Cheery's path to fulfilment - finishing the DIY, looking after myself, appreciating the garden 🌻

Cheery_Daff

I think that's quite reasonable EH! I usually have a bit of flexibility with working times - I work at home a couple of days a week which makes things easier, and when I go to the office I never leave before 7, and often not til half 7 (or even later sometimes) so the alarm is never before 6, and often not til 6.30. Bizarrely the day I struggle with most is Saturday - my slimming world class starts at 8am 😱😂 Weigh in til 8.30 though so a bit of leeway 😂

2lbs off this mornings, so 9lbs off since the start of the year. I'm delighted. I paid for a 12 week block before Christmas and was the same weight at the end as the start 🙄😂 Someone said 'you've got to really want it' and I properly took that to heart and sat down and gave myself a talking to. Yes, I want that cake, but I want to be able to move and fit in my clothes a bit easier MORE. So 9lbs off in 6 weeks now 😊 Aiming for a full stone in total by the end of Feb.

Mr C isn't feeling well this morning so he's still in bed and I am having a nice cup of tea in a cafe that we used to come to often, but which he's now taken against for various reasons. Plotting and scheming and making a meal plan 😁

Cheery_Daff

Oh, and I meant to say we did have some charity shop purchases yesterday. Mr C bought some musical equipment, and I bought a pair of winter boots for £9 (Rocket Dog and in good condition - a replacement for another pair which I'll now chuck). Also bought a ridiculous fluffy poncho/cape for £4 which is SO cosy we might just ditch the central heating altogether 😂😂 (not literally, before anyone starts lecturing about damp 😂😂)

OOh, and I bought a lovely bushy pot of rosemary in Mr W for £1.80 - a bargain compared to a garden centre. My last one died last winter which I'm sad about as it was a cutting from our old house. But this one can grow nice and big and strong 😊 I'll repot it this afternoon and it can live in the greenhouse (possibly wrapped in fleece) til the spring 😊

KajiKita

Plants have this thing where they have direct kinship with each other, so that new rosemary is the cousin of the cutting from your old house and will be sharing information about the garden, the weather, the insects and you, with your old plant … 😉
(Well maybe, 😊 it’s a thought I comfort myself with when I have to replace a special plant … 😉).

KK

Merlin's_Beard

Impressive work on the yoga!

Cheery_Daff

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81874326#Comment_81874326

Ha, I shall tell myself that too 😂

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81874374#Comment_81874374

Thank you! 😊

Forgot to say I also found an excellent garden bargain - four sturdy wooden folding garden chairs, £8 each. I like to have lots of different seating areas, and am forever carting chairs between them, so this is great. Also more comfortable for sitting on my little patio, so I'll swap them for the metal chairs 😊

House insurance due next month - just reminding myself that 26 days out is 10th Feb (next Tuesday). Not had the renewal price through the post yet, hopefully this week, and hopefully substantially cheaper!

Cheery_Daff

This weekend is very cheerful but not remotely productive so far 😂 so I need a list!

MORNING

⭐ yoga

⭐ breakfast

⭐ washing on

⭐ outside - grass by gate, compost out, greenhouse pottering, maybe shifting some stones

AFTER LUNCH

⭐ washing hung up

⭐ tidy study

⭐ unpack

⭐ bit of batch cooking

⭐ finances

EVENING

⭐ flute

⭐ maybe something crafty

Of course I imagine that will all be derailed by Mr C getting up and suggesting we go out for breakfast 😬😂 I am unable to resist so must try to get a few things done before that happens!

Cheery_Daff

Getting there!

MORNING

✅ yoga

✅ breakfast

✅ washing on

✅ outside - grass by gate, compost out, greenhouse pottering, maybe shifting some stones

AFTER LUNCH

✅ washing hung up

✅ tidy study

⭐ unpack

⭐ bit of batch cooking

✅ finances

EVENING

✅ flute

⭐ maybe something crafty

Flagging a bit now. We did pop out in the end, to try a new cafe - Mr C not impressed with the coffee so we won't be going back 😬

Got some stuff done outside. Set my potatoes chitting in the greenhouse, repotted the supermarket rosemary, and sorted out the mess the plumber left in the grass, which also sorted out the lake building outside the gate.

Not perfect but it'll do for now. Gate on the left leads to the house. Concrete on right of picture is an old cracked garage base - there's a channel down the side and a spring/well at the bottom so everything's running towards there anyway. It's also a public footpath so can't just turn the whole lot into a bog garden unfortunately 😂 But in the torrential downpour this afternoon the water did seem to be heading in the right direction so it's a start 😂

Cheery_Daff

Also the banking app is back online so I've shuffled money about and topped up the pots, which now stand as follows:

SAVINGS POTS

• Holidays: £912
• Home & garden: £536.43
• Dentist & medical: £395.90
• Presets: £91.35

Might stop the dentist & medical pot at £500 (if it gets there! I've got a filling in a couple of weeks & who knows what will happen after that) and add the spare to the home & garden pot instead.

ANNUAL BILLS

• Cars: £567.36
• LPG: £475.22
• Web hosting: £40
• House insurance: £900
• TV licence: £30.50

Car insurance just paid this month, next MOT due May (then Sept for the other car). We add £250 a month so it does add up pretty quickly.

Checked LPG the other day, had 55% left. Usually order when it's down to 40 and they can take 28 days to deliver, although the last twice they've delivered the day after my order. Not anticipating ordering for at least another couple of weeks, and even if it arrives straight away, they won't invoice til the end of March, so there'll be plenty in there.

Web hosting still needs sorting out, not my job.

House insurance due 8th March, going to get quotes this week. Not had renewal yet, but it'll likely come in the post, not by email, hopefully soon. That should be plenty, and there may be some spare.

LONG TERM SAVINGS

• £2590

Enough to replace one of the cars, but not enough for a heat pump! 😂 So if we do go ahead, that'll be on a 0% card.

Probably enough financial shenanigans for tonight, need to go and make some tea!

Queen_of_the_Hive

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81876142#Comment_81876142

Oh Cheery! LOVE, LOVE your photos. Reminds me of growing up. I think from your descriptions you are not too far away from where I grew up but no longer live. Always very green, sheep and lots of hills! Well done on starting the gardening. I'd started very simple and bought strawberry seeds last weekend and have them on the windowsill in the dining room. Its a suntrap but the whole house is cold at the moment. So we will see how they do. Do you have a traditional greenhouse? Its on my bucket list, maybe not in this house as the garden is teeny tiny but maybe if I move.

Cheery_Daff

I do indeed have a traditional greenhouse, 8ft x 6 ft, donated by a super kind MSE-er who was moving house quite a few years ago and very much appreciated and cherished 😊 Very impressed we managed to dismantle, transport, and reassemble without breaking anything 😂 obviously several panes have broken since but are being replaced with plexiglass so if they blow out I can just retrieve them rather than picking broken glass out of the lawn 😬

How lovely that you grew up round here 🥰 well, assuming it IS the same place of course 😂 I'm probably not as secretive as I should be about the general area 😬 Do give me a shout if you're ever visiting this way!