Help calm me. House buying and selling stress. Part 6

I decided to do my octopus readings tomorrow, I have skipped a month but do like to track my usage going into the colder months. I have over a year of bills online so it will be interesting to compare year on year from now. Problem is crouching on soil to get to the gas meter, I have put rectangular rubber stepping stones down and can put a raised kneeler on top of that.

It all counts to living comfortably within a moderate retirement income, I saw the numbers somewhere the other day. There are not many ways in which a pensioner home owner can `be careful` wrt bills but I suppose, energy, food, travelling are the major ways. At least now I am in that rolling routine with no more one-off house bills after moving in and am happily slowly adding to savings steadily every month

I think I will do a bedding change this morning, I have a wool duvet combo ie summer/winter and in extreme temperatures both can be poppered together. Dry out from this afternoon so I can get my bedding washed and dry later. The two cotton blankets felt a tad heavy last night. I much prefer the wool duvet. Smooth light cotton cover now and brushed cotton when it is colder

I did make another 3 crumbles last night, windfall apples with blackcurrants and frozen topping. One for the week and 2 to freeze. I also made some cough syrup for winter, honey and raw onion, very easy to make. Chopped raw onion with honey, left overnight, there is a fair amount of runny liquid from that. Strained and in the fridge in a small glass bottle. It will keep over winter. I use raw unpasteurised honey

I do feel a lazy day coming up, would be nice on the fells in days past but those days are over. Much cooler today and windy, so I am staying in, might take a duster up with me. The whole area must have been woken at 6 this morning, a loud helicopter going round and round, rattling the windows

Craftyone you deserve a ‘lazy’ day, you pack so much into each day, I feel positively slothful!
Could you share the brand of your Duvet? We have feather but DH is so allergic and the feathers are starting to poke through, so I need to get a new one before Winter arrives.

Morning all, overcast today.

I like the sound of your crumbles craftyone.

Oopsadaisy4 I have had Devon Duvets wool duvets for the past ten years, highly recommended, you are warm before you go to sleep. I was put off feather ones after seeing photos of the barbaric live plucking of the unfortunate geese.

Glad I'm travelling by train with this horrible weather coming, I'm so relieved my daughter is safely on dry land. I am so surprised at the weather, I always thought August was a hot sunny month, is it my mind returning to 1976?!!

I haven't packed for my trip yet as my dog gets very upset when we pack, he'll be going to kennels between 4-5 pm. I've got my compass and bought a light notebook yesterday. I asked the estate agent if I could take photos, and he said the vendors will be in the garden, so he'll ask them. Their advert stated the house was chain free, I do despair of estate agents. The houses I'm seeing have a downstairs bathroom and an additional toilet upstairs, plus a staircase that could fit a stair lift.

Thank you for all your good wishes, I'll report back in a few days, I'm going to take lots of photos and will upload some.

Enjoy your day

craftyone I fully expected you to say you were aching this morning! Oops is right, you deserve a lazy day.
I rather like this moving malarkey. So far I have been given saucepans which don't work on the new induction hob, some bedding which is the wrong colour, a toy chest - I will use in my shed. The builder put in some nice light fittings which I am likely to get too. Oh yes, and a little plant table. I think the stamp duty handout is being spent quite quickly on things for the house, but hey ho that was Rishi's intention anyway!

Enjoy your new acquisitions Ellianne! You mentioning the stamp duty holiday reminds me. I couldn't work out my 'saving' as the calculators are set to 0 up until March 31st - put in 1 April and it works. Amazing what stress does to your mind.

the woolroom, they are fab. The only time I used 2 clipped together was in winter 2010 when it was so very cold. I have the wool mattress protectors. The duvets are 200g fill and 300g fill. 200 fill on the bed now with john lewis temperature regulating covers

Having a mini break, I store these woollen things in vac bags btw to protect from moths. I have emptied the bedroom ottoman and am re-packing anything I might need up to winter plus the bedding currently used. I have ordered 4 vac storage travel rolls from ebay, perfect for my welsh wool blankets and woollen throws. I can see at a glance

I found an overlooked fleece duvet cover on a spare bed, that is destined to go, I will replace with a cotton duvet cover. Every bed has the associated bedding handy in the same room

not aching btw, I hugged each bag to move, close to my body. I am still strong, thankfully.

