From Trash to Cash: the Dribbling never ends

nolongerindenial

Nikki,

We redid our bathroom with a £170 suite from B&Q, dont forget you will need to add in the cost of all the incidentals and they DO add up. Im lucky labour was free as my dad is in the building trade however things he didnt have that we needed

A couple lengths 15mm pip, elbows etc etc flexible fittings for the taps.

Then it came to tiling it and we blew the budget!

All in all, our bathroom cost us about £1500 - and that is with a wall being moved, a door being moved, a door being blocked up, a new loft hatch etc etc.

I would say budgeting £200 is a tad unrealistic, as we have worked out - take your original budget and prepare to double the spend to make a realistic budget after you have bought all of the little bits you didnt think you needed.

jo70mo

Hi Nikki - its great that you've got people who can help with doing the work cos that makes it all more manageable.
NLID I hope you didn't take my post as a criticism - I really wasn't saying I thought you neglect your family cos I don't think that just mentioning it as in stressful financial times that sort of stuff can slide. But it does sound like you are really close and talk everything through which is great.
Have you thought about work for the census. don't know if there are still jobs available with that or not?
when working for supermarkets some pay better than others and you may get a discount so a reduction in your food bill. if it came to it.
Jo x

nikki2804

Lol thats not my budget. Well it is but for the suite if that makes sense. Tiles wise I already have them sice my mum serioulsy over bought some in a sale.

Have money put by for new plastorboard (if needed) flooring, pipes, decor etc. A new door is needed but its not essential at first . Will wait till I can buy all the doors at once. Its an openplan kitchen and livingroom so no doors there hehe.

But I do need to price windows. Then get my cousin to get them 'trade' style. I've got 8 windows but doing 3 if I get it cos there broken then I'll do them up as I do each room.

Anyone know about the grants for insulation?? Think it will probably need redoing (its ex council and probably wouldn't have been done since erm the 1980's)

2cats1kid

Hi jo. Thanks for the offer on the folder/inserter. I've pretty much cracked it this time, and it's pretty useful doing it by hand in some ways as although I do check the addresses as I select them an occasional duplicate or duff address always slips through so I can sift them out. What I normally do is take 50 or 100 to do in quiet classes where I'm not needed, so I have a stock of a few hundred ready to go - I just haven't been as organised this term (probably because of trying to do the arty farty stuff as well). So this term I'll be getting ready for the summer mailing for the September term starters. As I say, I've been slowed up by having to change the venue on all the leaflets too - I only have 5 or 6 hundred of the old ones left now, so I'll get a new batch printed with the new venue on it and that will take a lot of the work out right there.

Feeling really sluggish today. I seem to do day about at the moment - energised then sluggish. I've promised to take DD to the cinema today as she's been pretty ignored the last few days, bless her. I also need to price up some new violin strings - could never see why there were different grades of string, but she has her grade 7 pieces to practice now and boy, can I tell she needs a better E string!

skintbint_2

nikki- remember when moving house some diy stores give you a 10% discount card such as Focus or possiblility of a parent/friend is over 60 and buying you a bathroom suite as a gift and getting the pensioners discount from b&q etc iyswim! every penny counts!

LilacPixie

you can get free loft insulation if on some types of benefit. Howdens is good for door/kitchens/wood. Do you know a joiner with a trade card for there? They also do windows I think. Most energy suppliers have information on it but here is the scottish parliments version http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/access/FP/eap

nikki2804

skintbint wrote: »

nikki- remember when moving house some diy stores give you a 10% discount card such as Focus or possiblility of a parent/friend is over 60 and buying you a bathroom suite as a gift and getting the pensioners discount from b&q etc iyswim! every penny counts!

Yeah I'd thought about the pensioners discount from B&Q. Going to see what/when there next offers are.

Screwfix's basic bathroom suite is actually quite pretty. Taps however, are bloody expensive!!! Would replace the shower at some point too.

I remember looking at kitchens ages ago. I found a lovely black marble sink (£250!!! not very mse!!)

nolongerindenial

jo70mo wrote: »

NLID I hope you didn't take my post as a criticism - I really wasn't saying I thought you neglect your family cos I don't think that just mentioning it as in stressful financial times that sort of stuff can slide. But it does sound like you are really close and talk everything through which is great.
Have you thought about work for the census. don't know if there are still jobs available with that or not?
when working for supermarkets some pay better than others and you may get a discount so a reduction in your food bill. if it came to it.
Jo x

No I didnt take it as a criticism, my family is no. 1 on my list of priorities, nothing gives me a better feeling than seeing DS smile or spending an hour just cuddling with my OH.

The amount I work is to keep us afloat financially, and obviously I have an overview of what work is due to come in when - which I can not put on this open forum as it will disclose just who I am.

Basically I need to work on our short term income more than the long term stuff as that will be sorted in 3-6 months due to some of the affiliate sites which are getting ready to be live (End of April is the target to have some 500+ affiliates in the admin system ready to push out to the sites growing at 1-3 per week). Obviously because of my industry I can predict this quite accurately.

Things like the census etc - I hadnt even thought of any of this as I have never been a person for temp work to get by - I used to just break a car if I needed a quick injection of cash - however I wouldnt want to do this as at the minute I dont have the space (or the cash to buy the car)

I am pinning a lot of hope on this ebay seller tools site taking off relatively quickly - and paypal paying me the money just as quickly into my bank to ensure I can pay my bills - However I know its a long term project

On another annoying note - I went out to the car this morning and had a puncture No problem though as I have 12 spare alloys around the back of my house I picked up for free a few weeks back - saved £20 on a puncture repair or £40 for a new tyre (I Never Use Budget Ditchfinders)

LilacPixie

taps are often reasonable on ebay. Our suite is from next. it was £600 but its good and included taps,wastes a shower mixer and shower screen and wooden gloss side panels. B&Q often have major clear outs of taps. 10% old git wednesdays help too. I often rope in my dad for that as he is the old git.

LilacPixie

NLID - be thankful you do not have a car like mine. £100 minimum for a decent tyre. Could you not weight in the alloys for scrap??