Bricks Not Books

VintageHistorian · 5 April 2018 at 9:12PM

Hope you had a lovely Easter SW! I'm rationing my eggs so hopefully I won't need to buy much chocolate this month.

I made the mistake of doing my Easter visits at the end. On Sunday we drove over to my parents for Sunday lunch. It was lovely to see everyone, Eldest Little Sister was back from university, and I met my brother's girlfriend. She's very nice, few years younger than him but definitely more mature. She also informed us that when she first met my brother he was "charming" :rotfl: First and last time anyone will describe my brother with that adjective.

Then on Monday my in-laws came round. FIL and DH put the new skirting boards up in the office while I talked to MIL, and then we drove to a nice place for lunch.

But we had to get up early-ish on Monday morning to be presentable when in-laws arrived, and me and DH didn't sleep very well Monday night, so I was already feeling very worn out by Tuesday afternoon. Should have had the visits on the first two days and the other two days to relax. In the end I asked my manager if I could work from home today as well as Friday and since it's so quiet she said yes.

So this morning I had a small lie-in (until 8am) before starting work. I also managed to do some laundry and set it out to dry in the sunshine, and went for a walk at lunchtime. After I logged off for the day I then unpacked and photographed every single piece of wedding china, so I can list it all as one big lot on Facebook, and then repacked it in some cardboard boxes so the plastic ones can go back to my parents. Glad it's all sorted out, now just need to sell it.

Just sat down and did a money shuffle. Almost got enough saved for the car's cambelt so that's a positive. Sent an OP of £65.29 - our standard £30 plus £35.29 from Quidco. Just need my expenses from work to be paid and that will be it for this month. Car needs to be my focus instead.

Oh and I've bought a desk from Argos. I've had my eye on a lovely one at IKEA but it was just too expensive in the end. Got a corner one from Argos with 20% off as they're having a home furnishings sale. Just need to finish off the skirting board and get a new carpet put in and then the desk can be assembled. Then I'll finally be able to unpack all my boxes :eek: And God help me if I don't unpack them all as I think DH might get a bit sarcastic!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

savingwannabe · 6 April 2018 at 4:44AM

Good morning, your family sounds great. Sorry it wore you out though. It is so difficult managing to balance it all. It sounds like a good idea to change the timing of it for next year though.

lt's good that you have started the photos and selling of the china. Do remember to keep a piece of the special day. Great news on the OP.

I wouldn't even know where to start to put a desk together. That's when you call your friends in. Get on the phone girlfriend.

:j:beer:

Have a good Friday. I'm marking all day.

VintageHistorian · 8 April 2018 at 3:52PM

We've got two of the full sets my MIL managed to collect for our wedding day SW, and I've kept aside a few extra cake plates with a nice pattern and two cake stands. Looking forward to doing some kind of anniversary afternoon tea in the future

No interest so far in the china, but I live in hope. If necessary I'll sign back up to some Facebook selling boards near my parent's place and list them there.

Desk has arrived, at 20:50 on Friday! Argos were using Yodel and we were second from last on the delivery list. So good that it's arrived but did mean I had to stay in all day Friday. They didn't give me an estimated time but did tell me how many people were in front of me. However the number wasn't moving down at a particularly steady rate so I couldn't work out when the most likely time for delivery was, if they'd said we were nearly last I could have gone out.

But nevermind, me and DH had to go out yesterday anyway. So we went to Homebase for some masonary nails and white paint, to a carpet shop to buy carpet and book a fitting (in 2 weeks time, so the office is now almost finished), and then Mr W and Mr T for food. As usual with me taking DH the food shopping came in well over budget due to extra things being added to the trolley, but he paid for the slightly more expensive shop so I'm not complaining too loudly. He also paid for the carpet and fitting in one go so I've transferred my share to him this afternoon.

Once the carpet is down then the desk can be assembled, and then I can start setting up my little office corner! Must remember to buy some shelving quickly too as I have a lot of folders that need to be stowed away safely. DH also needs to get his bookcases brought over from his parents place so he can unpack the remainder of his books. Then we just have the smallest bedroom to do, and to consider if there's any cheap/easy changes we can make to the kitchen to improve it a bit.

Nice easy dinner yesterday of pizza, and tonight is steak baguettes (with some extra chips for DH).

