Living the Good Life - mortgage free and living in line with our values

themadvix

I've not heard of Hexeal, will check them out. I love Hodmedods, but not had to order direct yet as my refill shop sells their stuff. Just spotted the typos in the web address earlier - now corrected, although I'm sure you worked it out!

greenbee

I bulk buy the paprika split yellow peas as snacks ☺️

themadvix

greenbee said:

I bulk buy the paprika split yellow peas as snacks ☺️

They sound delicious... I think I probably need to stay away from them!

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Have had a productive, but tiring day. Four cabbages have now been blanched and frozen or turned into coleslaw. Rhubarb is soaking in syrup, in preparation for bottling tomorrow, field beans have been podded and frozen (and I won't bother with them again). Still need to trim garlic and try to wire it for storage. Have also done two bits of work for main client and started another. Man came to fit fibre broadband, but the Openreach folks (actually subcontractors) hadn't done their job properly, so we're still not fibre-installed. Brickie has just arrived to finish the repointing. Mr MV has been off and has done various jobs. Mum popped round for a cuppa on her way on holiday - she dropped off a brand new duvet for us to have for the bed she's just given us.

Finances-wise, I've started a business bank account application with the Coop. So far, so good, and they've been helpful on web chat. I also authorised the transfer of my Skippy LISA, but the lady suggested I open an easy access account to maintain my membership - on a closer look, I saw they had a Bonus saver account that was paying 4.5%, so have transferred my tax/pension savings into there from Atom (where it was getting a measly 2.something%) - feeling very satisfied with this as it's currently quite a substantial pot of money (I was earning £25/month from it with Atom!). The amount in there will go down quite a bit once I've transferred this year's LISA and pension contributions out, but it'll still be a decent sum. Downside is interest is annual, but I can live with that (it goes to long-term savings anyway) - it's actually a bit less financial admin every month (although I do enjoy the transfer, as I'm sure we all do!).

Mr MV has been put in touch with someone who transitioned into an area of work he'd like to get into. A lovely email from this person, with lots to think about. Potentially expensive but transformative times ahead. Definitely something for him to ponder and us to plan for for the next year (potentially training would be required, so too late to consider for this year).

MS things:
* Clicks and HW - decent win (for baby HW) with one bookie and £5 transferred out and into HP savings.
* 1P surveys - now at 1883
* Prolific - now at £17, with £1 pending

Gratitudes:
* It's Friday!
* The kitchen looks clearer now I've removed cabbages, beans and rhubarb from the sides!
* In-laws will arrive soon for a drink and a fire in the garden (and probably a takeaway)

Have a good evening all!

themadvix

Morning all,
 Just enjoying a cuppa in the hammock and the garden. Had a lovely evening Friday - was good to see in-laws as hadn’t seen them since their holiday. Fish and chip tea for us (the others had Chinese) - about £10 according to Mr MV, although he only has a battered sausage and we shared a regular chips which didn’t feel like much (but was probably enough).
I cleaned and wired my garlic yesterday, which I find to be an immensely satisfying job. Need to get a hook/nail in the wall to hang them on though. That’s at least a year’s worth of garlic sorted, including the cloves for next year - this is the second year we’ve been self-sufficient in garlic. I also planted more leeks (definitely not self-sufficient as I bought the seedlings from the garden centre) and some calabrese (also bought). Bottled 4 jars of rhubarb in syrup too (about 1.3kg).
 Dinner last night was bolognese, and we’ll have stir fry tonight - had a real craving for bolognese as we’d not had it for ages, so that scratched that itch.
 Bought milk and eggs yesterday, so not a NSD. Only have £3.90 of my reduced grocery budget left until Friday. But cancelled Monday’s milk as I bought four pints at Coop. Might use the last of the open yoghurt and some milk to make some more yoghurt.
 Clicks and HW were done yesterday and I’m keeping up with surveys (although quiet at the weekend).
Off for a paddle somewhere new today and then the Grand Prix (we love Spa), the cricket and the football to watch this afternoon/tonight… and I’ve got to help Mr MV find a ‘simple purlin’ amongst all the bits of caravan plywood….🤷🏼‍♀️

Have a good day all!

rtandon27

Loving the tales of your harvested bounty Vix!

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Thanks RT - I'm finally feeling on top of it (temporarily, I'm sure), so it's become pleasurable, rather than just an added stressor!

Yesterday went pretty much to plan - didn't go looking for the simple purlin, but we'll blame that on a delayed GP and extended football. Had a lovely nap during the GP. Paddling was nice, but we'd not do the same route again - the water didn't feel like it was the cleanest and the route was ultimately blocked by two fallen trees and we'd already navigated around quite a few more. That being said, we'd go downriver from where we were towards the city - the flow wasn't so strong that coming back upriver would be an issue and it was pleasanter in that direction and no trees. Lovely village to park in though and had a cuppa and shared a slice of cake afterwards at a local cafe. Lunch was pesto pasta (using long-frozen carrot-top pesto from the freezer) and dinner was a stir fry - almost entirely homegrown.

