All your Homebase are belong to... you! / The House 'n' Home Thread. - The Bear and Badger

hylian_elf

Cheers all. Think I'll play it safe with the heavier and more expensive stuff. Will use them for small wall clock and small photo frames I reckon. The less drilling, the better.

Cos

TheBoyRoberts wrote:

I’ve used them for loads of pictures and I can’t recommend them enough. In fact, I have used them on a massive frame which is right above my bed and it’s been secure for well over 2 years. The only problem I’ve ever had is when I attached the strips to a frame that had some wax tape across the back. The command strip didn’t stick correctly and the frame came off the wall.

I'm pretty sure that's how Stanley got flattened.

TheBoyRoberts

Hahahahah!!!

I’ll take a picture when I’m back home….the size of the thing would certainly cause some damage if it hit me in the middle of the night!!

poprock

Yesterday this was a balcony. Now it’s, er, a big hole.

The whole thing was rotten. Absolute death trap. Now we can get a new one built next week.

g.man

The wasps won't be happy about that.

poprock

The joiner wasn’t happy about the wasps, I can tell you that much.

poprock

Apparently they now live on the car anyway.

g.man

What could possibly go wrong there...

acemuzzy

Snakes on a Plane 2: Bees in a Car

poprock

Yesterday I couldn’t open the passenger side door because the handle was covered in wasps. They’re not so bad today.

davyK

Had a tree in the front garden that used to drop sap onto my car. Was a wasps' paradise. Some used to fly alongside me in the wing mirrors' slipstream all the way to work and back again. (It's a slow city commute)

Fucking pests.

Tree is long gone.

hylian_elf

Reminds me of Cotswolds trip last summer. On one occasion, parked under a tree in the hotel car park. Tree dropped sap on car. Cue lots and lots of wasps being attracted to the sap and covering a lot of the car. I had to wait for some to clear before I could rush inside the car and drive around while wasps cleared and then family could enter.

Fuck wasps.

The Daddy

acemuzzy wrote:

Snakes on a Plane 2: Bees in a Car

Wasps in a wagon? Hornets in Hummer?

poprock

I have learned that the wasps can hold on up to about 45–50mph. So I have to reach 55–60mph to shake ’em off.

The Daddy

So we’re going for something across between snakes on a plane and speed?

GooberTheHat

And The Birds.

The Daddy

Speed 3: Bumbles on a Bus.

Paul the sparky

Today I learned wasps are attracted to saps

regmcfly

Starting nascent steps to sell our house and itemising the list of work to be done on it before it is ready - Flora and I have kind of just let stuff go, given it was our first house, a new build, and idiots.

Made a list today and it looks like around £2000 of stuff needing done.

We have savings but obviously as C is now at nursery, finances go down a whack. I'd love to know if any of you have any experience or advice for saving money. I realised going back to work this morning that I wasted so much money on frivolous things over the summer, like buying odd and esoteric ingredients for dinner or ordering in nice takeaways.

I'm in the process of getting rid of stuff as people will know from other threads, and that will help, but general life advice for controlling spending would be useful.

tigersgogrrr

g.man wrote:

...also, I hope it all works out for you Tiger.

Well it's all in the balance still. They last people in the chain are still refusing to exchange (on advice from their solicitor) as their new build is nearly ready. The chap buying from them (who we are buying from) has gone ballistic as their mortgage deal runs out next Wednesday.

It is all going wrong g. *crai*

Diluted Dante

regmcfly wrote:

I'd love to know if any of you have any experience or advice for saving money. I realised going back to work this morning that I wasted so much money on frivolous things over the summer, like buying odd and esoteric ingredients for dinner or ordering in nice takeaways. I'm in the process of getting rid of stuff as people will know from other threads, and that will help, but general life advice for controlling spending would be useful.

Well firstly, if you weren't looking at saving for anything particuarly, that's not wasted spending, it's enjoying yourself, and that's absolutely fine.

In terms of controlling spending, over what period of time are you looking to save? There are things like changing providers for things, but can lock you into minimum term contracts.

tigersgogrrr

Stop buying takeaways. Do 1 each pay day.

Don't buy any videogames - you have millions.

Standing order the day after pay day that leaves you 10% (or something) of your salary as fun money. Spend that without worrying about it. Everything else into different accounts (investments, savings, kids savings, holiday funds, treat fund, whatever)

I've broadly followed this and it works for me. My spending had improved massively... in that I do barely any.

