Autumnal Achieving

PennysIntoPounds

Welcome to our OATs thread for the new season, please do join in if you haven't before, all welcome

This is where we are pleased with ourselves about small victories, inspire and motivate and remind each other of those life bits that we really should do, and try to tackle our OATs- Outstanding Annoying Tasks. You know, those home/admin/frankly daft things that you have been looking at for weeks/months/years.

Tis the season to be gently wholesome and improve our lot and get weights off our minds, just needing a little oomph here and there (autumnal pie and beer or your cosy equivalent as reward encouraged 😁🍻)

What are people hoping to have done before winter kicks in?

in_need_of_direction

get insulation into the one area of our roofspace left undone last year due to proximity to bees

amber03

Not a big thing, but waiting for all the free offers of apples to appear. Last year as the weather was so good everywhere was offers of free apples, which we took advantage of and had loads of portions of stewed apple in the freezer.

Also even tho the nights are slowly drawing in, I want to continue going for an evening walk, feel better for going for one.

twopenny

I haven't got the energy to type them all! But I've made a start.

Made jam, sorted out the free magazines for keep or bin, cleared out two drawers for what to keep and what to go to charity.

Stitched two items that have been waiting.

Stripped lavender (huge amount) for making lavender water and bags.

It doesn't sound much but I've not been well and it's been piling up.

To do - sort suitcase, life has changed, finish a half made fire surround, sand down garden table and paint, sell furniture items no longer needed. Family stuff so tough. And a load more but trying to keep it reasonable.

greenbee

Thanks for the new thread!

I'm hoping that the new builders actually turn up tomorrow. Starting with a planning meeting as I have to be out in the afternoon - they may be able to do some small bits, but I'm expecting them to start in earnest on Wednesday and am seriously hoping that I'll be in a position to say that the bulk of the work is done by the end of the month and there will just be the kitchen left to do.

In preparation I've been shifting rubble from the pile at the back of the shed to the pile in the drive that should be going into a skip soon. I'm pretty sure we'll need more than one skip, so am going to suggest that we get one soon to clear as much as we can as soon as we can as it'll improve the look of the place. And the parking/access. I still have bricks to clear from the back, but before I can do that I need to pull the perennial weeds out of the new beds I'm making, put another layer of cardboard on, and barrow a billion barrow loads of mulch onto the cardboard to hold it down instead of the bricks.

I've made progress on clearing the bits of the kitchen that are going to be taken away… but am going to ask the builders to prioritise sorting out the plant room and boot room so I have somewhere to store stuff. Still waiting for price/date on flooring so I can get that done and put my office back together.

I suppose I should do my tax return and put some effort into job hunting too.

Priorities for tomorrow (other than getting a plan out of the builders so I know when to book the electrician and heating engineer and when I'm going to have issues with the cat having access to the cat flap) are calling the mobile provider I'm trying to switch to as I don't seem to be getting their emails, and booking my car in for a service/MOT.

amber03

Forgot to say, summer clothes put away and winter clothes have been sorted. Surprised by how many jumpers I have.

PennysIntoPounds

Lovely aims and things already done folks!

Sorry to hear family things are tough @twopenny, hopefully getting some of those tasks done will help ease your mind and space a bit

My autumnal aim is to try to get a good balance between absolutely smashing all this ongoing build stuff and reintroducing some vague vestige of calm and mindful care into our life, I want to cook more and walk more and remember to enjoy the season- whilst being on it like a badass getting legal and practical stuff done. I'm going to need to review my wardrobe for outfits that say 'wolf of wall street but at her place in the country' 😁

BridgetTheCat

Hello! I’m new around here and this seems like a good place to post my ever-expanding Chores (OATs) list:

• Close Nationwide account 
• File paperwork 
• Find Travel Insurance 
• Cancel parents old mobile contracts
• Find new Broadband 
• blue badge renewals - mum’s and my own
• Organise Bedroom drawers 
• Clean and tidy Sewing room 

The ‘file paperwork’ task really needs to be done first though as some of the others depend on finding the right bit of paper!