Coop biz bank account application completed this morning, although there will be (foreseen) issues - ID and name don't match as I operate my business in my maiden name. I was assured that this is doable by the web chat person I spoke to - they'll just want further information (i.e. marriage certificate).

Workwise, I'm onto my second short piece of work for main client today. Both bits have been very straightforward which makes a pleasant change. Have also invoiced for a big cat-sitting job (had to add the hyphen there - I'm not branching out into big cats!) and am awaiting an email address to send a second cat-sitting invoice.

The roofer is currently here fixing the roof, so that's another thing ticked off a to-do list somewhere. It also means the HP fund is down to £889.85. Boo!

MS things:
* Bread baked
* Some jam buns made - using a gifted jar of gooseberry jam (we're unlikely to eat it as jam). Actually it was gifted to my mum who didn't want it, so I said we'd use it....
* Fed the plants, picked two cucumbers - one for pickling, one for eating, a handful of blueberries, some tomatoes
* Clicks and HW - no wins today, but a few pence closer to payout with VB
* 1P and PA surveys done
* CC bill received and paid
* £170 transferred from Tandem 'long-term savings' pot to ISA (which is a pain so I wait till it's built up a bit in there before I transfer over).
* Mr MV had another £20 Ebay sale

Gratitudes:
* Lovely glimpses of a heron and a very low-flying buzzard yesterday
* Friendly people in the cafe we stopped at
* By some miracle the Lionesses won last night!
* A good school friend and her children will be able to join our other friend, her kids, Niece and I for a day out on Monday

Have a good afternoon all!

themadvix

Morning all,

Simple purlin found and Mr MV now has the next step ready to go in the teardrop build. We also popped to the allotment - intended to plant broccoli but realised we'd not taken the wool pellets to deter the slugs, so they came home with us. We did look at my poor plum tree which has lost a couple of major branches due to the weight of the plums. One is hanging on, so we've left that, but another had gone completely, so we disentangled it, removed all the plums and chopped the branch up - clearing space for my allotment neighbours to get round the edge of their plot. The dining table is now full of carefully selected (i.e. not too small, not damaged, on their way to being ripe) plums - as per the photo. Whether they'll ripen is unknown at this point. I'd stick some bananas with them, but we don't have any at the moment (hg blueberries on my porridge instead). The tree still has a lot more to come though, so it'll be a big job bottling/jamming them (as well as eating fresh, giving some away etc.) when they ripen. We had a first tiny one off the tree yesterday and it was delicious.

This all took rather longer than planned, so we had bean burgers from the freezer with smashed potatoes and coleslaw for dinner (hg potatoes and cabbage).

I've got a big project from main client to start on today (but platform we have to use is down for maintenance currently), and I need to feed a cat and return a cat key (when it's stopped raining). 

Cash LISA transfer has completed, so I can now pay in this year's allocation. Just need to decide where to put my money - Cash LISA, S&S LISA (which is with ethically dubious company) or pension (new NEST one, but will leave the rest in my ethically dubious SIPP for now). (To be clear, investments are as ethical as they can be - which isn't very in reality - but the platforms (Nutmeg and Vanguard) do not come out well - too much investment in fossil fuels generally, and excessive director pay). I think it'll be a roughly third split each way. Never sure whether filling LISA is better or worse than putting money in pension...

MS things:
* Mr MV has taken a cheese and coleslaw sandwich and a jammy bun for lunch (he's also started tracking his spending so we can see what we'd need to cut back on if he went back to school for a year/took a much lower paid job)
* My lunch will also be a cheese and coleslaw sandwich (coleslaw will then be used up; there's half a cabbage in the fridge, but I'm trying to eke out the carrots as they could do with a bit longer in the ground - may have to give up and buy some soon!)
* Dinner will be gigantes plaki - butter beans are soaking - to use up passata opened on Saturday
* Made yoghurt to use the last scrapings from the pot - wasn’t sure there’d be enough to culture all the milk, but it seems to have worked.

* Just had a blitz of small PA surveys - if pending clears to some extent, will be over £20 for the month
* 1P at 1938... so close now
* Clicks and HW - 6p won!

Gratitudes:
* Mr MV's help with the plum tree (any time Mr MV comes to the allotment, I'm grateful - it's firmly *my* allotment according to him)
* A quick catch up with Mum who has been visiting family this weekend
* Our lovely roofer - we were chatting about the wonders of solar etc.!

Have a lovely day all!

 

themadvix

Scrap the dinner plans - I’ve found the avocados need eating, so think dinner will be avocado based… We’re out tomorrow, so might have to freeze the passata. Will cook the butter beans when they’ve soaked and they should be ok for Thursday. Just need to work out what to do with the avos tonight… Only one egg and half a pepper, so with egg on toast or in fajitas won’t work (my usual go-tos). Any suggestions?

rtandon27

How about baked/coddled egg in half the pepper with an avo/pepper salsa to accompany?