Mortgage free by 2021?!

hiddenshadow

Thanks ETE!

I didn't get a chance to visit the local stables on Sunday but had already heard good things about them from people who'd done riding holidays with them, plus apparently they host a horse trial twice a year as well as run a riding school. Definitely looking forward to checking them out (though, granted, I don't know how well my body would tolerate riding right now...).

Security deposit has been sent, and I've turned the hypothetical Irish budget (which I created last July!) into a real one. :eek: and

Found a couple of options for dog/cat food in Ireland (which is good as P&P from am@zon was about double the cost of the food!). Landlord's happy for us to order some food to go to the house before we arrive so that it's ready and waiting for us.

In theory we can start legwork on getting faster internet, so I'm waiting for the landlord's permission to do that. Not sure if it'll work, or how long it'll take, but it would be nice to have the option for 100-1,000Mb internet. (Between that and the projector/media screen that's in the house, I think DH would move over tomorrow. )

I think that just leaves us with packing/de-cluttering, and buying the ferry tickets (hoping to be MSE and use vouchers for part of the cost). At least we're moving a week later than originally planned so that's one more weekend to get rid of stuff. I need to go round the house this week and note down everything we're planning to give away so I can post it all online in one go.

Management cat is off to the vet today for teeth cleaning, so ehe's very confused/upset to not get food. Should be interesting this evening when she comes home after that non-standard of a day (she's quite used to sleeping in various favourite spots all day). :rotfl:

hiddenshadow

Security deposit received, so we can begin to coordinate things in earnest. Am starting the process to chase up faster internet, see about getting a bank account, etc. Next week DH is off for a couple of days (meant to be our house-hunting trip) so I hope he can make good progress on packing and then we can get accurate moving quotes.

Management cat's adventure at the vet was uneventful - turns out we should have taken Stupid Cat instead. Vet tech looked at his notes and said even his teeth weren't too bad, so we'll wait until January when their boosters are due again to see how their teeth look. I have a feeling it'll be cheaper to do dentals in Ireland anyway. Booked all the pets in to get their passports for travel, so that will probably use up the funds set aside for the dental. Ah well.

In other MSE news, booked our ferry crossing for the move. :j After lots of faffing about trying to figure out what ships had kennel space for the animals, and what sizes the kennels needed to be, etc, we've successfully used vouchers towards the cost of the ferry...total cost to us: £44.

Booked the car in next week to get brake discs replaced, then it should be good to go for the move. Funds already set aside for that.

Hoping to list everything in the house that's for sale/free this weekend, then next weekend charity can collect whatever remains. The house feels so much bigger with less stuff in it, so I hope this can continue when we move. (New house's bedrooms are a bit smaller than ours, but the living spaces are bigger, so we'll have to see how we arrange things.)

Not much else to report...between work and house, haven't had much time to do anything else! We did meet up with friends for dinner last week, though, which was nice (even though we were all tired for various reasons).

Goals

Personal
Move to Ireland Boxes packed 5/10 - packed another box
Move to Ireland Items de-cluttered 4/10 - loads of bags for charity, will drop off at the weekend
Move to Ireland Find a house to rent Done, deposit paid/contract signed
House Install cladding in hall Planned for this weekend
House Finish off kitchen (backsplash, windowsill, wood trim)
Car Arrange brake repair advised by mechanic at MOT Appointment made

Health
Chase up re-test for nerves - figure out what is going on here and how to get a test?! Re-requested feedback from consultant, will see what reply comes
Investigate health records - see what would be required to get health records together for Ireland move

Financial
Moving Get quotes for moving costs

chumpy45

Wow, it really is all happening in the HS household. Exciting stuff, and am so pleased for you. Good luck with all the final sorting, MKing and organising

hiddenshadow

Thanks chumpy! It all feels very real and exciting and rushed and mildly terrifying. I'm sure I felt like this the last time I moved abroad as well, but that time I only had 3 suitcases and 2 pets (who didn't move with me right away, so I was nice and settled when they arrived). Much more work planning to move a house full of stuff (and get rid of a house worth of stuff, it seems!).

hiddenshadow

Busy week for us. Finally put stuff up online for free, which has resulted in a few items gone and a few more claimed for collection this week.

