£29,303...Enough is enough!

savingholmes

Love  the sound of the wooden toy castle complete with dragon. Don't put off the dream in the country too long - I wish we had gone for it years ago. We are in the waiting until the kids finish sixth form game - and it has dragged the last year or two. We wish we'd done it earlier when we were slimmer and fitter. As it is we have a significant amount of work to do on our health and fitness if we want to be slim and fit enough to enjoy having land when the time comes.

WelshKitty85

Well, we had the valuation today and now my head is spinning! They think the house has increased in value by at least £40,000 in the last 3 years. If we sold today and paid off our mortgage and loan we'd walk away with around £35,000. DH & I have had a chat and we both want to live somewhere slightly more rural. So in an ideal world, DH will find a permanent job, and we'll hammer the loan over the next 3 years. At that point DCs 1 & 2 will be in their final years of school and around the age they can start driving. DC3 will be in his first year or two of primary school, and I think he'd cope with moving to a new area/school at that stage. Depending on house price at the time, we could have more like £80,000 equity which would be a lovely deposit. Dream house is an old cottage/farmhouses type building, with an outbuilding we could let as holiday accommodation, and land for growing vegetables and keeping chickens. It's all dreams at the moment, but having something to aim towards will hopefully keep us on track with minimising spends and paying off debt.

Steerpike88

 That's a lovely dream to have and I'll be envious of your chickens!

WelshKitty85

Back to reality now - the weather is horrendous and we've got water pouring into the lounge. It's happened before, but not this bad. The roofer that came out last time told us it was the radiator upstairs leaking, nothing to do with the roof. We've had someone's else out today who says we have a major problem with the roof and it will cost £650 to repair. We're not convinced as surely the previous roofer wouldn't have missed it if it was such a big problem. We've got someone else coming tomorrow so will see if they diagnose the same problem.

WelshKitty85

Trying to remain positive despite hearing the drip drip of water as I'm typing this...

We took the DCs for a last school holiday treat today and had lunch at p!zza hut. Taking advantage of the eat out offer, it cost us £20 for the 5 of us for unlimited pizza (we had 10 between us!!!!), drinks, and 2 puddings.

I've been eyeing up a stand mixer due into l!dl this week and trying to find a spare £50 in my budget for it. Obviously with the new water feature in the lounge, that's not going to happen now. But I've had a message from my mum asking if id like her to buy it for me. She's also going to resume some childcare for us soon as my dad no longer has to shield. She's a star!

savingholmes

How lovely of your mum. Great news on the house valuation and your dream. 

WelshKitty85

We've had 2 more tradesmen out today who both said yesterday's roofer was talking rubbish. I did have my suspicions, especially after receiving numerous messages last night trying to persuade us to let him carry out the work today and even offering that we could 'owe' him the money. DH has been up on the roof and repaired a small hole himself and another roofer has recommended some work at a much more reasonable cost of £250. We haven't agreed to it yet, but think we will use some of the savings to get the work done and then hope we remain watertight through the winter.

it will mean using savings that were earmarked for other pots, so I'll need to try and make savings elsewhere and be creative, especially thinking about Christmas. I should be grateful though that we have the money in savings, that we don't need to rely on additional borrowing to get it repaired, and that we've still got time to re-evaluate our big annual expenses. My main concern at the moment is that DD has asked for an iPhone for her birthday/ Christmas. They are 3 days apart so I had considered splashing out and treating it as a joint birthday & Christmas present, but I'm struggling trying to justify the cost. She does need a new phone so I've asked her to look at alternatives, but I'm not very hopeful she's going to find something else she'll be happy with. I'm also considering getting her small gifts for both Christmas & birthday, and giving her some cash. She can then ask grandparents etc for cash too and could maybe buy the phone she wants herself. At least we've got time to have a proper think and discussion with DH. I miss them all being DC3s age and happy with a box to play with!

savingholmes

Glad that the quote has come down. With the phone - I would stick to your normal budget - and let her put to it if she wants something better.

WelshKitty85

The last week has been really busy. It was DHs birthday on the weekend so I've spent a lot of time wrapping presents and cooking his favourites (roast lamb & lemon meringue pie). He seemed to have a good day, as did I knowing everything had been budgeted for in advance.

We've made a little progress with Christmas presents and bought a second hand fireman Sam bundle for £20 for DC3. There's loads of play sets, figures, vehicles etc so, apart from the obligatory pyjamas and selection box, that's his Christmas presents done. DH went to pick it up and they gave him some extra toys - cars, diggers, and a big car track. The track is too big for our house really so we were thinking of selling it to make back some of the £20, but DC3 has found it and spent ages playing with it. I'm hoping he'll get fed up of it in a few weeks and then I can get rid of it from my lounge floor.

The roof hasn't leaked again since despite some heavy rain. I'm not sure though if DHs repair has worked, or if the rain just hasn't been heavy enough/blowing in the right direction. We've put off the roofer for now but will keep the £250 in savings so that we can get it done straight away if/when it leaks again.

We've been to the community orchard again and picked more blackberries, apples and pears. The weather's been miserable here today so I've spent the day preserving and batch cooking. We've got 3 x jars Apple and blackberry jam, 2 x jars plum, ginger, apple and pear compote, 2 x Apple and pear cobblers, and some scones. I've also packed the freezer with lunch box snacks to make it easier when DCs 1 & 2 go back to school next week. We've got Apple & cinnamon oat cakes, apple and pear cupcakes, sausage rolls, pigs in duvets (well, ys pizza dough and bbq sauce wrapped around ys chipolatas), and chocolate filled pancakes. I've still got a few apples and a lot of pears to use up.

savingholmes

Love the idea of a community orchard. Glad the roof is doing okay.  The cooking sounds amazing.