And now we go again...

themadvix

There was a TV programme back in the early 1990s about a man who made an obstacle course for squirrels - a BBC documentary I think. My Nan recorded it for us grandchildren on ‘our tape’ (along with a selection of other random amusing bits) - we watched it many times at hers. I’ll have to see if the clip is on YouTube. Thanks for the memory SH 😊

rtandon27

We have a grey little fatty who routinely scarfs seed from one neighbour"s yard rather than peanuts from the squirrel feeder at the neighbours on the other side!

We also have a hedgehog who has taken up residence under our bushes and munches on snails, making little piles of discarded shells. Neighbours with the squirrel feeder also have a hedgehog home that is still vacant!

EssexHebridean

RT I'd LOVE a Hedgehog - that would be an ace way of helping to control the slug and snail population!  Vix I remember that squirrel film - it might have been on Nationwide or one of those evening programmes I think. However, there is also this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY9GBl7UmVs which is just brilliant and is also now responsible for the fact that every time I see a squirrel making a death defying leap, or sitting somewhere entirely ridiculous, that music immediately starts up in my head! 

GAP they really do - little terrors! Yes that's exactly it SH - if we left them to it they would literally eat through everything we put out for the birds, and our view is that the birds need to the food far more. The plastic baffles you fit round the tube of the feeder pole are probably about the best deterrent I reckon - and as and when we replace our poles that's what we'll go with. 

Tallgirl thanks for that link - at first I thought it was only the ordinary washing machines, but it seems they do have a current campaign for washer dryers as well. We had dismissed AEG from our list of possibilities die to their higher cost, but actually that could be worth a look. One to ponder - thank you! I'll point MrEH at the full T's and C's as he is our resident official small-print reader! 

First stage of Operation Marmalade - chapter 2 happened last night. The simmer of the peel. This time round we started the dehumidifer running from the start and there was no condensation at all on the windows and patio doors once we'd finished, so that looks to have been a strategy that worked well. We'll do the same again this evening for the boil - although as that's shorter it didn't cause as much moisture in the air the other night. I'll need to get the jar labels written tonight too - they should be delivered during the day so I'm hopeful that the big river driver uses their wits about where to leave them...it is at least dry today though. 

CT has gone out, and although there will be some diesel, and at least 1 more Oyster feeding to account for this month, things are looking reasonable for an added mortgage OP at the end of the month. We agreed that the money which hasn't gone into the Coventry reg saver this month will be ringfenced towards the work we want done on the garden initially - and will then top up the solar pot which is where future months will go. Once the Solar is sorted and paid for them I'll give some thought to another Reg Saver, but right now it makes more sense to use income for that rather than raiding savings. I might actually look at the Coventry limited access account again for that money as we'll only now need to make one withdrawal from it when it comes to time to pay, although as it was set up when we were house hunting last year it must be nearing the end of its decent rate...  

Last night's chicken risotto used up the last of the broccoli and the last of the sugar snap peas - I need to meal plan next week to account for eggs needing using, and I will also have mushrooms which will need eating fairly early on as well - might actually go for cheese and mushroom omelettes for Monday evening as that would be a fairly quick and easy one for a night when let's be honest, nobody fancies faffy cooking! that would then leave me with the usual couscous for tuesday (rugby training should be back to normal then), and I could pull a tub of ragu out of the freezer for spag bol on Wednesday That might then mean we put the held over liver and onions that got bumped from the plan this week to Thursday - and hey presto, just like that, I have a meal plan! The weekend we are away for most of anyway - we'll have breakfast at home tomorrow which will either be toast or porridge, and we'll be home for tea on sunday - that will be cheese and crackers I should think, or jacket potatoes if we want something a bit more substantial. This week's shopping will be at T's I think as I have a few bits I need specifically from there, and I also have some coupons to use. It will need to be factored in to the day on Sunday as well.  Co-op have given me a £1 off my shop coupon again so we'll likely swerve in there tomorrow for MrEH's milk.  

MrEH is meant to be checking on the car parking for the weekend - we're staying fairly central in Derby and the Premier Inn have recommended a couple of nearby car parks but we need to confirm what the cost will be and also whether there is one that they have a money off deal for. I might try to work out something to take for lunch tomorrow rathe than needing to buy, and we'll probably have a pub tea tomorrow night. Saturday will be almost certainly a cutlery-related pub chain breakfast, then food through the day will depend on what they have at the beer festival. I suspect we'll be repeating the breakfast thing again on Sunday, and it will be much needed, but also late enough that lunch may not be needed!  I should remind MrEH to make sure that he has the tickets sorted too - either printed or showable as a code. Train tickets are booked to get us to Burton on Saturday and I have the collection code for those. All the spending over the weekend will be from personal spends as I have said I want to build our joint fun pot as it needs to cover all the costs for the long weekend we have in Scotland in April. 

TallGirl

I am glad the Insider information was useful I have done several Bose Soundbar and last a pair of headsets for work. The items are expensive usually but with the % off you end up with quite a saving and a premium product. You might not get selected or get the model you really want so think about the survey when you complete it. I usually say I always leave reviews and I am happy to share things on Social Media. You just have to use their hashtag and the rest of the stuff is done on their platform which is easy to use. Good luck with it. 

