So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

TallGirl

I do feel for you re the parking issues it is horrible but by the sounds of it you do benefit hugely by being so close to amenities that would can walk and cycle so living in a city/town does mean less space. We live on a corner and people do park everywhere so it is hard for us to get out. Luckily we do have 3 spaces to park on our drive but most houses have 2, 3 or 4 cards with max two spaces so the math does not adopt. It is easy to look on RM and dream so good you are thinking of the downsides too. Hope the garage visit is painless.  

themadvix

Thanks TG.
The thing is, parking has always been the big issue here. Mostly we put up with it a lot (we're in the bottom of a cul-de-sac with council flats in the two corners with no parking whatsoever) and we're quite used to coming back and finding it temporarily blocked by a delivery driver or whatever. I got rid of my car and cycle because it is one less parking space to find (and people seemed to enjoy driving into my car). We have two cars, but one is in the garage and one on the drive - we literally don't take up any space in the street any more. All we ask is that we can get our car out - which we are entitled to do and we put up with a lot of bad parking that makes this very difficult (which is fine - when it's impossible, it's not fine). For the most part, everyone accepts the parking issues and is relatively considerate, but the people who moved in a few years ago bought a house without a driveway and opened up the end of their garden to create a driveway (thereby taking away a 'free' parking space, and all without asking the council for permission). Fine, except they now don't use this and have, since day one, considered it absolutely acceptable for their guests and workmen to use the turning circle and access to our driveway as their parking spaces. These people also have a passive-aggressive bumper sticker and no parenting/dog parenting abilities (and it's not just us - other neighbours have commented too - we can all hear them swearing loudly at the children (and vice versa) through open windows and in the garden, and the children frequently climb onto the council garage roof and I previously had to tell them not to sweep roof gravel onto my car parked adjacent to it) and I've been nipped by the dog twice - if it happens again something will be said. Sorry, rant over....

We could afford to move to another part of town, where we'd have guest parking and just generally not being in the bottom of an over-parked cul-de-sac. I'm just not sure about all the upheaval and cost. We'd still have access to the amenities, but without the stressors we have here. But I'm still scarred from the stress of not moving a few years ago and I really like our house (which was never intended to be more than a 5-year plan - 12 years later!). I also know that there's no guarantees about neighbours wherever, but a bit more space between us would probably help! Have mentioned to Mr MV that we need a plan (even if it's just to save the moving costs so we could escape if we wanted to) and he's happy to chat at the weekend. We may not plan to move any time soon, but the achievement of mortgage freedom hasn't necessarily brought the contentment it was expected to bring  -being able to travel more is nice, but not when you don't know if you'll be able to park when you get back.

Garage visit was entirely painless, thanks! And I've done baby HW and won another £5, so that's been withdrawn. Washing has been done and out on the line in the sunshine.

QueenJess

Gosh, I don’t have anything useful to say, just sympathy as I hate having cars all over the place and neighbours can make your lives miserable. I was once homeless for 3 months and living from a hotel for over a week because neighbours were so awful that I upped and left a rental property in the middle of the night…. Bit of a long story for another day!

It would be good to cost out moving properly so you can completely consider cost, upheaval and then the implications for working longer etc so you can properly figure out whether it would be worth it.

Greying_Pilgrim

tmv - you made me look on r1ghtmove 🤣  Interestingly, I put in a 'max' value and the first house that came up was our previous house (before the rental) 🤣  It's the same agent, but i'm not sure if it is still the person who bought it off us, selling (has been for sale before).  Interesting to see what people do to houses.  Although I still think it odd that the agent is using a photo for one room in the house that was how it looked when we first tried to sell (pre c'vid). Alot of money seems to have been spent ripping out original features and putting in fixtures you'd see in a new build...... and yet the price has fallen by about £20k.....

Anyway, the rest of my search confirmed that there is nothing in our price range and which is in a suitable school catchment area, so better re-frame how I think about here I guess..... 😁

Good to have a look tho.

Greying X

ch4rly2002

Hi MadVix, just been catching up with your diary (I've been away a long while - had a busy few years with Job changes, DH's redundancy and adopting two little kiddos so really let this slip). Back here to try and get some accountability so wanted to check in and see how you're doing. Huge congratulations for paying off the mortgage!

themadvix

QueenJess said:

Gosh, I don’t have anything useful to say, just sympathy as I hate having cars all over the place and neighbours can make your lives miserable. I was once homeless for 3 months and living from a hotel for over a week because neighbours were so awful that I upped and left a rental property in the middle of the night…. Bit of a long story for another day!

It would be good to cost out moving properly so you can completely consider cost, upheaval and then the implications for working longer etc so you can properly figure out whether it would be worth it.

