Project Mortgage Neutral Begins

ajmoney

I have a lot to go to the charity shop today on the way to a friend's house. There is an equally large pile to go to work to see if anyone else can benefit from it before taking it to be donated.

I have decided that each room doesn't currently have to be empty as we can move stuff around during the wallpaper stripping phase, I may find out otherwise on Monday but I hope this is the case. It gives me 3 weeks to sort through some of the other stuff and find a way of storing and moving it around the plasterer and decorator. I would like this to be the target for sorting through everything that will be stored on the rooms that have been and will be decorated which just leaves the kitchen to sort out.

Today all I think I need to do is see if turning my bed to the side will give room for now although I think fixings might need to be taken off to allow for that. If this idea works then I might be able to spend more time sleeping in my bedroom until the bulk of the work. I will have a quick whizz round with the vacuum cleaner after and tidy up quickly and then I should more or less be ready for Monday's chaos. I am trying to reframe my thoughts towards this, a friend keeps reminding me that it might not be chaos and all the time I think it will be, it is not helping. We shall see.

At least I will have time away from this until Sunday afternoon/evening for a rest.

ajmoney

I am kind of ready for tomorrow. I will ask my friend when he arrives if how I have got the rooms set up with work for him at the moment, obviously rooms need to be emptied for plastering and decorating but I have 3 weeks to get that organised. Hopefully he will come round to help me with that a couple of days beforehand as my bed is going to be the toughest thing to move. I still need to move the final bits out of my wardrobe but I can get that done tomorrow.

ajmoney

I haven't done any sorting in my bedroom today but given the pace of work today, I think I have a bit more time than I thought. I am not here tomorrow night so will aim to get away from work early on Wednesday to try and sort it. The bonus is I can just put everything in holdalls and deal with it later but I would like to try and sort it before he gets to that room.

Instead of sorting I opted to cut the grass instead as the garden bin waste is collected tomorrow, I also edged a couple of the borders. I have a lot still to do but have decided to do it in small chunks. Hopefully the dot to dot approach will work. I am using shears rather than edging shears at the moment as they need sharpening/oiling and I didn't need an excuse not to do it.

Off out swimming in a little while so going to feed myself and get organised for that and the next couple of days at work so I can relax once I get back. My watch has moaned at me for having too stressful a day after the last hour or so. I don't necessarily take notice of things like that but with a long week ahead I am trying to be sensible.

ajmoney

Wallpaper has been stripped in the next lot of rooms ready for plastering. That begins in 10 days so I have a deadline for making enough space in the spare room for me to sleep for a couple of days. I have tomorrow off so I am going to see what I can get done.

My plan for furniture in my room has been completely changed now I have seen how open it is without the built in wardrobes. I am considering a complete change of where the furniture goes too but would need to get another two sockets put into the room for bedside lights . I will see if the electrician can help me out on the timescale I am working towards.

It feels quite relaxing getting the house in order and decor that is my choice. There is going to be a two week window where everything stops after the plastering so it gives me time to sort though the rest of my belongings and hopefully spend some time in the garden as the weeds are growing at a crazy rate. Once the decorating starts I am going to concentrate my efforst on the garden. I have no idea on the timeframe for the decorating finishing but at least by the time the dark nights are here, the house should be in some sort of order.

ajmoney

It's the start of June which means 3 days until the next lot of plastering starts and I am definitely not ready. I have a few meetings over the next 2 days but also plenty of options to be at home so hopefully I will be sorted in time. The only potential issue is I have really hurt my shoulder as I fell yesterday so I will have to see how things are in the morning.

I have had a pretty tiring couple of days so don't know if that is why I am so tired or some delayed trauma from the fall but I am struggling to keep my eyes open. Going to have an early night tonight and see how things go.

Start of the month financials all done this morning and things are looking good. I would like to reassess where some of the money is going but also going ensure I start spending some money on me because I don't really.

ajmoney

Enjoying a bit of productivity at the moment, house is fairly tidy and money stuff is going well.
Turning my attention to my health and making it a priority. I have signed up to one of these health apps that test your blood to show any concerns. I started overhauling my diet a little while ago and after getting the first lot of results back yesterday am going to aim for consistency with eating. There are a couple of areas where the result are not where they should be and I would like to see how things are in 3 months time. I still can't do my normal level of exercise due to minimal movement in my shoulder but have set myself a daily step count goal (away from the normal walking around) and will see what else I can do.
It is going to be a balance between doing what I need to and becoming obsessed with the numbers!

ajmoney

Due to rebates etc in my next pay, I am getting over £1400 extra. I am not one for spending things like this and at remortgage time I really don't know what to do 

Watty1

What a lovely problem to have!

ajmoney

After so long with doing no decorating here, sometimes I feel like everything is moving quicker than I can cope with!

This morning I have someone coming to seal my window surrounds ready for the next lot of plastering next week.

This afternoon someone is coming to measure up my kitchen as I have a design appointment at the weekend to see how much a new kitchen would be. The plan was to do this next year but I can lock the price in with a deposit and there is a good offer on at the moment so if it works at least I will know what I am budgetting. 

Next round of plastering starts next Monday and then I just need to wait for everything to dry for my decorator to come and do the next 3 rooms. I just need to find someone to take my radiators off the wall before next week as the number I was given, no one has replied to.

ajmoney

I have spent this afternoon sorting out a new mortgage rate which will start in August. As they always do, they have started quizzing me about mortgage protection and critical illness cover, neither of which I have had since I moved into this house. I ended up joining a call to get a quote and at the end she asked me which I was going to buy, erm definitely not buying without doing research and price matching. She is calling me back in a few days so I need to look at stuff. A few friends and colleagues have passed away unexpectedly recently so it is something I should look at properly but with a mortgage that I am likely to have paid off in 2 years, the mortgage amount seems silly.