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

South_coast

Almost through the £1/4m barrier - that will definitely be one to celebrate 🍾!

ruby_eskimo

South_coast said:

Almost through the £1/4m barrier - that will definitely be one to celebrate 🍾!

I only realised that myself this morning!  Will definitely be celebrating when we get there next month!

ruby_eskimo

Car insurance renewed this morning.  After getting all the quotes under the sun, I ended up going with my actual renewal quote because nothing else came close.  After having an accident a few years ago, I can see the benefit in having legal protection and personal injury cover so always make sure to add those on, and I managed to get breakdown cover thrown in as well.  So £354 from the car pot will be making its way on to my credit card soon; the next cheapest quote matching the same criteria was £523!

Also received our council tax bill for next year and while I was expecting an increase, it's not as much as I thought it might have been so that's a bonus.  Alongside the savings on the water bill, we'll still be a little better off next financial year 🤞

After minor success with growing some vegetables last year (carrots, pak choi, lettuce, radishes), DH has well and truly turned into a gardener.  Last night he was transplanting some courgette seedlings which are now taking up most of the windowsill in the kitchen, along with some jalapenos and bell peppers.  Seed potatoes arrived yesterday and he's planning on setting up some strawberries over the weekend by the back door.  It's not like we have a big garden, but he's definitely determined to make the most of the space we do have!

greent

Woe - very organised with the hg stuff there! I only started some tomatoes and courgettes off a few days ago - I'm so behind!! 

ruby_eskimo

greent said:

Woe - very organised with the hg stuff there! I only started some tomatoes and courgettes off a few days ago - I'm so behind!! 

DH is one of those people that just wakes up and goes "I'm going to do X today" and just gets on a does it regardless 😂  I on the other hand will procrastinate till the very last minute 😏  

ruby_eskimo

Afternoon everyone.  Took a week and bit off work and didn't touch the laptop the entire time.  Had a relaxing birthday - DH cooked a fry up and sent me out on a walk with a friend for a socially distanced catch up.  Had a Nando's and cake for dinner and finished the evening watching Seth Meyer's stand up special on Prime Now.  All in all a perfect birthday really (I hate a fuss)  Week off consisted of some organising, walks and reading and not a lot else.  Has been really difficult to get back in the swing of things today though 😏

On the money front, I made the rash decision to make a £400 OP to the mortgage this morning as I had the cash "left over" from the month and now our mortgage balance sits at £250,000 exactly (before March's interest is added of course).  Usually that money would have gone to the LISA but it was too tempting to resist just rounding everything down nice and neatly.  I've also already got £100 set aside to go straight into next year's LISA in April, which was leftover from the grocery budget this month.  Somehow I've managed to cut our food budget almost in half and I'm not sure how 🤷‍♀️ but long may it continue!

Have booked in for my second Covid jab on Wednesday morning, which I've heard may give you stronger side effects than the first.  Hoping that's not the case or that they at least hold off until I've driven the hour's journey home.  Work are being nice though and telling us to take as much time as we need for the jabs - they won't make us make up the time lost due to attending the vaccination clinics and if we need to take time off to recuperate then it won't go on our sick record and is just another form of paid leave.  

Only a couple more bits of work to do and then I can go for a walk in the sunshine 🌞

ruby_eskimo

Well the second jab knocked me sideways; literally couldn't move my arm for a couple of days because it hurt so much, felt shivery but didn't get a headache this time.  Feeling so much better now and have a nice shiny badge to wear with pride to show I've done my bit.

Had a productive weekend with emptying the garage of things the previous owners left plus leftover rotten decking from when we re-did the garden 2 years ago.  DH is talking of turning it into a workshop, although I don't know what for...think he's turning into his dad who likes to just make stuff with wood for no reason whatsoever 😂  

Speaking of DIY, DH has decided that he's going to finally decorate the last bedroom during his week off at the end of April.  We've decided on a colour that complements the colour scheme of the rest of the house (didn't think I'd ever be one of those people but hey!) and it will force us (well me...) to properly sort out and organise our office space.  We've also found some blinds that we like and priced them up so may be getting those sorted sooner rather than later, and will make a world of difference to the look and feel of the house and will mean I don't have to keep all the front curtains closed because otherwise everyone going along the road can see straight in 😳

It also feels properly like spring finally so I have washing out on the line but apparently it might snow next week!  Oh well we'll have to wait and see, just enjoying sitting here with the patio doors open and the fresh air coming in while I toil away at creating a competency framework!  Should have a proper money update towards the end of the week.

debtfreeoneday

Sorry to hear the aftereffects of the jab weren’t nice. Which one did you have?

ruby_eskimo

debtfreeoneday said:

Sorry to hear the aftereffects of the jab weren’t nice. Which one did you have?

Pfizer for me.  Speaking to some colleagues, we also think that the stronger reaction to the second dose can also be greater if you actually had Covid but that's just anecdotal really.  Feeling a lot better now!

ruby_eskimo

Right, money update.  Well we broke the £250k barrier on the mortgage 🥳  I ended up making a little OP of about £195 to take us to £249,500 and I didn't realise the psychological benefit seeing 24 at the beginning would make.  Still plodding along with the emergency fund where I can and that's now at £4284 so we're getting closer!  All other savings pots are also on track and I've made my first £250 payment to the LISA so hoping to max that out again this year.

We've been told that from July we should be expected to be in the office at least 1 day a week with the rest of our teams.  This is pretty much what I expected but this might have to change if the inner London allowance is in jeopardy, making it 3 days a week in the office instead.  Will just have to wait and see what the national guidance is but we'll cross that bridge when it comes to it.

Had a nice weekend even if seeing a few people did wipe me out yesterday afternoon.  A couple of friends came over on Sunday afternoon for a few hours.  The last time we saw them was early December when they told us they were expecting their first child.  Now she's all of a sudden 6 months pregnant, it's just so crazy!  Think I'm going to try and organise a baby shower picnic for them in early May and I've already fallen down the cute baby clothes rabbit hole.  Admitted to DH that it was making me broody but not to worry as still don't actually want children (to his relief!)