Renewed focus: the (less-than?) five-year plan to move

themadvix

Morning all,

Cracking on with second piece of work for main client this morning, having just returned the first piece. Washing has been done - need to get it on the line without disturbing B&W Cat, who will start shouting to go out (we always know he's better when he's more insistent about this). Forecast is for showers for a couple of hours from now, but it's looking OK at the moment and I just need to get it out - if it stays out overnight, so be it.

Have checked Ylive and I'm £4 from payout, so going to keep focus on that and try to get over the line there.

Dinner last night was fresh pasta and sauce (not very MSE as it was MnS, but Mr MV picked it up on the way home, and MnS was en route and he's still not feeling well). Tonight I'm going to attempt dal in the IP and flatbreads from the freezer. Think I'll just bring the cooling leftovers into the living room with us so that any visitors can't get to them (I don't think we have visitors anymore, so I'm just being super cautious until the pest control man has been on Friday and Mr MV has blocked up the entrances).

MS things:
* Have discovered that Ginger's current food (before he changes his mind) is available in-store locally and is cheaper than online (and also in manageable quantities, given the fickleness of our cats these days). The trays that we ordered for Ginger that he now won't touch are being delivered today, but fortunately these are the ones that B&W Cat is now back on - we're really struggling to keep up here!
* Ginger also refused to take his tablets last night - before I got the prescription fulfilled (although after I paid £27 for the bit of paper). We are not too bothered about this as we didn't really like the effect they were having - super sleepy (to be expected, but not really fair on him) - given they are just for a bit of pain relief (his arthritis isn't that severe from how he behaves/what the vet can feel). Think we will just give it a few more days without pain relief and revert to the NSAIDs he was on (vet took him off because of sickness, but he's not been sick in 2.5 weeks now and we've changed his diet to eliminate the sickness, which seems to be working). If the sickness returns, I'll go back to the vet.
* PA survey
* VB clicks

Gratitudes:
* B&W Cat is eating - lots and without me sitting over him - this makes me SO happy and I feel like a big weight has lifted - the chances of our night away in October happening have massively increased
* Evening class catch-up tonight and discussion about what we do going forward (teacher wants to wind up class, so three of us need to find alternative)
* Plenty of work

Have a good day all!

themadvix

Morning all,

The sun is shining here again today and I've got washing on the line again. Yesterday's didn't get showered upon, so that was great. I'm currently finishing up a piece of work for main client and then I intend to load the car up and go to the dump - we have a pile of stuff in the back garden that needs to go (including a cardboard box that the bin men declined to take 😏) and it will feel good to get rid of it (carefully checking for meeces as I load it into the car 🙄).

Cat update, feel free to skip: B&W Cat still doing well; Ginger Cat much brighter now all the gabapentin out of his system but he was sick in the night with flecks of blood in it 🙄 Vet says to monitor and let them know if it happens again, but otherwise to continue with the new diet. He was fine about taking him off the gaba - so that's a small saving. Ginger also back to enjoying the dry food (suspect it was just too much hard work to eat when he was so doped up), which is good news as the wet stuff on its own would work out expensive (I've only just realised how much of it he should be having!).

Dinner last night was a IP dal (did have to buy some onions) and the remaining flatbread from the freezer. There's enough dal left to go with a roll each (from the freezer) for lunch and I've got some tofu out for a tofu rice bowl for dinner.

Popped to the allotment yesterday afternoon and picked some beans and did some weeding. Lots to harvest there, but until I have more kitchen space, I'd rather leave it there. Dried beans have been put away immediately and the french ones are in the fridge, ready for blanching/eating. I think there'll be a good harvest of butter beans in the end - it's been a super slow season so far though. Baby corn is looking good now, which is great and everything's put on a growth spurt with the rain (including my calabrese, which is exciting!).

MS things:
* 1P surveys - now at 1593
* £2 YLive survey - so now £2 away from pay out
* VB poll and HW clicks (nothing much doing there - think I might just cash out and be done with it)
* Clearly my evening class isn't going to take place any more - need to discuss whether we meet informally to keep up with it, but either way, I won't need to be saving so much for it in future. This money can be reallocated to other pots/savings.

