SLLM (Single Lady Large Mortgage)

Friday1989

@Sistergold Not a chance! It's a recipe for absolute disaster and realistically it would never get done. 

Everything except a £12 pair of jeans (down from £40) is going back from my £145 asos order. 

Looks like we might be doing the roof and sorting out the drainpipes and guttering when upstairs do a loft conversion. No idea how much a new roof costs but they'll already be getting scaffolding so makes sense to do it at the same time. Maybe no more big overpayments for a while... I can do a three month mortgage holiday if needed because I've paid three months extra so that would help but ideally I'll be able to save up for it. Better find out how much a roof cost!

Sistergold

Lol @Friday1989, I know what you mean about recipe for absolute disaster! I also don’t get myself involved with work that needs plumbing! Don’t want any chance of leaks as water damage is the worst in my books other than a fire of cause! Oh you need a new roof? I am curious to know how much that will cost? I hope a new roof will never come up in my lifetime! Well nothing wrong with a payment holiday I guess that’s the whole point of overpayments sometimes? Seems you have a lot of pending work to be done! I am sure it will look stunning after it’s all done! 

LadyWithAPlan

I would love to see some pics of your kitchen - these welded by you units sound amazing and it seems like you have created a kitchen worth way over the cost of materials.. Very inspired I have found a welding course actually in central London in a few months time - I don't have outdoor space and welding w/out lessons sounds a bit scary
I did get to use an angle grinder in plumbing recently which was fun

I am decorating my (rental ) kitchen this month - just painting, gloss and I will retile the floors as I have some free tiles. The cupboard doors are fine, not amazing but clean and look neat.

Hopefully rates will have come down a little for you by June.

Friday1989

@Sistergold I have no idea how much the roof will be yet. I need to have a chat with my neighbours to get a vague idea. Unfortunately being based in London means it is likely to be £££ 

I got some glasses from glasses direct online. If I'd bought them in a shop with the same lenses they would probably have been £200 rather than £65. My last glasses lasted me about 7 years so they will be very good value if these last as long! 

This evening I've been reading about SIPPs and ISAs. It's not something I currently will be doing but it's good to learn more. My financial literacy is not great. I'm so grateful for MSE. I find it hard to get my head around a lot of articles about things like pensions because they assume a baseline level of knowledge I don't have or don't use plain English, but Martin Lewis makes it much easier to understand. 

Sistergold

@LadyWithAPlan, it’s amazing how painting brings a whole new mood to a room. Sounds like you are really updating your rental which is good as we live once and can not neglect the benefits of staying in a beautiful space.

@Friday1989, yes talk about London prices! Good savings on the glasses for sure, and it’s good to learn about investing while you are not yet wanting to invest so that when you do you have a fair chance. 

Sistergold

Oh hello ladies. It has been a while since I posted. It has been really been busy days and sometimes just feeling a bit down. I am feeling better now that we have had a bit of sun as I was really tired of the cold weather. 

I am enjoying the Easter break and it’s nice and quiet as the children went abroad on holiday with their dad. 

Yesterday and today it was nice, sunny and dry so I went ahead to carry on with the still long list of finishing off the kitchen. Have been wanting to add a shelve under the sink as at present I only use the cabinet base. Managed to cut and make a shelve frame from metal and have also cut the boards. Welded the frame yesterday and cleaned it ready for painting. Today I went on to paint the metal and the wood and am just waiting for the two coats of undercoat to dry. I am hoping I will mount the shelve sometime this week. 👯 Also managed to clear the garage a bit so I can even find what I need from there as I ended up just dumping it all before Christmas when I stopped for winter 🥶 . 

On the 15th of March after the mortgage went out the balance was down to 

And now after they have added the interest for the month it’s up at 

So interest now almost a thousand per month at £987. Come June my rate will go up even further  as new product so I guess interest will be truly over £1k! So far I am still managing to pay the £1k overpayment. I am just trying to continue to squeeze myself to overpay the £1k as it gives me the psychological boost of telling myself I still have that amount to pay the mortgage if interest rates should continue rise so much so that it becomes unaffordable with the overpayment (hope makes sense?).

As far as general saving are concerned it’s a situation of one step forward two steps backwards. I seem to just have so many spendy days and I do need to cut down. I have a wedding to attend abroad and need to buy tickets soon, pay for hotel etc and so that’s more heavy spending coming up. Good thing is I managed to get a new passport after that burglary so that good. 

This summer
1. I am hoping to finish off the kitchen. I have two units to make.
2. Two weekends ago I competed the tiling course so I am planning to tile the kitchen this summer 👯‍♀️. I will also need to plaster parts of the kitchen walls. 
3. Paint my bedroom 
4. Get rid of my sofas one by one and make some lounge furniture to replace one at a time. The lounge seats will have storage but am wondering if I will be able to make and upholster the cushion myself but will see. My children are quite skeptical about me making my own sofas and my older daughter said “no mom as you have managed to make the kitchen you need to stop while you are ahead!” I was like “nah I can do it?” Basically they think I will ruin the outlook of the lounge? But hey ho if I don’t give it a try I will never know. Since I am so happy with the kitchen I might just make my own seats and be happy about that? I will keep you updated as I get along. Basically I will carry on making my own furniture until I come to something I fail to make! 

5. Still need to make a drop leaf table 
6. Need to make a bed frame for my youngest son as at present he sleeps on a single bed and would like to make him a bigger single bed as he is quite a tall boy. 

