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

ruby_eskimo

jennystarpepper said:

You are doing an amazing job, I don't blame you for booking the holiday extras I would do the same as it is a long flight, I think it can work out to be money saving in the lounge because of the cost of food and drink in the airport. 

Thanks!  DH almost killed me when we couldn't get extra leg room seats on our flight back from Japan in 2019, and we couldn't get seats together so he spent 12 hours sandwiched between sleeping people and couldn't get up 😏  Never repeating that mistake again.  Last time we used the Virgin lounge at Gatwick and managed to get upgraded to the First class lounge because it was rather busy apparently!  Not going to have the same thing happen again, but it's just nice to have a comfy seat, decent food and some peace and quiet before getting on a 9 hour flight with lots of kids 😆

Spent my lunch break today looking at Christmas presents and well, I've bought most of them now 😂  DH thinks I'm crazy but the Christmas sinking pot has been sitting there ready and waiting so I just took advantage and went for it.  Still have to get him and my parents their main gifts but everything and everyone else is done.  Ordered from lots of small businesses too so feel like I'm doing my bit to help people out.  Just need to be organised enough to wrap it all when it comes in now.

themadvix

Seconding the airport lounge as worthwhile - especially for long flights. And it's a nice start to the holiday too - makes me feel like we're on our way.

Very impressed with your Christmas shopping, although I did do some when Debenhams near us was closing (and now can't do any until we've moved - unless we end up moving very close to Christmas!).

LadyWithAPlan

I love sitting in hot tubs surrounded by snow, not sure in the rain though! 

I do like an airport lounge but rarely splurge on them now but if you get free food and drink then  probably makes MSE sense as well. . Extra leg and luggage room though is definitely my thing. I used to spend a fortune at airports on beauty and fragrance products but now its rare I buy anything but a coffee and water. 

ruby_eskimo

Hello all.  Busy few days last week:

- Tuesday night we had dinner out with friend's, one of whom we haven't seen for 3 years.  Lovely food, lovely company and just an all around nice evening
- Graduation on Wednesday which went as well as can be expected as I didn't fall over on the stage but the organisation of the event was shocking, no one knew where we were all supposed to go or just what was happening in general.  Saved some extra cash from September to pay for the train fare to get to London for me and DH and then he treated me to lunch out.  All in all a nice day.
- Thursday we had DH's godfather's funeral.  Mammoth journey to get there, but was worth it to a) see everyone and b) celebrate his life.  My MiL told us that in the will, DH is getting all the model trains and an almost new chest freezer.  The freezer will come in useful and can go in the garage, but no idea what he's going to do with all the trains; apparently there are floor to ceiling boxes of the things in one of the bedrooms plus the actual model village and tracks set up in another bedroom 😳
- Friday I had the day off while DH was working so I took myself out for the day to finish Christmas shopping 😏  Still need to order DH's gifts but at least I know what I'm getting him now (a new travel bag and gadget / cable holder since he's going to be having at least 1 overnight trip for work each month now with his new job).

And then the weekend we just sat on the sofa as DH's caught this cold bug that's going around (which I think he's now passed on to me).

On the money front, the re-mortgage is going along nicely and we should be set to switch on the 1st December, even if the conveyancer isn't the most helpful or courteous individual.  Think we need to pay £37 in fees so far for the anti-money laundering checks but that should be it really as everything else is included.  Just updated the spreadsheet with the new rates for the next 3 years and really think we could get to under £200k (even if it's by 1p) by the time the 3 years is up.  Hopefully that will give us a decent amount of equity to use for when we come to move in 3 years 🤞

ruby_eskimo

Afternoon all.  Not a lot to report really - apparently the re-mortgage is a go for 1/12 and we just have to sit back and wait for a couple of weeks while they sort the final bits of paperwork out.  

I did manage to resist DH's cold until Thursday evening so had a very quiet weekend on the sofa while I was struggling to breath and he was still a bit congested.  Not feeling too bad now but keep having the occasional coughing fit and my voice is definitely a bit fragile.

Had an unexpected expense in the form of a fine for "blocking a box junction" a few weeks ago on my way home from work.  Literally just my rear bumper over the line and one wheel on the line but had no grounds to dispute it so had to cough up (quite literally) the £65.  Just a reminder to myself to be extra cautious when driving about in London.  

