Keeping up appearances.......

Seasidegal58

Just want to echo everything Honey wrote. Congratulations on the next (money worries free) decade in your lovely, lovely home!:T

SSG x

HappyNow

Thanks very much Honey and SSG for the good wishes

SSG - wow look at your signature! And I see your diary is back up and running so I will get all stalky tomorrow.

Honey - hope Mr HB and the lovely Kelpie are both thriving? How are his legs doing now? (K, not Mr HB - I'm sure Mr HB's legs are a picture!)

So....... just in case I was getting bored, the tenant in our rental house has given notice today! She's got a new partner, new baby on the way, and they've saved a deposit to buy a place together. She's been a perfect tenant and I'm really pleased for her, but to say we could do without the hassle right now is an understatement. She will move out in mid-October so we have a month to make a final decision, but our initial feelings are that we will sell it. When we bought it 13 years ago, the intention was that one day it would be sold and some of the money would go to the kids as a helping hand onto the property ladder. They're 26 and 24 now, both living in rented properties, and I think they will be wanting to buy before too long. Add to that, we don't really want the hassle of being landlords once we retire, so it's probably a good time to move it on. We will pay off its mortgage, give a lump of maybe £10K to each child, and the surplus will be available to finish off this place. Or not. More thinking to do! Which is why I'm still awake at 2:15 am! G'night

Seasidegal58

If you sell your rental, what a lovely idea to help the kids with their future property deposits. And I think that if you really don't need the rental income, then foregoing the hassle of being a landlord when retired has its plus points!

I'm sure you'll both come to the right decision.

SSG x

Honey_Bear

I had to smile, Happy. There's a sort of inevitability to a new hassle presenting itself when things have just started running smoothly after years of playing one thing off against another! I think it's an aging thing, too - there comes a time when it's just obvious that the answer is to simplify our lives and let the potential hassles go so that we can concentrate on the things that are important to us.

How marvellous that you can give your skids a helping hand and lower your own liabilities, so that's a win:win. Excellent decision.

Mr HB's legs are amazing! I forget he's 70; he's as energetic and lively as a 25 year old, still working a 10 hour day but more likely to have a day out and take time off than he used to be, and as fit as a fiddle - he's just come back from his morning swim and is going over to the chalet later for me. (I had a bit of a meltdown yesterday and he's really stepped up to the plate, thank goodness. No plans to sell that, despite my wondering if we should earlier this year.)

Kelpie's legs are kind of holding their own. There's a click when he extends the back right, which the hydrotherapy vet nurse picked up a few weeks ago so that's not good but he's still happy. Slightly less bouncy, and I rather think the arthritis is catching up with him but he's still friendly to everyone he meets, lovely company and enthusiastic about life. Devil Cat is struggling with his tumour but he has great days when he's absolutely himself and on the two days he's not, so far, I've managed to get some Tramadol into him and that made a huge difference. All in all, we're a household of crocks but we're all still here.

HappyNow

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

If you sell your rental, what a lovely idea to help the kids with their future property deposits. And I think that if you really don't need the rental income, then foregoing the hassle of being a landlord when retired has its plus points!
SSG x

That's the thing that's convincing me to sell. There isn't any income as such because most of the rent goes to paying the mortgage on it. By the time we've covered insurance/repairs/gas checks etc it just about wipes its own feet. Obviously the mortgage is reducing with no input from me so the capital is increasing, but the mortgage won't be clear for another 12 years and meanwhile there's always the risk of a bad tenant or massive repair bill. Yes, it's done it's job for us and now's time to sell it. Nearly almost sure - probably!

Honey_Bear wrote: »

I had to smile, Happy. There's a sort of inevitability to a new hassle presenting itself when things have just started running smoothly after years of playing one thing off against another! I think it's an aging thing, too - there comes a time when it's just obvious that the answer is to simplify our lives and let the potential hassles go so that we can concentrate on the things that are important to us.
Simplification. I want that.