Have a good week everyone!

savingwannabe · 9 April 2018 at 9:53AM

Hurrah for new office. Gosh you have such busy weekends. I feel so lazy in comparison. I am sure the lovely porcelain will be sold eventually - summer is the best time for weddings so when you relist it will sell for sure.

Just think in a few weeks it'll be sunny and bright and we can all sit in our gardens. Your food always sounds great. Yum. Have a good week my friend.

VintageHistorian · 29 April 2018 at 8:49PM

I'm back! Had our lovely anniversary holiday to Disneyland Paris! It was really nice, although sadly I learned that rollercoasters with loop-the-loops now make me travel sick

Never used to be like that! Growing up is no fun. So we went on Pirates of the Caribbean a lot, and It's a Small World several times, and squeezed in other rides in between. We also came back with some Euros left so I need to get mine swapped back to £££ this week.

We left my car at my parent's place as my Dad drove us to the station for the train to King's Cross. Much easier than going from our house. But after a few days on the drive my brother noticed my car had a flat tyre :eek: Turns out it was a slow puncture from a screw in it. Was worried I would have to pay for a new tyre as I only got that one replaced in the summer and it was a Goodyear so bloody expensive. But the tyre place took a look yesterday and managed to get the screw out and patch up the tyre, so no need to pay for a replacement yet.

Still an expensive month this month though as car needs it's 60k service, I've bitten the bullet and booked it in for Friday.

And in other news my expenses for work were paid while we were away, and DH got a full refund for a cancelled train in February, so I made an additional OP of £65.92. That makes April's total £131.21 :T

Leftover holiday money will be going on the car so we'll see what May brings with OP cash! Back to work tomorrow, I don't want to go :rotfl:

Have a good week everyone!

VintageHistorian · 7 May 2018 at 8:34PM

What a lovely bank holiday weekend. I have not been particularly productive :rotfl:

Saturday our town had a "sale trail", basically for £5 you could be included in a map of the area advertising that you would be selling stuff outside your house that day. Like an American yard sale, but more organised and with the £5 payments going to the Mayor's Fund for use in future charity events. So I went for a walk in the morning and ended up buying a DVD (Bridget Jones' Baby) for 10p (not a typo) and a strawberry plant for £2. Was hoping someone would have tomato plants but no such luck.

Yesterday I spent the morning cleaning out my old PC tower (once I worked out how to take the side off) as it's been sitting gathering dust for near three years and I didn't want to switch it on without attempting to clean the fan. Had none of the tools recommended on the Youtube video I saw but I improvised and managed to get the worst of the dust off. Then connected it all up (completely forgot what the monitor cable looked like and thought it was an old laptop charger, glad I didn't throw it away!) and switched it. Had to update a lot of things but it's working, which means I now have a full working copy of Microsoft Office at my fingertips!

Today I did a bit of history blog scheduling and spent the afternoon playing on the computer. DH mowed the lawn and checked my tyre pressure, so that's all fine.

Car had it's 60k service on Friday and boy is it going to cost me :eek: £150 for the full service, plus they confirmed that the cambelt needs doing (not surprising and have the money saved). They also found that the brake pads and discs are very worn and won't make the next MOT. So expensive cambelt is booked for the end of May (can't remember if it's £350 or £450 but either way, it's costly), and pads and discs booked for the beginning of June when I've next been paid. They also found an oil leak, but it's only small and fixing it would involve removing the clutch and gearbox to get to it :eek: Since it's only a little leak I just have to remember to keep an eye on the oil level and top it up. Removing all that would be very expensive.

No real plans for this month. Did want to try and visit a few places in the local area but with the car needing work I don't want to push my luck and drive too much on top of what I already do. Might see about getting the train to Norwich with DH one Saturday.

But at least I had the money saved up and set to one side for all this work, thank God for the planning I did back in January!

Made an OP of £30.58 this evening, standard £30 plus a TT of £0.58, will need to get my thinking cap on for the rest of the month!

Have a lovely week everyone!

savingwannabe · 7 May 2018 at 9:19PM

OMG the weekend has been glorious even if I have been working for most of it at home. Your post deserves plenty of congratulations:

A dvd for 10p????? Well done.

The strawberry plants are a great investment and will grow every year, good on you.Car boots usually sell tomato plants at bargain prices. Having said that maybe a nice neighbour or work colleague can give you some tomato plants?

