Single Mum: Freedom in Narnia

savingholmes

Your furniture plans sound nice. 

Ouch to the vet bills.

jak

Thank you @savingholmes. I just need 2 chest of drawers and 6 dining chairs now. Off to look in a couple of places tomorrow with my sister. The only really urgent one is 1 chest of drawers, so creative boy has got somewhere for his clothes. 

Today is unfortunately a rest day. My brain is fine but my body has given up. It's annoying but all I can do is put my feet up and hope for a better day tomorrow. Stupid illnesses. 
I'm making lists today! At least I can feel productive. The animals are thrilled. They love a bed day!
JAK x

jak

I'm feeling a bit better today thank goodness. I'm a bit cross tho. Some of next weeks direct debits came out early! I hate when that happens. It's so annoying. Luckily I've got a bit of a buffer in my current account so they went out fine, it has left things a bit tight tho. Just in time for half term which is rubbish. I've got emergency fund money but I def don't want to be using that if I can help it. 
The plan today is still to go furniture hunting, but I'll be very careful and only get what we need. Then I'm going to my Mum's. The DWP are coming round to assess her as my step-dads carer. He has dementia and is getting worse all the time. Poor things. It's really hard on Mum. He says he's fine and nothing is wrong with him so she wants some back up.
JAK x

jak

DWP meeting went ok I think. In typical fashion  we were told it was to assess his need for Attendance Allowance. She was surprised to hear, he'd already got it! 
Anyway, on to Narnia. The skirting boards are off where the new plaster has been put on so tomorrow I'm going round to attempt my first proper DIY stuff. My dad has told me which nails to use etc so I'm hoping it's simple enough... 
My new wifi router is at the post office so I've got to pick that up. I've also done a click and collect A+da order with some food cupboard items to take over. I had a vocuher from the ONS covid study, so free. Yay! 
I've also decided to go back mainly to cash for budgeting purposes. I think I'll find it easier to manage. 
For mortgage over payments, I have to call every single time to ask them to take it off the balance so I'm going to put money in a separate account and pay it once a month I think. That way it will mean less fussing around. Well, i'll see. Maybe once a week or fortnightly. I'm not sure yet. I still need my emergency fund to reach £3,000. That's my immediate focus. So far it's at £2,000. Slowly getting there...
JAK x   

jak

Oh my god, I almost forgot! The most exciting news! The beautiful dining table is up and looks amazing. I also found one for sale online at an antiques place, identical for £765! Wow! So obviously, No Spilling on the table! It's coasters all round! Not bad for the grand price of £21.50 plus £25 delivery. Most exciting! 
JAK x 

Merlin's_Beard

jak said:

Oh my god, I almost forgot! The most exciting news! The beautiful dining table is up and looks amazing. I also found one for sale online at an antiques place, identical for £765! Wow! So obviously, No Spilling on the table! It's coasters all round! Not bad for the grand price of £21.50 plus £25 delivery. Most exciting! 
JAK x 

I am exceptionally jealous of your dining table and the bargain you got with it.I hope it stays lovely and spill free (and that you have a nice set of coasters to go with it!)

jak

Thank you! 

So I went to do the skirting boards yesterday. It was a complete disaster! Firstly, the front door has swollen so didn't shut properly. Getting handy person out to sort out. Secondly, two of the skirting boards were missing and the others had loads of stuff behind them. One even had a huge brick stuck to it! Not happy at all. I called the damp people and put a flea in their ear. Now I wait for a call back. Apparently they are meant to tell me if damp renders a skirting board useless and that may have been the case. Now, that's fine but I wasn't told. Plus the brick is stuck fast to the back of one of them, meaning it will never be able to be used as presumably the hole has now been plastered up. So no skirting boards on 3 walls, the rest won't fit back on, there is a 2 inch gap at the bottom of each wall- is this on purpose? etc. The house looks like a building site and my no more nails remains unopened on the side looking sad. 
Hmmm, so my first foray into DIY didn't exactly go well! Oh, and a picture fell onto my head, really hard and I think I've got a slight concussion. 

Now I've got to drive my little dog to the vets for her Chemo and pick her up tomorrow. Poor little scrap. Luckily my sister is going to drive so I can take my tablets. My pain is out of control so I need my big girl painkillers. 
Onwards and upwards. Damp people best call today to explain themselves. On the plus side, the electrician is coming today and he sounded horrified yesterday when I told him what had happened. He also said he'd have a look at the 2 plugs they left hanging out of the wall so lets hope they can be fixed today at least!  Oh and the old washing machine is being picked up by a charity later. It still works so some good will be done.

JAK x

jak

Well the plug sockets hanging off the wall not only had wires loose but were live! I had no idea and am about to raise a formal complaint with the company. I have a pacemaker and if I'd brushed against those wires, well, I wouldn't be writing on here, that's for sure! 
So Narnia may need to be re-named the money pit! So much work needs to be done. My Mum, bless her, paid for the electrician to do some extra work yesterday for my house warming present which was kind. Skirtings are still off and I need a handman/carpenter, the front door still won't close... Argh! And it took 6 hours to take the doggo to the vets due to dreadful crashes on the Only road there. I hope everyone was alright but I'm not sure that's the case. It was a 6 car/truck pile up. So sad.
Off to rock in a corner and cry...
JAK x

jak

Electric sockets are back in the wall! Skirtings are back on the wall! Woo! My lovely Mum found a handy man to sort it out for me. Move day is a week tomorrow so packing in earnest MUST begin. Will be radio silence for a bit while I try and get organised.
Savings for my first proper mortgage over payment are being put into a separate account and so far come to £136.28. I'm hoping to increase this of course but will have to see how my costs go. There is far more to do in Narnia than I ever imagined, but I'm assuming this is normal when you first buy a property. 
JAK x

Merlin's_Beard

I am completely bamboozled by my giant to-do list, and I bought a new build! Well done for being able to put towards the overpayments so soon.