£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

apple_muncher

Oooh, a shed! Sounds like you'll need a sizeable one. Go for it!

Suffolk_lass

I used light-weight breeze blocks as the base for my small shed (easier to level as a DIYer). I recommend at least a few cheap paving slabs underneath too so that the under the shed space is not suitable for rodents or wasps (had both here) to burrow into or nest in.

Do you have rear access to the bottom of your garden? If you do I would look at rear access through the shed and putting it across. If not (and I think you said you were terraced), think of putting in a shed big enough to use as a business store and possible workspace after using it as a storage source during the extension. In addition to being a common-all-garden shed

I personally covet a converted 20ft container with windows (patio doors) at the opening end but getting one craned in over the electricity cables is an issue here. They offer all sorts of lovely options and quite cheap for something that won't rot.

XSpender

The garden is on our list for next year too and we will also be DIYing it. A friend with a garden a third the size of ours was quoted between £16k and £25k for hers to be landscaped and planted! :eek: We have lots of wall, patio and paths to shift too and the fence and shed will need painting and repairing. We are leaving the planting until the year after as well as can't afford to do both that and the landscaping. Good luck with your plans

enthusiasticsaver

My DH built sheds for us and my DD and son in law over last few years. Like SL we used breeze blocks and concrete foundations. My DHs MSE way of doing it was to buy 2nd hand cement mixer off gumtree for £40, refurbished it just by cleaning it and respraying then sold it after building the two sheds for £100.

We also spent a small fortune on a garden landscaper about 10 years ago and would not bother in the future. We would either diy or get a builder to do structural work like building walls etc. I will do planting myself.

Suffolk_lass

I've also built brick and wooden surrounded raised beds. The oak sleeper ones are beautiful but apparently the delicacy of choice for ants. Ours are deteriorating rapidly after 2018, the year of the ant (don't believe the Chinese - it was definitely the year of the ant). When I built the brick ones I used 2nd hand bricks (beautiful yellow stocks) and used brindle pavers as coping stones. I would recommend this or low walls from breeze blocks that are rendered on the outward facing surface.

My grandfather taught me to knock up mortar and lay bricks. I am no expert and I am very slow but careful and I recommend it as a skill to learn. You could do this; learn to lay bricks at an evening class (or short day-course) to a basic level of understanding and competence.

I also learned that gloves matter. Mortar dries out your hands and wreaks havoc with your skin!

AdventureWanted

Garden plans sound good. My DH said that the gravel mats you can buy (square tiles with holes for the gravel to go in) can hold loads of weight so would make an ideal shed base. Not sure how pricey they are though..

wifefaefife

Hi,

You might want to ask family and friends for cuttings of their plants to bring them on in pots so they are big enough to plant out when you come to that stage.

armouredbeast

Hi,


How are you getting on now? It has been a few months now, but I imagine debt this size will take a few years to pay off!

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 88: Day 1

A new week, again! They are flying by at the moment. Before you know it we'll be at the 100 week mark, which is both believable and unbelievable - sometimes I feel like I can't remember life before MSE!

Our freezer is ridiculously full this week, so our mission is to get through until food shopping delivery on Thursday with the bare minimum of fruit and veg purchases, and very little else. It will be a full fortnight between deliveries, which is good as it's the stage I was hoping to get to with the food shopping delivery - we only use it for dry/tinned goods and anything which we either can't get plastic free (macaroni!) or that naturally comes in paper instead of plastic (flour, sugar etc).

I'm going to try to stock up on apples from the community orchard again today, possibly for the last time as they were definitely thinning out when I went at the beginning of last week, and I suspect the winds on Fri/Sat will have knocked an awful lot down.

Still feeling excited about the garden, going to get some serious research underway in half term and drag the children round the local shed place, which is supposed to be very good.

Such a relief to have DH back for this week, although I am actually away for two days of it with work, so we're more swapping positions than spending much time together. Hopefully between us we'll be able to get the house into a half decent state though.

Finances continue to look fine in the immediate sense, with no major overspends, although my income for next month continues to be a tragedy. Will need to reassess budget (for the 9,000th time) if I don't make enough for next month's salary, as November is unlikely to be wildly exciting and December is usually very quiet. Hopefully my new website will start to turn over a tiny bit, but I'm going to need to plough almost everything back into it for a while, so the actual income generated will be pitiful.

To do this week
1. Make chutney with the last of the tomatoes, mostly green.
2. Sort car insurance. PROMISE I'll do it this week .
3. Let friend know how much money she owes me (I bought some candle supplies that we split between us).
4. Contract work for next week.
5. Menu plan for next fortnight (I have completed one up until next Monday already).
6. Amend food shopping delivery to reflect menu plan.
7. Order Christmas PJs for the DC, and an extra pair for DC1, who has suddenly grown out of all of his.
8. Check calendar for appointments this week and update bullet journal daily lists.
9. Achieve the targets I have set for stock and content creation for my website.
10. Make a second batch of sloe gin (made some yesterday but has to freeze some more sloes).
11. Make rosehip syrup with foraged rosehips.
12. Process any last apples I can lay my hands on.

October money goals:
- £41.21/31 October rounding down pot.
- £4,029.92/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £95/775 income for November.

Sea_Shell

I'd put sorting the insurance at the top of the list if I were you. Not making Chutney, isn't going to land you in Legal hot water if you don't do it....Insurance on the other hand...….

(I know you KNOW this....but just sayin')