Second Time Lucky

debtfreeoneday

Don't blame you re the weather!

amycool

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

Don't blame you re the weather!

I'm scared enough of driving on dry warm roads!

amycool

The Good News

• We have knocked 9 months off our mortgage - hoorah. :j

This is where the good news ends!

The Bad News

• The guttering that we had brand new in October is blocked and there is water pouring down the house every time it rains. I'm not entirely blameless here as I should really have thought that putting in a long horizontal piece in the downpipe would be a bad idea. But the man whose job it is to fit guttering should have thought this too. So I've contacted him to come back and have a look at it and hopefully rectify it. He said he'd come today but couldn't give a time so I've been stuck in (to be fair it's freezing so wasn't really planning a long walk) all day waiting and so far no show. I have a strong feeling that he will stop answering my calls soon and we'll have to pay yet another person to fix the problem.

• Part of the roof edging is still hanging off as it was too windy at the weekend to go up the ladder and try to fix it.

• My trusty hairdryer (about 10 years old) is on its way out. It's been so long that I really have no idea where to buy a hairdryer or what to look for.

• I have approximately a year left in my job and then there will be serious redundancies and all of our job descriptions will be changing. Totally gutted as it also looks like my place of work will be closed. I love my job and I love the people I work with, both colleagues and customers. It's difficult to keep trying to be positive and work hard for the next year knowing I might be unemployed before long.

It's difficult to really plan for the future when I don't know what it will look like. There's a chance that I'll be made redundant before we adopt, which means no adoption leave. We've also been warned that redundancy packages will be much worse than for the people who went in the last few years.


I guess I just need to keep doing what I'm doing and hope for the best. We do have some savings and my OH earns just enough that we could get by on his wage alone, but then you start thinking about the car that's now very old and starting to need lots of repairs, and the bathroom and kitchen that we had hoped to replace. I guess the kitchen and bathroom don't really matter. It's not like we're living in a hovel, they're just dated and impractical. And it's not definite that I will lose my job. It will definitely be changing and I might be one of the people who stays.


Still, a bit rubbish. I would say, "At least I have my health" but the cold weather has set my asthma off. :rotfl:

amycool

I've been really busy this week with work and starting to paint the bedroom. I'd forgotten quite how much I hate painting.

A week of spending nothing other than groceries and normal bills. I was tempted to buy a bigger paintbrush but didn't.

The plan for this week is:

• Clean, clean, clean ready for SW visit
• Check what time doctor appointment is next week
• Try to make spreadsheet add up (I think it has gremlins in it)
• Go for a tentative little run
• Buy chicken wire and put in gutter
• Make a plan for the holiday

I still haven't plucked up the courage to book any driving lessons. I'm such a wuss. I also can't face any more painting as I felt really ill after the last time.

debtfreeoneday

Good luck for the SW visit!

Muser1

Massive good luck for the SW visit. Go steady with the painting.

Muser.

amycool

Thanks for the good luck! Good job I cleaned as she wanted to see the house! Still looked atrocious. You don't notice rubbish until someone else comes round. :-)

The house passed the inspection (sort of) but the garden failed. Not a surprise as whoever designed it must have been the childcatcher from chitty chitty bang bang. So quite expensive work to do on it and it can't wait until summer like we'd planned.

Managed to go for a run (needed it after a run in with a colleague really annoyed me!) and felt much better. Hopefully now it's warming up I can get back in to it.

Haven't had a chance to get to the spreadsheets as OH is ill and needs to work from home.

Better do the meter readings...

debtfreeoneday

Why can't it wait till Summer given that adoption won't happen overnight? Do you have to be all signed off before they will even start looking for you? How much is it likely to cost? :-)

amycool

Hi debtfreeoneday!

Potentially they could find a match before we're even approved (not likely but possible!) so we'll need to be ready just in case. We're looking for an older child and they tend to have to wait a lot longer for parents.

The clearing will cost around £1000 (huge asbestos garage!), then we need to make the garden secure, which depends on the method but I'm guessing around £750. Then we need a new shed so again it depends how nice we want it. There are some dodgy steps and pavers too so that might be more money.

We had planned to do a lot of it anyway so it can come out of the house fund, which will be close to empty by the time we finish! Even if we aren't approved and matched for ages my niece and nephew can benefit from it.



OH has been ill all week so we've saved on train fares but used a LOT of gas!

Been paid today, ready for my Mum's birthday gift! I'm expecting her to refuse it but I'm putting it directly into her account. It'll feel good knowing she won't have to worry about the garden anymore. We're taking her for lunch too. We need a treat after this month.

Muser1

I'm absolutely loving that you want an older child. I watched a programme last year about adoption and it broke my heart that 5 year olds were so hard to adopt. I hope it happens quickly for you. Good luck with the garden.