Preparing for the biggest move of our life

bellevie

What a week so far. 
Dds not coping with being at home full time at all. Her motivations dropped, she crys at the slightest issue, often doesn't want to get dressed I was starting to think she's was falling into some level of depression. I couldn't shake the feeling, which Im pretty sure was then confirmed when I saw some messages she'd sent to her friend. 

We called GP, nurse telephone assessed and agreed help is needed but she suggested best place to start is the school. Perfectly timed for half term. I emailed in anyway to my surprise they did reply and will get senco to call back and talk through issues. 

It got me thinking back to the point I was out of work for a year after relocating, Im pretty sure looking back I was verging on depression through total isolation. I thought about Dds situation, already being sensitive and really needing quite a bit of attention everything in her life stops then fall outs start with the people that she is in contact with. Hormones kicking in at the same time, fears of secondary school and to boot the fear of covid 19. Its no surprise really that this has been chipping away at her and now I feel bloody awful for not picking it up sooner. 

We are working harder at keeping a routine at home despite it being half term, and instead of trusting Dd to do her work we are at her side whilst she completes and submits. I'm thinking a return to school will help balance things out, she needs that interaction. 

We've had the news DH will have a 30% paycut when he does return to work. Those are the terms or he can look elsewhere he was told. I actually had that figure in mind when looking at job advertisements locally so had semi prepared myself, DH was adamant it wouldn't be such a drop so he had a huge shock and is struggling to get his head around that. 

I'm wary that I've just started a new job with what feels like absolute chaos in every area of our lives at the minute. 

On the plus side one exam report came through, I'd gone to the right one for my GCSEs. Having said that I've started to seriously doubt I can start studying with all this going on at the minute. Particularly DD, it's just knocked me for 6.

Kakiste

That sounds tough. Well done for getting the wheels going for support for your daughter 

RosaBernicia

Sorry to hear about DD but glad you are getting support for her and I hope things get easier for all of you. 

Good that you were already thinking about the job situation.  I hope it doesn't detour your plans too much. 

RB xx

bellevie

Things have thankfully started to calm a little, seeing a definite improvement in DD since she returned to school still adjusting to the change, not with her usual friends but I definitely think she is happier having some interaction rather than no interaction.
I haven't looked at savings for a while,  we've adjusted our target to account for fees and please to say 75% there.
I think its helped we haven't been able to go anywhere although we have had a few more take aways we have been regularly moving bits across into our savings and my goodness doesn't it show! Partially working from home my fuel costs have reduced, Im not spending money on lunch, DP has cut out his morning coffee its all made such a difference.


In some better news well better than last time at least, DH's wages have dropped 20 % not 30% - still not great but better than it was. One employee resigned on the spot when he was informed about the paycut we think that worked out in DH's favour.

Making a conscious effort now to reduce our food shop spends, though I have noticed slight price rises in general so not sure how much of a difference I can make....time will tell.

We are hoping to reach our house target by October possibly for a pre Christmas move - but we have considered if prices continue to drop drastically we may need to hold back until things a little more stable, will see how the next few months go.
Going to happily updated my signature 75% of target woohoo!

Kakiste

That's really exciting! Do you reckon you'll meet the October goal? 

bellevie

It is isn't it!! With DH now off furlough as long as there are no unexpected changes we absolutely should hit our target it'll be end of October for payday savings. 

Kakiste

That's fantastic!

bellevie

It's been a nice weekend, we've allowed ourselves to get excited driving to see roads houses are coming up in. Reality hit with a few, the type that look perfect when advertised but we were put off driving down roads weaving in and put of parked cars. 

The last house we drove by got us quite excited it's walking distance to dds new secondary school, lots of potential and big drive which we've decided for peace of mind we are adding to our list of must haves. I don't expect it'll be around long, but good to know what we may find in that area. 

Just made it feel quite real all of a sudden. We ran a check with l & c and were surprised they suggested we'd get more than I expected. 
Still I'd rather put down a little bit more of a deposit if we can to keep our monthly bills as low as possible. 

Still on track for our aim end of October!! 

bellevie

It's been a busy few weeks.
Work is busy for both of us which is good. 
Dd has just wrapped up primary school for the last time. School made it such a lovely day to make up for normal lost activities it sounded like she had the time of her life but she was one of the few who sobbed at the end. She's picked up now realising that she can stay in touch via phone at least with whoever she wants to. 

Still saving hard, we've topped up savings but DH is looking at top end of our budget, I'm looking at mid budget so on that basis we are anywhere between 72-78% of target!!

Exciting times all round  

bellevie

Well its been such a busy few weeks.
We were finally able to see some family at the beginning of august, it was so long awaited it was brilliant! 
In an unexpected surprise a family member gifted us money towards our deposit - a good 10% of our savings target!! It means with August pay day we will be reaching our goal. We started viewing fairly quickly however we started to get quite tired of it, parking being the biggest issue for so many houses we loved everything about. DH fell inlove with one house we found with a drive - I wasn't as sold the 3rd bedroom was very small and living room smaller than ours I could see us outgrowing it in a few years. DH talked me round describing the works he could do to make it perfect....I tentatively agreed but because of the cost of work involved we did go in lower than the asking price. We received an invite to a property we had enquired about before making an offer and decided to attend. I wasn't expecting much again DP had been the keener one.


When we got there though it was another story, the road was nice, parking in the evening was not an issue. The house inside despite being dated décor wise just felt like it could be our home. We bounced from room to room wide eyed like a couple of kids!
I could just see us really making a home of this house, it was perfect. We sat in the car and DH said....can we withdraw the offer on the other place....if the next thing wasn't a sign I don't know what was, the agent called and said our offer had been declined on the other property and asked if we would go higher. We politely declined - so full of relief! We decided to put an offer in - the same offer that we had placed in the other house.....to our shock it was accepted! We were up against cash buyers as it really does need some work so I really didn't dare to believe we stood a chance.....as it happened our offer was the best and because we are keen to move ASAP, no chain etc it was accepted same day!!!

Since then its really been quite a whirlwind....Mortgage application is in, bank have booked valuation. We've chosen our solicitor and been told to expect a pack to complete. Its the first day of calm we have had since it all started - quite a nice feeling but I can imagine in a few weeks my nerves will start getting to me.

The property is an inheritance property so I hope it shouldn't go wrong, Broker was confident of our finances he couldn't see any issue so fingers crossed we will hear in the next few weeks.

Im really hoping we could be in our new home settled before Christmas!!

Exciting times ahead, if it all goes to plan