7. I need to make a day bed with storage for my second lounge. 

8. Shoe cabinet
second lounge tv cabinet

As you can see I have so much welding to do as all this will start with a metal frame somehow. Have already been researching standard heights for sofas etc. I am hoping that this time I will be able to keep a tight budget as the kitchen costs added up quite quickly. I am hoping that as I won’t need to buy machines this time the spending will be kept down. Also as more experienced I am hoping waste will be less. Most importantly I am quite looking forwards to seeing how much of this I will manage to get done as I don’t have much opportunities for taking time off so it will just be on weekends. As I won’t have much time maybe that’s will help spread the cost as some or most will not be done by next winter. 

For now I also just doing some finishing touches. Instead of using laminate strips to cover the countertop I wanted to use metal end caps. Looked these up online and found the costs began to quickly add up as need 10 of these 

I already had a bit of 4cm flat bars which I thought might be able to make my own end caps so did that yesterday. Have now undercoated them and will paint them during the week. Will then screw on and see how they look. I used 2.5 lengths of 

The end caps would have costed £14.7 x 10= £147 but as I used the above metal (which I already had) of which the cost is £10.80 x 2.5 = £27 giving a saving of £120. Making them did not take long and it was quite interesting to make them as not complicated at all. Really enjoyed the process. 

For Mother’s Day I got from the children a home made card with lovely hearts, and the loveliest Mother’s Day messages AND A BOTTLE OF WINE plus a lovely big candle! Today I am just relaxing and having some of that wine after a long day of some of the above diy. 

What have you been up to this Easter weekend ladies? Did you do any home improvements or did you just chill/travel?

Hope to hear what you have all been up to. Let me go and do one more coat of paint on the end caps and under sink shelving! Really excited about the shelving as means more storage! 💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾

slm6002

Happy Easter.

I today fitted a pre-made end to my worktop.  Afraid I am not as skilled as you, but glad with the job that I managed as I had to cut it to fit.

The builders have been working on my downstairs toilet.  It is based in the understairs cupboard and the pantry cupboard that backs onto it.  The walls have been knocked down and rebuild in the correct places and it is all plastered ready for them to do the plumbing and install the bathroom furniture.  I am hoping this will add value to the house as well as being very useful.

Sistergold

Oh happy holidays @slm6002, looks like we have been up to similar projects( counter top end caps). Sounds like the builders are really making progress with the downstairs toilet. Your toilet will definitely be useful and it will add value. Installing a ground floor toilet is a must if at all possible. I had a large toilet under the stairs when I bought this house. There was a large toilet seat on the right and a big sink on the left with a door in the centre. I had a small shower unit installed on the right(replacing large toilet seat) and  a compact coupled toilet seat installed on the left(where the large sink was). Next to the toilet I then had a little corner clock room sink put in. So now I have an “under stairs shower room” it is rather compact I must say but it has been soooo useful and has added such great value to our life. With four children bath time can be a nightmare with one bathroom. It is so compact another person will not want it in which case then can just change it back but for me it is the best arrangement. 

Once it’s done you will enjoy not going upstate to the toilet and also visitors won’t need to be going upstairs too. Enjoy the rest of your long weekend! 🌺

slm6002

Thank you @Sistergold it has been something that I have wanted to do for a long time and yet again XH said wasn't possible - what did he know lol.  My Mum struggles with the stairs and when my uncle comes to stay he sleeps in the living room so it is like an ensuite for him.  Shame it was delayed a few weeks otherwise he could have used it this weekend.  I will say that the only thing I am doing for the bathroom is painting.  Partly because I can and partly because they wanted £750 to do it.  

I have a new gate for the side entrance and a set of gates being added on the driveway at the back of the house soon, so for the first time in almost 18 years of living here the back garden will be enclosed.  I cant wait and it should be in by the summer holidays

trix-a-belle

Sistergold said:

4. Get rid of my sofas one by one and make some lounge furniture to replace one at a time. The lounge seats will have storage but am wondering if I will be able to make and upholster the cushion myself but will see. My children are quite skeptical about me making my own sofas and my older daughter said “no mom as you have managed to make the kitchen you need to stop while you are ahead!” I was like “nah I can do it?” Basically they think I will ruin the outlook of the lounge? But hey ho if I don’t give it a try I will never know. Since I am so happy with the kitchen I might just make my own seats and be happy about that? I will keep you updated as I get along. Basically I will carry on making my own furniture until I come to something I fail to make! 

As you can see I have so much welding to do as all this will start with a metal frame somehow. Have already been researching standard heights for sofas etc. I am hoping that this time I will be able to keep a tight budget as the kitchen costs added up quite quickly. I am hoping that as I won’t need to buy machines this time the spending will be kept down. Also as more experienced I am hoping waste will be less. Most importantly I am quite looking forwards to seeing how much of this I will manage to get done as I don’t have much opportunities for taking time off so it will just be on weekends. As I won’t have much time maybe that’s will help spread the cost as some or most will not be done by next winter. 

Hi all, I have been cheering you along in the background having paid off my own single lady mortgages.

SisterGold,if I may strongly caution you on the above sofa project as an upholsterer.
Is it that your current furniture doesn't work in the space or just the challenge of making more pieces yourself for your home?
I'm not sure if its your intention to try and do wood frames, or metal given your expanding welding skills. If wood; it won't save money compared to what is available already, if metal; it won't save money & also won't be comfortable without excessively thick & very tailored cushions to make them usable which also also won't be a saving (my trade prices for foam are up considerably in the last 3 years alone & we've had multiple periods of severely limited availability).
Metal frames aren't common for indoor, regular use furniture for a reason, the odd ones that are about (mostly victorian, only chairs & even then generally only the backs) are known as iron backs & plenty of experienced upholsterers won't touch them as you can't attach the layers in the same way. Sofas aren't just a couple of box frames screwed together with cushions on top, even I wouldn't make one from scratch. & thats all before I address fabric which is a whole other thing.