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

Fortune_Smiles

Sorry to hear it's been so stressful Ruby.  You're doing exactly the right thing by taking advice and thinking it through.  Mr F and I have both left/turned down jobs because of health or lifestyle needs and we've never regretted putting our wellbeing ahead of climbing the career ladder.

There'll be plenty of other opportunities.  In the meantime, do what's best for Ruby 🙂

Fortune x

ruby_eskimo

Fortune_Smiles said:

Sorry to hear it's been so stressful Ruby.  You're doing exactly the right thing by taking advice and thinking it through.  Mr F and I have both left/turned down jobs because of health or lifestyle needs and we've never regretted putting our wellbeing ahead of climbing the career ladder.

There'll be plenty of other opportunities.  In the meantime, do what's best for Ruby 🙂

Fortune x

Thanks Fortune.  Had a good chat with my manager yesterday where he was surprised I'd applied but not surprised I'd got an interview and thought that I stood a very good chance of getting the job based mainly on his experience of interviewing me and some insider knowledge but agreed that I needed to put my wellbeing first.  He's going to have a chat with his manager about what they can do to develop me to give me more confidence to go for similar roles in future because he knows that my lack of confidence was probably one of the biggest factors that was stressing me out.  That's what 5 years of being told "you'd be nothing without me" by your boss can do to you (literally, my old manager said that, and worse, to me on many occasions)  Withdrew my application yesterday and it gave me so many options for a reason, so I just picked "My personal circumstances have changed" and they can make of that what they will.

Feel stupid that I've made what I feel is a big deal out of something so stupid and small and insignificant but I know my brain just does that.  In years past, this would have gone on for days probably, but at least I could recognise something was wrong, have a brief meltdown and then ask for advice and carry on.   

Feeling more positive and relaxed; I have to give a presentation this afternoon and usually I'd be a big ball of anxiety but I think I've already used that up this week so I'm now feeling relatively calm!

SandyShores

Glad you're feeling better Ruby.  You've made the right decision.  

ruby_eskimo

Morning all.  Head wobbles have continued on and off over the past week or so and still not feeling great today, plus coupled with a really bad headache means I'm having a pyjama day for work (thank goodness for working from home and not having any calls scheduled!)  

Had a relatively relaxing weekend - we went for a 4 mile walk to a neighbouring village, stopped at the pub for a few beverages and then wandered back.  I haven't been in a pub since my birthday in March 2020 so this was a little scary but luckily there were only 2 people in the bar and no one in the beer garden so made the most of the lovely weather.  Went to a friend's for a BBQ yesterday afternoon and just enjoyed seeing people (all be it at a socially acceptable distance).  Lots of garden talk and it sounds like we're all going to be helping each other out with various projects over the next few weeks.  

On the money front, I'm waiting for the final money shuffle to happen tomorrow.  I also need to call the bank re: our mortgage appointment - what was supposed to be a 30 minute call is now apparently a full hour and a half face to face meeting, which I can't do in the middle of a Monday so need to rearrange that.  Also need to talk to the library as they moved computer systems a few weeks ago and all my reservations have disappeared and I'm now being chased for fines for the reservations.  Have tried speaking via various channels but looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and actually go into a branch.

Right back to the paid stuff.

ruby_eskimo

Morning all!  Had a busy-ish few days; wedding reception on Thursday evening, followed by a day out at RHS Wisley for me while DH had another job interview (fingers crossed he should hear today...) and then seeing his dad and sister on Saturday for a coffee and walk round a country park near us.  Felt like things were finally starting to get back to some form of normality, although still quite paranoid that I'll pick up the 'vid somewhere so still taking all the precautions we can.  

