Cheery's country living adventure

Cheery_Daff · 14 March 2018 at 7:30PM

Evening chums :hello:

Another £1.63 on prolific today, so nearly at £19 now :money: should make it by the weekend :j

On the downside, landed up in a rush at lunchtime and as I couldn't very well eat crackers and cheese triangles in a serious meeting, or while I was walking down the road, I ended up buying a £1.45 sandwich. Will try again tomorrow with the crackers... :rotfl:

Also landed up with tea and cake this afternoon - had two hours to fill after a meeting finished and found myself working in a cafe. Should have found a seat and eaten my crackers then gone to the library! :eek:

Oh dear. Feel like i'm still trying (and failing...) to find a routine with all this commuting. It's a weird hybrid at the minute as I'm still doing stuff I'd planned before we moved - would never have arranged some of these meetings at these times if I'd known when we were going. This is the last of the bad weeks though - only in 2.5 days next week (working at home the rest) then off for a fortnight :j :j :j

Greying_Pilgrim · 14 March 2018 at 8:53PM

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Oh dear. Feel like i'm still trying (and failing...) to find a routine with all this commuting. It's a weird hybrid at the minute as I'm still doing stuff I'd planned before we moved - would never have arranged some of these meetings at these times if I'd known when we were going. This is the last of the bad weeks though - only in 2.5 days next week (working at home the rest) then off for a fortnight :j :j :j

Lawks Cheery - you are being wayz too hard on your self. I seriously doubt Mystical Meggintons with the aid of her crystal ball and dry ice effects cudda determined when your house sale/purchase was going to go through! Huzzah for managing the best you can, and huzzah for impending holli-bobs

Greying X

gallygirl · 14 March 2018 at 9:26PM

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

They'll have to estimate the last couple of weeks worth, but I suppose that might end up working in our favour as we've had to have plug in heaters going most of the time to warm the walls up :blink:

Presumably the old owners will have given them readings when they moved so they should know the figures?

We have a 'pozo negro' - black well. Like a septic tank but which (in theory and hopefully in practice :eek:) uses bacteria to treat the 'soil' and other waste, breaks it down and ultimately it drains away safely into the soil and it won't need emptying. Ever. Like I said, in theory

.

pinkypig · 14 March 2018 at 9:41PM

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

And Hi Pinkypig :hello: Gosh, you'll be there forever if you read the whole of my old diary, it lasted about 4 years I think! :rotfl: Big load of waffle But thank you for your kind words, and we'll see you back in here in a few months when you've finished reading! :rotfl:

:

I'm heeeeeere :rotfl: Couldn't curb my noseyness and flicked to the end bit. What a time you've had:eek: Sounds worth it though.

I lived in the wilds for nearly 20 years and it was fab. We had an ancient septic tank which worked like a dream. Left well alone and never emptied it once! We had no mains gas or water either. Was glad there was leccy though!

You'll soon get into a routine with your commute and well done for keeping your cheese triangles in your bag, I'd have scoffed the lot, serious meeting or not - love em

Happy hump day to you

PP xx

Cheery_Daff · 15 March 2018 at 1:12AM

Aw, thanks Greying, you are too kind

:kisses3:

Ooh gallygirl, I"ve never even heard of a black well! Will investigate

Also investigating the potential for some kind of reed bed system of treating the, er, effluent here - we've certainly got enough water to create our own wetland habitat :rotfl: :rotfl:

Sadly this was an estate sale, so the house has been empty since last June and the relatives who sold it live down south. Had a call from their estate agent the other day asking for meter readings - they should have come and checked themselves before completion but didn't 'because the date kept changing' (ie the house is 10 miles from the estate agents and they couldn't be arsed in the week amd a half after exchange). So estimations it is. Hey ho. It's only a fortnight's worth - and we've only got another fortnight before we switch suppliers so they could just check what we actually use then and double it if they like.

