I'm going to do a diary too :)

CathT

gerbiljo wrote: »

Cath- how do you feel about the end of maternity leave? I imagine you are a bit sad, hope the transition goes ok

I'm wondering how i'll cope!!

Well done on the sky deal too, we had an offer of half price movies and sports for 3 months which i'd hoped they'd extend but didn't so we are back on basic package now. I feel a bit mean as we can afford it but i'm not paying £50 a month out of principle!

gerbiljo

i wouldn't pay it on principle either!! they only have to flick a switch surely

oh i do hope its ok, the only good thing about me going back 3 years ago was i thought they'd reject my appeal and have no job so i had no anxiety about going back i just looked as the money i got as a boost. if id of known iv of ended up going back full time for 3 years id of been petrified!
i do hope it goes ok for you

gerbiljo

I am getting a bit rubbish with keeping this up to date!!
I received some more vouchers the other day from top cash back and ordered some blu rays, i nearly got the cash but then i decided as we had paid off lots lately and my vouchers will be ending that id go for the vouchers. I am approaching payout on new vista/onepoll and valued opinions.

i did an online shop the other day but the computer was slow and i took about 3hours!! plus there were some errors like i got 6 boxes of cereal!! its came to about £70 as well, but i got a lot, hoping to street the next shopping trip a bit longer so the money works out ok...best book a slot!

got 4 days off for easter which is great, hubby is building today. we are setting ourselves a 6 week target to get the roof on and windows in etc before we go away...then i think it will stop until next year for the knock through as once that starts we will be in a mess until that is complete. Obviously completion will cost money but we checked the total and so far its going to about 12k we are estimating that it will add at least 50k to the value, but even if it added nothing profit wise it is cheaper than moving to a step up non forever house and just will make our home work much better for us. my husband thinks the total will be more like £25k of costs.

We have bought a few bits here and there, some bits for the garden- a big pot for our asparagus which we harvested some of the other day, its currently in a little pot and i didn't think it would grow but it has and some holiday bits, we got a princess dress for our daughter so we are not going to let her have it yet!

I missed an easter egg hunt the other day and i was so angry with myself, I guess we are just so busy sometime i think i have set my self too tough a challenge!!

Rightio, better go and help with the building...

gerbiljo

newvista- £50 reached so I think I should get that in may :beer:

vl2588

Yay princess dress!!

gerbiljo

we are working on a price now to complete the extension with roof on- i.e. not inside. its quite amazing we seem to have managed this without stopping mortgage overpayments but i guess we are just stoozing!! have a second online food shop coming today- £30 so that is very much better!! tho it is more top up shopping but we should still survive the week, we have a £5.80 asda voucher but I don't think it will come in time!!
my husband has hinted that he should be able to pay another £240 off this month!! which takes us well over our aim of £4500 a month

i am also excited about the princess dress- it is now hidden in the holiday bag

Peonie

£50k added value to your house is great. Did you take into account the ceiling selling price of your street?

gerbiljo

I guess so, one of them just sold for £230k in very poor condition which ours was when i bought it in 2003 at £190k, i like to think the work we had done already made ours slightly more than that and think maybe ours would be worth £280k though I would like it to be worth £300 it might be somewhere in-between. We are 8 houses which are back to front which is quite unusual, there is another house in a mews that have done similar building works to us and theres was for sale at £310k, don't know if it ever sold, it had a bigger garden than ours tho, but ours looks over a field so i guess really with ours its a case of finding the right buyer. At the end of the day if you really want a driveway you just would't buy it. For me I loved it because I could see the horses in the field in front and before I bought it we'd just had an offer accepted on a semi and the fact it was in poor condition and probably facing back to front allowed me to get a better house than i otherwise would have been able to. I don't think realistically its 'profit' I'm sure I calculated that the first 5 years of our fixed rate I paid £30,000 in interest plus the money we've spent on the extension its more like just putting money on the house but it hasn't been wasted if that makes sense.

We just caught a mouse in the greenhouse! he had been eating our seeds, we need to plant some more now! we caught him in a humane trap and I just released him in the field opposite!

gerbiljo

Oh i meant to say none of the other houses like ours have done similar building work for us to compare.

oh we got got tiles for the cat room floor which came to £42 they seemed to be selling nearly every box of tiles in b&Q for £7, would have been great if id had a homes under the hammer house

gerbiljo

a £50 newvista cheque has arrived- lovely bubbly!!, just global opions/ipsos/ valued opinions and you gov left!