Keeping up appearances.......

HappyNow

Dolphin1 wrote: »

Congratulations HappyNow! Despite the circumstances, I am so pleased for you. You were clearly a very good neighbour. I suspect that enabling your neighbour to keep Donkey Dog until the end and then giving him a home are just the tip of the iceberg of the ways that you have helped and supported your neighbour because he clearly thought a lot of you and your family.

Aww, thanks Dolphin . We did try to be good neighbours, just as he had to us for many years. When our kids were little he used to look after our animals so we could have holidays, and walk our dog when we were working all day. When he got older and couldn't drive we used to fetch his shopping and run his errands. Swings and roundabouts . Miss Happy wrote a little tribute which she read at his funeral and she referred to him as 'like an eccentric member of extended family' and that's just how we thought of him. Quite heavy on the 'eccentric' though!

FlacosFloozie wrote: »

Hi Happy!

I just popped by and saw your news. I know you'll miss your neighbour but I am so pleased for you. You are a very kind person and he must have appreciated that. I am sure he would be pleased to know that he has taken some of your worries away

Hello FF, lovely to hear from you. Thank you for that and I think he WOULD be pleased he'd helped. When Mr H was made redundant in March, he actually offered to lend us some money if we needed it! Obviously we refused, and he had no idea of our debts, but it just showed the type of person he was

chevalier

Glad to hear that you have been thinking things through. It never hurts to say the obvious just in case though. Good luck with your sorting out.
chev

jvr

Just checking in. How's things Happy?

HappyNow

Cor, it's a bit dusty in here......:D

There's never a 15th goes by when I don't update my signature, so here I am in all my skint glory . Minimum payments again, but exciting to see that next month the unsecured debt will drop below £20,000 - which kind of tells that we have decided NOT to use our inheritance to clear the debts. That might seem a bit daft, and probably IS a bit daft, but we have debated long and hard about what we want from life - and we both want to live here.

Sooooo, long story short and all that, we have finally made our decision. We will knock through into next door and turn it into one ridiculously large house which we don't need but do want. It will be our home for at least the next ten years. It will be worth a lot of money which will fund our dotages if needed. We will keep the inheritance dosh completely separate from our own funds, and when the inheritance dosh runs out, we will stop work on the project. There's enough to get the knock-through work done and hopefully get it all wired, plastered (you busy Honey?), heated, and new windows and doors installed. Maybe more, maybe less - builders are vague creatures.

So, the project has its own separate bank account (well actually the cash is spread between several to maximise interest etc - but all separate to 'our' money) and we are currently working through Listed Building consent so we can really get cracking. It's all a bit too slow for my liking, but I suppose a bit of thinking time is good.

Loads more to say, but Mr H has rung to say he's almost home so I need to sign off - he still doesn't know he's an internet sensation :rotfl:

Honey_Bear

HappyNow wrote: »

Cor, it's a bit dusty in here.....:D

... probably why I feel right at home. Now that my decluttering is gathering pace I can see the dust which was covered up by the junk, and is a bit of a disappointment. Still, it's progress of sorts here, so if I were you I'd think of it as progress too.

There's never a 15th goes by when I don't update my signature, so here I am in all my skint glory . Minimum payments again, but exciting to see that next month the unsecured debt will drop below £20,000 - which kind of tells that we have decided NOT to use our inheritance to clear the debts. That might seem a bit daft, and probably IS a bit daft, but we have debated long and hard about what we want from life - and we both want to live here.

Ooooh, planning the future. I like it. And interesting that you've made a decision that on paper doesn't sound the most financially logical but is, because it's your plan. That means you'll stick to it far more easily than doing what you think you should because someone else told you what to do. V. sensible.

Sooooo, long story short and all that, we have finally made our decision. We will knock through into next door and turn it into one ridiculously large house which we don't need but do want. It will be our home for at least the next ten years. It will be worth a lot of money which will fund our dotages if needed. We will keep the inheritance dosh completely separate from our own funds, and when the inheritance dosh runs out, we will stop work on the project. There's enough to get the knock-through work done and hopefully get it all wired, plastered (you busy Honey?), heated, and new windows and doors installed. Maybe more, maybe less - builders are vague creatures.

Plasterers Are Us available any time. I've been mulling over that decision of mine to do that course. I only did it so that when a huge chunk falls off a wall here in the future, which it will at some point, I can fix it myself without have to wait for a vague builder creature to appear, suck in a deep breath and say, 'That'll cost you a pretty penny' and then tell me he's booked solid for three months. I even notice plasterers tape in B&Q now.

What a sensible way to spend the inheritance - the gentleman's money on his own house. How fitting is that?! And once you're at that stage you can work through the rooms one by one yourselves if you're that way inclined. I hope you don't end up living on a building site for 10 years though. That would drive anyone to distraction.

