*sigh* this may take a while

remote_control

We did the same to our bathroom last year and was exactly £8K. I did a lot of research and shopped around to get good prices for the items, then someone fitted it, laid the floor, plastered (and did a few odd jobs around the house) and we painted. We went for an expensive floor which was about £500 but no regrets as it is fab.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Thanks r_c, that's good to hear

ohdearhowdidthathappen

What a lovely sunny weekend, no working, so was very chilled
I booked today off too as I was owed quite a few hours in lieu.  The hospital cancelled everyones annual leave for April and May, which was really annoying.  We are human and need a break occasionally
I've kept the kids off key worker school today too, so they get to enjoy the extended weekend as well.  The school have got an external agency in this week to run a play scheme for them all, so I'm sure they'll enjoy all the sporting activities etc.  I'm enjoying not having to pay for childcare... half term would usually cost me more than my salary, so a lovely change!

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Money wise, all good this month.  Have saved loads, credit card literally just had our food shopping on it.  Got a couple of the school trip refunds back too, so they've been put into savings, waiting on about another £550 that will come back in the next month or so

mark55man

That really is good news.  So good in fact MSE posted it twice
 

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Haha, hadn't even noticed! Have deleted now

mark55man

Ha ha - now I look like the muppet - which is pretty normal so nae worries

Isitdoable

Good to catch up on your diary and finances sound in good shape!
My eldest is in Y1 and he is going back next week - our school is part of an academy group which by and large seem to be a lot more helpful than the councils!  I've had the guilt trip put on me by certain mothers insinuating that I am a terrible mother for wanting my child back in school, but I think they have really suffered unnecessarily for being taken out - and who knows if it was even important to close schools?!  It seems maybe not if they had made some adjustments.  Anyhow, there is no one vulnerable in our household so the sooner my little one can get back to normal the better.  The school have been fantastic with all the measures they have put in place too - striking a nice balance between keeping them safe and making sure it still feels like school.

savingholmes

Glad you have managed to save loads Ohsh.... Good to have some time off too. 

ohdearhowdidthathappen

This whole virus thing has really got OH thinking about what we want to do longer term.  We both love the idea of eventually moving away from our busy town in Surrey and living a simpler life.  We expect to have to stick with it until our youngest is 18 and finishes school, so about 13 years, but then we do want to make big changes.
We're a few months from being debt free and then we want to focus on next steps:

1) Start overpaying the mortgage - we've worked out if we can manage to overpay by £500 a month, we'd have it paid off in the 13 years
2) Save 6 months living expenses, we think £20K should be plenty
3) Make sure to have enough for a nice family holiday a year
4) Continue to make home improvements

On paper, my entire monthly salary should be spare to through at these goals, so £1500pm. We need to figure out where this is best used.
We'd like about £2.5k towards an annual holiday
We think there's £15k left to spend on the house (bathroom, windows, garden)
We're debating saving the £200pm for holiday and then splitting the other £1300 equally between home, savings and mortgage.
Trouble with that is, it'll take us 3 years to finish house, 4 years to save our £20K pot and we'd be short on OP to clear mortgage in our chosen time frame.  Ho hum