2016 - a year of change

lulabelle

Urgh, Monday again. Hate it. Must remind self it is not that bad. It is 4 days. And I get to sit in a cosy warm office with tea/coffee whenever I want and not deal with clients. Though my clients are now the stakeholders in the business which has its own challenges. And my ultimate line manager, not being a lawyer, doesn't understand what I do.

Sat we spent £36.26 on meat/fish - was quite expensive but trying to eat healthier. Had spa day and afternoon tea which was nice, then the boy did lamb madras shepherd pie.

Sun went to the boys mums and had lunch/saw the kids. Then I did a roast. NSD which was good.

Second viewing on a lovely house we saw in Nov on sat - we love it - but it is more than we want to spend. We can do it, but we don't want to go that high as it is still not "perfect" (nothing will be though in our price range where we live). So, I think we are going to make an offer today and see what happens! It is a beautiful house and we could move in and do nothing.

Today is lunch from stores (boy made this am) and I am doing lemon sole with pesto, saut! potatoes and green beans tonight. Tomorrow am in our main office so early start and travel plus a day of horridness as they are not nice there. Am there next monday too but hopefully then not for a while after that.

Seeing a friend have not seen in a long time thurs night but no booze - have done 7 days now.

lulabelle

offer was rejected! bit gutted even though we knew it would be, I mean, whoever accepts the first offer?! So, we have asked them what their bottom line is and will see if we can get it for the price we want. Time is running out - we have to be out of here 6 weeks today!!!

Went to evil office yesterday - pointless training - makes me want to shoot myself. And spent £4.75 on lunch which will try to claim back. Got to go back next monday for appraisal and our yearly planning meeting. Hoping that will be it for a while then.

Had dinner from stores last night and the boy got milk. He's made us lunch from stores for today and we are having a freezer meal tonight - all to save money. Need toothpaste though so might have to get that today (could get it on points).

Friend can no longer do tomorrow night (suits me) so won't have to spend tomorrow night - pushed it to next thurs which is still within this month's budget but quite pleased for another quiet week, especially as travelling yesterday really took it out of me (in bed by 930!).

2 more days. Hate it, though not as much as hated last job. But just hate law and lawyers. God, another 29 years of this potentially!

In positive news(!) I have now done 9 days no booze - hoping to continue until 27th when we are away though it was hard when watching Rich Stein's Long Weekends in Bologna last night and he was tucking into the red wine!!

System

I’m doing dry January and it’s proving especially difficult for me which surprises me as I’m not a big drinker! Funny how that 1 gin or 1 glass of wine takes the edge off!!

Hope you get a response about the property vendors bottom line soon! Will you go to temporary accommodation if you don’t find somewhere? xxxx

lulabelle

Yeah, I only really drink at weekends these days but finding it hard even midweek! I am quite partial to a glass of red!

I think so, though it's difficult as we have the cat and not that many places will take cats.

Not heard anything yet!

lulabelle

So, I stupidly forgot to get tea out of the freezer this morning! Went to M/S on way home and treated us to duck legs in orange sauce, macaroni cheese, gingerbread vienesse biscuits and milk - £12.74/2. Not the best. Avoided getting toothpaste today as we have some sensodyne which should last until fri night and we can get it on big shop. Just couldn't face going out at lunch.

have heard nothing re the house - love it but not prepared to pay over the odds. if they don't want to engage we shall walk and find something else.

Am dog tired and no idea why. Literally no energy again. Day 10 of no booze which is good - maybe booze gives me energy?!

Starving so waiting on the boy to get home - wish he'd hurry up!!!

lulabelle

Last day of the week in the office for me - ya hoo!!!!

Don't have too bad a day - lots of reading and bitty things to do in prep for our planning meeting next week and my appraisal. Got some really good feedback from the head of the main team I work for (who is a partner/lawyer whereas my line manager isn't) who basically said he's very pleased with what I've done and the fact I am always willing to help and he made a point of saying I should not be made to do these administrative tasks! So all good I hope. A little payrise and bonus would be nice - especially at the minute!

The boy has made roasted butternut squash salad for lunch from stores. He is at band practice tonight so might not see him much but it's ok as have part 2 of silent witness and conviction to watch (with the cat- yay!). Was meant to be at a pilates class tonight but they have no room.

Hoping they come back re the house today! But we are not chasing!

Also spent another £15 last night - boy's nephew's birthday first weekend of feb so we ordered him some lego so £30 in total. We could have waited until next month's budget but the boy was online looking so thought it would be better to just get it done.

Hoping I can save around £250 from this month's budget towards house.

lulabelle

so, they rejected our first offer. We increased by 20k, they rejected that. No counter offers, but an indication that another 30k may do it. It is over priced and they bought at top of market yet have put it on for 7k more than they paid when market has dropped.

Issue is: we love it. Our top line was another 10k on top of our last offer (so 20k off what they are supposedly looking for) but we have worked out there would be a value in going slightly higher on basis that if we don't have a mortgage in principle in place by time ours sells, we have to pay 2500 early repayment fee, plus if we are renting for a couple of months that's dead money and no capital repayments, also, storage costs. All of that together could easily add up to another 5-7k not to mention the hassle because of the cat.

The boy's mum has said we can stay in her attic rooms (she has lodgers in all her other rooms as thats her income) but they are tiny, and would be mattress on floor with cat cooped up in there (wouldn't want him to roam house as people are constantly in and out and then he might get out and get lost) so we don't really want to do that. Plus, the longer we are out of a bought house, the longer until we start trying for a baby, which, given my age, there is a need to crack on with.

They have 2 viewings on the property next week allegedly including 1 "cash buyer". A lot of it doesn't make sense: they say they are in no rush to move so why does it matter if there is a cash buyer or not? People generally only want cash buyers when they want to complete quickly. We can complete in 6 weeks as ours is being sold then - does not make sense.

Gut is to wait until they've had these viewings as even if we add another 20k (can't face going the extra 30) or even an extra 30 (which is still 25k off asking price) then they will probably still reject on basis they might get a higher offer from these viewings. Risk is we lose it. But I don't really want to get into a bidding war almost against ourselves. This is a hard one.

Bloke coming in a minute re moving/storage quote. Likely to be eye-watering but we do need to do it. Unless we enlist friend's help and hire a van. Guess it depends how much it is.

Then I really need to work on my book.

lulabelle

The boy and I have decided to go out for a thai tonight. Though we should be saving, we feel like we want to as are so miserable about the whole house thing. Also, the purchasers of ours (mine) have now got survey back. Apparently all fine with the main building but a couple of issues with electrics and timber so they want to come back thurs with an electrician and timber specialist.

Hoping it is just the fuse box (which my survey picked up 7 years ago and told me to change and we've been fine) as that is not too much. Not sure about timber, whether outside or in. It's either the stuff round the front door or it's the floors in the bedrooms. Hoping it doesn't result in them walking or negotiating down further as we cannot really afford to take any more of a drop, particularly as we may have to pay more for the house we want.

The whole thing is very very stressful and I'm a bit of an emotional wreck right now. We now don't know if we are completing at end feb, whether we need to find somewhere to live, or what. It is very very disheartening.

If it was just us, it wouldn't be so bad but we have the cat to place and consider and I don't want to cause him stress.

Think it will be ok budget wise since we are not doing big shop until sunday and are planning on trying to use stores for majority so we will probably be well under our weekly shopping budget which should cover dinner.

lulabelle

so we went for a thai plus a drink afterwards (which I couldn't finish as have acid reflux due to anxiety - £66 we shouldn't have spent. Plus we both felt hideous afterwards and can't have been the booze - did 11 days without but we each had 2 small tiger beers then a pint after (and I only drank about 3/4 of mine).

Sat we went to see a studio apartment to rent if we get stuck. It is 1k a month but includes all bills. So we will save a bit (as our current mortgage is 1260 a month plus bills) though it is obviously dead money. Don't think cat will be too happy. One of my friend's mother's has a large 2 bed flat available for rent. The rental is normally around 2800 but she doesn't have anyone at the moment. My friend said yesterday she would probably rent it to us for 1200 (which I said was our budget) on the basis that if she found a tenant we would move out on a month's notice. I'm happy to do it on 2 weeks notice as don't want to put her out, but makes sense that she lets it to us if it's just empty at the mo. So we have options.

We spent £10/2 on a sausage sarnie and take away coffee yesterday and £9.99/2 on a running water belt. Then £16 on cat food and £41 on shopping and we still have food shopping to do, though shouldn't be too much.

We are thinking of increasing our offer but think we are going to wait until we know exactly what is happening with this place as they may try to negotiate us down which would of course affect our ability to increase - it is v stressful!

lulabelle

off to evil main office today for a planning meeting and appraisal. Means a much earlier start and later finish which blows, especially on a monday.

Hoping appraisal is ok. Would be nice to get a rise and bonus as the money is needed at present.

Would have quite a bit left over this month but my london property had a gas safety check and also a replacement part to boiler in dec so waiting on bill for that which should be around £350, so that is being taken from this month's budget.

We still don't know what is best to do about the house. It is depressing and stressful. Been v depressed this weekend and crying a fair bit - pathetic I know