Had a productive day yesterday too with speaking to a mortgage broker.  It meant that DH and I had to sit down and have a proper chat about finances as he had "forgotten" to tell me that he took out a loan last year to pay off some credit card debt (that I also didn't know about) and still had £4500 to pay back.  I only found out while we were on the phone to the broker so was a bit shocked to say the least, but we sat down together and came up with a plan to pay it back asap: DH has made about £2500 in matched betting in the last year and has been giving me £100 a month to put into the emergency fund because he wants to feel like he's contributing to the savings.  We agreed that he would put £1000 into the emergency pot (which will actually pay for any mortgage arrangement fees) and then he's using the rest of the betting money to pay off some of the loan.  The he'll be overpaying the loan by at least £100 a month and it should be gone in 6 to 10 months.  I've always been very open with him about my money situation and where we are with savings etc. but he's always struggled a bit with bad habits picked up when he was a student such as relying on credit cards a lot.  He's got a lot better and doesn't have credit cards anymore but still hadn't quite paid off all the outstanding debt.  He feels awkward talking about money too but has agreed that he needs to be more open with me and that we're a team and doing this together.  

So back to the re-mortgage, the broker at L&C (who we used for the first mortgage) was very confident that they can get us a pretty good deal.  The initial indications were a 3 year fixed deal with Nationwide at 1.79% looked promising, which would be pretty amazing compared to what we're on now, but he's going to call us back this afternoon with some concrete offers.  We're looking to probably move in about 3 years anyway so that fixed term would work for us and give us a chance at building up as much equity as we can in the property before then.  We still have a phone appointment with the Halifax booked in for later on in the week too so they might be able to come back to us with an amazing deal but not holding out much hope really.

ruby_eskimo

DH GOT THE JOB 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳  So happy for him and he should start in about 4 weeks time as they're taking it as an internal transfer rather than having to resign etc.  He's excited but a little bit daunted by the prospect of moving from a regional to a national role but is more than ready for the challenge I think.  It comes with a £5k pay rise and bigger bonuses so he's very happy with that.

L&C called back and formally offered us the Nationwide mortgage deal at 1.79% for 3 years.  It would save us £20,000 over those 3 years compared to where we are now and we're going to be dropping the term to 25 years from the remaining 30 that we currently have.  Going to try and chat to the Halifax this evening to try and see what they can offer us as existing customers but I don't think it's going to be any better than that.  Now I just need to get my head around the whole process and what we need to do to switch over in time.

South_coast

Excellent, sounds like fab news on both counts 😀😀😀

greent

Doubly brilliant news! 👏 x

ruby_eskimo

Thank you both!  Two of our friend's have also started new jobs recently so we've booked a table in a pub garden for tomorrow afternoon to have a few drinks to celebrate the good news.  Need to start getting used to seeing actual people again - my book club has decided to meet in person for the first time since last February in a couple of weeks and I know it's going to be quite emotional to see the ladies again 🥺

Have an appointment set up with the Halifax for tomorrow morning to talk to them but if they can't match the deal then we'll be applying for the Nationwide one next week.  Just need to sort all the paperwork out over the weekend now 😳

Car is going in for a service and MOT tomorrow morning and I've already paid for the service as part of a service plan last year so just the MOT and air con re-gassing hopefully 🤞  I have about £700 in the car pot thanks to the regular sinking funds going in there so should definitely cover everything.

ruby_eskimo

Morning all.  Weekend was very productive, if a little expensive!  Service and MOT was fine in theory, just needed 2 front tyres, new brake pads and a new hose / seal on my boot which came to £625 (including the air con re-gassing and the MOT fee as well) 😳.  Glad I had the sinking fund which meant I could agree to the work without worrying about where the money was going to come from.  Car definitely felt a lot better to drive afterwards but disappointed that they didn't give the car a proper valet because of the pandemic.  Now I have to hoover the car myself!

Mortgage talk was also good and they've offered us 2.14% for a 5 year fix, which we can port also if we decide to move before the fix is done.  Now I have to crunch some numbers and see which may be the better deal for us long term.

Had a lovely afternoon in the pub garden with our friends but need a break now from socialising for a while I think!  

Spent yesterday re-organising the kitchen and creating a bit of a pantry in the cupboard under the stairs.  We ended up throwing out a few things that were really out of date and put a whole bunch of glasses and mugs in the donation pile that we really don't need.  We now have empty shelves, things flow a lot better and everything has a place.  Need to get a couple of storage bins to finish it off but really pleased with it all.  Just need DH to paint the bits of walls and replace the blind and then the kitchen is as done as it can be.  

Right off to make a coffee and then crack on with some more work.