A Ditherer's Diary (again)

Naomim

News flash!

The builder who we successfully sued a couple of years ago has just emailed to say he can pay us £1000 in a couple of days 🙂  That will go straight into boiler fund if needed.  

Four_Seasons

Thats good news.  You are doing so well you should be proud of yourself x

rugbymadfamily

That's great news! Read your diary and was so mad for you about that. At least its something back.

Keep up the great work, you're really making in roads on the debt, great to read.

Naomim

Four_Seasons said:

Thats good news.  You are doing so well you should be proud of yourself x

rugbymadfamily said:

That's great news! Read your diary and was so mad for you about that. At least its something back.

Keep up the great work, you're really making in roads on the debt, great to read.

Thanks, we purposely didn't chase him this year as we are very aware everyone has had a tough year so was a nice surprise. I've already set up a Monzo pot for it so I can make sure I know what's coming in and if we have to spend any of it, where it's gone.

Sometimes it's hard to see how far you've come on your journey when the figures aren't coming down as quickly as you want, but I have limited funds and can only pay off what I can whilst trying to make extra bits on the side with selling bits and surveys etc.  My snowball has a debt free date of Aug 2025 but I'm hoping to get that shifted earlier as that's including when the 0% deals run out and then paying interest. If I can get more 0% deals once they start running out - the first being August next year, then the debt will reduce quicker.  I'm also super proud of my pots.  I know I've said it before but Monzo and pot saving has been a revelation to me and sometimes I like to just have a look at them to see the money in there knowing it's ready for whatever it's been allocated to.  Like the £600 I had to pay out on the car 😁

FiL came round last night to help take DD's bed apart.  I said the room would need decorating but it would have to wait. He offered to lend us the money but I said no as I am teaching DD a valuable lesson that we need to save for the things we want. We are already paying off the bank of Mum & Dad. Got about £1200 to go I think and pay £50 a month. I don't want to add to it.

Naomim

enthusiasticsaver

A couple of fantastic updates there Naomim.  Good the savings pots are working and I think these are the key to successful budgeting. Even better you have £1000 from the builder hopefully coming to you soon.  How much did the court award you? The third and best update I think is that you are refusing further borrowing which is not essential (the boiler would have been but decorating a bedroom isn't) and it does not matter whether you borrow on a card or from Mum and Dad it is still borrowing you have to repay. Hopefully you will be able to get more deals as the 0% deals expire and that August 25 date will get a bit nearer. 

Naomim

enthusiasticsaver said:

A couple of fantastic updates there Naomim.  Good the savings pots are working and I think these are the key to successful budgeting. Even better you have £1000 from the builder hopefully coming to you soon.  How much did the court award you? The third and best update I think is that you are refusing further borrowing which is not essential (the boiler would have been but decorating a bedroom isn't) and it does not matter whether you borrow on a card or from Mum and Dad it is still borrowing you have to repay. Hopefully you will be able to get more deals as the 0% deals expire and that August 25 date will get a bit nearer. 

The court awarded us £10k which was the maximum we could claim for doing it all ourselves through the small claims court. Ideally we wanted £25k but just didn't have the finances or knowhow to go ahead with that.  We haven't seen a penny of it yet and I wasn't really expecting to see any of it tbh.

I agree about the further borrowing from the parents bank. I think they like to offer it to us as my SiL and niece are constantly borrowing money so they feel they should give us some too but I want to be able to stand on my own two feet and say, we needed this and could afford to pay for it ourselves. 

In other news, I have made £45 from FB market place today selling bits and pieces from DD's bedroom yesterday. I even sold some toddler hangers that were still in her wardrobe!  The builder has to come back on Monday and we had to order some new floorboards so handy having some extra coming in.

Naomim

 

Naomim

I have sold Dd's old bed for £100. They have paid me a holding deposit so I have marked it as sold. This pays for the new bed & van man I am paying out for barring £10 which I have made from selling other bits.

Unfortunately my house is currently a bomb site! Dd's mattress is in the middle of the front room as her room is put of action.  All her stuff is either in my room or the upstairs landing.  We currently look like we should be on one of those hoarding shows on tv. I'm not a naturally tidy person but even this mess is making me itch.🤣

Slowly catching up on the washing. Got two clothes horses up at the moment,  also both in the front room as no space anywhere else.

The 15yo is about to go in the garage and bring in the chest of drawers I want to put in the under stairs cupboard. In the short term more mess as I have to empty the cupboard but hopefully long term gain with more space and tidy.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. 

Naomim 

Naomim

The bed people came and collected last night. Typically after they left DS found a small shelf that is part of the desk part of it. I have told them I will post it out to them today as I have some big padded envelopes.  What started out as a small project has turned into a much bigger one.  When the step was lifted out there were no floor boards underneath so that was another £100 paid out for floorboards and new skirting.  So that then meant we had to pay the guy for two days work instead of one. We also have a chippie coming in to hopefully adjust DD's current wardrobe so this can be put over the bulkhead.   So goodbye to a chunk of my Xmas bonus unless the builder pays the £1000 promised which hasn't materialised yet.

I have one thing for sale on ebay with no watchers or bids yet.  A load of stuff on FB Martketplace. I have sold a lot but still lots on there. most of it is now clothes so I will try and get them on ebay too.  Some people do like to try their luck though.  I was selling two very similar items. A lady asked if I would do both for £5 and I agreed.  Her husband turned up and said we'd agreed £3.  Definitely not! Got the £5.  I wouldn't mind but had already knocked £5 off the price to just get rid of it.

Was reading @GeorgianaCavendish diary and she has made a will. This is also something MrM and I need to get onto so I'll start investigating this in the New Year. Obviously we have no cash assets but we do have equity in the house and need to make sure the children are cared for if anything happens to us.

Still waiting on the money to come in from the builder. I have set up yet another pot on Monzo for rounding. I don't want to round down everything in every pot, just sweep the pennies from the current account.  Up to £13 on Prolific so far this month and made my first £10 on Shoppix but thinking I will now wait to get that to £20 until I cash that out.  

Hope everyone is safe and well

Naomim

lucielle

It's always surprising how things snowball when you start DIY.  Probably why I never start it!!! lol
L

Naomim

lucielle said:

It's always surprising how things snowball when you start DIY.  Probably why I never start it!!! lol
L

I think anything we start will be haunted by the previous builder's shoddy workmanship sadly.  Like removing the step in the room to find no floorboards underneath 😥  I just need to keep on selling stuff to make some more pennies!