Pseudoscot

Ongoing rebuild of the kitchen, hallway, and utility room is nearly finished. Still waiting on little bits and pieces but the main work has been done. It lLooks amazing, the build quality has been exceptional. It has been nearly 2 months of living out of the microwave, bbq, and the aptly named slow cooker. We just found out that the handle factory in Germany burned down so its going to be a bit longer before the handles get put on the cupboards. I'm dreading the final invoice.

poprock

Pseudoscot wrote:

We just found out that the handle factory in Germany burned down

Whoa there. Talk about burying the lede …

Kow

Stop eating out and getting fancy takeaways. Cook fancy food at most once a week. Plan meals in advance then only buy the ingredients you need. Stop buying all the games in the world. That thing you have your eye on - you don't need it. Wait for sales, no hurry. Pay attention to the cost of electricity if you have varying costs - washing machine at the weekend only where possible (tough with a baby). Cause a pandemic.

poprock

tigersgogrrr wrote:

Stop buying takeaways.
Do 1 each pay day.
Don't buy any videogames - you have millions.

Yeah. I mean - it sounds really basic, but you save money by just not spending so much.

Do you buy a lot of takeaways? Stop doing that.

Do you go to the pub every weekend and buy five pints? Just try not doing that.

Do you keep buying games consoles? Stop it.

Suddenly you’ll find you have money left at the end of the month.

poprock

If you genuinely have trouble being sensible about spending, try keeping a spreadsheet for a month. Itemise it. List everything you spend. Everything. Look back at it at the end of the month and give yourself a massive fright.

regmcfly

Thanks all, I'm not silly buggers about spending as pre pandemic had built up a good bit of savings that had gone into the baby. The real sensible advice is great.
We are now planning meals each week.

acemuzzy

poprock wrote:

If you genuinely have trouble being sensible about spending, try keeping a spreadsheet for a month. Itemise it. List everything you spend. Everything. Look back at it at the end of the month and give yourself a massive fright.

Yeah this. Amazing what a coffee every couple of days totals, and eg full monthly supermarket bill. Would definitely make you question some areas of spending...

LivDiv

@Reg.

I'm in a similar boat so gone through quite a bit recently.

I'll start with the ones everyone knows.

1. Check all your bills to make sure you aren't paying too much. However if moving be wary of renegotiating TV and Internet contracts if it is something like Virgin that you might not get in your new home as any renegotiation will result in a new contract term, normally 12-18 months.
Dont just rely on comparison sites either, get some prices from them then ring your provider and tell them you are leaving.

2. Debt consolidation. Normally a good idea however it may not be if applying for a mortgage. Check with a broker first. Mortgage providers want to know your commitments, a credit card might only commit you to paying interest whereas as a loan ties you into repayments. Like I say check with a broker on this if its something you are considering.

Budgeting.
So I think this is the bit you were really asking for.
This is how I have been handling it.

Firstly I calculate all my bills, obviously.
With what is left I gauge what I want to save and what I want to live on, this is a rough estimate and I actually ended up lowering my living money once I got going. It is enough to have some nice things but low enough so that I am still saving. No point persecuting yourself because it won't last if you do.
Divide the living money by 5 to get a weekly budget. Then I prioritise that budget.
If there is something massive and I dont have the savings I will divide the cost by 5 and take that off each week for a month.

I start each week on Friday, that way I have money for the weekend, the fun bit of life.
I do a weekly shop after work on Friday so that it is done while I have the budget.
Next comes priorities like MOTs, dog food, family presents ( I spread presents out across the year as well because everyone in my family seems to have been born in a 6 week window), essential clothes etc.
That leaves me with fun money, non-essential clothes, books, games, takeaways. If the budget is gone I can't buy anything simple as that but because its a weekly budget its not long to wait unlike a monthly budget which can be gone week one.
Working weekly really puts things into perspective, if I buy X I can more clearly see that I can't buy Y. You can still get fancy Sandos but not fancy Sandos and Amiibos

I keep a running tally on a chalkboard in the kitchen.

Food shop.
I go strictly after dinner however much I might think getting something fun for dinner is a good idea.
I write a list throughout the week as I notice I need something.
Spread out the expensive boring stuff like laundry detergent, shampoo and loo roll so I don't get a mega week.
Every weekend I cook a big batch of something. Chilli, ragu etc. This week its a banging pork n beans recipe. I'm on my own so that does me most of the week but planning a couple of big cooks per week should see you right. I also don't cheap out on this big cook, if I am going to eat it all week it has to be good or it will end up in the bin and with me at the chip shop. I'm not eating wagyu every night but I'll buy good meat and veg for it.
I try to be honest with my weekly shop. If I am gonna buy stuff midweek anyway I am best getting it in the big shop rather than for twice the price at a local shop.

edit: I see you are already on meal prep, thats good.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories