Twinklie returns to the property ladder

twinklie

@SandyShores sorry you aren't enjoying your job. I think I'll end up in the same team, but the job will be changing and it's how they are planning to change the structure and locations of the teams I'm not sure about. 
If it's any help I was absolutely fine after my first vaccination. 

twinklie

Well I've had two days off work, so I decided to be proactive. In the time off whilst the boys have been at school I've managed to:

1. Keep up with general housework, washing, cooking etc.
2. Gut the playroom (conservatory) and give it a full spring clean, reorganise toys etc. - it took all day.
3. Fix the fridge/freezer and give it a full clean - took half a day because I had to take the door off the bottom part and faff with the pull out bits because a screw was loose and was stopping it pulling out properly.
4. Sorted a substantial amount of recycling.
5. Cleaned off the side of doom in the kitchen.

And I found time to even watch some TV. It's madness what you can get done when the kids are in school.

Plans for rest of weekend:

1. Finish cleaning kitchen inc floor.
2. Make curry for tea.
3. Put washing away.
4. Hoover upstairs.
5. Change the last bed (I've done the others already).
6. Go for a walk with my Mum.
7. Look at what needs to be done to get the greenhouse ready.
8. Make a list of gardening jobs ready to start and order anything else I might need.

It's not the most exciting of updates, but there's not a lot else to say really. A friend did pop round some old Thomas the Tank books for DS2, so we had a quick chat. It was lovely to see and speak to someone new. 

twinklie

So I'm off for a fortnight with the boys on Easter holidays, so I'm making the most of catching up on sleep (children allowing) and doing jobs that I've been meaning to do but just haven't had the opportunity. Today will be garden related, but have just been waiting for it to warm up a bit outside first (I'm a wuss I know). 

Restructure wise I've been told I've definitely got a job, but what exactly I'll be doing and where I will be based I've no idea. So we shall see what happens there. I hit the magic 5 years this year, so get an increase in annual leave allowance which I'm happy with - Yay. 

I'm making a spreadsheet for the garden to keep track of what I'm growing, when to plant etc. We shall see what happens with it all. Fingers crossed I have as good a year as last year and get some bumper crops. Going to finish preparing the raised bed later - still too cold and too much risk of frost to do any direct planting here though. 

twinklie

March Round up

DEBT 

Car Loan - Was £8,602 - Now £6,231.19

DH's Phone (0% interest) - Was £194 - Now £96.94 **Not updated yet**

My Phone (0% interest) -  Was £27 - Now £8.07 

Total debt at the start of 2021 = £6,842.25, Now = £6,336.20  **Not updated yet**
Total reduction this month =  £165.20

SAVINGS
Aim to save £400 per month to build emergency fund and for rainy day expenses (car, house maintenance etc.). 
113% of target achieved again. 

 

MORTGAGE 

Current daily interest is £14.77

We now own 19.6% of the house - current rough valuation actually puts us as 26.21%.

3 rooms owned (4 if I go with the higher valuation).

Paid off 10.19% of the mortgage. 

Current MF date - Oct  2037.
Mortgage OP - £122.98

So looks like we are doing ok, keeping things fairly consistent anyway. 

Obviously the exciting bit is we've paid back over 10% of the original mortgage amount now which is amazing in 29 months. I'm really excited by that. 

twinklie

Holidays update - it's all been garden based. Dug a spot for the rhubarb and then it turned into an impromptu bindweed weeding session. The hole subsequently flooded due to heavy rain...British weather for you. 

Then I dug over the veg patch, took a day with DS2 helping due to weeding and pulling out lots of evil roots. The weather was glorious though and it was such a lovely day. Yesterday was the turn of the greenhouse. Ended up digging over the soil in there too, which took far longer because I've not done that before (I didn't plant into the soil last year and won't be this year either). I managed to clean the inside glass, but didn't get time to do the outside because I needed to put the contents back in and then feed the boys because DH was going to coach rugby. Today I plan to finish the rhubarb patch and get the crown planted, clean the outside of the greenhouse, dig in some manure into the raised bed and cover it, then crack on with some serious weeding on the far side of the garden where we have a bit of a ground elder problem before the stuff flowers. 

Today's my last day in the garden really as tomorrow we are going for a walk with my parents, then the weather is due to turn. Boo. 

twinklie

I'm also researching garden furniture. I want a rattan sofa set, but I think the pandemic has sent prices a bit crazy so I'm not sure I'm brave enough to take the plunge. I'm also not sure how big I should get. There are obviously 4 of us, but DS2 doesn't sit for long and DS1 doesn't relax outside as such because of flies/bugs etc. We've never really had people round to the garden either, but then we've only been here since winter 2018. 
And as we live in the north, we were not allowed people in gardens most of last year anyway. 
We'd probably have my Mum and Dad round but not really sure after that. I'm guessing with that in mind a 4 seater isn't going to be big enough. 

Every_penny

Great updates @twinklie and fantastic progress on the Spring cleaning.
I splurged on a rattan sofa set a few years ago when I got a bonus from work. I opted for one with thick cushions and it's really stood the test of time from a company called 'maze'. It is in a modular format meaning that you can reconfigure it anyway you like. You can have it as a bed or a corner sofa or even a sofa and two chairs. The only slight downside is that cushions take us a huge amount of storage space. I bought a double wheely bin plastic store to accommodate them! I did wait until they had a sale on though as they definitely weren't the cheapest brand, however, it still looks new after 5 years!

twinklie

Good Friday was LOVELY. We had a great time with my parents, it almost felt like preCOVID times. Obviously we socially distanced and there was lots of antibacterial hand wash involved but it was just lovely to feel as though we were on a day out. It was only a walk near my house, but it was fantastic and the weather was so lovely too. 

Saturday, we just mooched round the house a bit because we were all tired from the day before. Managed to get some chores done and just generally catch up. Did make a lovely homemade curry though. 

Sunday I went on an adults only walk with my folks, which is our weekly walk. DS1 went back to rugby at the local club too, it's more of a catching and running about exercise, but he loves it because he gets to see some of his friends there. He was quite anxious it being his first time back after the break but it was lovely to see him so happy when he got home. 

Yesterday was an Easter egg hunt round the garden, followed by some gardening....more weeding. Unfortunately I found some bloomin' big bamboo shoots, so that will need digging out at some point. Sigh. Managed to clean half of the outside of the greenhouse too and fill my seed trays with compost. I won't sow until the weekend though as it's just too cold at the minute. All with the boys outside going nuts and running about like nutters. 

Think it's likely to be a chore day here today. Need to do some washing, cleaning and tidying...might try and get everyone out to stretch their legs on a short walk later though. Or out in the garden for a play, whichever they are most open to doing. 

DH has an exam tomorrow so I'm guessing it will be all about keeping the kids quiet by any means possible - movies, popcorn and snuggles I think. 

ladysummerisle

Read from the beginning! It’s fascinating to see the impact covid has had through reading the diaries. We were due a restructure at work in the past year too and, whilst still ongoing in some areas, it’s reassuring to know I’ll have a job. You’re making great progress. Do get rid of the decking though. If you see rats in the day then it usually indicates there’s a lot of them. My neighbours have decking and last summer the rats appeared. They went but the other week I spotted one again 😭 Perhaps just make yourself busy with the boys when it comes to ripping it up!

twinklie

Well the neighbours have been doing some work in their garden and dismantled the kids playhouse and decking it was on. They discovered a rats nest under it. We are wondering if that’s the one we saw. 

They have chickens which I presume has attracted them. Our garden will have pretty slim pickings by comparison. Still plan to remove the decking though. 

@ladysummerisle I like your style! 🤣 I’m tiny and not great with anything involving heavy lifting so doubt I’ll be involved in that bit.