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Bricks Not Books
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Small update as I'm very tired, work has been manic for the past 2 weeks and won't be getting any better before the end of the month DX
Our bathroom is now finished! It looks amazing, I'll post some pics up once I've got time to sit down properly. After the plumber left on Saturday we did some more painting in the main bedroom and got rid of the carpet. Now need to get a new carpet down and finish off all the painting, Argos are delivering a bed on the 24th, really must get round to buying a fridge-freezer and washing machine as well, the local Argos doesn't seem to have many delivery slots for large items and I don't want us to be waiting for ages.
In OP news - not much going on. Quidco were meant to be confirming cashback from AA breakdown at the beginning of the month but it's now been delayed to the end of the month. It's £50 so I hope they pay out soon as it would be a VERY healthy OP with that included. I put in an expenses claim for £27.10, and I need to dig out my penny jars as I've just been chucking my loose change in to one main jar and it's looking very full now, so it needs to be split between my proper jars.
Right, need to go do a little money shuffle so I can buy white goods!"You won't bloom until you're planted" - Graffiti spotted in Newcastle.
Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind - Doctor Who
Total overpayments in 2021 - £901.28!0 -
OMG. Really well done. You must be exhausted but this is a new life and a new home with a lovely new bathroom and new carpets, walls and furniture. Yay. I am so chuffed for you and you are OPing too. It was worth all your hard work. Make sure you chillax soon and enjoy it all. Fantastic news. Hooooray.:beer::j:money::T:):A:beer::jAiming for a minimal spend 20220
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Not gonna lie savingwannabe - I'm really tired at the moment. Still lots of driving to OH's place at the moment, then driving up to the house to work on it, then driving OH back, and driving back to mine the next day - my car is probably quite tired too!
Another expensive weekend. Bought a carpet and arranged the carpet fitter to come round, went to a timber yard with FIL and picked some new skirting board to go in the main bedroom. Ordered a new fridge-freezer so we took the manky old one outside to defrost in the back garden. Did some more painting in the main bedroom, including some more damp block as we think we've found another patch in the corner, and threw out a load of garden waste in to the skip and emailed the builder for the skip to be removed, we're done with it and as other people are chucking stuff in it I don't want to be penalised if it goes over the level.
Also handed in my engagement ring to be resized as it's currently too big. Should take a week, hope it's quick as my finger feels odd without it.
We also found a mattress on Saturday but we've now got to rethink it. We went to a Benson's for Beds shop and tested a bunch until we found one we both like. Tried to order it online but when I got to the "delivery" page it says that you can't pick a delivery date. They'll charge you money (including £40 for delivery!) and then they'll let you know when it's arriving :eek: No no no, I don't expect a company to dictate delivery days to me, especially not when they're charging so much for deliverySo I've now got to go to a Dreams after work tomorrow and see if I can find a similar mattress.
On the plus side I have managed to get BT booked to come and install the internet. Hopefully once I get the mattress sorted out I can get it done on the same day as another delivery, at the moment I have a bedframe, fridge freezer and carpet and broadband deliveries/set-up across three days, so OH is going to have to be down there quite a bit. I feel a bit guilty, but he did book the time off in order to do more work on the house so at least we actually have the time available.
So assuming I find a mattress quickly and all the deliveries arrive on time and in good condition, we'll be moving in the weekend after next! :T Just in time for me to begin Meal Plan 1! :j"You won't bloom until you're planted" - Graffiti spotted in Newcastle.
Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind - Doctor Who
Total overpayments in 2021 - £901.28!0 -
This is amazing. You have done so much VH it will be so welcoming now as you have organised so much and added your own touch. I did all of this slowly after I moved in. Moving house is so stressful. Gosh. Make sure you have a bit of rest. I am getting worried you are doing too much. Please have some chill out time otherwise you will get run down, love, swxAiming for a minimal spend 20220
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How exciting VH! It will all be worth it when you wake up on the first morning in your new home.
Fortune xMortgage: 100% paid Emergency Fund: 100%
A Better View 🌄 'Being on the edge isn't as safe, but the view is better' - Ricky Gervais0 -
Well unfortunately moving in week has had to be postponed a week.
After the fiasco with the Bensons for Beds website and crap delivery, I left work early on Monday to drive to a Dreams show room. Very nice beds, but nothing in the shop was under £500, almost everything was £1000 or over, and while we accept we need to buy a good mattress we just don't have that kind of money.
So I ended up ordering from Argos, hopefully managed to find a similar mattress to the one we liked in Bensons. But when it came to arranging delivery the earliest date they could do was 11th MarchI've ordered it, because I didn't have much choice, but it means that moving in day has been pushed back a week later. Frustrating, but it gives us another weekend to get some stuff done (and time for me to buy stuff to stick in the freezer).
Today was OH's first day off, so he went to the house with his Dad. They've got a lot of painting done, removed the skirting board from the bedroom, and carpet fitter came today and put carpet down in the bedroom. FIL is getting the new skirting board for us and will fit it, and then we just need curtains and curtain poles! Bed frame is being delivered tomorrow, got a few weeks to put it together before the mattress arrives.
Only problem is that OH is staying at the house tonight, in a sleeping bag on the floor, and when he went to have a shower it didn't work :eek: So I've emailed the plumber this evening and asked if he can pop round as he lives nearby. Hopefully it's a quick fix to get the water coming out!
Going to drive down to the house tomorrow, get takeaway for dinner with OH, and then drive to his parent's place so we can both have a night's sleep in a bed, followed by more decorating on Saturday!"You won't bloom until you're planted" - Graffiti spotted in Newcastle.
Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind - Doctor Who
Total overpayments in 2021 - £901.28!0 -
Blimey it's all going on. Poor OH sleeping in a sleeping bag. At least you know when you do move in it will be working and ready for you. I am so sorry it is taking so long. Just think how you can celebrate when you are in.
Poor you. I can sympathise, remember to have house insurance in case any problems occur and things like British Gas cover. That saved me loads in the first few months.
It will be so much better v soon. I am looking forward to a housewarming party on your thread with crisps and fizz. lol.Aiming for a minimal spend 20220 -
Oh yeah, little housewarming party, some drinks :beer: bit of music :whistle: and decorations! :xmastree:
Shower problem proved to be very easy to solve - the water had been switched off in the loft! No idea how that happened, OH and his Dad didn't do it and plumber is pretty certain he didn't, if we hadn't changed the locks already we'd have had a panic at the time. Instead we just chalked it up to a momentary memory lapse on behalf of the plumber, who came out very quickly after talking OH through some potential solutions (which obviously didn't work).
OH has been absolutely brilliant the past few days (he's always brilliant anyway but it's become more obvious this past week). In the few days he was there he finished painting the bedroom, took up the skirting board with his Dad, let the carpet fitters in, put the bed frame together, helped his Dad put new skirting board on, filled in some large holes in the kitchen wall, painted the kitchen wall with 3 coats of paint (to get rid of the yellow colour that was already there), and cleaned behind the tumble dryer (it was disgusting). He's also been in for the fridge-freezer delivery, the BT modem delivery, and then the BT engineer today so now we have internet, and something to freeze food in!
I've worked on a meal plan for next month and started to draw up a shopping list, going to get some food to go in the freezer at the weekend, just staples that will be easy to dip in to when we need them. My Dad came up at the weekend and did some more painting, and my brother is coming up next weekend to put up new shelving in the kitchen.
It's all go, and I'd enjoy it more if work wasn't really busy at the moment. If OH hadn't been able to get any time off then we'd be a bit stuffed as there's no way I could have taken 5 days leave at the moment.
I also got my engagement ring back from the jewellers. Fits much better, although still a little loose when my fingers are really cold. It's lovely to have it back where it belongs.
In other wedding news OH's wedding ring has arrived from the US - £33 customs charge to pay :eek: Completely forgot about that when I ordered it, but never mind, hopefully we won't be buying another one any time soon. Mine's being made in London so no customs charge for that!
Finally in money news - sent an OP tonight of £64.14! This is £5.87 of TT, £27.10 of expenses (which haven't been paid even though I submitted the form 2 weeks ago - accounts team are having some staffing issues at the moment), the £30 standard OP and then rounding it all down to get a nice round number for the end of the month.
I then realised that my calculations are wrong on my spreadsheet. I keep sending the money on the last day of the month - but they're showing as coming out of my account on the first day of the next month! So I've actually just OPed for March, and last month was February not January. Need to rectify that next month and that should get us back on track, I've set myself a Google Calendar reminder to send the money 2 days before the end of the month.
2017 OP total - £155.12"You won't bloom until you're planted" - Graffiti spotted in Newcastle.
Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind - Doctor Who
Total overpayments in 2021 - £901.28!0 -
This weekend is officially moving in weekend for me! OH will be joining me the weekend after as he's working late next week and that's not the ideal time to be adjusting to a new commute.
Mattress is arriving on Saturday, I've got pillows and a double duvet, just need a fitted sheet for the mattress. No curtains in place at the moment, MIL is making some for us but we only asked her to help at the weekend and it may take a while, if I get bothered by the street light outside then I'll stick newspaper over the windows :rotfl: Washing machine is arriving on Sunday, some time between 7am and 7pm, hope it's not quite that early in reality as I want a lie-in!
We went to Ikea at Lakeside on Saturday and picked up some more bits. Two bedside tables, two lamps, some more plates and bowls and cutlery (for when we have guests), and some meatballs, which I then left in the in-law's freezer :rotfl: Need to remember to pick them up this weekend. We had lunch at a TGI Friday, and then drove on to a few other shops. We don't normally have time to just look around as we're normally rushing to buy essential stuff that we need for decorating, so it was nice to be a bit more leisurely. Picked up some oven gloves in the Next Homewares shop but didn't anything else we needed.
Sunday I drove up to the house with our Saturday purchases. Stopped off at Waitrose and Tesco on the day and bought some bits for the freezer, mostly stuff I can do some batch cooking with later but a pizza also happened to appear in the basketThen drove to the house and unloaded the car, and then my brother came round to put up the kitchen shelves he made for me. They look really nice and the kitchen feels much roomier for having them instead of the big cupboards that were originally there. I've still got to paint them, but I put my crockery on them for the time being. I think after this weekend my attention will need to be on the wedding more than the house, so some things will have to wait until after our honeymoon.
On the OP front I'm waiting for a few surveys to be accepted on Prolific before I cash out £20. Also got close to £20 in expenses to claim from work, so should be looking towards a minimum of £70 at the end of the month!"You won't bloom until you're planted" - Graffiti spotted in Newcastle.
Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind - Doctor Who
Total overpayments in 2021 - £901.28!0 -
Fabulous news. It is soo good that it is happening. It is also so satisfying knowing that you chose everything for your house by yourself. Home sweet home. Well done my friend you did it. And with a pizza too. Happy moving in.:beer::beer::beer::beer::jAiming for a minimal spend 20220
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