How marvellous that you can give your skids a helping hand and lower your own liabilities, so that's a win:win. Excellent decision.
Yep, I do think so. A much more excellent decision than keeping it.

Mr HB's legs are amazing! I forget he's 70; he's as energetic and lively as a 25 year old, still working a 10 hour day but more likely to have a day out and take time off than he used to be, and as fit as a fiddle - he's just come back from his morning swim and is going over to the chalet later for me. (I had a bit of a meltdown yesterday and he's really stepped up to the plate, thank goodness. No plans to sell that, despite my wondering if we should earlier this year.)
Aww, how lovely to have an OH with amazing legs. One of Mr Happy's is rather nice although I'm not sure it's technically amazing. The other one is OK if you like fluid-filled knees that click when they bend. Bit of a niche market, Mr Happy's legs.

Sorry to hear you had a meltdown and lovely of Mr HB to take the strain from you. Hope you're back on track now but if you need to sound off you know where to come!

Kelpie's legs are kind of holding their own. There's a click when he extends the back right, which the hydrotherapy vet nurse picked up a few weeks ago so that's not good but he's still happy. Slightly less bouncy, and I rather think the arthritis is catching up with him but he's still friendly to everyone he meets, lovely company and enthusiastic about life. Devil Cat is struggling with his tumour but he has great days when he's absolutely himself and on the two days he's not, so far, I've managed to get some Tramadol into him and that made a huge difference. All in all, we're a household of crocks but we're all still here.

I did not know about DC's tumour. Best of wishes to him. Funnily enough, I was just reading an interview with Ant McPartlin whose addiction to tramadol put him in rehab. Sounds like dangerous stuff in the wrong paws but I'm sure DC has his head screwed on right. Tell him not to mix it with vodka

FlacosFloozie

Brilliant news, Happy! I'm so pleased for you.

joeyjimbles

Just realised you had a recent few posts, and what gloriously happy posts! I'm so pleased for you and that you are getting to where you want to be, well deserved reward for all your determination.

Honey_Bear

Devil Cat's a bit !!!!!! off his vodka consumption has been nixed, but he's only had to have tramadol twice and is still very much his own catperson. We're just enjoying all the time left we have with him and spoiling him rotten. He's now got quite a sizeable bulge around where his stomach is, full of chicken and all food he loves. He's holding his own a lot better than I thought he would, although the left side of his head looks very odd. As long as he's enjoying life he'll still be with us.

I hope the letting house sale is going smoothly. We're probably going to sell the chalet next year, after the current crop of bookings have happened. Simplification is all the rage here, too.

HappyNow

Well, it's been a while. Today is the 6th anniversary of this diary though so I couldn't not post, and thanks to those who have stopped by

It's been a mad few months and all of my time, energy and brain power have been devoted to the house refurb. It's still work in progress but we've almost finished and we are actually painting now! When we planned the work, we built in some moveable 'stop points' - points where we would be happy to end the work if we ran out of money. We HAVE run out of money, so we won't be finishing the project at this time, but it's reached a point where we're thrilled to live in it and we really don't mind that a few rooms will just be left.

I can't update my signature because I have absolutely no idea where I'm at . I've completely lost track and that just won't do. That's my job for later today. Bed now though, and back after some sleep.

Honey_Bear

Still burning the midnight oil, aren't you, Happy - nothing's changed there, has it?!

The fact that you haven't been keeping a beady eye on your finances just goes to show how much more relaxed life has been for you, which is lovely. I hope when you do the calcs you find major progress despite focussing all your attention elsewhere.

I really hope you managed to spread yourselves out in your newly expanded and refurbished house over Christmas, and that you had a wonderful one with all the family around.

Devil Cat miraculously is still with us and enjoying life, despite having a cocktail of drugs rammed down his throat several times a day. He just won't give up, so while he's willing and able we're doing everything we can to make what time he has left as happy as we can. Kelpie's full of beans and due to sign up for some training in the new year because I rather think he's going to be with us for quite a while and his manners need a little attention.

Lovely to see a post from you again, by the way.