re finding that drying in front of the spare room radiator is working really well for us at the moment, with - thank goodness - no sign of any issues with moisture although we will be keeping a beady eye out for any signs at all. 

I was at a loss as to what I fancied for tea this evening - not a usual state of affairs, as you know I usually have a plan, but today nothing was quite hitting the spot, so when MrEH finished work I offered him options - a takeaway of some description, cheese and crackers, or a walk to Al’s and back for pizza and garlic bread…I fully expected that he’d choose the takeaway, but in fact the pizza got the vote, so we headed off to Al’s. Stumbled across a bargain too - they currently have bottles of their (Christmas range) spiced cranberry ketchup with a shelf label intriguingly marked with 49p - but crossed through…so we wondered how much it was. On taking it to the till it scanned at zero and the till said “seek assistance” - so we did, and the assistant said that yes, it was free, but if we’d like to pop a donation in the charity box we were welcome to do so. Unsurprisingly, we did! 

Other MSE bits:
- banks all good
- CC money shuffle done - including the hotel money from MrEH
- a discussion tonight has resulted in the agreement that we will start a new savings pot - this time for logs/coal - aiming to stick at least something in it each month
- thermostat turned down this evening once the fire was lit - so less gas used, 

spendiness:
- The shopping, plus just over £5 for the pizza and garlic bread.
- my car got some diesel - £30 spent there
- £17.90 on train travel for tomorrow - a saving made as we now have the railcard (bought using converted Clubcard vouchers so cash neutral) and we will walk to the station. Handily we are meeting our friends not far from a station which just necessitates a single change, and no travelling into London and out again.

A busy day tomorrow, as in between the farmers market and heading off to meet our pals we have an online meeting in connection with our voluntary role - we’ll need to be up and at ‘em in the morning! 

PennysIntoPounds

What a productive day, and great Al's wins with not-take-away and sauce

Hope you have a fantastic day tomorrow, and glad you avoided the in and out London fares, so annoying how they add extra money on when you didn't want to go to central anyway!

Seasidegal58

Have a great day with your pals tomorrow EH!

beanielou

Enjoy your Sunday. 

girlatplay

I'm shivering thinking about all the people with less than 22° thermostats. I'm firmly in the 22 or over category. If it's a mild winter day then 20 is doable but that's rare.  In my defence, I'm on blood thinners and don't carry a lot of natural padding but I do put a couple of layers on and also use a blanket and hot water bottle, a lot.

Have a great day!

jwil

Enjoy your weekend   Good news about the car as well.

EssexHebridean

girlatplay said:

I'm shivering thinking about all the people with less than 22° thermostats. I'm firmly in the 22 or over category. If it's a mild winter day then 20 is doable but that's rare.  In my defence, I'm on blood thinners and don't carry a lot of natural padding but I do put a couple of layers on and also use a blanket and hot water bottle, a lot.

Have a great day!

Yes, it’s a a totally different scenario where someone is in a position where they need the temperature at a certain level and are already wearing appropriate clothing isn’t it. I think most of us know the people who wander round in shorts and a t-shirt complaining they are cold/their bills are high though! 

redofromstart

The bit that gets me is that I live in thermals, the bills are high and I'm still never warm because the house is old and the central heating is inefficient.  If I was willing to just sit in the room with the fire and vegetate then I would be warm.