£29,303...Enough is enough!

WinterWarrior

Congratulations 🥳  how amazing to be in for Christmas 🎄

savingholmes

Woohoo. Your dream home. Glad you are happy

WelshKitty85

I took a short break from decorating and unpacking yesterday to take DC3 to feed the chickens, then we just walked around our fields kicking a ball for the dog. It was just lovely, exactly what we wanted from the move.

I’m tired today so still sat in bed taking in the view from our bedroom windows. I love it here.

WelshKitty85

In terms of finances, we’re currently debt neutral. We’ve paid off the loan, but have around £4000 on a credit card. I have enough in the bank to clear the card too but the house has thrown a few unexpected expenses at us so I’m just holding off clearing it until the house is in order and I know exactly what we have left in the bank. Credit card is 0% for a little while yet.

We’ve done a big shop to restock the freezer and start building a store cupboard of long life mill etc in case we get snowed in at any point. It was just over £80. The nearest shop is a 20 minute drive away. Not too bad but I don’t want to be making multiple weekly trips there, so really need to get on top of the meal planning and shopping lists again to make sure we get everything we need in one go.

mumtoomany

Loving the view. Will we be seeing some livestock on those fields? Do you have a means of cooking/heating, without electric? We have power cuts at least once a year. A friend locally has been without electricity since Saturday morning. 
Congratulations on paying off your debt. I hope you'll still be around, so we can follow your story. Mumtoomany.

savingholmes

Love the view. So pleased you've got your dream

WelshKitty85

Happy Christmas Eve!

I’ve been really rubbish at updating my diary since moving, mainly because I’ve  just been so tired between working my proper job, running a business, decorating, and unpacking. We’ve done a lot of spending over the last 4 weeks, mainly on the house, but also on some extra last minute Christmas gifts. I need to wait for the accounts to update then update my spreadsheets, but I think we’re still debt neutral if I count what’s in the help to save accounts. Trying not to touch those unless absolutely necessary though. We still need to buy a sofa (the lounge is currently empty and in danger of becoming a dumping ground for things that don’t have a proper home) but after that we need to seriously reign in the spending.

We’re loving the new house (apart from DC1 who thinks we’ve ruined her life moving away from her friends) and it has so much potential. We’d really like to get some form of accommodation up and running for Easter to start generating some income from that. We’ve also been thinking about animals, only a few (maybe sheep or goats) as pets and to help control the grass. I’d also like to start growing our own fruit and veg so need to do a bit of research into what needs planting when.

We’re hosting DH’s family tomorrow so today will mostly be spent prepping the veg, stuffing the turkey, and making an Irish cream Yule log. Nadolig Llawen!

savingholmes

Nadolig Llawen!

Hope you have a lovely time over the festive period. 

All kids think we ruin their lives if we move. Hopefully she will settle. Love the idea of some livestock - I am sure you will do your homework and pick whichever is the easiest to look after. I love watching the homesteading type videos - but they look a lot of work. On fruit trees if they are bare rooted I think you can plant any time. It's if they are in a pot that it gets more complicated

mumtoomany

Hi Welshkitty, Happy Christmas to you and yours. Goats are lovely, but will do anything in their power to run away! This is a picture of one that we had, only a kid, she is pictured 10 feet up a tree in next doors garden! She had climbed over a seven foot fence to get there. We have sheep now. They never run away, even if gates are open. They do however get stuck in bramble, fencing, etc. Geese are quite good lawnmowers too and can live with the sheep or goats. 

DD3 here was like yours, we had destroyed her life by moving to Wales, from the northwest. Now eight years on she doesn't ever want to go back. Mumtoomany.

WelshKitty85

Thank you both for the words of wisdom. We’ll do some research and planning before we decide on animals and what to plant where. Geese hadn’t crossed my mind so thanks for the suggestion.

With regards to DC1, we’ve only moved an hour down the road, she’s stayed at the same school and stays with grandparents in the week so still gets to see the same friends. We’ve told her she can invite friends on the weekends too so it’s not as bad as she makes out!

Today has been fairly successful, apart from for poor DC1 who has been throwing up since the early hours. She managed to come downstairs for 10 mins this afternoon to open some presents but has since gone back to bed. Food was lovely and plenty of leftovers for lazy dinners the next few days.

DC3 is going to bed shortly and everyone else has already disappeared to their bedrooms so I’m going to catch up on some tv and enjoy the last of the Buck’s Fizz and some cheese & crackers. Bliss!