[00:00:00.00] - Gordon
Hello.
[00:00:09.09] - Taylor
Hello.
[00:00:09.28] - Gordon
My name's Gordon from Drayson Design.
[00:00:11.29] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor from The Creative Tinker.
[00:00:13.26] - Gordon
And welcome to "This Week With Taylor and Gordon," a weekly podcast and vidcast, where we talk about things that have affected our businesses over the last seven days. And thank you so much for joining us.
[00:00:24.18] - Taylor
Welcome back.
[00:00:25.07] - Gordon
Apologies for not being with you last week. We have a reason. And for those of you who are watching this instead of listening to it, you'll notice that we have a slightly different arrangement and, well, a new location, in fact.
[00:00:40.12] - Taylor
We do.
[00:00:40.28] - Gordon
And that explains why we didn't have an episode last week. So Taylor, do you want to explain to everyone what we've been doing?
[00:00:48.04] - Taylor
So last week I moved into my first ever flat. So I moved out of my parents', so Mum and Dad's, and I bought my flat. This been going through for, or went through for six months or so. And yeah, it was great. We had lots of flat-pack furniture to put together.
[00:01:10.01] - Gordon
And we mean a lot. Because this is Taylor's first flat or first property, he didn't have any furniture. So it was a matter of buying everything.
[00:01:21.03] - Taylor
Yeah. So from my bedroom that I was living in, I took my desk for my monitor and my computer, and I brought my clothes and a few trophies and memorabilia and things like that. And apart from that, everything else was brand new.
[00:01:40.23] - Gordon
So not even the bed. The bed stayed where it was because it was probably going to fall apart if we moved it. It's given good service, let's say that.
[00:01:51.03] - Taylor
Yeah, it's been good.
[00:01:52.01] - Gordon
But so, yeah, everything is new, isn't it? So talk to us about how this has affected your business as far as how The Creative Tinker is changing because of your new property.
[00:02:10.14] - Taylor
Yeah, it is. The past week or so, I haven't been able to do much 'work' work because I've been putting together the flat to a point that it is liveable to a point. It was only on Sunday evening that I put the bed together because we were painting the bedroom. And so I didn't want to put the bed up to then have to move it and get paint on it. So I've been sleeping on the sofa. So the sofa is a sofa bed and so I was sleeping on that. So it was nice to be able to have a week or so of living in it, sleeping in an actual bed. But yeah, it's just putting together everything that's coming. And there's more than I expected to do and put together. And I'm still not finished. There's still things that I want to do. And some of that comes with time. Some of that comes with saving for more money because there's a lot of money that was spent both at IKEA and Amazon and a whole bunch of other shops and things like that. And also working through making sure I buy the essentials first and then buy the things that I want, and I'd like to have. A TV is not essential, but it was something that I wanted to have. So it was one of the last things I bought, whereas the sofa, the bed, fridge, things like that, all the first things I bought to make sure that I had enough budget to get those. But in terms of going forwards, I'm going to be working from here and maybe the office. I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to keep the office yet. We'll see. It will be nice because it's with other people and it gets me out of the house. I'm not going to be in my flat all day, every day for days on end. But it's also another expense that I've got to factor in and take into consideration to make sure that I can afford it. Is it necessary or is it a nice to have?
[00:04:18.02] - Gordon
Because you've got David Lloyd membership and you have done work at David Lloyd where you're around people as well. Is that a more difficult place to work?
[00:04:29.04] - Taylor
In the beginning, it was fine because I didn't know anybody. Probably for the first year, I very much went to the gym, and that was about it. I didn't really know anybody. I didn't hang out with people. I didn't play pretty much any of the racquet sports. And so it was fine. Nobody really knew me. I just tucked myself away in the corner. But now that I've made a lot of friends and I've been playing a lot more racquet sports, which is a lot more social because you actually see, you play with people and whatever, it gets really, really difficult and I find it's very hard to actually concentrate. I also find, I don't know if this is just me being weird, but if I am wearing gym clothes and I feel sweaty, I feel like I can't properly settle and get some good work done. I can do emails and I can bounce between light work, but I can't do anything more intensive and, not meaningful, but deep work just because I can't get that full focus because I have people walking by me wanting to chat, and you either have to be very, very rude and just ignore them, or you talk to them and then you don't get your work done.
