Diary of a 30-something idiot

kayannie

It's lovely! More practical I think than the one you fell in love with, as you'll have more space & still in the area you like. No chain either. Fingers crossed you'll be moving in soon! 

badmemory

Lovely!  My absolutely only reservation would be they have no idea what broadband speed.  A massive number of people would not care about that but if you do then you need more info.

millymolly22

Been reading all your diary this week.  This house is definitely a better decision.  No work to be done by the look of it which will be much easier on you.  Life will be a lot less stressful for you.

foxandflowers

And another week has rolled around. Thank you all for the reassurance on the house. I haven't been to see it yet, but I will do when I have time. Time is in short supply at the moment, especially without a vehicle. Little one and I left the house at 7.20 this morning, walked 2 miles to the bus stop in pouring rain, and now I am sat in work, really struggling to make myself DO work. I brought breakfast and lunch with me though, which was good. Have eaten way too much yogurt and granola which has made me sleepy. I sold my dining table on Friday which got us through the weekend. Lots of other things to list still, and I've taken lots of photos of things to stick on Vinted, but haven't got around to listing them yet, as I ended up having a Sunday Nap and watching Outlander yesterday instead of being productive.

 Did manage to do some rough calculations on where the money from selling the house will go / be split up as, and I've come up with the following: 

House Sale Planning:
Starting with £289, 500 Sale Price of Current House
 -£200,000 Cost of New House
-£3,000 Legal Fees / Moving costs
-£10,000 Premium Bonds / Savings (to be used as an EF)
-£15,000 Debt repayments (offer full & finals on some? Pay back friends/Council/Mayglothling & free up £150 a month)
-£30,000 Renovation / Kitchen remodel (*** see below ***)
-£5,000 Fixing Van
-£10,000 Car

= £16,500 left in the bank. 

So regarding the renovations. The lady that lived in the house before was a heavy smoker, so all the carpets will need to be replaced, and everything will need a good airing and a lick of paint. And we would like to knock through the downstairs kitchen/lounge into one big open space, which will necessitate a new kitchen (although I will not be going top end for this - quite happy with a step above Ikea). All our appliances at this house are built in, so I will need to buy a fridge freezer, a dishwasher and a washing machine, and get the washing machine plumbed into the garage. And we will be doing up the garden ourselves, but this will require some money to be spent. We will also need furniture, as most of ours is up for sale. This ought to hopefully be sourced mostly from charity shops. £30,000 is top end amount that I am willing to spend, but I want to budget for it accordingly, and this seems like a sensible amount. (Please correct me if I'm wrong and I need to spend more - I haven't done this before! Wall removal will make the entire space 8m x 3m roughly, but the kitchen will still only be in the 4m x 3m bit. I have dreams of plinth lighting and a butler sink, with wooden worktops.)

Anyway, let me know your thoughts. x

 

Valli

if you’ve got the time and storage space you could go for an ex display kitchen.

SuzeQStan

A lot of kitchen showrooms do big sales - we got a 30k kitchen for 1/2 price at our last property.  

That 16k ish you mention - I’d be looking at it as a slush fund.  There will be expenses to cover that you might not be expecting.

MatyMoo

Also worth looking at eBay for kitchens. My sister bought two smallish ex display kitchens, complete with appliances, and her carpenter put them together to create a uniquely stunning kitchen.  Cost of kitchens £360 plus fitting!

SonnyLumiere

"-£10,000 Premium Bonds / Savings (to be used as an EF)"

I'm not against investing in PBs, although effective interest rate has been on the low side. I would just be wary of using them as an emergency fund. There is a long-standing problem with many people trying to get their bonds reimbursed in a hurry. See Trustpilot for an endless list of horror stories. I've also experienced this (I know people here will reply saying they haven't had a problem).
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/nsandi.com

With the house refurb, don't know when you were thinking of the doing the new kitchen, but I would live in it for 6 mths to a year to discover what else might need doing first. Of course, your survey will help identify problems, but they don't pick up everything. Then, of course, there's the issue of finding decent / reliable builders, kitchen fitters / suppliers ......

fantasyvsreality

Agree with @SuzeQStan about a slush fund. I have just moved house and it is staggering how much you need to spend on the unexpected. That said well done for making a sound decision about letting go of the big renovation house, I realise that must of been hard for you. Much more exciting to have a house that you can live in currently and then change over time. To have the peace of mind that you have the money to make those changes and not fearing any nasty surprises. It also means you can make decisions at a pace that evolves rather than having to do some big expensive things in one hit just to make it habitable. 

Something I have noticed is how you move in thinking you will want to change XYZ but then you realise the thing that really bothered you when you first saw it, actually you can live with for now and you prioritise something else instead. 

foxandflowers

Morning all. This new forum is a bit weird isn't it! Not sure how I feel about it. The screen suddenly looks enormous! 

Septic tank has backed up again, and I rang the company to sort it and they said they will have to charge me to empty it again, and then jet the soakaway to clear any blockages, which will cost more again. Old dog is slowing down noticeably now, it's becoming clear that we haven't got much longer left with her. She's sleeping a lot. 

Memorandum of sale went to solicitors yesterday, so that's the one positive thing in all of this life malarky. Husband has also taken over some of the housework, and made dinner last night. That was nice.

I am very very tired. Tired of walking four miles a day down narrow country roads with no pavement and an 8 year old in tow. Tired of waiting for solicitors to communicate. Tired of the same routine day in day out of work, dinner, chores, bed. I am losing my 'pan adam' as my daughter would say (up and at 'em for those of us who speak actual English). I just want to go to bed and sleep and wake up in 8 weeks when everything will be solved. But currently, I need to make money, side hustle more money, pay for the van to be fixed, the soakaway to be fixed, and get the money and my emotions together enough to say goodbye to the little dog. 

Very tempted to Virginia Woolf it into the ocean. At least it wouldn't cost me anything.