Ruby's Bought a House, Now I want to Own It!

ruby_eskimo

Ellie78 said:

Oh no what a disaster!  I really hope they find the problem soon and you can get some sort of compensation for the water bills at the very least.  

Apparently he thinks it's the seal around the waste pipe that went...asked him how long he thinks it's been like that because my thinking is he may have knocked it when they replaced the cistern during the week.  They're adamant that the flooring is fine but I'm more concerned as to the state of what's under the tiles (they're just laid on chipboard from what I can remember) and they're happy to patch the ceiling but I'm not happy with that.  Wickes said on Friday that they'll pay the difference on the water bills which is good, but now I also want them to re-do the whole ceiling the kitchen again too.  Will just have to wait and see what they say but the thought of waste water leaking all over my kitchen just makes me want to throw up now

BravingSaving

Oh my goodness! How awful for you - that's horrendous. Fingers crossed its resolved quickly. 

Ellie78

ruby_eskimo said:

Will just have to wait and see what they say but the thought of waste water leaking all over my kitchen just makes me want to throw up now

Urgh, bleach EVERYTHING!  

ruby_eskimo

The leak has finally stopped, the plumbers have been back to reassemble the toilet and they've "fixed" the kitchen ceiling.  DH started cleaning up the kitchen last night but had to do it twice because he forgot to actually use bleach and disinfectant the first time   I was so tired yesterday that I ended up in bed at 8pm and just slept through till my alarm at 5:45.  

Have done about an hours work already today so going off to have a shower now the plumbers have left, grab a coffee and then crack on with more work.  

Fortune_Smiles

What a palavar @ruby_eskimo!  I hate it when the house isn't 'working'.  Hope all is fixed now.

Fortune x

ruby_eskimo

Fortune_Smiles said:

What a palavar @ruby_eskimo!  I hate it when the house isn't 'working'.  Hope all is fixed now.

Fortune x

I know, it's the one downside of being a homeowner that you're responsible when things go wrong.  Makes me wish I was renting again so that there was someone else to take responsibility for all these things

South_coast

That's what I love about being in a flat - there's so much that's not my responsibility!

ruby_eskimo

Well it's been a few days and everything regarding toilet gate appears to have resolved *touch ALL the wood*.  The ceiling has been re-plastered in the parts that needed it and DH is going to repaint with his special oil based paint at the weekend.  Thankfully we haven't had to pay anything because it's covered under the 2 year guarantee.  Although it has started DH talking about getting a new kitchen or painting all the units and tiles

Had a little cash out of prolific so added that £7 to the EF which is growing very slowly.  DH has been told that he's actually getting a bonus this year which is a bit out of the blue.  They usually do performance related pay but this year scrapped it and we didn't think any more of it but then announced that they'd be getting a little bonus instead.  He's worked out that it's about £400 after tax and keeps asking which pot I want to put it in!  Think I might chuck it in the long term savings as it's bonus money and that account gets the best interest.

ruby_eskimo

Morning all.  There's been no more leaks from the bathroom so all seems to be good on that front.  Waiting to hear back from Wickes regarding what they're views on the whole saga is (not going to hold my breath...).  DH painted the ceiling and all the other previously damp parts of the house at the weekend so we just need to do a couple of touch ups this weekend and you'll never know that we had leaking gutters and bathroom at one point in time

DH has actually started thinking about the future and is kind of freaked out at the impact that Brexit may have especially when it comes to food prices so we took advantage of the last £8 off Tesco voucher and started a little stock pile of tinned and dried food.  To be honest Tesco was also selling off all the pasta, rice and tinned veg they brought in when people were panic buying earlier on in the year so I wasn't actually taking food from the main shelves.  We have a plan of things that we'd like to have in stock and will just rotate round the usual staples that we have to make sure we use things within their dates.  Prepping has been a thing I've been thinking about for a while anyway - I always have a grab bag of clothes, bottled water and cereal bars in the car anyway , stemming from the days when I had to drive round the county for work and was scared of getting stuck in the middle of no where with no mobile signal.  I know we're very lucky to be able to do this and we're not going overboard - enough to fill a collapsible plastic crate in our cupboard under the stairs.  I'm also very thankful that I have a copy of Jack Monroe's Tin Can Cook because it makes the prospect of living off tinned food less intimidating (plus her recipes are delicious - thoroughly recommend the peach crumble!)

Money wise, it's payday on Friday and I still have about £400 left over at the moment to split between pots and the mortgage which amazes me as I made a larger OP than I intended to at the start of the month.  Think I may have finally got my mojo when it comes to managing my money, just need to reign in the personal spending a bit more so we can achieve our goals quicker. 