[00:05:43.26] - Taylor
So it's a real balance. So I try and limit myself from doing any work there if I have to. So, yeah, it's a nice change. It's a big, big difference to what my life was before, both from a financial point of view, but also a responsibility point of view, in the fact that I've got to do all the washing up once I've cooked; I've got to cook; I've got to do the washing; the cleaning. I've got to make sure everything looks clean and tidy. It adds up over the course of the day. You do bits and pieces here and there, and you can't just spend eight hours directly at your desk. You've actually got to maintain the flat, make sure it's still functioning, make sure it's still clean and all those things.
[00:06:35.18] - Gordon
Yeah. I'm guessing if you go to the office, and one of the calculations you need to work out is what's going to be the cost of fuel and electricity and so on if you stayed here and worked, whereas you're obviously getting that included along with the internet when you go to your office. But it's going to be a lot more, but you're getting other benefits at the office, like an address you can have things sent to and things like that.
[00:07:05.20] - Taylor
Yeah, I think there's lots of benefits to having it. Like you said, the electricity, if I'm not using that during the day, that's going to save money. The same as David Lloyd's. I can have showers at David Lloyd's. Before, I would just go home in my gym clothes and have a shower at home because it was just nicer and more convenient to do it. But going forward, it probably is going to be better for me to have a shower at David Lloyd's, go home, then I don't have to have a shower and I can save on the heating and the water.
[00:07:40.20] - Gordon
But also their showers are probably power showers. They're going to be better than the one you've got here.
[00:07:46.22] - Taylor
Yeah, and I don't have to worry about how long I have a shower for. The other thing is I can have a 5, 10 minute shower if I want to. No one's going to come knocking on the door to say, "hurry up."
[00:07:56.09] - Gordon
Well, they're not here either, to be fair. But your showering is... The one you've got here is just attached to taps, which means that it's not going to have maybe the pressure and maybe won't be quite as powerful as the ones they have at David Lloyd. So again, it all depends on what's... I can't believe we're talking about showers here, but it depends on what you need and want at the time.
[00:08:29.02] - Taylor
And what works for me.
[00:08:30.06] - Gordon
And what works for you, exactly. Because I find, in fact, that I do a lot of really good thinking in the shower. And you're right, if someone else is wanting to use the shower because you're at home and you've got other members, or the washing machine is on, which is using water, which is then affecting the shower, then it's not as good an experience for me, and I don't do any really good thinking. So, yeah, that's one of places I find that I get some of my great ideas. It's also a place where I get some really rubbish ideas, but at least I get ideas. That's the point, isn't it?
[00:09:11.11] - Taylor
And then the last part for the flat is making it smart. I think that's been one of the-
[00:09:18.22] - Gordon
As in not decorating, but making it a smart home.
[00:09:23.12] - Taylor
Yes. That was one of the things that I had on my list. I had a vision for, and I've basically been planning for about six months or so what I wanted it to be able to do. It was always funny because everybody that I would tell and say, "I'm moving into my flat" and they were like, "Oh, what are you going to get?" I'm like, "I'm going to get these smart gear, these smart tech" and that kind of stuff. They just roll their eyes and they go, "Of course," or whatever. But for me, a lot of the maintaining of the flat and stuff is something that I have to do, but I don't want to do. So, for me, anything that I can do to make my life easier and not have to do it, in a way, but still do it, is a game changer for me because it means I have more time to do actual work that makes me money rather than spending time hoovering or mopping the floor. I have a robo vacuum which does that for me, and I can just send that, while I'm out, to do a clean.
