Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 4 - The Aftermath

PurpleFairy26

Since when can’t you put a mattress in a skip, that’s a ridiculous rule. Are your council doing doorstep collections for large items. Ours have started again, worth a look. Enjoy your new mattress. House is sounding lovely, well done. 

I would go for cleaning carpets first to extend their life and then once debt has gone look to save and replace them if required. Ask friends/family first if anyone has a carpet cleaner you could borrow to save on the hire. You might be superseded whose got one tucked away, you can add any standard carpet shampoo to them normally so you’d just have to buy that. Be prepared for yucky output though! 

foxgloves

I am going to second Purplefairy's suggestion of seeing if anybody can lend you a carpet cleaner. We bought one years ago from A*di - a Vax. They are not difficult to use & let's just say that the colour of the water in the tank afterwards shows that they do lift out a lot of dirt. If you can put word out & borrow one, you'd only need to buy a modest bottle of carpet shampoo. Worth a try, anyway.
I have never heard that putting mattresses in skips is disallowed. However, if this is hard fact, your local council will collect it for a fee. Sometimes they take say, 3 bulky items for a fixed fee so if that applies to your council, then see if you have anything else which you'd struggle to get to the tip.
You sound like you are getting on great with the decorating. 
F x

Baileys_Babe

We too have a vax, the colour of the water is disgusting.
We often (pre lockdown) lend it to friends and family, there is no point each of us owning one.

f0xh0les

How about looking to see about the carpets, and just having the decorated kids rooms done this month. Most places do free fitting, so  they just charge for the carpet and underlay, not fitting or time.  That way you have somewhere to move their stuff to while it is being done  and when I had the kids rooms done here, it took no more than about 15 minutes per room.  You don't have to have the whole top floor done at once.  Move them all back in and have your room decorated and the HSL done later and then put your carpet down and the HSL. Then, when the whole of the top floor is sorted, take a break. You can book the same carpet for the other rooms for a different date, so you know you will all match (if that is the way you want to  do it).

The mattress/ skip thing is because they use to be set on fire if they were left on the roadside and the fire brigade got hacked off with it.  If you cut the fabric off the mattress round the sides, it is held on  by about 30 metal staples for a double, about 15 for a single. It is easy to prise the staples open with a flat headed screwdriver (it will wreck a pair of scissors, but is still doable). 15minutes later, the fabric can go in the bin, the metal springs should be able to go in the skip, as it is no longer a mattress, it is a metal spring (but still ask). Apart from that it takes up a massive amount of space for what is really a lot of bendywire, when the Tinkerman will take it away happily if he sees it. 

If you are getting a new mattress for the kids, get a washable mattress topper as well. I  can only speak for my boys but they need a barrier between them, their smell, and a mattress.- are you going single beds or double beds? 

Fantastic news on the exam board payment.  Will it take you sub £10k debt?

You are doing so well and really seem to be holding it together - your Summer House Project sound fabulous.   It is worth it when you know you won't have to bother doing that job for another 3  or 4 years or more.

Let me know when you are ready for suggestions for flower bed flowers that do their own thing unsupervised and utterly thrive on neglect     Anarchic gardening.

