Forever Home Fund

Polly_Wolly_Doodle

Happy birthday Kate:beer:
I'm loving the sound of your house and the ducks / chickens!

katep23

Thanks Polly

Got a bit of a spendy day today as off to W1ckes to get paint and more board for the loft in the garage and over the utility room but hopefully offset by returning some stuff to Screwf1x.

Lunch out with OH's parents but where we are going isn't very expensive.

Was a bit naughty yesterday and bought myself two new Le Creuset cast iron pans - a pie dish and a casserole which is actually Cousances but checked it out and they were bought by LC who then used the design themselves. I have a bit of a LC habit

But I got them both for £28 and looking on eb@y similar are going for £30 each so a good deal and my birthday present to myself

katep23

Just applied for a TSB account - bit scary as I have been with my bank for 20 years but my local branch isn't open on a Saturday (or a Wednesday) which isn't helpful when I work long hours during the week.

Will switch and get the £100 bonus plus 5% interest on balance :T

Have been decorating the utility room this week, hope to get some paint on the walls and the floor finished today. The flooring is laminate which we were given by OH's uncle - not great quality but it only needs to last a few years until we put underfloor heating in.

We have carpet in the kitchen which is horrible, dirty and unhygienic. I don't want to spend a fortune on re-flooring it now as we will be putting in slate tiles when the heating is sorted and when we re-do the kitchen.

I have been thinking of buying some cheap lino which we can clean - when I say cheap, the size of the room means it will still cost about £200. I don't want to buy something we know we are going to trash in a few years' time but I can't live with this carpet for much longer

katep23

Got a joint of pork for pulled pork which I cooked in the slow cooker yesterday and we had for dinner with homemade rolls, coleslaw, new potatoes and red cabbage from the freezer - it was yummy and there is loads left. Will definitely be getting that again :j

debtfreeoneday

Lino sounds ideal for a few years if it is going to get pulled up!

Alchemilla

Ooh Kate your new home sounds lovely and in my home county too.

Do you have membership of any professional associations? You may be able to claim tax back on those if so, and you can go back 5 years.

Thanks for visiting my blog, so exciting to have comments.

What are you planning for your new kitchen?

katep23

Thanks Alchemilla It's a lovely part of the country - we're gradually moving west.

The ultimate aim is to end up in Somerset where my family live and OH's parents are moving to but work means we need to be closer to the Thames Valley right now. Part of our MFW journey is to be in a position where work doesn't dictate our location so we can get further west whilst we are still young enough to enjoy it.

I do have professional subscriptions which I claimed recently and got £80 rebate; I need to claim for the 5p a mile which my company don't pay on business mileage - have printed the forms so just need to post them.

Working from home 2 days this week as our office is moving so that saves some money but still have to go to college which is most of the way to work on one of the days so not quite as good as I hoped.

OH and his friend are ripping out our shower as I speak, I hope they replace it before the end of the weekend :eek:

The kitchen (in fact the whole house) was last done in the 70s so lots of formica fronted cabinets and cream and orange marble effect worktop :cool:

We're lucky to have a large kitchen so there's a lot of potential. Ultimate plan is to open up the hearth at the end of the kitchen and (maybe) have a solid fuel range with a back boiler set into it. Then we're thinking of free-standing units all the way round with a table in the bay window.

It's a little way off yet as we need to sort out the heating first but it's fun to plan

Alchemilla

It all sounds lovely.

katep23

Got £40 for old washing machine on Gumtree :T Will OP that today.

Freegled an old bike jacket which I was given ages ago and has been cluttering up garage since - that was collected today.

Car load of carp taken to dump - that was stressful at 9.30 on a Sunday morning :eek:

Got a couple of things listed on eB@y and Gumtree, will try and list some more today.

katep23

Brrr, who stole summer? So chilly I've just made myself a hot chocolate whilst flipping through Hugh's 3 simple things book looking for inspiration. Cullen skink sounds good except OH can't eat fish