"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it."

greenbee

I managed to get the sitting room cleared in time, and the house isn't too chaotic. Most of the batch cooking was frozen, and I did some soup overnight which will keep me going this week (although some of that needs to be frozen too). WM ran the drum clean, and a wool wash was done. I also did a quick wash to catch up on clothes yesterday which dried on the airer. So apart from the spare bedroom mattress covers I'm up to date - although bedding will need changing at the weekend. 

Taking the furniture out of the sitting room has triggered some ideas about rearranging a few things. And spotting some damp in the north bedroom I went outside and you can see all the wet brickwork - so I have photos ready for the summer when it'll need to be dealt with.

Electricians have given me a couple of dates, so I need to confirm with my boss that I can block the time and not travel, and once that's done book the plumber, carpet fitter, decorator etc. to follow on from them. The electrical work will be messy but worth it in the long run. 

Decorator is running behind on projects, and his next customer isn't being flexible, so he's going to do two days here, and then come back next Monday. Initially I was thinking it was a bit of a PITA as it would mean another weekend of chaos and not being able to tidy up, actually it solves a problem, as I have to be out on Monday morning and had complicated dog-sitting arrangements. The decorator is happy to let Stinky out and generally keep an eye on him. And possibly feed the cats their lunch. 

I've recently been given some money that came from my grandfather via his widow (actually part of my mum's share) and have used part of it to pay a chunk off the mortgage. It's about half my annual OP allowance (which I had to hunt around to find). I'll make a note in my diary to check in October how much I've paid this year and if I have the opportunity, pay another chunk off then, as this payment has reduced the mortgage term by 10 months. 

Next job today is to call the CS to see whether they can take my car load of stuff. If not, I might nip into the local town and see whether I can drop a few bits off. Stinky has had a nice long walk, so if I can get out and back before my meeting... or between my next two... then it would be good to shift a bit!

rtandon27

@greenbee - well done on the overpayment!  How did you figure out how much your term was reduced by? 10 months is an amazing chunk at once!

I've not yet found a decent calculator or spreadsheet that tells me the impact my overpayments are having.

OH has just indicated that he wants to use some of his recent financial settlement towards the overpayments and I'm keen to know what the impact will be on the term!

greenbee

I went into the mortgage manager facility that my bank provides, and they told me

Went into the local town, dropped some stuff off at my usual CS, then went into the local hospice shop. They take everything! So registered for gift aid and emptied the car. Told them I will be back...

Decorator has started. Dog has been walked but needs walking again before my next meeting. After I've had lunch. 

EssexHebridean

Isn't there a mortgage OP calculator on the main MSE site somewhere? I have a feeling there used to be. 

Excellent work on finding a charity shop that takes everything - we've got one of those too, it's incredibly handy! (And also sells 50p paperbacks and 10 DVDs for £1, so we do sometimes come back more laden than we went in!) 

rtandon27

@greenbee - I must be with the wrong bank - all they do is recalculate what I owe them and reduce my payments so that my term is still 20 years! I top up with my overpayments anyway, so their adjustment does not matter.

@EssexHebridean - there is one on the site but I'd really love a spreadsheet that retallies and provides a pretty graph, so I guess a box of cookies for my favorite finance collegue should be on my next grocery order.

greenbee

@rtandon27 - I know I had to specifically request that my OPs reduce the term rather than the payment. It does, however, annoy me that it seems to take a couple of days for money to get from my current account to my mortgage account when they're with the same bank. I'm now wondering whether I should add another OP to make it a full year's reduction. 

Decorator has done the prep (sanding, filling, primer on wood, emulsion on ceiling) and is back tomorrow. A friend is coming over tomorrow so I need to nip out for bread and possibly mince pies as I need to make some mince pie tiffin for Thursday's book club. I also want to get some of the stuff in the garage boxed up so I can take it to the CS on Friday. 

Electricians are booked for mid-Jan, so the space in the garage will be needed. I have to empty two bedrooms and a bathroom - and it'll be several weeks as the plumber, plasterer, and carpet fitter will need to be scheduled in the following weeks. Decorator won't be back until about April, so furniture will go back in until he's done. He'll also touch up any damage the electricians cause. 

greenbee

Busy week at work. And I've dropped another car load of stuff of at the CS (and am starting the next box!).

Sun is out today, so we've had a nice walk (and Stinky met a friend so they had a few minutes of off-lead racing about which all helps as both puppies are far too energetic otherwise!), and spent some time in the garden cutting back annuals. I'm going to go back out and weed shortly, but first need to clean the WM filter (last load was dog bedding) and stick some cat laundry on while the solar is generating. I'm hoping for some decent overnight energy pricing so I can get the dog bedding dry, put the WM on a cleaning cycle, and wash the cleaning cloths. 

One of my neighbours has been over to look at the fencing I need done, and mentioned that he's happy to cut back the hedge as well - he mostly does hard landscaping and apparently things get quiet around this time of year. So I think I'll ask him to make a base for the IBCs, fence the veg plot, and possibly put some posts and wire in for climbers if I can work out where I want them to go. 