Gratitudes:
* Lovely to see evening class friends last night and we enjoyed a bottle of alcohol free red wine. Red wine usually makes me feel awful the next day, but this hasn't so that's a big win - it tasted good too.
* Sun shine!
* Cats are eating properly (haven't heard back from B&W Cat's vet yet)

Have a good day all!

Jessy103

Happy to hear b&w cat is doing well and hope ginger cat is on the mend too. What a worry they are! Blooming animals! X

themadvix

Morning all,

Thanks Jessy - yes, definitely a worry! So far so good today though, bar B&W Cat spitting his chemo (he's decided gnashing his teeth while i have my fingers in his mouth is the new technique to stop the pills! 😬).

Did further mattress research last night (was temporarily put on hold because of mice) - but need a spreadsheet as I can't remember five minutes afterwards we've discussed it why a particular one has been discounted by us… And all the reviews are conflicting… It's so difficult!

Man is here doing a little fix-it job on the car. I don't know if I mentioned but some time ago (maybe a year?) I had a minor disagreement with a VM box outside my mum's house. Anyway, finally got around to sorting it out with a mobile paint/bodywork specialist. He's charging just under what I had saved for it, so that's perfect. Because the bodywork is aluminium, there's no rust, so it wasn't a huge rush to get it sorted. The remainder of the money will go into the house savings, naturally. Mr MV did ask if I wanted to pay to get it sorted (it's unnoticeable unless you're looking) - but as we will want to sell the car at some point to get one with a tow bar, it makes sense to keep it in as good a condition as possible. If he does a good job, I'll definitely be keeping his number - much more reasonable than a bodyshop (which would want to replace the entire bumper).

Lots of work today - 3 bits for main client and a tricky bit for UK client (I'm just having a quick break as my brain was turning to mush). Popped to bakery first thing for a loaf as still no baking allowed… I might have bought a bun to share with Mr MV too - I have no self-control for good pastry! It was the cheapest one available…

MS things:
* YLive survey - now at payout! 🥳
* Hotel booked (fully refundable) for our overnight to France in a few weeks. Opted for cheaper hotel, further out, as it will be cheaper to split a cab between us and our friends than stay in the city centre.
* Clicks and HW

Gratitudes:
* Yummy bun from the bakery
* Lots of work
* Garden looks much less like Steptoe's yard now I've been to the dump

Have a good day all!

themadvix

Ooh YG emailed me to ask me to verify my identity with the enticement of being able to cash out at £25 - sold! Especially as I already had the points 😊 So I now have a £25 JL voucher (likely to be used for groceries). I don't agree with these verification things, but I can see the need for them and frankly they were a lot more transparent about what was going to happen with my data than PA were, so I didn't mind so much (also, had to do it the other day for something governmenty or banky, I think, so beginning to realise it's the way things are going).

South_coast

I did it the other day as well. Cash is still only an option at £50 though 🙁

themadvix

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82140372#Comment_82140372

Yes, that was a bit annoying, but I’ll just move the money from the groceries pot as I use the voucher.

South_coast

That's a good shout 👍

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Friday - hooray! We will be going for a drink this evening with BIL and SIL. It will be a much more celebratory drink, however, after a much better week than last week!

In the meantime, I'm still busy with work for main client - finishing up one piece now and then have a fresh item to work on. It is good to be busy. Awaiting expected arrival at some point of the 'mouse man' - not sure what he'll be doing today (I think we get another visit after this?). No sign of the little visitors for a while though.

Have ordered a mattress and some new bedding (as we're upgrading from a double to a king-sized it all needs replacing - with single duvets, so it's not that straightforward). Not a cheap exercise, especially as I want organic cotton 😬 I have used TCB and signed up to a website to get 15% off the mattress protector. The spreadsheet helped Mr MV and I come to a conclusion about which mattress - still not 100% sold, but hopefully it will be good and it's got a 100-night trial, so we can always change our minds (they are not taking our old mattress away - if we can find somewhere to store it, we'll keep it and the bed in case we have a proper spare room at the next house). All money for bed and bedding is coming from the earnings from US client earlier in the year - I've kept the monies separate for a few specific projects (some of which we probably won't do now, with the moving plan - in which case it'll move to savings and/or act as a top up for earnings - with the same overall effect).