Craftyone, I was so interested in your onion and honey cough medicine. My lovely Dad, born in East London back in the first decade of the last century and very, very under-educated, he left school at 14 yrs and worked in a very manyal, partly skilled job until he was 70 yrs old. But he was always a great believer in, what we would now call, Natural Medicines.

One of these was his own remedy against any cough - he would cut up an onion and then place it in a dish with sugar (preferably demerara), and leave it for a a day or so for a liquid to develop. This we would be required to drink 3 x a day. I am not sure how well it worked - it had a very strong smell - and any cough I had as a child, somehow made great improvement whenever that smell was in our home!!!
When I have ever mentioned this to people, they think I am making it up - but it was a very strong memory from childhood - and your remedy of onion and honey is so similar.
Another one of his remedies (which I did enjoy) was if I had a very nasty little tickly cough at night - he would warm some milk and then add a knob of butter. This he would feed to me teaspoon by teaspoon (at other times I hated warm milk). Was never sure if it was the wonderful TLC or the milk and butter combi that helped - it always did. However, now I understand that this would have soothed my throat and given me relief.

my mum used to give us milk, butter and honey when I was a child, a small cup of it before bed

Yes sugar can be used with the chopped onion, it means that vegans can make this. Onion is allium sepa, nature tells us, what does a raw onion do? so what can it help with? Walnuts are another, brain food. Nature signposts. There are lots

Bedroom is finished and robot is cleaning in there, I did the dusting, even skirtings. A few things are out the house, including some trousers that I never enjoyed wearing

yay, makes a change but I have a full afternoon/evening of tv lined up on the drama channel. North and south followed by call the midwife christmas 2016 special. I am going to have everything lined up, food, mugs of tea, knitting. Sheer enjoyment

I have a bundt baking right now. Nigella, spruce bundt but in a different bundt tin. I love my nordicware, not used much but will never let it go. Its a very easy cake but I use spray release stuff on the tin as it is full of nooks and crannies. I am dgc sitting next week and wanted some of nana`a cake to take for them

DD wants 2 of my heavy cotton waffle bedspreads/blankets, I am very happy. King of cotton and too good to take to the cs. The DGC could do with something cooler on their beds for summers, duvet is too hot. Perfect, another decent space made.

I have too many beautiful woollen woven throws, I went through a phase!! unused and I am thinking ideal for christmas gifts

Always nowadays, I am keeping an eye open for what could potentially be de-cluttered. Not my lovely accordian bought brand new in 2016, I am ready to teach myself again, have all the learning books. Last time was 50+ years ago, we couldn`t afford piano lessons so I saved up pocket money and bought a massive accordian, almost as big as me. This one is my size ie much smaller. Reminded me I had it when I looked under a bed today

I was thinking about you shandy, remember that the EAs are sales people with targets to reach and they will chatter when you want quiet. Try to block their noise out and don`t be afraid to have a good poke around, behind curtains, around windows, the bottom of showers, open cupboards particularly fitted wardrobes against outside walls, they may get damp

Look out for air freshners disguising mouldy smells. Ask for the bathroom vents to be demonstrated. Take gloves with you in case the EA says something, any gloves. They will NOT want you poking around because they know the distance travelled and that you may only be back once more if that. Hold your own, ask for quiet, you can see if a room is a bathroom, kitchen etc

Have a look at the state of the boiler, if it looks neat and clean. Look up at corners of rooms. Look up at the roof, as though you know what you are doing. Remember whatever (bad) you find now might save the cost of a surveyor and you another trip to look for a property

Craftyone - I have copied you and started some decluttering. I advertised a bedroom chair which doesn't really fit or match here and my pressure washer which is just too heavy for me. I put both on Facebook marketplace for free. I had about 30 requests for the pressure washer so maybe should have charged for it!
I have requested a pick up by BHF for a sofa bed, suitcases and bags of clothes/books/bric a brac. I hope they do actually respond to my request and, assuming they come here, do take what I have. I have had bad experiences with them before but the charity I used before I moved doesn't cover here. Not having a car, it's difficult to get rid of stuff.

Shandy - good luck for your trip. If you have any queries while you are there, please ask as I know the area moderately well and can ask my relative who lives there.