DH was off work a couple of days this week, which allowed him to pack a fair amount of his media. Also got a lot of things done - dentist appointments for both of us (only 3 years overdue ), vet appointments for all the pets to get their paperwork sorted for moving, and got the car in for its repairs.

Started eating into our offset fund to shift our money into euros. We've agreed to pay the full first year of rent up-front, which means we need to transfer a fair amount of money into euros in the next 6 weeks or so. After that we'll re-build our savings funds, then resume mortgage overpayments.

Goals

Personal
Move to Ireland Boxes packed 10/10 - packed a box of dishes with some clothes, win-win; DH also packed a bunch of his films
Move to Ireland Items de-cluttered 13/10 - dropped off at least 8 bags for charity (lost count!), also got rid of furniture
Move to Ireland Find a house to rent Done, deposit paid/contract signed
House Install cladding in hall Progressing - need one more package of cladding, then painting
House Finish off kitchen (backsplash, windowsill, wood trim)
Car Arrange brake repair advised by mechanic at MOT All done

Health
Chase up re-test for nerves - Finally have an appointment! Only had to make a few dozen phone calls and bug people over and over for answers/updates.
Investigate health records - see what would be required to get health records together for Ireland move

Financial
Moving Get quotes for moving costs - hoping to do that this week now that we have a better idea of how many boxes we’ll have
Moving Shift rent money to euros 13%/100%

lippy1923

Very glad to hear you have found a place you are happy with. Not sure about the slow internet though, that would drive me insane lol

hiddenshadow

Oh I know, lippy, we're definitely planning to fix that (as it will probably drive us nuts very quickly!). We should be able to get super fast internet (up to 1,000Mb/s if we want to pay lots - DH would totally do it, lol). We just need to get a postcode assigned to the property, which could potentially take 6 months (3 months for the postal service to do it, 3 more months for the internet company to recognise it)...so maybe worst case we'd have it sorted by 2018? (I've already requested the postal service to assign one.)

I forgot to post our MSE wins...finally reached payout on Yougov, so that's gone through to the bank. Also wrangled the switch reward from H$BC, who tried to claim we didn't switch in time even though I requested the switch on the same day as the account opening (it just took forever to process, apparently). I got pretty angry on the phone, but did get the full £200 out of them (even though £50 was meant to be at the 1 year mark and we've only been with them 4 months). We'll probably stay with them for the full year, if only because I feel guilty (and it's not like money is earning anything elsewhere anyway).

Nothing exciting happening with that money, though, it's all going into euros.

shangaijimmy

Can't believe I'm away for 5mins and you almost up and move to Ireland!

hiddenshadow

You were away for a touch longer than 5min, SJ.

(But yes, it has all been a bit of a whirlwind!)

hiddenshadow

Another busy week for us. The house is looking so much bigger now that we've gotten rid of some furniture and packed up boxes.

Got some moving quotes, which range wildly in price. We're waiting on a couple more, so hopefully we can get an idea of what's reasonable.

Went out to London yesterday in very MSE-style. Saw a musical (Wind in the Willows) via a voucher that was a gift, then went out to dinner with another voucher that was a gift.

Non-MSE has been the animals. Old dog needed his teeth cleaned, which also involved a day's boarding at the vets to get fluids thanks to his kidney functions. He's all fine now, albeit with 6 less teeth (!), leaving him with only 4. He inhales his food anyway, so doesn't seem too bothered. Also had a lesser spend getting all the animals their paperwork for moving abroad.

We've almost wiped out our entire offset fund moving our money into euros to pay rent. We'll be able to build it back up later this year/early next year, but in the meantime it makes the spreadsheet look very sad!

Goals

Personal
Move to Ireland Boxes packed 14/10 - packed a box of dishes with some clothes, win-win; DH also packed a bunch of his films
Move to Ireland Items de-cluttered 20/10 - dropped off at least 8 bags for charity (lost count!), also got rid of furniture and odds and ends
Move to Ireland Find a house to rent Done, deposit paid/contract signed
House Install cladding in hall Progressing - just needs paint
House Finish off kitchen (backsplash, windowsill, wood trim)
Car Arrange brake repair advised by mechanic at MOT All done

Health
Chase up re-test for nerves - Finally have an appointment!
Investigate health records - see what would be required to get health records together for Ireland move

Financial
Moving Get quotes for moving costs - 3/4 - waiting on one more quote next week
Moving Shift rent money to euros 42%/100%