[00:10:28.15] - Gordon
But we've spoken about this many many times on this channel, on this podcast, about automation and putting systems in place to make your life easier and more efficient and to give the best service to your customers. Because if you've got certain things automated, you know they're going to happen, and you don't have to remember them or do them manually. And so that's the same with this. And I've got a smart home-ish. It's a smart office, I guess. The rest of the home has bits of smartness in it. But I've built it up as I went, whereas you've had the advantage of being able to plan it ahead of time and start with the plan of what you want for your smart home and making sure that it all works together, which is great. And also, since you started planning, things have changed quite a bit. We've got Home Assistant now, which is something that's still quite new for me. But you're using my experience from that to know what to do with yours, now you've got yours set up.
[00:11:36.17] - Taylor
Yeah.
[00:11:37.01] - Gordon
And you've got things like your curtain closer so that you can have your curtains close at a certain time every night.
[00:11:44.24] - Gordon
And that could be based on the time the sun goes down. You can have the curtains close at that point, which is good because if you're not here and you're playing tennis or padel or something, and someone's watching the flat, well, you can have the curtains closing. And it's like, "oh, they're obviously in because the curtains have closed." Especially if you have them closing at different times, within a 10 minute period, you have all three of the curtains closing at different times. That would be quite cool.
[00:12:18.12] - Taylor
Oh that could freak people out to see all three curtains. Closing with nobody...
[00:12:22.28] - Gordon
But that's a bit of a giveaway, is it not?
[00:12:25.04] - Taylor
Yeah, but I guess they're my neighbours, so.
[00:12:27.05] - Gordon
Yeah, it is your neighbours. Well, it's your neighbours unless someone happens to watching. And that's the other point, isn't it? You've got an alarm system installed, which is important because of all the equipment you have in here, which is what you need to run your business. So even though it's your own private property, it contains a lot of equipment that you need to be able to run your business, so it's important that you protect it. And then you've got things like a smart lock, which I really like on the front door, which basically opens and unlocks the door for you as you approach. But it also has a keypad. So if, for example, you have somebody who is trusted and they're delivering something, you can give them a code that will let them in to allow them to put it inside the flat and then leave, and then that code is deleted and it can't be used again. And it's just little things like that where you haven't got to give them a key or you've got that control over who comes into your flat, and it logs everyone as well. So if you give everyone a different code, you know who's actually come into the flat and when they came in.
[00:13:37.19] - Taylor
If I forget my keys or say I go out for the day with somebody who's driving, I don't need my keys. I could either just leave them at home and just not take them with me at all, or if I leave them in the car, or if I leave them at their house and then we get driven home, I can still get into my flat without having to worry about being locked out.
[00:13:57.24] - Gordon
Yeah, which is great. And if you do have any problems, there are other people on your system, like myself, that have remote control as well. And if for whatever reason your phone is dead and you can't use that and it's not working, you could contact me somehow. Obviously, if your phone's dead, that's going to be difficult. But if you're able to contact me, you could then get me to unlock it remotely for you, which is also good. And it's something that I'm actually looking at myself to see if it's something I want at our house. And I'm learning from your solutions as well. And things that you are doing I'm watching, and seeing could this be of interest to me? Is it something that I would like to have in my property? And how will it affect me and my business as well? So, yeah, you are very far along, I would say, because we are over a week now that you've been here and it's already to a point where you're living in it, which is great. And that's from scratch. The people that you bought the flat from popped around with some old paint for the colours on your walls.
[00:15:12.14] - Gordon
And they were saying that they've still got tonnes of boxes that haven't even been opened yet, which when you move next time, if you move next time, you'll have that to look forward to. Lots of boxes that you have to open. But on this occasion, it was a matter of buying stuff, opening those boxes, and then making them up. And I have made so much flat pack. I think I've had a hand in pretty much everything that's been flat-packed in this whole flat. And I got a drill to allow us to do it quicker. And I didn't have that when I did mine. And having a drill is so much better. I've only recently bought a drill. I'm not a handy sort of person. I'm getting better, but that's not my area of expertise. But I do now own a drill, which is great. And I only bought it because I needed to put benchies in a rack up from the 3D printing.