Thanks Jess.... that sounds like an interesting story!

Definitely worth us looking at the costs etc., although always complicated by my variable income.

themadvix

Greying_Pilgrim said:

tmv - you made me look on r1ghtmove 🤣  Interestingly, I put in a 'max' value and the first house that came up was our previous house (before the rental) 🤣  It's the same agent, but i'm not sure if it is still the person who bought it off us, selling (has been for sale before).  Interesting to see what people do to houses.  Although I still think it odd that the agent is using a photo for one room in the house that was how it looked when we first tried to sell (pre c'vid). Alot of money seems to have been spent ripping out original features and putting in fixtures you'd see in a new build...... and yet the price has fallen by about £20k.....

Anyway, the rest of my search confirmed that there is nothing in our price range and which is in a suitable school catchment area, so better re-frame how I think about here I guess..... 😁

Good to have a look tho.

Greying X

I think it's probably a good thing there's nothing else about GP - I wouldn't want to be responsible for precipitating a move! I was quite suprised by what was available near us - definitely food for though.

themadvix

ch4rly2002 said:

Hi MadVix, just been catching up with your diary (I've been away a long while - had a busy few years with Job changes, DH's redundancy and adopting two little kiddos so really let this slip). Back here to try and get some accountability so wanted to check in and see how you're doing. Huge congratulations for paying off the mortgage!

@ch4rly2002 lovely to see you! It sounds like you've been really busy with life! Congratulations on the adoptions - how lovely to be giving children in need that stable, loving start in life.

themadvix

Morning (just) all,

Some conversations about the future at the weekend, but we've got a lot on between now and next year that requires our focus, so I think, while we've opened the topic, more serious calculations and discussions will have to wait for now. And of course, I've calmed down quite a bit since Friday's events, which helps too.

Mr MV did not run his marathon at the weekend - combination of injury and a cold. He's now aiming for the 'emergency marathon' (love this phrase!) that is four days before he turns 40! 😬 He is also under strict instructions to book an appointment with the physio. 🙄

I had a lovely weekend. Saturday I popped to see Mum, while getting my glasses adjusted (they need more adjustment though 🙄). Bought some bulbs (on a BOGOF) and onion sets. Popped round to meet friends' new kittens and ended up stopping for a while, met some new people, played a new game and generally had a lovely time. We are all vying for cat sitting duties of course! Yesterday we popped to the zero-waste shop as we visited the in-laws (who fed us lunch), £25 spent there, but on things we need to continue the cheap meals theme (plus nuts and seeds for granola and bread). Also bought compost and took that to the allotment. In the late afternoon I popped round to Dad and Stepmum's as they had had the family around for lunch (we were meant to be at a marathon...). 

While some useful jobs got done, due to all the socialising (which was all lovely and low-key) not a lot else happened. I aim to spend some time at the allotment this week - onion sets, garlic and broad beans need planting and compost needs spread (beds need clearing first!). Fortunately the weather is looking good for this. Plenty of work to fit in around this too, but no evening class tomorrow, which is handy (Mr MV is out tomorrow evening, so freedom to work in the evening if necessary). We're away at a wedding at the weekend, so need to try to get ahead with various jobs during the week.

MS things:

* Switched to Octopus Agile Go - according to the comparison apps this should save us quite a bit. No exit fees, so if we don't like it we can switch back

* Clicks and HW

* Signed up to a long-term study via YLive

* 1P surveys - just a couple

* Lunch today is soup de poisson (from our day trip in April) and soda bread (in the oven) - trying to use stuff up still. I'll have to bake properly tomorrow, but couldn't be bothered today.

Movement:

* Not as much as I'd like over the weekend (due to not making it to the allotment to actually do stuff there)

* Yoga this morning. Arms are on the schedule for this afternoon.

Gratitudes:

* Lovely time socialising - with friends, family and new family

* Good conversations with Mr MV about possibilities

* Planning for rest of the year - we are so lucky to be busy and have the funds to enjoy squeezing lots in

Have a good day all!

EssexHebridean

That sounds like a lovely balanced weekend of fun & "stuff" - nice when things work out like that isn't it!

As for the neighbour issues, I feel your pain. We too have previously been in the position of having some lovely neighbours, but also some that just made us feel like not going home, and it's miserable because it has such an impact on even the smallest aspects of everyday life. Saving a "moving fund" sounds sensible - it will make you feel like you are doing something in case it's needed, and if you definitely do plan that you will be moving one day, then you would just be saving for that sooner than later, wouldn't you! I too just struggle to get my head around why some people seem to feel they can behave exactly as suits them, without any consideration for others - the only conclusion I can reach is that they didn't have the good fortune to be brought up in the sort of household where behaviour standards were taught?