Prosperous soul in the making

savingholmes

Well financially the good news is that won't be the house for us.

It was on a sharp bend in a 60 zone - so that was the first no. It wasn't set back from the road nearly enough for the speed of road and number of vehicles going along it. The house was tiny and 200 years old and - had only had a small flat roof single story extension and a lean-to added in that time. Only 1 downstairs bathroom - no shower!!! There was an oven but you had to move the dryer to get to it. Most of the acreage was on the opposite side of the road and sloped steeply downwards. There was a dilapidated old brick building facing the house that used to be a grain store. The only way the house would work would be to buy land behind - and that's not guaranteed. It would have to be knocked down and start again - which would cost too much for us currently.

Afterwards, we went and looked at 4 new showrooms which helped OH see what we needed to do differently in our house for our current house to be better. So I have permission at some point to get roman blinds for some of our undressed windows and nice metal towel radiators in each of the bathrooms. Will need to look at how to factor it into our budget at some point. We may also rip out the gas fire in the living room in future (next door already has) as it would give a lot more space and make the room more usable. None of these are priorities right now though. He also thinks we need to get our rooms professionally painted rather than trying to do it ourselves... No bias there then... .LOL.

Either way I'm relieved that we are not jumping ahead of ourselves and going for something like that house at this point. My 17 long list (that I have potentially just added to) was a big enough disincentive. My priority while we are debt busting is to start with the free or nearly free - declutter, trim the garden, use some of the paint we already have to decorate - including outside in the garden.

savingholmes

Today has been a good day - I feel at peace about the house decision for now - but clearer on what I want and why.

Had left over gammon with roasties, veg, gravy and yorkshire puds for lunch. Now eating left over spag bol from earlier in the week. Deviated from the meal plan a little over the weekend but in ways that saved money rather than added eg leftover gammon salad sandwiches, extra porridge portion, macaroni milk etc. OH has gone to see MIL so presume she fed him. He's not home yet. I've bought a new enamel roasting tin online - should come tomorrow. I will then pre-cook the beef for later in the week. OH cooked taco mince so may have that tomorrow as I couldn't be bothered yesterday.

While he's been out at MIL's I've painted half the shed seagrass turquoise/green. Will need more paint if I finish the job. Not sure I can reach the back of the shed as it is along the fenceline. If I decided I wanted to - I would need to take out the fence panels and stand on the neighbours side... So I may just do 3 or stick at 2. The third side has an apple tree and fruit bushes up against it so would need to chop them back a bit but it is more doable. It does make it look prettier - it beautifully frames the wheelie bins up against the side of it LOL

DD has gone to the park so I listened to an audio book on retiring wealthy while I painted. Peace other than the cat and dog chasing each other - just like little toddlers. I suppose at least it gave the dog some exercise. It's started spitting with rain but I don't think it will affect the shed much. The dog is now sprawled across me as I type... she is enjoying a little sleep.

Nichelette

I like to think everything happens for a reason so I'm sure there will be a better house waiting for you. Glad you had a good day .

Honeysucklelou2

Sometimes you have to see things in reality rather than chosen framed shots on estate agents websites to get a real idea.

Glad you have peace about the house decision.

savingholmes

Thanks Nichelette and Honeysuckle - it definitely was eye opening on how distorted estate agents photos can be. We've been in this house 13 years now so I'd forgotten. It also gave me a better picture of what an acre looks like. To me it didn't seem that big at all but that was probably partly because it was so overgrown.

On the ppi front - I had at least 2 more policies with the same provider so am waiting with bated breath to see if they send me more money. They have until the 28th to decide.

Annoyingly CC6's payment stll hasn't gone out - so I can't reduce my signature. It's the first time I've been waiting excitedly to see £1211.45 leave my account and been disappointed it hasn't yet. :rotfl: At least in the account I am paying it from it is earning a little interest. In future I want to make sure that the cost of my holiday doesn't follow me home as per advice from DR.

I m planning to pay the ppi payment off CC5 which is with the same bank which is what I used to buy my current car. I originally set it up as a loan at around 3.4% but then changed it to CC when they offered me a 1.9% money transfer offer!! It then meant I also had to pay it off quicker which is a good thing.

CC4 is OH's motorbike (originally around £4-5K) and the boiler replacement (around £3k) we did last year, some holiday (£0.5-1K) last year and our dog as a puppy (she was £800 :eek:) Our dog has been one of our best ever investments though.

I have no idea what we originally spent CC1-3 on as they have been part of a whole series of balance transfers as part of the dangerous credit card shuffle.

savingholmes

Looking at the above list - some of the items I listed on CC4 must also have been part of CC3.

At the beginning of this month I hoped to pay off around £2K - that rose with the sale of the motorbike to around £2.4K and with the ppi - now I am hoping to hit close to £4K by the end of the month. I am so thrilled! That would have seemed impossible even a month ago. So don't lose heart - when you set off on the budget journey yes you may have a few murphy's come along like our old utility company finally getting around to billing us - but we've also had some helping hands like the sale of a defunct motorbike that has been sat in the garage for 2 years collecting dust. The guy who bought it is going to strip it down and sell it for parts as it doesn't appear fixable -which made OH feel better about the sale - keep hoping and dreaming! Now I'd better get off to work so I can keep cashflowing my journey to debt freedom.

savingholmes

Had a reasonably positive day at work. Gave into steak and chips from a van. Tasty. Came home and recoated one side of the shed - having bought another tin of paint and a much bigger brush. Done a bit of pruning. So making progress.

DD has a friend to stay overnight so seems happy enough. May go out with OH and the dog in a bit. She deserves a walk.

Still not had tea. It was my turn to cook and I wasn't hungry lol. OH not particularly impressed. Oh well. He had cleared the kitchen up a bit to make it easier to cook. I might put the roast beef on - but it will take until midnight to cook. May do bangers, jacket spud and beans for tea as I don't fancy what was on the plan.

The money still hasn't gone out - so I still can't knock it off my signature!! When it does it will take me to the bottom of £37K and then I need to put the ppi cheque in the bank. Not done that yet. When I do - I can make another major overpayment.

savingholmes

Paid £2357.16 :money:off this month so far. CC6 is now paid and closed. :j:j:j By the end of the month - likely to have paid off well over £4K. Need to pay ppi check into bank first.

I've not heard any more from my ppi claim so think I will ring up and ask what happened to all the other years... They seem to have paid out under plevin... From what I can see they should have paid out far more years. Bracing myself to call...

[Deleted User]

That's amazing savingholmes - well done!

savingholmes

So excited!!! Just forced myself to ring the ppi provider - and they are paying out in full on the ppi claim so getting a cheque for another £5.3K. I am so excited!!!! Just calculating what that will do to my spreadsheet!! Off to go and tinker...