So, the project has its own separate bank account (well actually the cash is spread between several to maximise interest etc - but all separate to 'our' money) and we are currently working through Listed Building consent so we can really get cracking. It's all a bit too slow for my liking, but I suppose a bit of thinking time is good.

Everything takes an age. It's a good excuse to do absolutely nothing and watch the bank balances stablise while you make your plans.

Loads more to say, but Mr H has rung to say he's almost home so I need to sign off - he still doesn't know he's an internet sensation :rotfl:

So, the debt-free diary continues apace and we get exciting updates on turning your inherited hovel into a mansion. Bring it on, I say!

Quick question. 49.2% is awfully, awfully close to 50%. When you think you'll turn that magic corner and what are we doing to celebrate it?

Seasidegal58

Great plan Happy! Look forward to hearing all your other news!

HappyNow

Honey_Bear wrote: »

So, the debt-free diary continues apace and we get exciting updates on turning your inherited hovel into a mansion. Bring it on, I say!

Quick question. 49.2% is awfully, awfully close to 50%. When you think you'll turn that magic corner and what are we doing to celebrate it?

Yep, both the diary and the debt will be running for a good while yet. The diary part is but the debt part is .

If I've operated my calculator correctly, the difference between 49.2% and 50% is £1010. That's an excellent goal and I'm going to go all out for 15th Feb 2017 - two paydays from now. It's a Wednesday so I can't party ALL night but maybe we could crack open a few Frys Peppermint Creams? Perhaps even a Galaxy Caramel or two?

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

Great plan Happy! Look forward to hearing all your other news!

Ooh, other news. Well...... Mr H's former employer has set up in business again and offered him his old job back. And we have said thanks but no thanks. What a bold move for people with all this debt! Our logic is that he is happier and healthier than he has been in years, and he's getting loads of self-employed work offered. Also, his old hours were ridiculously long so this way he'll have more time and energy to work on our house, thus saving money. Hope we don't come to regret it, but too late now!

jvr

Hi Happy


Great to see you back! Plan sounds fab and you have done so well with reducing the debt why not just keep going and have a fabulous house in the mean time plus the investment in the house can surely be considered a retirement fund and therefore very MSE.

Honey_Bear

HappyNow wrote: »

Yep, both the diary and the debt will be running for a good while yet. The diary part is but the debt part is .

But it's a lot more :):) than it was five years ago, no?

If I've operated my calculator correctly, the difference between 49.2% and 50% is £1010. That's an excellent goal and I'm going to go all out for 15th Feb 2017 - two paydays from now. It's a Wednesday so I can't party ALL night but maybe we could crack open a few Frys Peppermint Creams? Perhaps even a Galaxy Caramel or two?

I'm up for that!

Ooh, other news. Well...... Mr H's former employer has set up in business again and offered him his old job back. And we have said thanks but no thanks. What a bold move for people with all this debt! Our logic is that he is happier and healthier than he has been in years, and he's getting loads of self-employed work offered. Also, his old hours were ridiculously long so this way he'll have more time and energy to work on our house, thus saving money. Hope we don't come to regret it, but too late now!

I'm pleased his old employer has kickstarted his business again but it's marvellous that Mr Happy is happier and healthier doing what he's doing now. Isn't it strange how, even in the midst of excruciatingly, wincingly debt-busting, money itself isn't enough of a motivator when it comes to quality of life choices?

HappyNow

jvr wrote: »

Hi Happy

Great to see you back! Plan sounds fab and you have done so well with reducing the debt why not just keep going and have a fabulous house in the mean time plus the investment in the house can surely be considered a retirement fund and therefore very MSE.

Hi jvr
That's true, and we are looking upon it as a retirement fund. The problem is that the fabulouser it gets the less likely we are to want to sell it! Luckily we're pretty sure to run out of money looong before it becomes too fabulous . The plans have a built in option to leave parts of it virtually untouched though, so if/when we run out of funds we can just close bits off and the rest will be nice.

Honey_Bear wrote: »

I'm pleased his old employer has kickstarted his business again but it's marvellous that Mr Happy is happier and healthier doing what he's doing now. Isn't it strange how, even in the midst of excruciatingly, wincingly debt-busting, money itself isn't enough of a motivator when it comes to quality of life choices?

Definitely. We've reached an age where the wrinkles are forming and our joints are getting a bit creaky, and - even though we are glass-three-quarters-full people - we can see that the next couple of decades are likely to be our best. I think Mr H has the work/life balance about right now so we're going to leave well alone while we can. If that means the debt takes a bit longer to clear, we can live with that.