Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

LadyWithAPlan

KajiKita said:

LadyWithAPlan said:

KajiKita said:

@LadyWithAPlan, reading all that makes me think I need shopping lessons! 😂😂 However …. we will be going to Bayeux for a week in 2026 for our second honeymoon (20 years),so will actually make an effort to try second hand shops then 😊 Not something that has ever occurred to me when travelling tbh. 

I was abroad two weeks ago and picked up a fabulous v stylish spring weight cool dress for 5 euros, tried to go vintage shopping in another country but the F1 got in the way as the roads were closed.. (grr)   and am currently in the Americas and have already been told of the best 2 vintage shops.. I will find something I am sure...  and what better momento of a trip than 'oh this dress? I picked it up in XXXX' so yes start a small ynab fund for 2026 vintage !

I can swap vintage shopping lessons for house buying commitment lessons?

Writing all of this ^^ makes me wonder if you are perhaps too comfortable where you are? 

WOW - what a story - pressure can be a good thing... 

I have been too comfortable - certainly until the £500 pm increase last Oct in rent (I had been on the deal of the century)  and a further £55pm increase in April inc the CT rise, I really could relax on my laurels and did not need to earn much to have a high savings rate. However COL inc all utility bills, food etc going up and my earned monthly income not going up - and in fact going down  on days worked and actual cash incoming- has impacted my savings rate hugely.
I have what looks like another 2 years where I am - they are then rebuilding it, and I did the maths and still...
50% house deposit earning 12% (minus tax on interest), plus the amount I can claim against WFH means my actual cost of rent each month is £100 to £200pm depending on calculations - so I dont need to stress really and no pressure on me to have a £2k plus per month mortgage on my own back as a solo buyer
Of course house prices may start moving again soon  and I dont want to move from here to another rental/guardian flat..

Also where I am staying  here abroad in a fabulous home, gorgeous floors, fabulous bathroom and kitchen - massive balcony and roof terrace with a bbq makes me want a beautiful home (here's to me learning new DIY skills)  and a garden   - where I live is cool but could do with new units etc ... I may at least repaint my kitchen when I get back.

So plan is have a fabulous last week here abroad on my side hustle and then London is calling -  so new contract and get settled back in - I wont commit to a mortgage (and indeed cant get one without showing regular payments coming in for 3 months minimum anyway). So will get looking and plan is to buy from this late summer to next summer

savingholmes said:

I love your reference to the garden singing. Mine is totally different to what it was when I took it over in January - with plenty further to go as you know. In its own way being mainly in pots while limiting in some ways - in others is helping me move things around for seasonal splashes of colour and is much easier at this stage for me than try to plant into the ground.

Yes the garden singing sounds fun - I have never really gardened so I will be on a huge learning curve but my parents have kept some excess gardening tools ready for me when I buy !

KajiKita

Quick update from me as I have been having a rough start to the week and have lost momentum here a bit. 

Monday: 
- one of my team brought a HM lunch in for me as I had randomly said the week before that I ‘want something nice to happen’ 😊
- my boss told me I wasn’t working hard enough / enough hours but couldn’t tell me what I wasn’t delivering and also said that he did trust my judgement that I can tell the difference between what is urgent to be done in a day and what isn’t. He went on and on so much I ended up telling him that I work set hours to protect my mental health and where I ended up, last summer … It was quite distressing.
- missed doing my two rows as my head was in the shed and it was a complicated section of pattern
- after MA saying we wouldn’t need a survey, started getting calls from a survey company - who only book calls between 8am to 2pm with no set time. Not great when one of you works an hour away and the other is self employed ….

Tuesday: 
- bad nightmare at 3am about someone attacking me here when here alone. Completely related to conversation with boss 🙄
- boss out so had a good day! 😉
- spoke to HR about boss and some other issues I am having with my team - one of them is really not pulling their weight so I am trying to do my job as well as theirs …
- arranged survey for 8am slot next Wednesday. We have started pulling the bathroom apart so I hope that won’t count against the valuation! 🤞
- caught up in the rows 😊 into a simple stretch of pattern now
- harvested small portion of broad beans - there’s not much more to come off them now - been a really feeble harvest this year. Going to pull them and clear space for my runners that are desperate to be in the ground
- cut flowers for colleague who made me lunch, to condition them overnight
- tried a few surveys - managed one

Wednesday:
- slept much better
- £45 refund has come through onto my CC for the tops I returned that had naff fabric
- need to pack up flowers … 😉

KK

f0xh0les

Boo to the boss, good thinking to go to HR.  Paper trail and all that.

Hope today is a better day for you

skint_spice

Boss sounds awful, I wonder if their attitude will have changed after your conversation? Maybe after they have time to reflect?🙏

beanielou

Sorry to read that boss is being so auful. No need for it at all. Taking care of you is the most important thing. Xx

KajiKita

Thanks @f0xh0les, @skint_spice, @beanielou. 😊

Today has been odd - boss has been in but seems to be avoiding me 🤷‍♀️
I didn’t intend to loop in HR , but I was in there talking about something else and that’s where the conversation went. I was told then that he has imposed 9am to 5pm hours on two people in the office but they are kicking off massively about it. There’s no obvious reason why he wants / needs it … 

Today has also been intensely hectic … only 9 meetings today but I kept being late for them as I was trying to fit in things, get stuff done in between! 😂

Had a moment when starting my drive home when I realised I was very wound up and ‘twitchy’ - used box-breathing to calm down a bit. Never done that in the car before - it did help 😊

A nice thing happened 😊
I ordered a calendar for 2025 from a Scottish fabric artist I follow on FB. It was a bit indulgent at £19.99 but I will get a year’s pleasure from it, I bought it from my stationery budget which I barely use and I think I will be able to frame some of the best images too 😊

Done a couple of surveys - yaay me 😊

Ought to go and cook n stuff … 😉



KK

PennysIntoPounds

Well done for salvaging the week. What a kind thing for your colleague to do, and lovely of you to take flowers in return. Hopefully issues with boss will be resolved once HR action kicks in. Some bosses just aren't suited to the role. I once had a senior colleague become my manager and she searched the workplace for me and took me away from the work I was doing, so I could find her some sellotape. She had been in the room with the sellotape when she needed it, and knew that full well, she just thought it was managerial to spend 20 minutes of her working day to find me, interrupt my work, go to the room she was initially in, and make me pull open a drawer for her 🤷‍♀️
That calender is gorgeous, 20 quid well spent and fantastic to be able to support an individual artist too 

KajiKita

PennysIntoPounds said: I once had a senior colleague become my manager and she searched the workplace for me and took me away from the work I was doing, so I could find her some sellotape. She had been in the room with the sellotape when she needed it, and knew that full well, she just thought it was managerial to spend 20 minutes of her working day to find me, interrupt my work, go to the room she was initially in, and make me pull open a drawer for her 🤷‍♀️

That calender is gorgeous, 20 quid well spent and fantastic to be able to support an individual artist too 

Wow, what a power trip ….! 😳 

I bumped into my boss as I left the kitchen in work, after trimming and arranging the flowers in there first thing this morning. His face was absolutely unreadable! 😂😂😂😂😂

KK

redofromstart

I was generally the HR person that got approached about these things. The wheels of justice often ground slowly but I always had a quiet resolution strategy and generally picked my moment.  Six months at home now and I have conversations without hidden agendas (well, apart from 'tidy up!', and 'is there a fat kitten in this for me?'.)

much sympathy and do shout up if a sympathetic but evil ear would help.

KajiKita

Thanks @redofromstart. I’m hoping this nonsense has stopped. But if it resurfaces I will PM you 😊

KK