Prosperous soul in the making

savingholmes

MovingForwards said:

Stain block paint on the ceiling, do the whole lot though as it's thick paint, then put your normal colour on top.

Tahlullah.H said:

I agree, maybe fill the cracks with something like Polyfilla and the use stain block, then paint.

I would always prefer an old house over a new build.  We are all different!  Do you know where the water is coming from in the bathroom?  I must have missed that in your diary?  If it just active bathing routines?  Then maybe get new bathroom flooring fitted, specifically for a wet room?  Bit expensive but will sort the problem.

Thanks - I will try that after payday. DD overfills the bath - either to the point of it literally running over with her not in the room or leading to excessive sloshing of water when she gets out. Either way - too much water is left on and running through the floor. We only upgraded the flooring in there about a year or so ago so very reluctant to replace entirely. The web suggests the cost of a wet room would be 5-10K which I'm not willing to spend on this house.

RelievedSheff

A stern word to be with DD.

Not only is she costing you a fortune in extra water and extra energy to heat that water but she is also damaging the house in doing so.

Out of order on her part!

MovingForwards

Wet rooms are not cheap, that's why I was looking for a shower or wet room rather than doing the conversion after moving in.

Maybe set a timer for DD when she runs the bath and give her an invisible line she can fill it too.

savingholmes

RelievedSheff said:

We thought that about new builds until we looked at and bought our current house last year. It completely changed our minds about new builds and while we have absolutely no intention of moving from this house if we ever did we would certainly consider a new build again. The layouts are certainly more suitable to modern family living than older properties and the running costs are for nothing. We fully expected our 3 bed detached new build to cost a lot more to run than our previous 2 bed 1930's semi. The reality is it costs far less.

I have lived in a 1930s semi in the past which was lovely - but it would soon have needed re-roofing, the chimney re-doing, new carpets, kitchen and bathroom and it was cheaper to move!!

Bargainhunter30 said:

Can you look into renting or buying a field locally? This would give you an idea if the actuality of having a small holding would suit. Or is it the more rural lifestyle you want. We are rural here in a smallish town, but with a modern and manageable house. My mother in law has a small holding nearby and although initially I liked the idea of having our own, in reality I dont fancy al the extra work and upkeep. There is always some DIY, maintenance or animal thing to do and they only have 8 acres and 13 animals.

I think personally I like the space of older houses but the convenience of new. Some of the properties I have looked at have in-built acreage - and some nearby. I think what I object to with a lot of recent new builds - is their rooms sizes are dramatically smaller and they are too crammed together. I would consider a house that had more space around it. I think paying off debts and getting DD through sixth form is going to take a lot of energy - so however much I'd like to move - it feels doubtful just yet. Having said that - there was a very unique property that came up locally that has been split into separate units - and appears to have land - they want me to get back in touch and may let us view...  Work has been busier than expected this week so not got back to them yet.

RelievedSheff

I agree that some new builds do have very small rooms and are crammed together. We fell lucky with ours as the rooms are all a generous size and while our garden isn't huge it is very private  walled all the way around and not overlooked at all. Our nearest neighbours are 6m away in one direction  and 13m away in the other, so we are as detached as is possible on a new build estate.

savingholmes

Thanks RS. That's one of the top things we want - not to be overlooked. Not to be staring out at the neighbours kids cars etc... 

Some good news my payrise is confirmed and I should get 6 months back pay in October. It's around a £100 gross pcm - so probably around £60-70pcm net.

savingholmes

I've just been doing a review of our debt repayments. When I started this phase of my diary:  

• In Feb 2018 we owed £46.5K.
• In Feb 2019 we owed £40.8K a difference of £5.7K in 1 year
• In Feb 2020 we owed £23.5K a difference of £17.3K (but this included a big PPI payout and DH got a £6-8K payrise)
• This week we will owe £17.3K - a difference of £6.2K in 6 months

This is despite spending £4-5K on home & garden improvements and new furniture during the last 6 months. It is amazing we have cleared so much debt despite works we've done this year. I have to keep reminding myself of this... Assuming we don't move yet and we put any other major house improvements on hold (other than buying a hob, installing the new worktops and sorting the electrics if needed) we hope to pay another £6-7K off by the end of the December pay period. This assumes we don't start paying out for DS and manage our food budget well. It also takes account of backpay I am due. It does mean I need to go back to managing our £ more tightly.

DH wants us to wait to move until we are debt free - as moving always costs more than you think.... He's not wrong but still... Temptation keeps calling.

DancingInTheRain

I'm pleased you've taken stock of how well you're doing paying down debt while improving your home - almost £30k in 2.5yrs is phenomenal.

Congratulations on the payrise too!

It's tricky deciding when would be good to move, can't offer any advice on that but will continue to cheer you on from the sidelines 🙂

RelievedSheff

In some ways DH is probably right about waiting to move. Waiting until you are debt free and have a pot of money for the inevitable fees and costs is the sensible way forward.

Of course when we moved last year we didn't follow that advice. We found the house we loved so jumped at it and got a great deal on it but the costs of moving did increase our debt which is why this year we have had to start making inroads into paying the debt down before it becomes overly large.

savingholmes

Thanks Dancing. Yes I keep having to remind myself we are making good progress. RS - thanks for your honesty. Yes I know what I ought to do... however stamp duty savings could outweigh that approach... However the mortgage deals on offer have shrunk this last week which will inevitably impact prices negatively.

I have to go in the office for a meeting again today and pick up some new ict kit. Then hopefully coming back so can get a quote for fitting the counters at lunchtime.