Diary of a 30-something idiot

foxandflowers

Hi Suze,

Yes I am definitely on a mammoth decluttering mission this year. I don't want to waste any more time and space to things that no longer serve me. I'm currently in the middle of trying to write out a list of what I want for myself, my family and my living space in an ideal world, so I can have something in black and white to strive for. 

It's funny you should add a mention about stamp duty. There is a house that I think has a LOT of potential in my dream area, with the correct number of bedrooms for around £100k less than my house ought to sell for, once moving costs and fees are paid. The only problem is it hasn't been touched since the late 1960s, so needs a lot of modernising. So currently one of the options we are discussing is buying that house, painting it all white/putting new carpets in, fencing the garden off, and then redoing the kitchen/bathrooms. The trouble is I really have no idea how much that would all cost and whether it would be feasible. 

Sarahwithlove

I wouldn't think you'd get much change from 25-30k. Depends how much of it you can do yourselves or if you know people etc. 

foxandflowers

Sarahwithlove said:

I wouldn't think you'd get much change from 25-30k. Depends how much of it you can do yourselves or if you know people etc. 

I am rubbish at DIY and also a social hermit, so... would have to pay for most of it. I don't suppose I can pick your brains for the approx cost of a single storey extension to put a kitchen/diner in? 

foxandflowers

Struggling to get into the mood to work this afternoon. Have sat down and played with some figures instead. Stepchange DFD is May 2024. I get a post-tax pay rise of approximately £30 every year in April (I know, huuuuuuge money we are talking about). If I just dump my payrise into my stepchange payments, it works out as a debt free date of July 2031. Obviously this excludes moving up pay grades etc, which probably won't happen for at least five years. 

One month before my daughter will turn 17....
Seven months after I turn 40....
7 years 5 months from today. 

I would like to set myself the target of paying everything off by 2030. I guess I'm hoping to either overpay or do full & final settlements on some of the larger debts. For example, the £12k debt to asset collections, if I could knock 4k off that and pay it in one go when we move, that would take almost two years off the debts. Lots to think about. 

SuzeQStan

foxandflowers said:

I am rubbish at DIY and also a social hermit, so... would have to pay for most of it. I don't suppose I can pick your brains for the approx cost of a single storey extension to put a kitchen/diner in? 

A properly project managed single story extension to include new kitchen you are probably looking at around £50-£90k depending on what features you choose and where in area in you are based. 

Back in 2010 we got a dbl story extension in NW UK and it ran to about £75k (included a new kitchen, 2 new bathrooms, master bed & full reskim of the whole house) always bearing in mind that whatever the builders quote you - it will always cost more. So a slush fund of 10% is more a necessity than a ‘just in case’ kind of thing.

getting work like this done is not something to enter into lightly - it’s costly and if you make any changes or problems crop
up then it becomes even more costly.

I have a close friend who had a proper tragedy with her extension - her OH lost
his job and they ended up with a hole
in the side of their home for years as they had to use the money for the extension to live on instead.

Sorry I’m not preaching - but it’s always good to look at things from all
angles.

SuzeQStan

Ps - your plans to pay down the debts is inspiring - ways to pay it off more quickly etc.  eye on the prize keep it up and you will get there - well done you xx

foxandflowers

Thank you @SuzeQStan , it is really helpful to look at these things from both sides. I think it might be doable from a financial standpoint, but probably wouldn't leave much room for anything else. Although, I can repaint the inside of the house myself if I'm being honest, it would just be easier and quicker to pay someone else to do it. I'd have to take time off work, and by the time I'd taken the time off the cost of having someone else do it might just about equal out anyway.

It would need new carpet upstairs, and vinyl downstairs because of the dogs. A couple of the bedrooms have sinks in them?? So those would need to come out. It is liveable. Like it's not totally uninhabitable. Just the walls/carpets/wood panelling/avocado bathroom is so outdated! 

The extension would be a preference, as I would love a big social kitchen/diner. The other option would be to move the kitchen into the dining room, and then have the kitchen as a utility/pantry/dog room. 

I really dislike looking at houses without floorplans because it makes it so hard to visualise the space you are working with, but the 150ft garden has gone some way towards persuading me that this house could be a real family home for us. It would just require work. And obviously I have to not do what I always do, which is fall in love with a house without considering the real world implications of the thing I've fallen in love with, or not being able to purchase it before it sells. (Here's looking at you, dinosaur print cord dungarees.) Actually, that sort of mentality might have quite a bit to do with why my debts keep mounting. Hmm. 

kiss_me_now9

As someone who has ADHD traits - not diagnosed ADHD, I must clarify - I recognise a lot of myself in your writing! One thing re: the new house, is it something that you’d be able to sit on doing if you got it? I am a master of grand plans that block me into a hole and never come to fruition because by the time I’ve got round to actually doing something about it the thrill has faded. 

SuzeQStan

I hear you - and the wisdom of your words. 

There’s plenty of fish in the sea house wise - don’t stress on missing out on a particular property as another will come along soon enough. 

One thing I will say is that living in a house whilst it is going through major building work is AWFUL - hand on heart I would never do it again. But if it’s just painting / cosmetic work then that is definitely a project you can undertake while living in the property.

I painted our whole house after we had the works done - a couple hours after work and more on weekends and it took me about 2 months. 

foxandflowers

@kiss_me_now9 Hi, welcome aboard. I am a bit all over the place aren't I? Oh well, full of good intentions! Regarding the house, I think it would be doable in "chunks". So repaint/carpet first and fence the garden off, then bathrooms, then kitchen (potentially extending). I would imagine at least a year of it being "in progress". 

@SuzeQStan I don't think my words have ever been called wise before! I've just rung the estate agent and booked in a viewing on Monday, that way I can either dismiss the house entirely, or start making firmer plans. Luckily in terms of doing things up, there are two bathrooms. So while one is being done, we can use the other, and vice versa. I suppose I am more than capable of repainting myself, and I would rather do it before the new floors went down! Although there is a really beautiful 70s carpet (think brown and orange and flowers! Very groovy baby!) in one of the bedrooms, that I would love to clean and see if it comes up.