Its been very nice, being immersed in tv, feet up, knitting and getting up for a quick walk around during the breaks. I have an ecofan for the stove, I don`t need it and son would like it and I have a suitable packing box. Nice bit of unexpected de-cluttering today.

Well done grandmamoira, being pro-active like you is so much better than thinking we cannot get these things done. I tend to dismantle stuff that I cannot get removed, mostly things come apart and I can move them a bit at a time. I rolled a rug up once, taped it in 6 places and used a saw to cut it into three, then I binned one bit each bin day

Shandy57 hope you had a good night's sleep. I wish you well for the next few days. Try not to tell people to much about yourself it's easy to do I am guilty of that. But you never know who is listening and you will be far from home. Sounding like a mother hen make sure to have plenty to drink and try and rest as much as you can. It's all going to be rather over whelming especially as you are doing it on your own.

Take care of yourself and try and enjoy seeing new areas . Treat it as a mini holiday and stay safe.

me too, same as whiff, we are a coop of mother hens all clucking over shandy right now. I hope this has a very happy outcome

I took the bit between my teeth last night and sold a craft item, was never used and am now £35 better off. It was so easy. Maybe I am a bit regretting giving so much away but so be it, there is karma and I made a lot of people happy

I had a horrible sleep last night, it took ages to fall asleep and then I dreamt that my car was stolen far from home. I had no address book, no phone, no-one to call because I didn`t remember any numbers. It was similar to those dreams when you rush hither and dither but getting no-where. I wonder what my mind is telling me

Morning all, today's the day! So odd waking up without my dog. Quite cold here so my plan to wear a very light coat has changed.

Thanks for all the good wishes, even though I've packed light my bag weighs a ton, luckily the Airbnb is a short walk from Broadstairs station.

Will report back soon!

Take care everyone

Craftyone well done selling a craft item. Was your dream due to you being a bit chilly in bed? I'm changing my bed today and changing my 4.5 duvet for the 10.5 as I got chilly in the early hours. There is definitely an autumnal feel in the air. Mornings and nights are darker. Hopefully we will have a warmer September. Had a lazy day yesterday. My daughter and grandson popped round on the afternoon. As usual my grandson wanted me to read to him. I kept some of my children's books and keep them in the living room. I have 2 large plastic boxes full of toys which he played with , then we had to play hide and seek. He is funny. When I started to look for him he runs pass me as if I can't see him and hides in his favourite place in my bed. But if course I have to look everywhere. Then it's my time to hide. But limited to places usually behind a door or living room curtain. He loves the fact he can run through the whole bungalow. And we have a large space to play football as we can use every room. We use a couple of soft footballs I got out of Ikea.

Another wet day. But the garden is full of colour. Have a good day everyone.

Best of luck with your adventure Shandy I do hope it is a very positive one for you.

Good luck Shandy, I hope the visit is successful, but if not, don't despair - beautiful Devon is still round the corner.

Thinking of you Shandy. I hope that the visit is successful

good point whiff, could be. I will put hm woollen bedsocks on tonight. The temperature has suddenly dropped and it is persisting down.

I have been to the post office in a long mac that I bought in kendal in 1978, waterproof and a good hood, not breatheable in those days. It did bring back memories of small children and small books and lots of toys and rambling along a disused canal and fell walking. I do miss it, life now is so `mundane`. I need to change that but so restrictive right now because of gov `rules`. There will be mass rebellion by next year

First day of guest bathroom re-fit completed, and so much less hassle and intrusion than I feared. Had really worked myself up about this - but it has been very painless.
Lovely young man, just finishing his plumbing apprenticeship -over seen both by visits from College Superviser and the boss of his firm. He has today cleared out all the bathroom, no mess, no noise - does not even make himself any drinks that I left available. Carpet in hall and spare bedroom all carefully covered with transparent stock down protectors. Each time he turned off the water was for short time, and he always let me know in advance and even left a bucket of water next to loo in my en-suite.
Tomorrow, he does the re-piping. Then on Wednesday the electrician will be inDo not know why I was getting myself in such a state about this. Hardest part of day was paying over half the cost to the company!!!
Just hope that Shandy' journey was as trouble -free as my day .
Even managed to fit in a visit to my GP this afternoon.

That sounds positive Franbern, I'm watching the progress.

very very good news franbern, there are some very good professionals still

It has been torrential here, very bad and a great deal of rain forcast overnight. I feel a new thread coming on