Nothing very profound or exciting on my list but hopefully I’ll be able to cross a few things off soon 😁

KajiKita

The summer has been a write off for me due to the heat and lack of sleep etc. so it will be good to bring some refocus to my life.

~ Get all the spring bulbs in the ground or pots by end November - this includes recycling last year’s spring bulbs from last year’s pots and planting a lot of new ones. I need damp ground and frost to finish off the soft annuals to make some space as well. Thinking about it, a rough plan of what to plant where and some categorisation of them (pots, cutting patch, rough grass etc etc) would be a good idea … 🤔

~ Empty out the lavender pots on the patio and get them in the ground somewhere. They have been potted up for a while and are starting to look a bit wan. Not sure of where to put them yet, which is probably why it didn’t happen last year. 🤷‍♀️ Continue emptying out all the pots that have died this summer and decide how many are worth keeping / reusing. Probably not many if summers are going to continue like this one.

~ Tidy the garden of dead stuff and extraneous guff so it is calm and clear to go into winter and for working in next spring. (There will be plenty of dead stuff still standing for the wildlings - it’s more that I need to be selective about what to keep so late flowering things can still be seen - cutting back the huge purple loosestrife by the big pond, so I can see the colours of the Judas tree behind for example 😊).

~ Recut all edges of all beds. A long slow, boring but free job that pays huge dividends 😉

~ Clear and tidy my craft room and finally start using it! I have storage boxes coming - I have been dithering about these for months but finally made a decision a couple of days ago. Hope they work! I want to start doing 30 minutes in there of actual crafting two to three times a week, especially as the weather and the dark closes in, doing whatever takes my fancy … 😊

~ Landscape gardener will be coming again to turn and riddle my compost bins and I am going to ask him to cut the hedge behind the veggie patch, as I know he will take more care than Mr KK at catching the clippings, which is critical if I am not to end up with hawthorn thorns in my knees and hands next spring … (DAMHIK … 😢).

~ Cut back the rough grass under the apple trees and maybe remove some clumps to make space for the Flax plants that are STILL volunteering in my cut flower bed - never ever grow this wild and crazy plant somewhere you want to be relatively neat! 😂 Beautiful blue flowers, but OMG, soooo floppy! 😉

~ Get back to the gym and start training again. Have a complete mental block on this atm. Cancel physio and focus on reducing cortisol / inflammation / guarding my sleep. I have managed to start upping my steps again, doing the daily fascia releasing practices, and am eating more protein again but my weight and my belly are just expanding … <sigh>

~ Tidy and declutter the house so it is a pleasant space to spend the Christmas period in and it might feel possible to invite people over.

I think that ^^ is enough! 😉

KK

PollyWollyDoodle

I have dipped a toe in the water here before but never came back… I need to get my house finished! It’s five years since I moved and I’ve done a lot in that time, but the lovely builder has now ghosted me (I don’t think it’s anything I’ve done, he’s just too busy with other projects). I really hate having workmen in the house, I have hung on because he was so good and I felt comfortable with him. So:

guttering repairs (replacement really, who am I kidding).
get laminate flooring in largest bedroom because I have two cats and I’m sick of hoovering
Get that bedroom decorated. (I’ve decided climbing up and down stepladders is too much for me, and I’m not very good at it anyway. )
Find handyman to do things like hang a mirror (only been waiting since I moved), fix a pull cord switch and change the flush in the loo.
Find someone to fix shelving in downstairs cupboard so I can make it into a pantry 😄 - a long-held desire
Find a carpenter to finish the built-in cupboard that lovely builder was supposed to do.

The biggest barrier to all this is not the cost - I’ve been saving up - it’s my deep dislike of phoning tradespeople whom I don’t know. You wouldn’t think I have had a professional career in financial services! I need some accountability, and I am hoping this thread will help. I have been reading along since this started and I am very impressed by the progress made.

C_J

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82121450#Comment_82121450

@KajiKita I needed to plan a flower border too, so I photographed the existing space then asked ChatGPT to design it for me using the bulbs and shrubs I wanted to include. It took seconds to do and produced a great plan with extra planting I hadn’t thought of!