Lulabelle's MFW Diary

gallygirl

CathT wrote: »

Has the BTL gone through now and tenanted?

On Lula's behalf - yes the BTL is going well and no problems with tenants, or my tenants next door would be complaining :rotfl:.

Extension sounds good and a great compromise as you are in a great location :T.

lulabelle1

Hello lovely MMW'ers!

It was so nice to come back to my diary and see the nice posts from you all, thank you!!!

As per Gally - yes, the B2L is great.... so far so good. I think it completed around the end of Feb and the tenants have been great. They signed up to a new 12 month tenancy and pay their rent by S/O each month.

We installed a shed for them a few months ago as they wanted to have storage for a bike and lawnmower. Worth the investment from our side as it keeps them happy and means they will look after their garden.

The extension is making good progress - the walls are going up now. Might get a roof by the end of next week!

On the downside, it looks like we'll be without any kitchen at all for around a month!!!!! Eeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkk.

On the plus side, the kitchen plan is finalised and it's been ordered.

Hope everyone is well, thanks again for popping by, nice to "see" you all...

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

I admire your energy and enthusiasm! Well done with all your plans.

lulabelle1

Thanks Squirrel!

Well, the roof trusses are now on and everything is starting to take shape, although there is still a long way to go........

We've been good with spends, just spending on food in the main. I've avoided going to shops and have tried to schedule meetings away from London to avoid temptation!

My CC isn't in my purse so that helps but sadly it's remembered on most online sites that I use. So, I need to depend upon willpower!

DS1 opened a Flex/current account yesterday and is awaiting the arrival of his first Debit Card. I've set up a Standing Order for his pocket money (which will be cancelled if he doesn't do his jobs). The idea is that he can start getting used to money and budgeting a bit etc. (Reality is that he'll most likely link the debit card to the xbox and iTunes and rinse it within minutes of receiving the money).

I did a really crazy spreadsheet the other day - it basically lists savings for future B2L's, OP's for our house, then OP's for B2L's and shows the dates where we should expect to be able to fund a new B2L/s, pay off the mortgage on our house and then pay off the mortgage on the B2L's - so it literally spans the next 20 years!!!!! Quite mind boggling but I suppose it gives me a loose plan to try and stick to if we want to achieve our financial objectives over the years....

lulabelle1

Morning!

Progress has slowed a bit in the garden with all of the rain we've been having. Had a chuckle at the builders this morning.... they arrived at 8, sat in the van for a while, came in to the garden, asked for the electric to be switched on in the garage, started mixing some cement and have gone again.... presumably for breakfast?

Everything seemed to move at a remarkable speed for the first 2 weeks, but now, slow down.

My extension/kitchen spreadsheet is getting bigger by the day as I think of more things that need to be organised/bought/paid for. I'm struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel today, but am pretending to be chilled out about the whole thing.

We went for a lovely bike ride on Saturday afternoon, lovely to get some exercise and have quality time with the boys. We did stop half way round for drink, which prob cost a small fortune (DH went and paid and I thought it best not to ask).

Yesterday was spend free as I don't think we even left the house. Actually, that's a lie - DH did the food shop, not a spend free day at all.

The current account has £20 left in it, hopefully I'll get paid today so that I can do some shuffling. Although, once bills are paid, literally everything is going to one side to go towards the extension.... (and will be like this for the next 3 months).

Gosh, feeling like a grumpy moo bag this morning, must try and cheer myself up! x

lulabelle1

Please forgive me for I have spent......

Gosh - it's been a spendy week:
New Cooker
Garden Gate
Trellis to go on top of the garden wall
Paint/Furniture for the new room

I guess it will get worse before it gets better!

Currently needing to decide on Worktops for the new kitchen. Had originally planned on having solid oak, but for various reasons have decided against this and am planning to use Silestone Quartz... does anyone have any experience of this?

We're having modern handless units in a kind of Antique white (basically a warm white but not cream), Karnean/Amtico Oak flooring )not picked which one yet) and then the quartz work tops but can't decide on colour. Thinking along the lines of some kind of off white ish type thing. I've had tonnes of samples and driving me nuts.

Oh well, 3rd world problems and all that

Muser1

My sister had it in a sort of brown colour it looked gorgeous but her units were def cream not off white.

I love choosing new things but it's always scary with a big project!

Muser1

Ps I know you like me are a fan of F&B paint. I have now discovered Craig and Rose. It's just as good and usually on offer at B&Q making it a much cheaper option. Hth.

Muser x

CathT

How is the decision making going?

After knocking through to create our ktichen-diner almost 3 years ago we now want to make it a bit bigger. Definitely worth getting it right first time around!

lulabelle1

Hello Diary!

Have steered clear of writing anything as I've been "financially depressed" about all of the spending that we've done on the extension/new kitchen..... but I need to get a grip and start focusing on the plan to get the mortgage paid down and save up for the next B2L - which tbh, seems a million years away right now.

Anyhooooooo - I literally only picked the kitchen work top last week. And, it's not even an exciting choice! The units are off white, and so is the work top. It's got some lovely flecks in it and I'm sure it'll be lovely when it's installed. Fingers crossed.

We're nearly there with it all - the extension itself is finished, the kitchen is fitted - just waiting on the work tops/sinks which will be installed next week. And then, some plumbing to get things up and running and painted.

It's been a mare being without things like a washing machine, cooker, water, dishwasher etc etc, but the end is in sight!

Money wise, it's cost pretty much what we expected but at the very top end. Maybe a bit more. Our tumble drier broke yesterday which is a total b8ll ache, new ones arrive tomorrow (we've been using our friends washing machine).

Money wise, we're a bit wiped out and I hate the feeling! Really keen to build the savings back up a bit and then get back to OP's and saving for the next B2L deposit.

Muser - thanks for the tip with the paint... I think we're using some new paint that's in B&Q - it's one where you choose your own colour - the painter reckons it's great - we're getting the hardwearing version of it (whatever that is) for the new kitchen/diner and we're having the hall, stairs, landing painted too......

Colour wise, we're going fairly boring - I'm really over the more exotic darker crazy colours and sticking with very light and neutral to keep things looking fresh and airy.

CathT - does it mean an actual extension to make it all bigger?

Word of warning to anyone who hasn't extended before - the dust gets everywhere when they knock through and it seems to hang around forever! They knocked through around 5 weeks ago and we still seem to have extra dust floating around the house even now......