£29,303...Enough is enough!

WelshKitty85

Can't believe it's Monday again already. The weekends go far too quickly. This was a busy one with children's parties and some decorating. A modest £26 spend, plus 4 hours work hanging wallpaper, and our bedroom is a much nicer space. I need to carry on decluttering (mainly my clothes so that I can actually close my drawers) and hang a few pictures, then it will be finished.

WelshKitty85

I'm fed up of this weather now. We've had some damage in the garden over night which almost resulted in us spending £500 from savings this morning. Instead we've been outside with Velcro, a stapler, some string and bricks, and done an emergency repair job. It won't last forever but will hopefully buy us some time. Trouble is it's the kind of job that needs other associated jobs (fence repairs etc) doing at the same time. So there's no point spending £500 now to do half a job. I'm going to set myself a task of planning exactly what work needs doing in the most cost effective way. I'm going to relaunch my savings spreadsheet, allocating the savings to different categories ie birthdays, car expenses, house repairs etc so that we can budget to do the work properly when we can afford it and without wiping out other savings.

Apart from that task, the weather has been keeping us indoors. There's plenty to do free/cheap here in the outdoors, but indoor attractions get so expensive. I am getting a bit of Mum guilt though as we've really not done much these holidays. I've got some days off coming up so will have to get my thinking cap on, whilst keeping fingers crossed for better weather.

On the plus side, I've decluttered my wardrobe today. Only a few items were destined for the bin. I've got a bag full ready for the charity shop, and 10 more items now listed on eBay.

Igamogam

Oh no! These things are sent to try us! Is it something you can claim on insurance? We had some roof damage a few years ago and it didnt really affect future premiums.

Have to admit we havent been outside to check for any damage here.....

WelshKitty85

Igamogam wrote: »

Oh no! These things are sent to try us! Is it something you can claim on insurance? We had some roof damage a few years ago and it didnt really affect future premiums.

Have to admit we havent been outside to check for any damage here.....

Unfortunately not. It's an outbuilding that's damaged. The one that's there now was really cheap and we could replace it like for like for under £100. But we'd have the same problem again next time we have high winds. So long term plan is to replace it with a more sturdy structure that will withstand the wild Welsh weather.

Kitten868

If you and hubby could redo the fence yourselves it would save a lot of money. I was quoted £2.5-3k to do my garden. We bought the concrete posts, boards and panels and hubby hired a mixer. Save you some money for your outbuilding. Xxx

WelshKitty85

Kitten868 wrote: »

If you and hubby could redo the fence yourselves it would save a lot of money. I was quoted £2.5-3k to do my garden. We bought the concrete posts, boards and panels and hubby hired a mixer. Save you some money for your outbuilding. Xxx

Yes, we will do it ourselves (probably with some help from FIL). Our main problem is that the only access to the garden is through the house so it will be a mission in itself just to get the materials into the garden!

Part of our garden is paved and it's really uneven and floods when it rains so we really need to do this at the same time. I'm not sure if this is something we can tackle ourselves. I need to think about it some more and discuss with people who know a lot more about paving slabs than I do.

WelshKitty85

I heard last night that there was a big sale starting today in a local supermarket. I couldn't decide whether to drop the kids off at gran's house early and go before work, or finish work early and shop before picking them up. But I decided I'd obviously check out the women's clothes, stock up on clothes in the next few sizes for DC3, look for shorts for DH, plastic wine glasses for the garden, and see if they had any more unicorn teapots reduced. Thankfully, by the time I woke up this morning I'd come to my senses. I'm in the middle of a big clear out so why on earth would I go and buy more items, things that probably aren't quite right, but that I'd make do with since they're reduced. And why would I need a unicorn teapot??? Disaster averted - I didn't step foot in the place.

Mummy_bear

WelshKitty85 wrote: »

I heard last night that there was a big sale starting today in a local supermarket. I couldn't decide whether to drop the kids off at gran's house early and go before work, or finish work early and shop before picking them up. But I decided I'd obviously check out the women's clothes, stock up on clothes in the next few sizes for DC3, look for shorts for DH, plastic wine glasses for the garden, and see if they had any more unicorn teapots reduced. Thankfully, by the time I woke up this morning I'd come to my senses. I'm in the middle of a big clear out so why on earth would I go and buy more items, things that probably aren't quite right, but that I'd make do with since they're reduced. And why would I need a unicorn teapot??? Disaster averted - I didn't step foot in the place.

I've saved so much money not acting on impulse anymore and procrastinating on decisions to purchase!

Kitten868

The unicorn stuff is never reduced in my local shops anyway so I wouldn't worry. And they never have the stuff you want anyway...... saying that I did order a swimming costume. Needed one that wasn't going see through in the nipple area if I want to take my girls swimming.

With the patio it may mean you need to build a soak away. We had an issue with it flooding at the front of our house. Hubby built a soakaway and redid the concrete actually level and the problem is gone. Its cleared the ant nests too. It's hard work and a lot of digging but not expensive. Then relay the slabs flat. We watch loads of youtube videos until we understand what to do and how to do it. He's getting very handy. And we are actually getting somewhere with the house. It's hard work this homeownership malarkey!

Keep going xxx

Igamogam

WelshKitty85 wrote: »

And why would I need a unicorn teapot???

My thoughts exactly along with the plastic wine glasses!!