crazy_cat_lady

Good morning
I've had another early start this morning, which is disgusting. I have no idea how I'm going to cope come September when I'm back to getting up at 6am every day. Struggled downstairs at 7 ready for another 7.45am meeting - which today went on until half nine. Thankfully I don't have anywhere else I need to be at the moment. So school meeting done (2 and a bit work days left to go) and now wondering what to do next. Both kids are still sleeping so there's no hope of starting any work upstairs.
We have a pretty decent carpet shop within walking distance so I was thinking of going up there and seeing what they have in terms of remnants for ds room. His room is 8'x9' (whatever that may be in metres) so might be able to get a decent remnant. I really think that his carpet is beyond hope - whereas I think mine, dd's and the stairs have a good chance with a rug doctor. I don't think I know anyone that has a carpet cleaner but I may put the feelers out on fakeb00k and see if anyone can lend me something. 
Although it is a teeny room f0xh0les, ds has asked for a double bed. I've bought him a 4ft double with storage underneath because by the time the bed and his desk and chair are in there I don't fancy our chances for getting anything else in there at all. DD has a small double already because her room is long and skinny (like her). She doesn't need a new carpet, but I am tempted to look again at the floorboards. It's just a case of whether or not I can get the carpet up and back down again without hassle. Should maybe look at remnants there as well. My next door neighbour's son is a carpet fitter - may speak to them about it.
My bed is king size. Because I am definitely worth it. Looking forward to that new mattress arriving tomorrow! The old one is memory foam so I'm not sure about getting rid of that, but I will look into dismantling ds old mattress and putting it into the skip in pieces maybe. My council is currently doing 6 item collection for £10 which is a massive bargain, but the earliest date they have for a collection is 23 August unfortunately - so still a while away. And there's NO way I can fit a mattress in my car to take to the 'recycling centre'. I am going to ask whoever delivers the skip just to double check I can't put them in there. 
Exam board payment has arrived, and yes f0xh0les, it will take me sub 10k (if I pretend the bathroom loan doesn't exist) even with the skip/mattresses/decorating/beds. I haven't moved it about just yet - just enjoying seeing a bit of cash in an account for one morning but it's on the list of things to do this afternoon.
Let's get a list on the go - I do like a list...
1. Measure, and write down, actual measurements of kids bedrooms so we can plan furniture layout.
2. Go to carpet shop and investigate a remnant for ds room.
3. Finish decorating in dd room.
4. Get ds to finish clearing his tip.
5. Money shuffling and budgeting.
6. Crochet and get on with finishing stuff off - too many things on the go at once.
7. Hoover through (but only if the kids are done with their rooms because that just makes more mess)
8. Attempt to do something with the dumping ground that is my kitchen.
9. Top up shop from foods of the frozen farm
That's loads. I need to stop sitting on my bum and get on. Thank goodness my school work for the day is done.
Thanks everyone for your help and advice with everything. I'm not the most experienced or able home improver so it's all very much appreciated.

janb5

The carpet fitter may be able to advise re putting down the offending board.  I bought felt back as opposed to foam back carpet a couple of years ago and it's very hard wearing.
Maybe you can buy carpet and your neighbour's son would fit?
You have done so amazingly well!

PurpleFairy26

You can also get away with a cheaper carpet if you have decent underlay. So if you have that down already you might only need to change the carpet. If not worth considering a decent underlay even to go under a remnant. Good luck with your list. 

Purps. 

P.s. if I get over run with courgettes I’m going to post some to you so you don’t feel left out 🤣🤣

crazy_cat_lady

DS room is indeed 8'x9' or 2.4m x 2.7m - daren't go into dd's room as she's still sleeping. But I now have a plan for the afternoon at any rate. It involves donning my compulsory-in-10-days mask and looking round 3 different shops.
It's raining here - does that mean we're getting 40 days and nights of rain now? That doesn't feel fair.

f0xh0les

I mean how flippin' organized are you?  With all your fab plans!

Make the house your own, make it comfortable for you and your kids, you can't go anywhere so you are using this time brilliantly, the holiday would be over and you would still need to do your house.  This way you are in a better place to go into the autumn term and your house will be your sanctuary.  You deserve it, and you are worth it (keep repeating it, and tell the cats as well).

trix-a-belle

i'll 2nd the get good underlay comment, check Fakebook marketplace as there is often people getting rid of the ends of rolls & tape joins/runs together with duct tape, I got enough cloud 9 thick stuff on a roll for my space room for around a tenner. DSs room is definitely remnant sized (again fb marketplace worth checking), apparently the carpet industry is a tad foobared at the moment as so much is made elsewhere they've not got stock levels back up so if it can be revived its worth a go