Cheery's country living adventure

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  • EssexHebridean
    EssexHebridean Posts: 21,372 Forumite
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    Eek - hope you get the electricity thing sorted Cheery! Electric heaters can indeed eat through power - we tend to put our hungrier ones on for an hour to take the chill off them use the less hungry oil-filled rad to keep it that way, using it on the thermostat so it clicks in and out as needed. Also need to be religiously careful about keeping doors closed in rooms where you're using extra heaters like that, we've found!

    Good news on the LPG pricing though - and th dampness beginning to dry out a bit too - throwing windows open everywhere whenever there is the least glimpse of sun will help massively with that, too!

    And hurrah to the cheque!
    🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
    Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00
    Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
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  • Cheery_Daff
    Cheery_Daff Posts: 15,710 Forumite
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    Yep, I think turning the heaters off will definitely help. We'd got into the habit of having them on and it was rather cosy... :o however they've been mostly off for a couple of days now and it's fine really (not quite as cosy but none of them are rooms we sit in anyway!)

    I did put it on for an hour in the study this morning, but shut the door properly too and it's stayed nice and warm. Hopefully that'll be the end of it. Must submit the reading today then I can compare it to next month's which will hopefully be much better too!

    Cheque paid into the bank so hopefully that will cash shortly and I can add it to signature :j :j
  • Cheery_Daff
    Cheery_Daff Posts: 15,710 Forumite
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    Now then good MSE folks :hello:

    I have an evening to do with as I please :j I have already eaten, and have about eleventy million things that I *could* be doing :rotfl: But let's try to make a plan...

    OUTSIDE
    * bring washing in
    * mow grass (this is likely to take me the entire evening as I am now the proud owner of a manual lawnmower and rather a lot of grass that is a teensy bit long for a manual lawnmower... :rotfl: )
    * more dry stone walling (this is always on the list, I try to do half an hour at the end of the evening as it's in a good place to watch the sun go down)
    * dig out recycling and put it at the end of the drive (must work out how long drive is, feels like at least a mile and a half when carrying a load of bin bags)
    * empty compost

    HOUSE TASKS
    * hoover living room, hall and bathroom at least

    OTHER CHORES
    * YNAB and banks
    * finish rewriting to do list
    * do at least one thing off to do list :D

    OTHER STUFF
    * practice musical things ready for rehearsal
    * catch up on latest installment of online natural history drawing course
    * finish online soil health course
    * do some work on my diploma
    * curl up on the sofa and nod off :D

    Quite clearly I'm not going to get ALL that done :rotfl: but it would be nice to finish the grass and I must get the recycling out and the washing in - I'll do those first, then grass, and then I might jump straight to dozing on the sofa :rotfl:
  • Greying_Pilgrim
    Greying_Pilgrim Posts: 5,428 Forumite
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    *rushing footsteps from stage left..........*

    ....Greying nips in, and flops down onto said sofa, on account of a serious attack of the vapours from reading all about Cheery's eleventy million things to be done........

    ......loud snoring ensues.....

    *Curtain closes, house lights dim*

    :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

    Have a GREAT evening Cheery :D

    Greying X
    Pounds for Panes £2,590/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (April) -  £8/£15  (Camping TTD - £60/90)
     
    Grocery spend April £214.28/215
    Non-food household spend April £29.23/25
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  • Cheery_Daff
    Cheery_Daff Posts: 15,710 Forumite
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    *budges Greying alomg the sofa a bit*

    Well, needless to say I did NOT do all those things :rotfl: I did do all the outside things though :j except the compost, forgot about that til I just saw the list :rotfl: but that's easily done in the morning.