Starting to think about goals for 2022 and have quite a list, just need to try and condense them down a little - not sure that 22 goals for the year is achievable, maybe 12 might be slightly better.

That's about it really 😆

South_coast

Wow, 22 - that's impressive! I've got about 4 so far 🤣! "22 for 2022" might be an interesting idea, but it does also sound rather challenging 😮!

SandyShores

Aw Ruby, I'm just popping by to commiserate about the fine.  That does sound a bit mean.  I was shopping in my local supermarket at the weekend, trying to make it back to the car before the 2 hour parking limit expired as I'd popped into town first.  Just about made it but then spotted on the way back to the car that they'd changed it to 90 mins!!  Waiting for the parking charge to come through the door.  I've kept the receipt in case I can challenge it, but its my own fault for not checking.

jennystarpepper

Sorry to hear about your ticket, you would think they would allow a little bit of space for human error... sad times we live in.

It was nice to hear that DH has been given the trains, he must be a special person as loved items don't get left to just anyone.

Hope you are all feeling better soon. X

badmemory

There's a car park round here where they close the machines down for a few weeks, so you get used to not having to deal with them & then you miss when they turn it back on again.  Very annoying.  It does have a free bit but you still need the ticket & without one .....

ruby_eskimo

South_coast said:

Wow, 22 - that's impressive! I've got about 4 so far 🤣! "22 for 2022" might be an interesting idea, but it does also sound rather challenging 😮!

Well some of them are repeats of 2020/21 goals because we all know how those years went...Actually did write them out last night and have 22 ready to go (really 23 but the last one is more of a musing than a goal).  A lot of them are kind of connected - my theme for the year is going to be 'Consistency and Simplicity' which I already started with the major decluttering so far this year but I want to finish that next year and stop myself bringing more stuff into the space.  By doing that, I should be spending less money and therefore will achieve my savings goals etc. etc.  Will ponder them over the next couple of months and then share in the new year.

SandyShores said:

Aw Ruby, I'm just popping by to commiserate about the fine.  That does sound a bit mean.  I was shopping in my local supermarket at the weekend, trying to make it back to the car before the 2 hour parking limit expired as I'd popped into town first.  Just about made it but then spotted on the way back to the car that they'd changed it to 90 mins!!  Waiting for the parking charge to come through the door.  I've kept the receipt in case I can challenge it, but its my own fault for not checking.

Thanks SS, but I think your situation is worse, that's very sneaky of them to not put BIG signs up saying they'd changed the free parking time.  Fingers crossed the cameras weren't working that day.

jennystarpepper said:

Sorry to hear about your ticket, you would think they would allow a little bit of space for human error... sad times we live in.

It was nice to hear that DH has been given the trains, he must be a special person as loved items don't get left to just anyone.

Hope you are all feeling better soon. X

Thanks Jenny, it is what it is 🙄  I think technically some of them were DH's trains to start with - he was left a whole bunch from his grandpa and his mum was storing them but when she downsized, she offloaded them to his godfather because she knew he liked model trains and he then promised to leave all of his to DH as well.  I haven't seen the collection for a while but apparently it outgrew the spare room and was across 2 bedrooms in the house 😳  I'm hoping that was just when the track was all laid out but MiL did say there were a "floor to ceiling" boxes of train related things everywhere.

badmemory said:

There's a car park round here where they close the machines down for a few weeks, so you get used to not having to deal with them & then you miss when they turn it back on again.  Very annoying.  It does have a free bit but you still need the ticket & without one .....

They do that here every Thursday in the run up to Christmas but I always used to forget and then buy a ticket anyway.  I was even more incensed by parking charges when I had to take DH to get a PCR test last week - local testing centre is in a carpark that is in the middle of no where and they were insisting that you paid to park there 🤯 The ONLY reason you'd go to that car park would be to have a PCR test and you'd definitely not be there an hour so wrote to the council expressing my disgust, have yet to receive a reply.  Managed to drop DH off and drive round for 15 minutes till he needed picking up because I had just left the house with my phone and keys so couldn't pay for parking even if I wanted to.