I have followed the Cottage Smallholders advice and bought this book for £2.10. I also got free postage from Amazon but I don't know why. Its a fairly slim volume and expect to get to it, and through it, over the weekend. Hopefully full of new good ideas by next week.

I read this article on Moneysavingexpert and following their instructions I found that I have £12.50 available to me at Tescos, leftover from the last however many years.

On a less cheerful note I telephoned my mortgage provider to ask about getting a fix on my mortgage (rates will not stay low much longer)but found that because my mortgage is 76% of the value of my house I don't qualify. I am really open to rate rise at the moment but there is not much lending going on out there. Trying to cheer myself up about it I do note that at present I can overpay as much as I like without having to pay an premiums. Typically a fix makes overpayments harder.

Back to cheerful again, checking the local council website it appears we don't need planning consent for the porch we plan to build (if the other building works are ever finished, ssshhh they will b e). I have in my mind exactly how it needs to be but I still need to draw up my design.

Couldn't sleep tonight so I have got up again and am now watching a documentary about zombies. Unbelievable.