I also need to make pet food (have carrots, BNS, chicken wings, mince, chicken livers) and/or freeze the components, and pack up for staying with my mum for a couple of days next week. But most important is to make the most of the sunshine. 

greenbee

Lots of laundry done with solar and some decent Agile pricing over the weekend. Gardening done on Saturday, not much on Sunday (miserable weather). We met friends for a walk early on Sunday then came home and failed to achieve much. Chicken wings slow cooked overnight were prepped, and 2kg of carrots and 2kg of BNS were pressure cooked and boxed up ready for pet-food making today. 

DW and WM ran overnight again, along with electric heating and airers. TD used briefly this morning was enough to dry last night's white wash ready for ironing. So as I'm off today, I'm going to walk the dog, put the bins out, make the pet food, do the ironing and get packed up to go to my mum's.

The decorator should finish the sitting room today, so when I'm back I can start putting it back together (biggest challenges are the overmantel mirror and the wall-hung corner cupboard) which will mean that other bits of the house are clearer too. Then I need to get the planning for the next phase sorted.

Oh... and I need to chase the drain guy for a date too. 

greenbee

Sitting room is finished and looks great - but I've been at my mum's so nothing has been done. It needs a thorough clean (mostly dusting/hoovering/floor washing) before I put anything else back in there. I have some help today, so hopefully that will be mostly done and I can spend some time on it tomorrow when I'm off. 

I've checked bin days. Next week (general waste) is as normal. Recycling and garden waste is on the 2nd, and the next general waste on the 8th. Then back to normal. I need to plan to make the most of them (there's some loft board in the garage that I can break up to go in the general waste bin). 

Cats still aren't well - at least one is puking, possibly both. Neither is eating properly. Both are cross that I have locked them in, but will keep them confined until I've called the vet - with the weekend and then Christmas coming up (and needing to spend a fair amount of my time at my mum's) I need to get some advice. They could probably both do with a brush too - while they are short haired, their fur is thicker at this time of year, and I haven't been brushing them much recently. 

There are dog towels to wash - I'm seriously thinking about a second washing machine. It would be possible to plumb one in where the dryer currently is, as that doesn't need plumbing. But there would need to be some work done to make a new space for the dryer (the utility room is huge and very, very badly designed, a bit like the kitchen!). 

Drain inspection was yesterday - no major issues, but a few things to fix (lower the pump from the main tank to the secondary one so the main tank doesn't stay as full, dig up part of the final run of pipe to adjust the fall, cap two soil stacks that are currently vented and put a  vent of the one that has a cap (which is at the top of the run), as well as cut into the bathroom wall to check/replace the durgo which is at the top of the run on the other side of the house! Apparently I'll be their first job in the NY, so at least that will be done. And they agree with me that a well-managed septic tank shouldn't smell - my neighbours all claim that there is always some smell, but I've never had a problem elsewhere (and some of the neighbours have smelly treatment plants which suggests they are using water softeners and chemicals). 

Cats are cross about being trapped inside, and it's almost time to take the dog out for his pre-breakfast walk. 

greenbee

Sitting room was lovely and clean yesterday by the time I finished work. Today we got the corner cupboard and mirror back up, and I spent a long time putting all the glasses back. This has freed up some space in kitchen cupboards so more rearranging will be needed there.

The new front door curtain pole is also up, and both curtains hung (these were on the landing when I moved it, I'm not hugely fond of them, but they work well as door curtains). It does mean I'm now short of a curtain on the kitchen doors, but I have some cheap and cheerful thermal curtains from Amazon on a tension rod which deal with the worst of the draught. There's also another pole up in at the utility room door - one of the kind you use for dormer windows which swings round. It's not great, but it'll do for now. 

Other than that, today has involved dog walks, trying to persuade the cats to eat, a trip to the vet for a jab for Stinky (the vet is fun, he gets cuddles and treats and is spoiled rotten). I've also watered house plants, and while moving books around (to refill the sitting room bookcases - which involves careful thinking about which books will live where rather than just finding space to store them all as has been the case up till now) I switched the hall lights on which promptly took out the RCD on one side of the consumer unit. Having got it all back I promptly forgot and switched them on again... so had to do it all again. I then realised the solar wasn't communicating with it's app... so went and found the instructions to turn it off and turn it on again. I'm feeling very proud of myself for sorting it out without getting in a state about it. Or giving up. 

So back to sorting books by size and deciding which ones I want in the sitting room, which in the studio, which in my office, and which in the bedrooms. I have a lot of cookbooks but hardly any shelves there at the moment, so those will need to be put somewhere temporarily. 

It's nice to have the sitting room back. The fire is lit, there's a happy cat in one chair, a happy puppy in his basked by the door, and another happy cat in the cat tree in the next room (she can see in). It'll take a while to work out where all the pictures are going to go.