The £1,000 emergency fund challenge.

rising_from_the_ashes

Well - had a bit of a (rather annoying!) disappointment tonight when I got in from work.

I finally got a proper copy of 'the quote' to get the house maintenance done - I've asked my neighbour several times for it (he doesn't live here) to no avail previously.

He'd said the quote was for both houses and was £250 each on a 50:50 split

I wanted to see the quote as a) he does have more external paintwork than me (they have a small bit extra on the side of the house) and b) I wanted to know exactly what was included.

Anyway, got home to 'a quote' through my door - except it's only for my house AND for £370! :mad:

Not sure what's going on tbh but I'm certainly not paying that (I'm still struggling towards the £250!) ..... I don't want to fall out with him but at the same time, I'm not going to be made a mug of

I will need to get the work done at some point but it will probably be OK for another year fingers crossed.

On the good side, it means the immediate panic to reach the £250 is over and I can now officially count this money in my EF :T

EF total is now £553 - with £100 sitting in my main account so it's always got a +ive balance in it! I think I might just leave it there & reset the EF balance to £453 - fairly happy with that!

I really need to get gravel for the garden (part of it floods) and I can get a big bag for about £100 - and have £20 of gift vouchers towards it so might use some for that instead as that's the next thing on the (never ending!) 'to do' house & garden list!

[Deleted User]

rising from the ashes, that's a blow about the cost of the quote:(. Sorry after waiting so long it's worse than you expected. Best of luck getting some clarification from your neighbour eventually (seeing as he isn't exactly speedy at getting in touch:eek:)

Luckily the work isn't too urgent (but don't forget George Osborne's mantra about mending the roof when the sun is shining;)).

House-maintenance and car repairs are the biggest money-eaters going:mad:

patman99

Rising, are the repairs something that require working on both houses at once?. It might be easier (and cheaper) to get your own quotes for the work that is needed.

Boo to the garden flooding. Is this down to being near to a stream or river, or is it because it is lower than the adjoining land?.

Just been updating my diary and will be looking to add more funds to my EF at the end of the week.

rising_from_the_ashes

carbootcrazy wrote: »

rising from the ashes, that's a blow about the cost of the quote:(. Sorry after waiting so long it's worse than you expected. Best of luck getting some clarification from your neighbour eventually (seeing as he isn't exactly speedy at getting in touch:eek:)

Luckily the work isn't too urgent (but don't forget George Osborne's mantra about mending the roof when the sun is shining;)).

House-maintenance and car repairs are the biggest money-eaters going:mad:

I'm well p'd off tbh - he'd said he'd already had the quote for both houses done together which he obviously hadn't (or they've decided I can pay more ....)

It's not urgent and am sure it will be OK being left a bit BUT it's not been done since I've been here so is overdue and I'd be happier if it was done sooner rather than later

patman99 wrote: »

Rising, are the repairs something that require working on both houses at once?. It might be easier (and cheaper) to get your own quotes for the work that is needed.

Boo to the garden flooding. Is this down to being near to a stream or river, or is it because it is lower than the adjoining land?.

TBH his is worse than mine due to it being in prevailing weather so def needs done (we're at an angle and my house is set back / sheltered as I'm in a little horseshoe with 4 houses in and he's on the main street).

The houses are semis but if you didn't know, for most of them, you could probably think they're 1 house (Photobucket is down atm but I'll try to post a pic later as I really can't explain it very well ) - for this reason, it would also look better if they're both done together

ETA photobucket back - hope it explains what I mean about looking like 1 house (the rest of the street is prob a better example as most don't have hedges between the houses!)

(image removed)

mine is the smaller one on the right - there's also a bit extra on the left side of his that you can't see

Flooding occurs in heavy rain - soil is awful (clay) and doesn't drain well. The bit that floods is gravel already but it's really not deep enough so I'l like to plonk some more on top to try to stop big pools forming and hopefully it will also help it drain into the field which adjoins my garden (no-one has access to it so it's not going to be moving the problem to anyone else)

*sigh*

Carboot .... you're right - houses & cars!

patman99

Living in Essex, I know all about clay in the soil. It is a nightmare. Mind you, if you are into making clay pots, a free source of materials is always welcome.

[Deleted User]

Clay soil here too:(. Can cause subsidence too in years of drought. We've suffered that. Structural surveyor said it was mainly down to clay shrinkage. He told us that insurers have detailed maps of clay areas, just as they do with potential flood risk areas. Can make a difference to premiums apparently.

takingcontrolatlast

Morning all, just a quick post before work! EF now up to £25.00 - slowly creeping back up

[Deleted User]

Car due in for more essential work today. When's it all going to end?:mad:. At the scrapyard I expect, but not yet as there's no way I can afford to replace it at the moment. Even a slightly younger old banger might not be the answer as I'd probably just be inheriting the previous owner's problems:(

EF about to take a battering!

rising_from_the_ashes

Patman - that did make me chuckle re the clay pots!


The really annoying thing is that the land was really fantastic - but when the developer built the houses, they took a big top layer of great soil off and sold it - leaving us with horrid clay gardens!


Hope it's not been too bad Carboot .....

Triangle

Hi all - please may I join in?

Never really had an emeregency fund before - same old story of sticking everything on credit. Things need to change now as starting a DMP in September.

I like the aim of £1000 and hope to have £500 in the pot by September (as we will be making token payments for a couple of months while get used to our new budget). From then onwards we will a put a small monthly payment every month into it and put any savings from other areas of the budget in it too.

Hope that sounds like a plan!

Tx