    Gosh the mowing is hard work :blink: it was always going to be a bit hard going with a manual mower on not-very-flat ground but I REALLY should have started a couple of weeks ago before the grass got a spurt on... happened all of a sudden and caught me by surprise :eek:

    Had to stop after an hour as I was getting a blister :eek: going to leave the rest of the big lawn for the scythe thats arriving next Friday (along with a nice man to demonstrate how to use it). Gosh I'm such a glutton for punishment :rotfl: :rotfl:

    Done another hour of musical homework, still can't play everything but I can join in well over half now :rotfl: :rotfl:

    Just filling hot water bottle and making a cuppa, then I will indeed get on the sofa - might add a few photos to my diploma portfolio while the tv is on in the background though...

    Everything else will have to wait til tomorrow...
  • Cheery_Daff
    Cheery_Daff Posts: 15,710 Forumite
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    Afternoon chums :hello:

    Well today is NOT turning out to be the productivity marathon I anticipated :eek: The sun was breaking through the fog earlier so I ate breakfast outside on the terrace (we're inventing grand sounding names for all the ludicrously tiny and shabby bits of the house :D ) :rotfl:

    Then Mr Cheery wanted to go out for a cuppa, so we went to the local village where I sat and did a bit of work - spent £4.10 of treats budget.

    Bumped into Farmer No 1 (there are two brothers - this is the first one we met, and the younger of the two at about 68). Ended up standing in the lane chatting for an hour, as he told us all about various local characters, who didn't keep up with their walling, his !!!!less nephew at university etc :rotfl: Most enjoyable :D He's going to come round and show me how to do my walling :j which is great - except I've already started and I fear he might laugh at my attempts :rotfl:

    Told us more about the woman who lived here before us - apparently she grew Christmas trees one year, but then she got goats, which ate all the trees :rotfl: Quite heartened that they all speak quite affectionately of her hair brained schemes - I'm hopeful that they'll do the same about me :rotfl: :rotfl:

    He's sending his son round to talk about sticking cows in our fields :D Bit of a palaver as Mr Cheery doesn't want them in one particular field, but I want them in the two beyond that.. I was wondering if we'd have to herd them through :rotfl: but then someone drove past with a load of cows in a trailer so clearly they have already thought of ways to deal with such things.

    Apparently they're coming out next week :j

    Right, I have whiled away an hour reading Fortune's diary :o and now I really MUST get on with some work! :eek: I'm going to be working til 8pm at the rate I'm going! :eek:
  • Cheery_Daff
    Cheery_Daff Posts: 15,710 Forumite
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    Morning MSE chums :hello: another fine one here although we're set for rain later apparently. Can't imagine it right now but since I'll be out til midnight, best take a coat! :eek:

    Long-neglected YNAB and bank shuffling done this morning. scratched my head over my budget seeming to be over £200 out :eek: Just could NOT work it out - but I have done now (something in the wrong virtual pot). All sorted now, and refund from HMRC (for tax on professional memberships that I hadn't claimed back) stuck in the mortgage overpayment account :j :j

    £413.84 in there now :j :j Just in the last couple of months since we moved :j Of course, this is mostly refunds from bits of insurance etc not use in the old house etc so this level of saving will NOT continue through the year, but it's nice to see it increase. My aim was to overpay by £1000 this year so nearly half way there! :j
  • Fortune_Smiles
    Fortune_Smiles Posts: 5,033 Forumite
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    It does feel good making a mortgage op doesn't it. We made our first since moving in this month and I'm so happy about it.

    Hope the weather stays fine for you.

    Fortune x
    Mortgage: 86% paid Mortgage Neutral: 100% Emergency Fund: 100%
    A Better View 🌄 'Being on the edge isn't as safe, but the view is better' - Ricky Gervais
  • themadvix
    themadvix Posts: 7,898 Forumite
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    Rather late to the party here, but just come across your diary - new place sounds idyllic (much like we'd like), have subscribed and will catch up soon! (Have only read first page.... maybe you have chickens now! :T
    Mortgage free 16/06/2023! £132,500 cleared in 11 years, 3 months and 7 days

    'Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.' Ernest Hemingway


  • Cheery_Daff
    Cheery_Daff Posts: 15,710 Forumite
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    Thank you Fortune, and welcome themadvix - no chickens yet sadly!
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