I'm glad that you did some blogging too.

Well done on TT and OP. All in all it's been a great weekend for you too.

As for your work on the computer I am v impressed. You have saved some money there.

The car sounds like it's going to be expensive though. I hope you have a good week and you can make the most of the fabulous weather.

VintageHistorian · 27 May 2018 at 11:44AM

Another Bank Holiday weekend and boy did I need it! Haven't been sleeping properly for the past few weeks and it was really catching up with me. I think it's because the brighter mornings are waking me up earlier. We have blinds and curtains in our bedroom but still a lot of light gets through, in winter I was sleeping until 10am on weekends when I was very tired, now I can barely get past 8:30! Not good when I'm getting up at 5:45 weekday mornings

Expenses got paid last week so I moved £17.22 plus a TT of £5.31 to the mortgage. I just need another £7 to hit £60 this month and I've been fairly good about not spending this month so I should get that without a problem.

Car has had it's cambelt replaced, came in under £400 so I'm happy with that. Got to go back for brake pads and discs on Friday, but that can come out of June's wages. Car tax comes out in July I think, and insurance in August, so I think my "holiday" savings will have to be put through as car savings for the next two months, just to keep the fund topped up. Not like me and DH are going anywhere until next April anyway (and we're not even sure where we'll go yet).

Strawberry plant now has some companions, the other week me and DH went to the garden centre and I ended up buying two tomato plants, a cucumber plant, a red pepper plant, and a baby corn plant, and seeds for radishes and carrots. All potted up and placed outside and so far I'm remembering to water them. We'll see if any of them survive a summer under my not-so-green thumb!

No real plans for this long weekend. We went up to a nature reserve yesterday for a walk around, which was very nice. Saw my first ever snake in the wild :eek: Pretty sure it was a grass snake but still hurried by very quickly lest it come back to see what me and Mr VH taste like :rotfl:

Have a lovely long weekend everyone!

savingwannabe · 27 May 2018 at 5:18PM

Well done on additions to the garden. Yuk to grass snake. I don't like them either. Gosh on the costs of the car. Glad it is sorted though.

Have a lovely bank holiday. I am waiting for the sun to cool down as it's too warm to mow.

VintageHistorian · 13 June 2018 at 9:45PM

So I completely forgot to move £7 out of my account at the end of May

So total OP for May was £53.11

So far June is totalling £45.50, which is the £30 standard plus £2.87 from Quidco, £5.03 in TT, and £7.60 for a train refund for DH as one of his trains came in 40 minutes later the other week. I've also put in a claim for £20.25 in expenses so once work pay that we'll break the £60 mark for this month.

July will be a big expenses month as I have to travel in to London for work at the end of June. £50 for a peak-time ticket (must be at the venue by 8:30am at the latest) plus around £4 for parking = £££ expenses claim.

I've had to take today as a sick day as I was feeling really run down and worn out. Been struggling to get to sleep recently and I might be coming down with DH's cold from last week. Either way I felt dreadful yesterday so left work early, woke up this morning and just felt so tired. But after a day dozing in bed I'm feeling brighter this evening, so I'll go back to the office tomorrow and then I work from home on Fridays so a few extra hours in the morning will help.

Parents are visiting this weekend, still up in the air about whether any of my siblings will join them. Eldest little sister was a "maybe", youngest little sister is busy revising for her maths A-Level exams so she's said no, I assume my brother won't be coming unless the thought of a picnic tempts him out :rotfl: But it'll be nice to see at least some of them.

Speaking of parents DH went back to his last week to pack up the last of his books. MIL arranged a man with a van to collect the boxes and the bookcases and then she and FIL drove DH up with the van following. The second bedroom now has two walls covered in bookcases and DH has unpacked all of his books, over a year after moving in :j Now we just need to unpack my boxes and then we'll be able to paint and carpet the smallest bedroom! Then it will be carpeting the stairs and hallway, and then we'll be done until we save up enough to get the kitchen or garden done. I suspect the smallest bedroom will be completed by...Christmas? :rotfl:

Oh and this evening I've paid £150 for the TV licence so that I can watch the World Cup. DH doesn't think it's worth it, but we can also then watch the new Dr Who when it comes out, and I can watch next year's Eurovision

Have a good weekend everyone!

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