Buying a house without a mortgage

pavlovs_dog

your garden wall in pic 3 seems to be of similar construction to ours (i.e precariously balanced bricks because the mortar is shot to pieces) :eek:

are you planting alongside it anyway? I am contemplating getting ours replaced, with built in planters added to give the garden more definition. (pic HERE so you can see the space we've got to work with).

then i get second thoughts.... yes I worry that they may collapsing and kill my attempts at growing stuff, but they have a certain charm too

newgirly

That looks absolutely stunning!

Frugaldom

Yes, the first pic was taken from near the bottom of the garden at the bridge that crosses the stream. I can't really believe that we managed to buy this place, it was simply fate or destiny or something stranger, even, than that. It's been a great journey and, like you say, we've made our journeys together, thanks to the glorious world of the internet. I know you'll appreciate the irony in this, but I just made it back to £500 of premium bonds as part of my 'emergency' back-up, just in time for son taking his first step towards his future househunting plans.

Property prices here are still ranging from static to crumbling Despite this, none of my friends can believe how lucky we were to get this place for the price we did. There's a fully refurbished one, same size, same road, for sale at the moment at £195k! I think I can safely say ours qualifies as an excellent investment, even although I'd have liked to have paid even less for it. But I did haggle! :rotfl:

Re the walls - it's dry stone dykes the full length of the garden, so no mortar, and yes, in need of repair in places, but not precariously so.

Frugaldom

I now have a new window for my (almost) kitchen! Hoping we can get some dry weather this weekend to get it fitted, as it looks a bit out of place leaning up against the wall in the bedroom! :rotfl:

With luck, once the window's fitted, the ceiling can be finished. One more small step towards a wind and watertight house that will no longer need papier mache, tape and clingfilm to keep out the draughts.

Frugaldom

Got the old window and wooden framework all removed and replaced plus had enough change from a £500 budget to order some more sheep wool insulation. That's hopefully going to arrive by this weekend!

Going to start ripping out the plaster from first of the kitchen walls, as these will be getting damp proofed, insulated then lined with foil-backed plasterboard. HOPEFULLY, most of the work can be done on a DIY basis, but need joiner to construct a nice, level floor over the existing concrete. This will also be insulated but I can't find a green option, as the new floor won't have enough depth to suspend sheepwool. Might need to go with the polystyrene boards on this but it's all insulation and will all help hold in the heat - onc we start generating some in that part of the house. Apart from that, the polystyrene boards are a fraction of the price of sheep wool.

Not managing to save much towards the renovation owing to the cold weather and trying to keep this place warm (ish) and free from damp. Awaiting word of dehumidifiers via our local LETS group, so might be able to sort something out over the next week or so.

Still frugaling, still penny pinching, still debt and mortgage free. If I can do it, anybody can do it!

Frugaldom

It's been 4 years since I posted in here and boy, how things have changed! We still haven't fully renovated the house because we heard word of a bit land that may be available for sale not long after I made the previous post. So... another 2 years of crazy penny pinching, stretching the budget while living very much by the 'make do and mend' and 'waste not, want not' ethos, we saved enough to buy what has now been officially named the 'Frugaldom' project. It's been 18 months since we bought the place and I'm still doing my Living on £4,000 per year Frugal Living challenge.


NEVER GIVE UP & NEVER BE DEFEATED!

brizzledfw

Lovely to see you're still in the game Frugal... well done and stay positive, its lovely to see

Frugaldom

brizzledfw wrote: »

Lovely to see you're still in the game Frugal... well done and stay positive, its lovely to see

Thanks, I still have the original frugal living/living on £4k challenge running, I'm in it for life, I think. I wonder how the others are doing?

Luckyinlife

lovely garden and a really good blog :]

4k a year is great budget :] i need to give myself a budget keep me in check lol

Lexi-lu

Hello,

I have enjoyed reading through some of your diary, very inspirational. Thank you for posting, your home looks beautiful.

LL