2014 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugalsod

Happy Birthday Goldie. Have a good day out.

Mrs_Cheshire

Hi all, finally caught up with the chat. Everythings going well here, sticking to the budgets. I've been trying to conserve the amount we spend on gas and electric the last month or so. Need to input the figures online and see where we're up too!!

Kantankrus_Mare

Shortie wrote: »

Phew, that's a relief KM, for both the dog being collected and them moving out. Is there a plan in place for them to pay you the rent owed? We had to start xourt proceedings to gt our tenants out when we rented our old house but they thankfully moved out before it went to court - out case was watertight but I didn't revel in the thought of having to call in bailiffs to actually evict them at the end of it. Everyone told me to stop being so soft in business but I didn't feel comfortable on a personal level doing that to someone (even though they'd had months and months worth of warning to start looking.

That muat be a huge relief though xx

We are keeping the deposit which they have agreed to. Been in the house past couple of days trying to get it tidied up. Its only superficial really but the amount of dog mess and butt ends in front and rear garden was astronomical!! Dont think the place has been cleaned since we last did it inbetween tennants. :eek:

There is quite a lot of his stuff still here which he was supposed to be picking up this morning but surprise surprise he never turned up and not responding to phone calls. he probably thinks he will go and help hisself when we are not there but will get a shock as we have changed the locks.

Think this is a wake up call to us to do our checks on prospective tennants more thoroughly.

Do you still rent property out Shortie? We have been doing it for 3/4 years and everything has been fine up to last few months when things have gone pear shaped in both properties. We have put the other one up for sale .

Shortie

Hiya KM

Yep he sure will geta shock not sure what rights he may r may not have but he's behind in rent, moved out etc, etc... You've given them a fair chance to get their stuff and you can't wait indefinitely can you?

EEEEeeeewww re the fag butts and dog pooh, and lots of it - you're better off shot of them by the sounds of it

We sold our property last year - our tenants were fab and I was hoping the new buyer (also a landlord) would keep them on - they always paid on time, only reported things that were genuinely wrong, never grumbled otherwise. The buyer really mucked us all around and after making me get rid of the good tenants who were paying top whack for the area, I've since heard that he's not yet managed to rent it out since buying it from us 5 months ago. I guess that's Karma - he was a complete wally - one of those "I've been in this game for years and know better than you, but realistically I know naff all and am making it up as I go along" types - I'm actually glad for my tenant's sake that he wanted them to move out

We sold ours purely to release the equity in the end - it was our old house and I borrowed money from my folks to raise the deposit for the new house and kept a loan as we didn't have equity to pay it off when we moved. It got barmy - being skint trying to pay loads off to my folks (more than they wanted as I didn't like owing them) and servicing the old loan. All that just to keep the old house in rent.... So we sold it for purely financial reasons

Shortie

So, we had the quote back today from the builder and a 'rough quote' was 10k more than last year, and 5-10k more than he guestimated when we saw him 2 weeks ago... Ad if we want a different type of roof, another 7k on top of all that :eek::eek:

We could really do with the space, and definitely need to do something with the existing building which I know is less to sort on it's own. But is not our dream plan. But then.... at what point does it become financially silly.... ?

DawnW

sorry about the scary building costs Shortie, and Kantankrus Mare's nightmare tenants. We rented out our house while OH was still working, as he had to live in accommodation provided by his employer, and our tenants were a pain as well. They left a horrendous mess and had painted the walls purple and really bright pink :eek: Where do you even BUY paint in those colours for heavens sake :rotfl:Still, they did pay off the arrears before they went.

Well, it is Friday at last :T
Not a NSD, as I fell for a vintage French kitchen cabinet in a new second hand shop in town, and it was £85 :eek: Still, it was a good price, and I will sell on a nice Edwardian marble topped washstand that it will replace in my back porch/ conservatory thing. I have a small antiques business which means I can change things around when I feel like it. Come to think about it, I would probably keep all of it if I had a big enough house
:rotfl:I might as well, for all the money it makes

OH bought one of those electric cigarette things to try to ditch his cigar habit, as I pointed out that he will have to become less expensive to keep once I leave work :rotfl:Joking aside, I hate smoking, and have been trying to get him to give up for years. He used to smoke cigarettes you roll yourself, and gave those up half a dozen times but kept starting again. Then last time he moved onto cigars, which he smokes fewer of but cost a fortune :eek: I dont understand, why on earth DO people smoke???? I really don't get it!

So quite a spendy day (the electric ciggie thing wasn't cheap either :eek:) and I will have to do a grocery shop tomorrow.

Still, I took lunch to work at least, and we had various leftovers for supper.

Shortie

DawnW wrote: »

OH bought one of those electric cigarette things to try to ditch his cigar habit, as I pointed out that he will have to become less expensive to keep once I leave work :rotfl:

Sorry, I probably shouldn't laugh, but I liked the phrasing :rotfl:

Fingers crossed your OH gets on with them okay - better in the long run for health as well as pocket

skintygerlinky

Evening Frugalites xxx

Soooooo tired. Been a hard few weeks and just a rubbish day today. Once again there's a lot of family stuff going on in Skintyville and I don't know.....sometimes it feels like wading through treacle doesn't it?
But wade on we must! Really trying to get lots of NSDs in this month and next as its a spendy time of year otherwise. But got some nice things to look forward to inc night out on Sunday for friend's birthday, off to the theatre in a few weeks with mum and dad and family meal out on Mothers day.

Happy birthday GoldieGirl!! Especially for you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FchMuPQOBwA xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shortie

Sorry to hear there are issues a-foot with the family Skinty xxx

cw18

My OH started on the electronic cigs almost 12 months ago, and says it's saving him a small fortune (plus he now has taste buds that work). Initial set up wasn't particularly cheap (and he's bought a couple of spare batteries since), but he mixes his own liquids which has brought the day-to-day costs down even more for him - plus apparently means he has a lot more flexibility about the level of nicotine in them which means he can wean off slowly rather than in the big steps the premixed ones force.

I gave up smoking the previous October using tablets from the doctor, but never nagged OH although I did tease him every time he went out for a smoke (my house has always been no smoking inside, despite the fact both my late hubby and I both smoked). But he admits he almost certainly wouldn't have started on the e-cigs if I hadn't given up.