Time to Face The Music

uralmaid

Loved the pics of Saltfleet Haven.  We are in the process of moving to Saltfleet in the next few weeks and this will be about 500 yards from our doorstep.

RelievedSheff

We have been to have a look at where we will probably spend our first night with the van today. Just to check it out and get a feel for it.

There were a few vans there so we had a chat with the owners before we took the dog for a walk around the village.

It is a lovely spot made even better today with the sunshine. Can't wait to give it a go now. It will be far enough away from home that we will feel we have gone somewhere but close enough to home that we can come back if we have any problems with the van.

We are back home now. The dog is shattered and fast asleep in bed. I have put the brisket in the slow cooker for later and prepped the rest of dinner. 

Time to crack open a beer now I think.

RelievedSheff

Not a no spends day again. We are still buying bits for the van and I need to sort out the insurance and breakdown cover.

£251 has been paid to the HP loan today.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be from stores. Breakfast was crumpets, lunch will be jacket potatoes and dinner tonight is smoked salmon with rice and vegetables.

Today's jobs include:

• working from home
• vacuuming the house
• dusting the house
• sorting out the van insurance
• walking the dog

The other half has a few errands to run today and we are expecting the first in a series of parcels to be delivered today. It is turning out to be more expensive that we thought kitting out this van and we already had a lot of stuff from the boat!!

joedenise

@RelievedSheff - quite honestly I'd stop keep buying stuff until you get the van and work out what you actually need!  It's so easy to get carried away with buying things you think you might need but in reality you don't.  Just remember if you find you need something you haven't got there are always shops where you can buy said item, or even manage without for a day or two until you can get it.  There are a lot of people with garages full of stuff they've bought thinking they need them and then finding they are just taking up space in the van.

We've always found Comfort to be the best priced for us for insurance.  A good broker who can arrange insurance with various companies (including Aviva who Comfort use - you can't insure direct with them unfortunately and if you try they will tell you to call Comfort!) is AIB.  Good luck with finding insurance at a good price.

RelievedSheff

joedenise said:

@RelievedSheff - quite honestly I'd stop keep buying stuff until you get the van and work out what you actually need!  It's so easy to get carried away with buying things you think you might need but in reality you don't.  Just remember if you find you need something you haven't got there are always shops where you can buy said item, or even manage without for a day or two until you can get it.  There are a lot of people with garages full of stuff they've bought thinking they need them and then finding they are just taking up space in the van.

We've always found Comfort to be the best priced for us for insurance.  A good broker who can arrange insurance with various companies (including Aviva who Comfort use - you can't insure direct with them unfortunately and if you try they will tell you to call Comfort!) is AIB.  Good luck with finding insurance at a good price.

Comfort have been by far and away the most competitive price for us so far.

We have only been buying things that we know we will definitely need for the van. Stuff like a bed for the dog, bedding, mirror protectors, TV, hose pipe, a step to reach the kitchen cupboards and roof hatches (no fun being short!!) gas bottles, folding table for use outside, etc. There is nothing we have bought so far that we won't use. 

Luckily we did have a lot of stuff left over from the boat that we have stored around the house otherwise it would be even more expensive!!

It is like kitting out a second little house

We will be glad when the thing has come and we can get it loaded up and reclaim some storage in this house!!

joedenise

I know what you mean @RelievedSheff!  It's definitely like kitting up another little house but once it's done most things will last for a long time.  We've been motor homing and prior to that caravanning and tenting and some of the stuff we're using is from those very early days (although not much now admittedly!).  We finally replaced the melamine crockery with tempered glass which is much nicer to eat from, a couple of years ago.  We thought about buying the Corelle stuff which is very expensive and then someone we know mentioned that IKEA do tempered glass crockery at only 50p a piece so guess what we got!!!  It's brilliant.

RelievedSheff

Well that is the savings gone. Sent the rest of the motorhome money across at dinnertime

Now it is just a waiting game.

Sun_Addict

You spendthrift 😆 Well worth it though.

milann

I’ve just read your diary and you’ve come a long way with the debt busting. 

Loved the reasoning about whether to buy a new or 2nd hand MH. We had the same discussions and were looking for a 2nd hand one to tick all our boxes. We found some that ticked some and then found a new one which ticked them all. It was 3 grand more than those that ticked some and had lots of miles on the clock.....so it was a non brainier for what we wanted. It’ll be ready for pick up July. We intend keeping it long term. We had a motorhome over 30 years ago when the kids were young then swapped for caravans. We let the caravan go 3 years ago and have missed it. 

RelievedSheff

milann said:

I’ve just read your diary and you’ve come a long way with the debt busting. 

Loved the reasoning about whether to buy a new or 2nd hand MH. We had the same discussions and were looking for a 2nd hand one to tick all our boxes. We found some that ticked some and then found a new one which ticked them all. It was 3 grand more than those that ticked some and had lots of miles on the clock.....so it was a non brainier for what we wanted. It’ll be ready for pick up July. We intend keeping it long term. We had a motorhome over 30 years ago when the kids were young then swapped for caravans. We let the caravan go 3 years ago and have missed it. 

I suspect that this van will be a long termer. The initial plan is to review it after 5 years when the loan is payed off and decide if we are still happy with this van or fancy a change.

I suspect we will end up keeping this one. But you never know, something else might crop up at that time.

We are just waiting for the dealers to send some paperwork to the finance company , then we need to sign the agreement and we are good to pick up the van on Monday.

Today is the start of the parcel deliveries. Its going to feel like a non stop parade of couriers this week!