Get a grip woman!

trix-a-belle wrote: »

fingers crossed for you today SL if it is going ahead. remember the dishwasher and under the beds with a blanket over the bed are your friend. also if needs be just chuck stuff in the back of the car while they are there.
i've got a 2nd viewing on mine tomorrow so yay more cleaning but am going to see another one myself today just round the corner from the one i had already fallen for just to keep my options open

We did that before buying our current place - we went to see another four - just to make sure this was it - and it was - and we still love it here. Haha, the car is full of boxes at this moment as I have other things to sort today (helping with a drinks party for 65 with canapes tonight!)

The new place just offers an option for us to develop a property from the ground up and to build a second residential annexe for our Son. And there is no through traffic to speak of because it is a green lane that is metalled up to the property and then an unmade byway beyond that.

That sort of back of beyond thing really appeals but in reality there need to be enough vehicles for the road to stay clear. There should be five if all the plots with redundant cattle sheds on get developed into single dwellings. I've made an appointment to see the Heritage Team in the local planning department and take what we have so far so they can advise before we put in a planning application (unlikely to do that until we have completed on the purchase, IF all goes ahead).

trix-a-belle wrote: »

oooohh do you want a neighbour? that sounds lovely. my mind keeps going back to doing something purpose built or a full renovation but i don't think my funds quite stack up for it.

Well the cheapest plot is under offer for £150,000 with a third of an acre and no planning consent yet but permissible development of 1300sq feet (that means a 1.5 storey 3 bed house to be built and the old metal framed barn removed or adapted) and the cattle shed with the smallest plot asking £225,000 and the largest cattle shed (half an acre) for £350,000. The report talks about converting but it actually means remove the building and build on the concrete pad.

Compromised on savings and moved my expenses from one account and tidied down to the nearest hundred on the other. That means I will be the right side (just a smidge over 50%) of our savings target for this year by the end of June. :j

I am pleased with this as it builds a bit of contingency in for some of the expensive things we have to look forward to.

Just had a call for another viewing tomorrow morning. Right, that means I need to get a wiggle on now!

Gosh, it's been ages since I checked in on here. Well I have used the little surplus in the CA to pay for the villa we are renting, having pulled back the rest via a lump from our cash pot account to make up the difference.

It seems every time I get tantalisingly close to paying a lump off the mortgage, something else crops up that is more immediate and pressing. So this month it was a hedge trimmer. It seems DH made a false economy when he bought a generic petrol trimmer a few years ago (probably 12-13, thinking about it, as that is when we moved here).

It is the sort of thing that I expect to last a lifetime. Clearly not. It would not start and the weekend was haemorrhaging away while he fiddled, trying to get it started. So I thought bu**er it, lets buy another one (we have a second, smaller mower that has been a great fill in, using this approach). Off we went with a device in mind for £175 (battery pack operated). Long discussions with the salesman at the agricultural merchants and yes, they make the best ones for domestic premises, but the price excludes battery and charger (!) - it's a different world in farming - no, he didn't want to sell it to us because the 80v battery is being discontinued in the northern hemisphere, so he felt more comfortable selling us the 82v replacement (closer to £575 :eek:) - I'm sure he would have been happier selling me that one. And then there were the Stihl petrol devices... Good grief. (I seem to like that expression ). An hour later I insisted he sold me the one I went in for, with the display battery and charger. Got a bit of a haggle in and got it for a smidge over £300, because there was VAT to add too (!). Well it had better last a lifetime, after all that! We just need to discharge and change the battery regularly, and maybe ship a spare battery pack back from Australia when we visit the nephew to make sure it goes on and on.

DH spent a happy Saturday afternoon decimating the hedges and most of Sunday morning picking up the bits, oh and most of Monday morning digging out the thorns. My word we have some prickly things!

I'll do a proper update at the end of the month, and I'm going to look at possible targets for July. We have a few social things and a weekend away planned but they are budgeted for. I just need to remember we don't need to buy food for when we are away!

DEBTS

[STRIKE]£110,621[/STRIKE] £104,663.39 (£5,957.61 paid so far) - Mortgage
[STRIKE]£3,476[/STRIKE] £2,476 (£100)- DH's car (payment on 22nd)
[STRIKE]£8,755.54[/STRIKE] £6,367.68 (£2,387.86) - Barclays Finance for double glazing

Total [STRIKE]£122,852.54[/STRIKE] £113,507.07 - that is £9,345.47 or 9.23% paid off so far.


SAVINGS
£10,914.14 (aiming for £10,000+£2000) Emergency fund today - realised I need £12,000 to clear the 0% CC in September so carrying on.
£12,420.20 S&S ISA with Fidelity International (original £10,000 4 years ago, no further capital added)
£5,910.25 DH's S&S ISA with Charles Stanley Direct
£3,131.75 2 year Bond with Skipton BS @ 4% Finishes in early 2018
£10,947.52 7 year bond with Skipton BS - matures Oct 20
[STRIKE]£38,630.43[/STRIKE] £42,776.43 Total actual cashable savings

Shortfall -£70,730.64 (all debts)

It's been hectic. Three viewings of this house plus a second viewing. They were very keen but have cancelled our agent going to their house to get the details up for sale and are not returning calls. I wish people had the balls to say "we've had second thoughts" or whatever, rather than discourteously going quiet.

I've also been in Scotland with my Mum (who is convalescing after some pretty major surgery) for a week so have returned home today and beginning to catch up. I have to go and meet with a planner tomorrow at 3,30pm. I haven't had the promised email confirmation so I think I will ring and check as it's a 17 mile each way journey to their offices.

On the good side, I had more than half the money I needed in my current account to pay for the Villa we are renting in August, and the rest came out of the savings I had Tilly-tidied in June so no major raid on the savings this month. I must book my car in for its annual service (paid for five when I bought it).

On the bad side - despite having all the fruit and veg we need in the garden (courgette anyone?!)I still managed to overspend the grocery budget in June. Not good! I also did not round the mortgage down to the next thousand because of the Villa needing to be paid for.

I will try to post more regular updates this month. We are not mentioning my diet. After a week at Mum's I may need to fast for several days!!! :eek: