Extending our house without extending ourselves beyond our means

PurpleFairy26

Morning dairy. Sunny,sunny, sunny here and what a difference it makes. 2 loads of washing already on the line malt loaf in the BM (not done it before so sill see how it turns out) and ys lamb shanks I got yesterday in the slow cooker with ys veg from last weeks haul I know it's not the most summery tea but already smells yummy.

Have had a lovely weekend, sorted DD room and decluttered some stuff. Went on a local art trail yesterday which a) meant we got to see some lovely art and b) got to see some amazing houses. Lovely to be able to walk out locally in the sunshine.

Plans for the house are progressing think we need to split into 3:

Ongoing renovations/ decoration of current part of house
Big extension
Pre work to ^ which may include small extension to front.

So we are off to 1kea today to buy a unit for the hall to house shoes. This means we can the use cupboard under the stairs for storage and empty porch

Got small dividend payment on some shares I have, split between cc and savings

PurpleFairy26

current accounts looking dire until DH gets paid on Friday so no PADs or TT at the moment. Boo

We went to 1kea yesterday and won a set of nest of table in the current giveaway thingy :T Unfortunately they are not to our taste, however, I'll put them on the local selling page and hopefully they will go. I also bought 2 lampshades using house budget funds for £28 :T

Other moneysaving continues with a christmas present bought in the sale today and two more cheap finds stashed yesterday. Must move money from virtual 'pot' and update my spreadsheet

Made some malt loaf/bread thing yesterday in the BM, have froze half. Must start to use stuff up, to make space for more ys hauls which is my current specialty as grocery spending is where the budget can run away. Plus eating is a popular hobby of mine :rotfl: will try and do a menu plan tonight to keep my out of mischief.

Will put some washing and the DW on cheap rate tonight, readings due in a week, will be interesting how we have fared, think we've only used TD once which considering the weather is good. :A

Have shifted my regular viewing from staring at my debt spreadsheet to staring at my savings one instead. As the debt one won't go down much now as we're paying minimums am keen for savings to go up

Must get stuff together to complete tax return, hate doing it and never takes that long in reality when you have all the stuff you need First job is to do business accounts. Must put on my annoying jobs list then likely to get done. Right off to take small to campfire as the weather will hold.

PurpleFairy26

I've spent much of to it getting my business accounts up to date after my post earlier. I'm very pleased :A just one small section to do and then I'll be in a position to file the return. My aim is before the end of August.

DH has also signed an authority letter for something for the mortgage which will go in the post tomorrow and I have got the docs I need to scan at work tomorrow with the good scanner to upload for the supporting info. Then we'll be in a position to book the valuer :T

Need to update my little book with what we want to do in each room and in what order, which will be my master plan. Right, might do that for 5 minutes before bed.

PurpleFairy26

Another busy 24 hours, as ever. Spent some time updating my book with a to do list for each room. Most of it involves spends for furniture and carpets etc.. However, walls will mainly be white will use where we can curtains and soft furnishings etc.. we already have.

Doing each room in turn will allow for some declutter to happen and whatever is saleable will be sold

On money from DH got paid £55 for a commission he did. He kept £5 and gave me £50 :T I also was gifted some money for a membership I had budgeted for, so will use the two amounts to pay down last of 2nd cc. That with a bit of DH ot payment on Friday should see it off :T. Any further surplus will be split 3 ways between current savings pots.

Was also given £3.50 refund which I had forgotten about from something earlier this year. I know it's only small, but it all helps. Will go to savings.

We've booked someone to come and finish the last of the loft insulation and additional light and boarding for a couple of weeks time :T this means we can then start emptying the garage back up there. Always on look out for saleable things.

All in all a good day, pity Wales lost in the FB, was cheering them on.

brizzledfw

Just catching up. Looks like you're motoring along v nicely. Well done you.

:T

PurpleFairy26

Thanks for popping by Brizzle we were in Spain earlier this year near to where you're going I think. We love it there, have been several times. Very relaxing and pretty much guaranteed the weather. Enjoy.

Been able to check pending payments tonight and see DH has a decent chunk of ot coming tomorrow, about £50 more than I was expecting :T this means tomorrow I can pay off cc 2:j

Some will also be able to go to savings :T

DH has finished painting lounge and we have man coming tomorrow about skirtings. Hopefully after that we can have a decent plan. Need to do some work on my rental property too, although I think I have sourced what I need at trade price and someone I know will fit it. Will be a saving, despite an outlay IYSWIM

Next priority will then be getting radiators back in the lounge. Need to call someone, will add this to to do list tomorrow as am working from home.

DD has a reading list for next year (she's only 6:eek:) but have managed to find the part of the website where I can reserve books, will do this for half a dozen and she can do them first. She has a couple anyone and then I can pick the others off or she can re get them if she likes them.

Right off to reserve some books.

PurpleFairy26

Morning diary. Well CC2 is paid off :T:T lovely to see a nice big zero on my sheet

I've also TT some money to savings :T

DH built our new unit for shoes so we can move them out from under the stairs and hopefully empty the porch in to there :T looks much lighter already. Working for home so need to make a few calls about a few things, mainly trying to find information about some of our protection policies I wish to review.

Right must go and get the girls ready for school.

PurpleFairy26

Really, really good day. Managed to do loads of work. Called all the people I needed, very good customer service from all 4. Rare I find these days. Just need to do some comparisons to make sure we're not overpaying.

I also removed some manky carpet from under the stairs cleaned the floor underneath which is perfectly acceptable for an undersrairs cupboard. Move contents of porch in there in an orderly fashion. Saved 3 bags for charity sale and another item to fleabay pile. Vacuumed and cleaned porch and we can now use front door :T first time in 2 years

Saved the for tomorrow as we decided we weren't that hungry. All helps. Vacuumed through whilst I had vac out.

Submitted meter readings whilst cupboard was empty and they were easy to read :rotfl:

Managed a couple of chunky surveys too. Not far off a payout.
Right, half an hour of protection comparisons before bed.

PurpleFairy26

Happy Sunday frugal ones. Good weekend had by all

Despite the dodgy weather yesterday today has been lovely. So 5 loads of washing later and all but a few things (that are still on the line ) duly dry I'm happy despite an accident with a purple scarf in one wash yesterday. 7 colour catch sheets later and a bit of sun to bleach I think most items have been saved. Also managed to wash some things to sell.

Checked protection policies, one definitely still best value on market, one possibly needs upping slightly and the other two we just need to decide if that cover is still best for us or are we better putting that money to the mortgage. Time to ponder on that one.

Impromptu lunch out today but used staff discount and last of a gift voucher I was gifted at work so cost us £18 :T we may have gone out for a cake anyway so probably about the same.

No other spends. As we had big lunch only snack for tea.

Bought about 8 Christmas presents yesterday, need to message local artist about a couple more. Need to get a couple of birthday cards for August and a gift for a friend for this week. May suggest afternoon tea

Going to TT some to savings today, am also aiming to list 5 things on fleabay tonight and see about selling a new item on local selling page.

PurpleFairy26

Morning

Making good progress here. Listed 3 things on fleabay Sunday, didn't realised DH had packed my 'ready to fleabay' bag in loft, will list some more when he retrieves it. Put one item on local selling page. 2 have watchers.

Made TT to savings tray, split 3 ways - 2 small savings accounts for wedding next year where we need to stay away and the 3rd to our extension fund any sales will go here too.

Made some soup overnight in sc using ys produce :T keeping food bill down will be key to us overpaying/ saving even more than our target.

Need to get something out of freezer for tea. On the look out for utility bill that's due, hopefully consumption will have come down again too.

About to sign a free broadband for 2 year deal with our current supplier which will save us £7.50 increase they were originally planning. They've also offered me 10% off some other service we have with them but think I will call as I would like more than that.

Seem to have miscalculated our bills account for this month and am a bit short not sure how that happened. Oh well, I can juggle it about. Must be more careful next payday. Which is next week. That's come quick :T

Moved money from presents account for some Christmas gifts I got in the sale. Must update my gift sheet. Right being asked to play snap with a 3 year old, must dash