Challenge of a lifetime!

cotswoldaccountant

Time has flown the past few weeks, with the school term coming to an end (and an end to homeschooling, hurrah), but the summer holidays are always quite manic so I don't get much chance to post. We managed a week away in Devon last week which was lovely - a cottage which fortunately we had booked months ago. 

Cottage bookings have continued to flood in and we will have had 100% occupancy from 4th July (the date we were allowed to reopen) through to the end of September. I just hope it continues. 

I didn't have much luck with the various baby items I tried to sell, but managed to find a good home for a car seat and two bases by giving them to a local charity. It's a bit sad to see these things go, so it actually makes me feel better to know that they are going to a home where they are really needed and will hopefully be well used. And there's a nice big space in the corner of my dining room where they had been sitting for the past few months!

I have heard from our childminder that she will be able to take DS5 for two mornings a week in a couple of weeks' time. I can't quite imagine the thought of the other children all being at school and having a couple of mornings EACH WEEK to myself!!! 

We can't resist getting a bit of building work done from time to time, and as it's five years since our last major renovations were completed, we decided it was about time for a new project. We've just booked a builder to take down a wall between two small rooms in our house. It's not a very big job so shouldn't delay the mortgage payback too much, but will make a big difference to the space so I am looking forward to getting it done (although not looking forward to the dust!)

greent

Wonderful that you've had 100% occupancy since you were able to reopen

You won't know yourself for those 2 mornings - will be great for you - especially after all the homeschooling and homeworking of recent months x

cotswoldaccountant

The first few weeks of "normality" - being back at school - have flown by. It is so nice to see the children going to school every day - I don't think I appreciated it enough until it was taken away! Our children are at two different schools and neither has sent any year groups home as yet, but we live in an area with a very low infection rate so hopefully this will continue. DD is settling into secondary school although it does have its ups and downs - life seems to be both delightful and traumatic in equal measure when you are an 11 year old girl. DS4 is happy in his Reception class although very tired and a bit grumpy at home. He is quite young for his year though so I think the full days at school are just tiring him out.

Been a bit quiet with posting the past few weeks as, as well as the rush of getting everything ready for school, we've been having some building work done - to take down an internal wall to make a bigger kitchen/dining room. Although the wall was internal, it used to be external and is about 2 feet thick, so it was a very messy, dusty job with lots of big steel supports needed. It only took a week though, and now we are delighted with our extra space which has immediately become the heart of the home, especially as it gets nicely warmed by our Aga and the days are turning chilly!

I've also been trying to have a bit of a declutter alongside the building work - now that DS4 is at school, I really don't need a double buggy any more. I only bought it last year though, so am hoping it will have a good resale value. I have it on about three different selling sites so am keeping my fingers crossed I find a buyer who is happy to pay its worth! We've also sold an old cabinet for not much at all, but lovely to have the space. And finally when we finished our building work, we moved our nice big dining room table into the new space, leaving us with two surplus to requirement tables and lots of chairs, so I am hopeful that these will also sell. Otherwise we will have a house full of tables and chairs that we really don't need... I think I like selling things almost as much as I like buying them in the first place!

I am very much enjoying my two mornings a week with DS5 at the childminder. He has settled in very well, although it has been a bit sporadic due to illness (both him and her) - just colds, but she wanted to be careful for obvious reasons. The sheer bliss of having a full morning to myself is something I had completely forgotten about - there has always been people around for the past few months. OH is doing the school run at the moment and there is no noise in the house. It is lovely! I must get on and be productive - have offered to review some accounts for a local organisation and the deadline is drawing near...

greent

Hey ca - hope all is well and it's just the busy-ness of life keeping you away... xx

cotswoldaccountant

Oh greent how lovely to hear from you! Yes indeed, busy-ness of life is definitely to blame for my absence. Isolating children have meant a great lack of childcare (my childminder wasn't keen to have DS5 while I had older children at home isolating) so I have been fitting in work wherever I can, leaving little room for much else.
Feeling really rather despondent today - the latest Tier 3 announcement has meant that I have had to cancel all of the bookings in our holiday cottages over Christmas and New Year as all the guests were from newly-Tier-3'd areas. Unlikely we'll get new bookings at this late stage - I can but hope.
greent you have been doing very well with decluttering in 2020 - this will be my new year resolution for 2021 I think. I seemed to spend most of lockdown decluttering (although it's now very difficult to get it to the charity shops!) but don't seem to have made much of a dent in the clutter - as much as I clear out, the children seem to bring in new. We haven't gone over the top with Christmas presents, and have persuaded various kind present-givers to give a "family gift" rather than individual toys etc, so hopefully there won't be too much of an influx of stuff next week.
I'll endeavour to do a better job keeping up with this diary over the holidays - and it will certainly be another New Year resolution in January!

cotswoldaccountant

Can't believe this is the first time this year I've had a chance to update my diary.  Lockdown was hard work again with all of the children at home, although my childminder carried on looking after DS5 for two mornings a week, which gave me a tiny bit of time - mostly taken up with homeschooling though. It is a great relief to have them all back at school.

Friends coming to the garden for afternoon tea today - we're enjoying being able to see people again after so long. I've made some cakes and the kitchen is smelling nice! DS1 has gone for a walk with his girlfriend and DS3 is playing in a friend's garden - these little things actually being able to happen means a lot.

Tomorrow is an exciting day, as our holiday cottages are due to re-open to holiday guests for the first time this year. We have lots of guests booked in throughout the spring - it will be so nice to see the cottages occupied again. The past few weeks have been spent doing lots of little jobs trying to get them ready and looking lovely. 

I've just updated my signature too, as we've put all the money we have saved this past year or so from not having holidays, buying fuel, clothes, outings etc etc - basically not doing anything at all! - into the mortgage and it's made quite a dent. The end is actually in sight. I can't really believe this, after almost 14 years of looking at vast numbers on the mortgage statement, that we are actually nearing the end of this debt, and that it doesn't look scary any more. I re-read some early diary entries today and remember only too well the feeling of terror in the middle of the night when we moved in here and contemplated our huge monthly payments.

This means we have a big decision to make - our mortgage is an offset one, so the real mortgage balance is higher than it looks. We can't decide whether to just pay it off and be rid of it, or to leave our "cashpool" balance while we build up some other savings before actually paying off the mortgage. I'm tempted by the former, but know the latter is more sensible...