How much to live on

BooJewels

My sister recently moved and was looking at bungalows to future proof and there are a lot in her area.  But as has been said, they had big gardens, which actually suited her, but perhaps disproportionately to the size of house - many maybe crammed too many rooms into the floor area.  Many were also probate properties and in need of major work.  Those that were bigger either had a dormer or were way outside her budget.  So she figured if she was going upstairs to bed anyway, she might as well buy a house.  She actually got a lot more for her money - it needed a bit of work, but had been well maintained and recently had a new wet room bathroom installed.

I'm still toying with the idea of moving, but one thing that's a big tick in the plus column is that this house is cooler than most in summer.   Due to a combination of the orientation, lots of trees down one side, low small windows and thick stone walls.  It only gets really warm upstairs later in the day as I have a tall steep pitch roof, the main length of which faces west and my upstairs is into the roof, with sloping ceilings.

Dizee123

We have a smallish 3 bed bungalow on a large plot that faces NW about 20 miles from the south coast.  I quite like it this way round as I absolutely hate housework but love gardening.  Also the size of the plot gives us separation from our neighbours and a wide garden as opposed to a narrow one which is more common with the houses around where we live.  We have turned a bedroom at the front of the house into a second sitting room so it gets sun in the morning all year round, a big bonus in winter which keeps the heating bills down.

Because it is a big plot, parts of the garden gets sun all day with the benefit of beautiful sunsets.  However, when it has been over 30 degrees C down here, very importantly there is lots of much needed shade.
The main downside of the bungalow is that it can get hot in the summer and it is difficult to cool it down at night.  Solved this by building a big summer house where we sleep when temperatures are too high.  It is a bit like being on a short break holiday without the hassle of going away

Another downside of lateral living is, depending on your layout, the difficulty of keeping the dogs out of the bedrooms.  Its easy to block off stairs but not so easy when all is on one level.  The dogs won ......

  

GunJack

Dizee123 said:

We have a smallish 3 bed bungalow on a large plot that faces NW about 20 miles from the south coast.  I quite like it this way round as I absolutely hate housework but love gardening.  Also the size of the plot gives us separation from our neighbours and a wide garden as opposed to a narrow one which is more common with the houses around where we live.  We have turned a bedroom at the front of the house into a second sitting room so it gets sun in the morning all year round, a big bonus in winter which keeps the heating bills down.

Because it is a big plot, parts of the garden gets sun all day with the benefit of beautiful sunsets.  However, when it has been over 30 degrees C down here, very importantly there is lots of much needed shade.
The main downside of the bungalow is that it can get hot in the summer and it is difficult to cool it down at night.  Solved this by building a big summer house where we sleep when temperatures are too high.  It is a bit like being on a short break holiday without the hassle of going away

Another downside of lateral living is, depending on your layout, the difficulty of keeping the dogs out of the bedrooms.  Its easy to block off stairs but not so easy when all is on one level.  The dogs won ......

  

close bedroom doors and/or stairgates across the bedroom doors!!!!!!

as for gardening, I told Mrs G-J we're having astroturf when we move to our last house

Albermarle

GunJack said:

Dizee123 said:

We have a smallish 3 bed bungalow on a large plot that faces NW about 20 miles from the south coast.  I quite like it this way round as I absolutely hate housework but love gardening.  Also the size of the plot gives us separation from our neighbours and a wide garden as opposed to a narrow one which is more common with the houses around where we live.  We have turned a bedroom at the front of the house into a second sitting room so it gets sun in the morning all year round, a big bonus in winter which keeps the heating bills down.

Because it is a big plot, parts of the garden gets sun all day with the benefit of beautiful sunsets.  However, when it has been over 30 degrees C down here, very importantly there is lots of much needed shade.
The main downside of the bungalow is that it can get hot in the summer and it is difficult to cool it down at night.  Solved this by building a big summer house where we sleep when temperatures are too high.  It is a bit like being on a short break holiday without the hassle of going away

Another downside of lateral living is, depending on your layout, the difficulty of keeping the dogs out of the bedrooms.  Its easy to block off stairs but not so easy when all is on one level.  The dogs won ......

  

close bedroom doors and/or stairgates across the bedroom doors!!!!!!

as for gardening, I told Mrs G-J we're having astroturf when we move to our last house

I do not know how universal it is, but I know of at least one dog that hates the artificial grass. She will not even go out and have a pee in the morning on it, and she has to be taken out for an early walk, rain or shine.

blue.peter

Albermarle said:

GunJack said:

as for gardening, I told Mrs G-J we're having astroturf when we move to our last house

I do not know how universal it is, but I know of at least one dog that hates the artificial grass. She will not even go out and have a pee in the morning on it, and she has to be taken out for an early walk, rain or shine.

Also, it's bad for the environment - see, for example, this article.

Organgrinder

Well despite hating gardening, I cannot bring myself to even consider artificial grass. Or heaven forbid, artificial trees and plants.

Though I'm sure there's long term money saving to be had!!! ;-)

Talking of which.....my current energy deal is due to run out on July 27....so switch day is I think June 8th. Hoping the current deals don't vanish by then!

Floss

Organgrinder said:

Talking of which.....my current energy deal is due to run out on July 27....so switch day is I think June 8th. Hoping the current deals don't vanish by then!

I got offered a new deal by Octopus about a week before my switch day.

Organgrinder

Floss said:

Organgrinder said:

Talking of which.....my current energy deal is due to run out on July 27....so switch day is I think June 8th. Hoping the current deals don't vanish by then!

I got offered a new deal by Octopus about a week before my switch day.

Well I doubt very much that I'll stay with them as there appear to be cheaper deals available elsewhere.

Home insurance is due this month too. My quotes are 25% higher than last year!

Albermarle

Organgrinder said:

Floss said:

Organgrinder said:

Talking of which.....my current energy deal is due to run out on July 27....so switch day is I think June 8th. Hoping the current deals don't vanish by then!

I got offered a new deal by Octopus about a week before my switch day.

Well I doubt very much that I'll stay with them as there appear to be cheaper deals available elsewhere.

Home insurance is due this month too. My quotes are 25% higher than last year!

Latest insurance renewals increases

Car 1 - 21%
Car 2 - 9%
Home and contents - 40%
Travel - 61%

The car insurance was 9 months ago, so I suspect more increases in the pipeline. I did a comparison search but pricing seemed competitive.
Home and Contents was also 8 months ago but was from a pretty low base, and again did a few comparisons and only found prices a bit cheaper with obscure companies.
Travel insurance maybe affected by reaching a 'certain age' and in £ terms was not that much .

Arthurian

My car insurance is due early next month and has just about doubled!