Also had a brief chat with a mortgage advisor about options when our fix ends next year and currently they're offering us a reduction of 2% on our current interest rate which would be amazing.  I got a bit jealous when a friend told me over the weekend that as a first time buyer her interest rate on her mortgage was going to be 1.6%!

ruby_eskimo

Good Morning All! Bit of a long update from me today (sorry!)

Holidays: Well our trip to Prague is definitely not happening I never really thought it would go ahead but still held out a little bit of hope.  Got an email on Friday from easyjet saying our flight out was cancelled (but not the return...) so we decided to just cancel the flights rather than get a voucher.  I have no idea how much money we're getting back as when I originally went to cancel these flights when they were our flights to Edinburgh, we were quoted about half of what we paid.  I wasn't keen on getting a voucher so we're taking the risk and something back is better than nothing.  We hadn't paid for the hotel yet so that was a free cancellation, I've got a refund on our airport parking on it's way back to my credit card and all that's left is trying to get something out of Travelodge for the airport hotel but that's not a major thing really.  

We've decided that we do still want to have a little break, even if we're just locked in somewhere watching the rain and playing board games all day - so we're off to the Isle of White for a 3 nights in December.  Staying in a lodge with a full kitchen, living and dining area and it even comes with a hot tub.  I managed to get a discount on the accommodation and the ferry crossing as a member of NHS staff which was nice and in total it's cheaper than what we would have spent on going to Prague.  Have paid for all of the Covid related insurance in case we have to cancel but fingers crossed we don't.  Looking forward to some blustery walks along the beach and hopefully an evening or two in the hot tub with a nice glass of wine.

Money: Payday came and went on Friday but I'll have to wait until DH's payday on Friday to finish the money shuffle.  Savings wise things are looking pretty good and mortgage wise I think we're looking almost on track to get below £250K by the end of the year but not going to count my chickens just yet.  Definitely think I can hit the LISA target if I redirect the extra money in Feb and March when I don't have to pay council tax and the extra I'll have when I've finally paid off my student loan (which should be in December!)

Spending: I will have managed 12 NSD's this month but I know I can do better.  I managed to curb my spending a lot last month but still feel I could do better.  I did buy some new clothes which is a big deal for me as usually I buy from ebay or depop, but ended up sending a lot of it back.  I've also focused on what is missing from my wardrobe rather than just what I like the look of so I now have a pair of Joules wellies on their way to me as I need something waterproof but not my hiking boots for my daily walks.  I've also always wanted a pair of knee high black boots but have never been able to find a pair that fit my wider calves.  Was recommended a pair from Sainsbury's Tu range that are leather and looked perfect but turns out they're too big on my calves so back to the drawing board on those.  

Work: I've been feeling a bit "blah" about work in the last few weeks, to the point where I've started procrastinating a lot and not really applying myself.  However I actually got some really good feedback last week and had a really productive 1:1 with my boss who made me realise that I'm actually doing a lot better than I realise.  Due to Covid, we haven't had the chance to actually sit down and go through objectives etc since I started in January so I've just been doing what I think I should be doing or what he's directly tasking me to do (which isn't a lot).  He's actually set some hard deadlines for himself to review what I've done so far and meetings are arranged to discuss where we go from here.  I've been asked by the head of our department to write an article for our professional association's magazine based on a paper I put together for her last month and I've also been asked to be a contributor to a book that's being published on workplace stress and burnout; I basically spent 5 years working in an ever increasingly toxic environment which led me to pretty much have a total breakdown, but led me eventually to my current job.

Self-Care: I think I've finally turned a corner in looking after myself.  Reliving the last five years for the book mentioned above has led to realise that I've actually moved past what happened to me and how I was treated by my colleagues and especially those that I trusted who didn't have my best interests at heart and just wanted to protect themselves *cough* narcissistic manager *cough* and that none of it was my fault.  That's something I've carried around with me for a long time and I think I've finally learnt that it's in the past and it doesn't control my thoughts or emotions anymore.  Being at home more has allowed me to realise that I like a routine and I've been able to try out things and find what works for me. 
- I feel better when I've done an intense workout in the morning before work. 
- I like going for a walk after work to decompress and listen to a podcast. 
- I like going upstairs an hour before "bedtime" so I can put my phone away and read my book for a little bit and do some stretches. 
- I'd love to start meditating again so will probably try and incorporate that either on my walks or before bed. 
- I like cooking from scratch and enjoy the "challenge" of making things I've never attempted before - I can now make a mean sticky toffee pudding and my bread is passable but I want to get better at it.  
- I want to start journaling again so have treated myself to some stickers from amazon to decorate a notebook with to make it more visually appealing.  I want to start in November but I might leave it till the new year.

Phew that was a lot but I just wanted to get it all written down and out of my head   hope you're all doing well and have a great day.