PennysIntoPounds

Hope you have a great time at the beer festival, looking forward to your review 😁
I really need to use some of the Camra vouchers but it seems like the cutlery pubs are pretty much the only places that take them and I'm rarely in them

savingholmes

Enjoy your trip.

themadvix

You sound very organised and ready to enjoy yourselves this weekend while only spending on what really matters - I always find such trips doubly satisfying - an excellent time and no regrets about spending. Have fun!

EssexHebridean

Vix - we were actually having a discussion this morning about the need now that we have the mortgage again to really plan out the things we want to do and make sure our money is prioritised towards the things we will get the most value from. Since clearing the original mortgage in 2016 we agreed that the old regular "overpayment amount" would fund additional fun and frolics - hence we've been able to do things like extra Hebrides trips and other trips away without impacting on our ongoing savings plans - now of course the budget has changed and the determination to get the  new mortgage gone is very much driving the ship again! You're right too - that planning, thinking things through and knowing that there will be no nasty surprises on the CC bill makes a big difference to how satisfyingly enjoyable a trip of that sort can be! 

PiP I have a vague feeling there is a list somewhere of where accepts the 50p off vouchers - I can't for the life of me remember where though! The festival was fab - lovely to catch up with lots of pals and we spent most of our time drinking from the Champion Winter Beer bar - if you come across Treen Brewery "Smoulder" then if you fancy a really tasty, smoky dark beer, give it a go - for my money it was my beer of the day. Thanks SH - we had a really great weekend - felt like ages since we'd done anything like that just for fun, rathe than combining with a beer festival meeting or something like that! 

Tallgirl - yes, sounds like it may not be for me because being brutally honest I rarely DO review things, and I'm definitely NOT willing to share product stuff on social media, so it's good to have that insight about what might be expected. Great that you've got some good stuff from it though! 

So as said Derby was lovely - ended up meeting another pal I wasn't expecting to see on Friday night too as well as the one I was - not seen either of them for a while so it was great to catch up. Spending on Friday evening was just beers - food was just ham cobs and crisps and bought by pal 1. Saturday after a cutlery pub breakfast we got the train  through to the beer festival in Burton - again, beers - although I didn't drink much over and above what I had tokens for included in my entrance - and MrEH treated us each to a pork pie. Back to Derby for the evening and ended up just heading to a favourite pub near the station as the rain was torrential so we felt no inclination to walk any further - then found a rather excellent kebab shop which was offering chips and cheese wrapped in a naan bread for £4.50 and I can tell you that might just be the best post-pub food EVER. Who knew?!  Cutlery pub breakfast yesterday morning before heading towards home via the T's shopping and a lovely breezy walk at an RSPB reserve.  
- Train tickets were already booked and paid for
- Beer festival tickets were already booked and paid for, AND included some beer each as well.
- Beers from personal spends
- breakfasts I paid for Saturday, MrEH paid Sunday
- Car park ended up being cheaper than we expected and we'll be paying that 50/50 - it's on the CC at the moment. 

Other than that:
- I remembered to adjust the heating before we left on Friday to a straight 15.8 on the thermostat throughout - didn't want to risk it getting any cooler than that in the house, but in fact that worked a treat as the heating didn't need to kick in at all all weekend until we got back last night and then it didn't take too long to warm the place back up again - we lit the fire too. 
- Shopping was a higher than usual bill, but that included a fair bit of stocking up stuff, finally found the L@1la products on offer so got chickpeas and chana dhal. MrEH's coffee was at our target price and as he's just gone into his last jar from stores we grabbed one of those. I needed decaff teabags for work, and as it looks like those are currently victims of the black tea supply issues I opted to grab a second box as well. Risotto rice was needed - and the big T's store we were in had the larger bags so that was another £3... carious other bits too. By the time all the various clubcard prices etc were taken into account we ended up paying just over £45 so not too bad. 
- No meal plan as such for this week but it's not an issue as there are plenty of options to choose from. We'll start with omelettes and salad tonight to use up the eggs we've got in. I'll be cooking off some mushrooms for those and will cook extra ready to use the remainder with couscous tomorrow evening. 
- Further discussion this morning reminded us that we need to get some stuff booked for holiday, so we'll sit down tonight and brainstorm that. 
- We've also agreed that we need to start looking at options for next year - it may be that we can book our "usual" cottage but we might have missed the boat on that - we'll see. We're both going to have a look and see what there might be out there in our price range and when those would be available for. 
- Final bit of holiday related discussion was around budget - and specifically, that cottage costs have escalated massively over the last few years and it's getting tougher and tougher to make our budget work. Neither of us want to massively increase the budget - as it's already feeling plenty high enough for people who are also trying to clear off a mortgage, but we do need to consider what is workable. 

The other thing we want to sort out planning in is the new Hidden London tour of Holborn so need to examine our diaries for that and see what we might be able to do. 

Right - best go and do some actual work I guess...have a lovely Monday all! 

PennysIntoPounds

That sounds like a great weekend. There is the whatpub list for vouchers but it's completely inaccurate, we've trundled along to several pubs on there for a day out only to find they've not even heard of the vouchers let alone are willing to accept them. The Camra discount is a good enough deal that we'll probably renew but it seems so wasteful that part of what you pay for is a ton of vouchers that can't be used. Might have to just go to a cutlery pub and make some old blokes day by handing over twenty quids worth 😂

Makingabobor2

Sounds like you had a great weekend.