[00:16:10.17] - Taylor
I think it's a slightly expensive reason to buy a drill.
[00:16:13.29] - Gordon
But we have used it a lot.
[00:16:15.24] - Taylor
We have used it a lot.
[00:16:16.18] - Gordon
We have used it a lot. And so it was a good buy because of that. And having it, I now look at things and go, "oh, do you know what? I can probably do that myself," rather than waiting for... We used to have a neighbour at my previous house and we would knock on his door and say, "could you come round and fit this shelf for us?" And he would come and do that. And then we moved house. And then we would contact him still and say, "can you come round and fit this shelf for us?" And we hadn't moved too far, he would come over and do that. But he's getting older. He's got a bit of ill health and we haven't seen him for a while, actually. I need to contact him, check how he is. But having a drill, it gives me the opportunity to then at least...
[00:17:00.26] - Taylor
Do the basics.
[00:17:01.09] - Gordon
Look and see if I think I can do it. And if I don't think I can do it, I'm not going to attempt it. I'll get a proper professional to do it. Anything else you want to say about your experience as a new homeowner?
[00:17:14.23] - Taylor
I think there's a lot of... I think there'll still be a lot of surprises that will come along. I'm enjoying it. It is weird when you or mum comes around and then say goodbye and then just leave. Leave the flat and just go. And then I'm by myself and I'm like, "Okay, well, now I got to clean up and tidy up after dinner that I made last night," for example.
[00:17:40.17] - Gordon
Welcome to our world. Yeah, that's what happens when you have children. They just walk away. Yeah, it's interesting though, isn't it? And we're very proud of you because you've sorted this all on your own, really. You've organised it yourself. You've come to us for help when you've needed it. But on the main, you've dealt with everything as you always do. You just get on with it, which is really good. And we're very proud of you for that. I think that's all we really need to talk about today. I mean, I've not done a great deal of work this week, mainly because I've been here putting up flat pack, and I don't want to see another Allen Key for a long time. Having said that, we had quite a bit of IKEA furniture here, and it is really good furniture. The quality of it and the price of it is really good. So that's what I discovered when I was moving into our first flat, first house, rather.
[00:18:40.25] - Taylor
And I also think that from the vision that I had when I started putting together ideas of what I wanted the flat to look like and where I thought stuff would go, apart from very minor things like the placement of a bin and stuff, everything is pretty much like for like, one for one, of how I imagined and how I wanted it.
[00:19:06.18] - Gordon
Which is great. Yeah. And that's where planning comes in. And I would expect nothing less from someone who plans and builds for a living, even though it be websites. So yes, that is it. Now, as far as this channel goes, we are still going to be doing our Friday podcast and vidcast. It might be here. It might be at my property, it might be somewhere else, might be in a coffee shop. Who knows? We are mixing it up a little bit, so we don't know where it's going to be, and we hope you'll join us to find out. That's everything for me today.
[00:19:46.08] - Taylor
And me as well.
[00:19:47.06] - Gordon
Thank you so much for joining us. As always, please leave comments, like, share, and subscribe on YouTube.
[00:19:53.10] - Taylor
You can also go to our website thisweekwith.co.uk to find all of our past episodes.
[00:19:58.21] - Gordon
And I should mention our channel is "This Week With Taylor and Gordon" on YouTube. The links are on our website, which you've just heard. If you would prefer to listen to us, we're on all the major podcast platforms, and you can even ask your smart speaker to "play This Week with Taylor and Gordon," and it will play the latest episode for you. That's it for this week. We'll be back with you at 1pm next week on Friday. Until then, my name is Gordon, and I'm from Drayson Design.
[00:20:26.18] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor from The Creative Tinker.
[00:20:28.23] - Gordon
In a brand new property. We'll see you next week. Bye-bye.
[00:20:59.27] - Taylor
Bye.
