M&R's MF Diary

Marie27lol

Treating myself to a birthday present - an OP of an extra £150!

Well the allotment is getting sorted. Pots and onions are inthe ground. Strawberrries have been tidied up, and lots of seedlings are growing in the conserveratory. Fingers crossed

And it looks like we will ahve a weekend of the outbuilding going down the 2nd May BH! eek

M

Marie27lol

Crips it's been a month, since I last posted.

Well what has happened...

A planned family BH weekend of "Project Demolition" of the outbuilding has turned out to be a paid venture of £500 (inc removing rubble/skips etc). Considering the amount of stuff taken away, and the movement of these guys the following day... well worth the expense.

Now that has turned into £1120 , as it includes replacing side brick walls with fences, and levelling off. We had planned on retaining them, and permanently loosing the 3/4' each side, but when we saw we would loose almost 4' in total, it made a massive difference in a long narrow garden. I reckon (when they have finished) 85-100 hours will have been spent in the garden.

Not the cheapest or MSE of options, but in terms of muscles .... I like keeping mine not aching :beer:

So now we have a space that is really a long garden and we can do sooo much with. I want a corner summer house (choke at the price), and Hubby is after a brick BBQ... ummm. If you have any thoughts on it here is a poll / thread.

So my summer project has moved forward so rapidly I am playing catchup and any chance of OPs, are well negligible. I managed to find an extra £39.27 to round up the repayment to £600, plus the stand OP of £100 which I highly unwilling to cancel.

So despite the hefty new windows at Xmas, and the £ already spent on the garden we are on track for this year's £3k OP target...

Long may it last :j

M

newgirly

Hi Marie, just read your diary an wanted to wish you luck

Marie27lol

Okay Ladies & Gentlemen,



Time for an update; as its been months of highs and lows MSE moments: -

• Garden finally painted, as always it took longer, as although our summer was lovely and warm - how many days were dry enough for wood thoroughly try off before painting. Probably took us in total 25-30 hours paining.
  • NB don't buy a fence with a decorative trellis!
• Raised bed made to match the original, and is now filled with: -
  • 3/5 filled with Freecycled soil, about a tonne's worth - a fair bit clay, but quite a mixture collected (petrol only £)
  • 1/5 compost purchased from an allotment shop £23 for 100litres
• Finally chose my garden shed, hehe, I have decided to splurge on a LOG CABIN - and its fabulous!!!!! :beer: Its will have a separate storage area for bikes and garden bits, with a corner summer house attached, so its all in one.
  • Yes it's not MSE at all, but if bought separately on the cheap, it would have saved £800, but of a similar quality, it would only be saving £200ish (without the extras)
  • High quality and construction
  • Price includes insulation and installation (makes it more useable in spring and autumn)
  • AND I have managed through timings, finding an online discount and negotiation, managed to reduce the original RRP by almost 50%!!!!!!!
  • Will assist me in coping with the house until the mortgage FTC finishes, and will add limited 'revalue' to the house, to compensate for the motorway noise.
• Just been told our department is "under structure review" = potential redundancies or reduced hours/weeks
• Contract deposit paid at lunchtime!!!!

And still on track for my MFW2013 challenge - its going to be tight, but I want toooo COMPLETE it!
TTFN
M

gallygirl

Shed envy

Sounds like a good buy :T

Marie27lol

Well job is safe, just looks like they will be sharing with a 4th location!!!

EEK, and now have to find someone to put the cement base down, as it the original person, can no-longer do it

Does anyone know of anyone near Wakefield who can put a concrete base down???

M

Marie27lol

LOL just realised;

My daily interested at the beginning of the mortgage in July 2012 was £12.38,

and now it's £11.43!!

Maybe by January it will be £1 less each day! Probably not, knowing our expenses, but WOOTTT

:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

Marie27lol

Been struggling hard recently, MSE'rs

As per previous posts, my job post is safe, so HT was looking forward to our cabin being built. EXCEPT the base was the wrong size.

The guys (and company) were great so came back out 2 1/2 weeks later. However, all that wood that was delivered the day before, and carried into the house by DH, well it was in the house for that long, and the longest piece of wood is 4m long!!!

As we didn't know what the weather would bring, we decided to start knotting and painting the 'nobbly' bits on the end. Umm, we got through 3 bottles of knotting!!! And as we didn't know which way was inside or outside, we have done both sides. There goes the idea of linseeding the inside and showing us an au-natural wood interior. NM

To help save time, we decided we would also paint along the long back wall as that could prove difficult to build as it will be right next to the fence... Told no right or wrong way up, just paint the same side. OH DEAR, yes there is, so we now have a dark green (Cuprinol's wild eucalyptus) as a feature wall!!!

And the door for the storage part is the wrong one - its the door for the mirror image of the cabin we chose...

Sometimes I think my garden has a little curse on it.

On the bright side:
Our Xmas present from mum is a wooden arch linking the 2 raised beds, which will be strong enough for a child's swing or a punch bag!

AND, this is a whopping AND, only £100 to go to reach this year's MFW :P

Until the next update, TTFN
M

Marie27lol

So much has changed since I have last typed here. Sorry


Lets see what has happened:

• STILL employed by same employers - and lets hope I have not now jinxed it!
• Parents to 2 sproglets under 5!
• Car crashed into = a gorgeous air inflating tent, deposit paid for = ty v much Ms Driver
• Mortgage is now at LTV 62%, aim to be 60% and thinking about paying an ERC to get a cheaper interest rate (currently 4.59%)

Phew, big news!
M

Luckyinlife

welcome back great progress :]