Weekend plans are to clear and clean the top-level kitchen cupboards (fortunately where all the food is and out of reach of mices), which will give me a great opportunity to inventory them ahead of using stuff up. Also allotment - need to strim, need to harvest some stuff (assuming I'll have better kitchen usage once mouse man has been and Mr MV has blocked some holes) and stake my sprouts. Mr MV is hoping to get the second door on the caravan this weekend (he's just popped down to do some varnishing before lunch) and then it'll be very nearly finished. There's plenty of gardening to do too, B&W Cat permitting (some vegan, hypoallergenic cat treats arrived yesterday and seemed to go down well with the boys, so possibly we can do a bit more garden time with B&W Cat and not stress quite as much).

MS things:
* Lots of small PA surveys
* 1P surveys
* TCB and 15% off voucher used
* We didn't opt for the most expensive of the mattresses we were looking at?!
* VB click and HW; have emptied one bookie account as they no longer do the freebie spins offer I used - £4-ish to savings (will probably do the same with another that is giving me nothing, but the third only has £1.52 in it, so will persevere there for a while

Gratitudes:
* Glad to have made a decision about mattress and got it ordered
* Cats liked their new treats
* Sunshine - it looks lovely out - will get a walk in on the way to the pub later, even if I don't get one down to the vets (meds, not sure which?, are ready).

Have a good afternoon all!

themadvix

Morning all,

Felt like we made some real progress at the weekend. The mini finally met the caravan and all the wiring works 😁 I spent some time down at the allotment, getting stuff tidied and picked. I made apple crumble using the remaining two OK apples from 'our' tree (at FIL's, where it is flourishing after several years of doing nothing in our front garden) - sadly the rest had gone mouldy (they arrived the day before we discovered the mice) and we ate veg lasagne (mostly using hg produce, including frozen passata) and courgette and hummus pasta (using up hg courgettes. I also blanched and froze a large batch of french beans and got all our new bedding washed. We also cleared caravan garage of tools and rubbish (including a tip trip), removed old bed frame to said garage and Mr MV tidied the home garage. Stuff has been ordered to block the mouse holes - hopefully we'll get onto that tonight. Some business website admin done and API for our upcoming overnight to France sorted.

B&W Cat's anti-sickness pills are working and he's continuing to eat well, despite not being on the appetite stimulant, so that's good (a bit more self-starting would be good, but he will go back on his own and is eating plenty). At £35/week (possibly per fortnight if we can string them out), it's not an affordable solution long-term, but I'm hoping we'll be able to reduce the chemo tablets at some point fairly soon, which is what makes him feel sick). In less good news, I've just booked Ginger Cat in for sedation, bloods, an ultrasound and a routine follow-up heart echo (recommended after he had one last year - but I wouldn't have bothered had he not been going in anyway - I don't think anything has changed). He was sick twice yesterday, so something is definitely not right there. 😭 The cost estimate for that is £1500, but at least the insurance will cover most of that. Just when it feels like we were making progress… He's also gone off the food he was eating, so have switched to another wet food (that we had 'in stock' from B&W Cat) and will need to order a different dry food (but avoiding this for today - having just received a second bag of the existing stuff!) - never would have thought he'd be this fussy.

Still busy with work, which is great - and some more expected from UK client soon too. Cat client's owner is back tomorrow, so will pop round Thursday (probably) to return key and get outstanding payment plus expenses reimbursed.

Really annoyingly, I popped to WR at the weekend and forgot to use my voucher to pay! There'll be other opportunities.

MS things:
* HW and clicks done
* Lots of hg food eaten and/or harvested/stored
* Mr MV identified several items in garage for Ebay (including items that have gone up considerably in value since he bought them!)
* YG survey
* 1P survey
* About to do an interview on PA for £15
* Portions of lasagne and crumble ready for tonight's dinner

Gratitudes:
* Sunshine - went for a brief walk this morning to enjoy the lovely light
* B&W Cat is eating well, so 🤞🏼 we can start stage one of drugs reduction on Friday as scheduled
* Caravan is so nearly ready now - although whether we'll manage to fit in a night away at this point is unknown…

Have a good day all!