:rotfl: PinkyPig, nice to see you back

glad you didn't wade through the whole of the previous lot :eek: :rotfl:

We do at least have mains water (although we also have a well in the cellar which I suppose will be handy come the apocalypse :rotfl: ) Not sure we'll make ut twenty years out here but we might have paid the mortgage off if we do

:rotfl:

Right, not long got home and leaving again at 7 tomorrow so best go to sleep! :eek: Night night

Cheery_Daff · 17 March 2018 at 8:41AM

Morning MSE chums :hello:

Stayed over at a friend's house in the city last night as Mr Cheery has to be in another city for work today and there was a big mound of snow forecast over our house today :eek: Ended up spending around £20 on takeaway and booze

:rotfl: But that's what the treats budget is for after all

Remembered this morning that yesterday was payday :money: So have done some money shuffling and YNABbing :j Some good news and some not so good

First the bad

I've had to put £68.83 in the 'budget fiddling' category already this month as I just haven't tracked what I've been spending cash on :eek: I don't mind a little bit, but this just seems outrageous, particularly as it's likely to be bits of food in the supermarket on the way home, food for work for lunch, the odd trip to the vending machine... certainly nothing substantial.

This Must Stop! I will track every single thing from now on - that's what the app is for after all! :eek:

After shuffling and topping up the regular budgets I've managed to allocate £100 to long term savings this month - far below what I was hoping for (my aim was at least to replace my student loan payment, which was £170). Bear in mind this is AFTER saving for all annual bills, and putting a little bit towards holidays, car replacement etc so we're not exactly starving

but still - the savings are going to take a hit as we sort out various things in the new house so I want to be topping them up.

Better news

I've had a refund of £199.94 from our old council tax which I wasn't expecting :j I've set up a budget line called 'mortgage overpayment' and will add things to that and transfer it across on the 27th (a few days before the end of the month so it'll be included in the calculation when I ring up to get a balance). That, plus the 'everyday rewards' I get from the bank for having several direct debits set up and using my cash card (up to £5.50 a month, which I usually hit), means we've got an overpayment balance of £125.44 sitting there now :j :j

Still not quite hit payout on Prolific yet, grr, but I can see I have an email from the secret survey people so once that's paid out I should be able to claim £5 from there at least

Started doing the Free Postcode Lottery again just in case :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff · 17 March 2018 at 9:01AM

Hmm - secret survey site is temporarily broken, and prolific had a £5.47 survey but it involved videoing myself answering interview questions :eek: Might have attempted it if I wasn't staying over at a friend's house and would wake everyone up :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff · 17 March 2018 at 8:28PM

Yay, done a couple of extra prolific studies so now up to £20.22 :money: That should clear over the next few days then I can claim it :j :j

That's my only achievement today mind you

I'm staying at a friend's house and she's not here , and Mr Cheery is out, and it's been SO cold and snowy and aside from one little trip to the shop for provisions I've basically sat and watched most of the first series of Lark Rise to Candleford

Not had a lazy one like this for yonks though so I hope I'll feel nicely rejuvenated after it

redofromstart · 17 March 2018 at 10:12PM

Found you

Secret survey wasn't working for me either. must try again in the morning.

Our first batch of hens had individual names, the second and third lots merged into a brown borg and had collective names (The Buckers and the Cluckers). Worth looking for kit on free sites, my parents rehomed their kit when they decided to move and I would rehome my stuff but I might just crack and get some again.

edwink · 18 March 2018 at 6:20PM

Hello Cheery & Chums

I would love to hop on board and offer you encouragement along the way with your exciting good life journey. Especially on over paying your mortgage as from personal experience it really is worth all the effort you can put in to doing that. We are now mortgage free because we threw every penny we could at ours and now we are living the good life without that hanging around our necks and life is just so much easier without it. So good on you for tackling that head on. :T

Not sure if you would have the time but have you thought of selling some of your bits and bobs you don't want on eBay? I do a little on eBay and the money certainly comes in handy even if it is used to buy a present for someone as that is then another item ticked off of your to buy list that year. Just a thought because I don't think it has been mentioned on here.

I would thoroughly recommend getting hens one day if you can. Nothing like having your own eggs for breakfast and knowing that the girls are thoroughly looked after properly. I just don't trust shop bought eggs anymore regardless of where it says they come from on the egg box. Anyway if you do decide to get some one day do pop over to our MSE hen thread if you get the time. We are a friendly bunch over there and there is always someone there that will help with any questions or worries you may have over keeping them. The link to thread is here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5282209 and at the bottom of my signature

I am loving reading and following your journey. One of your stories I had a good chuckle at was you with your land and going for a walk one day with map in hand trying to identify which pieces of land were yours. I could just image someone like you doing that as it fits your sense of humour really well.

Keep up the good work Cheery and I hope you have the room for another supporter.

Edwink x

Cheery's country living adventure

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