Diary of a 30-something idiot

slm6002

It sounds like you have been very productive in getting things sorted.  Fingers crossed for the viewing on your current house.  Its a great idea to actually make that booking to look at the house you might like to buy, as like you say you can either go a little further planning or crossing it off the list.

I would say make sure that the electrics are good, make sure the roof is in a good condition, and the windows are not rotten.  You may be changing them but if you are going to have to live with it first with just a lick of paint and carpets it will still need to be sound until you get round to these jobs.  And like others have said have some extra emergency money ready for all of the extras that come up.

kiss_me_now9

Don't worry, me too! I only say because my OH is well aware that I'll propose some massive project and start it only to get bored half a day later and leave it all to him

foxandflowers

kiss_me_now9 said:

Don't worry, me too! I only say because my OH is well aware that I'll propose some massive project and start it only to get bored half a day later and leave it all to him

This is me. I stripped half the paint off our stairs, sanded it and then ran out of dopamine. Hence why I said it might be better to pay someone else to do it!! At least then it will get done 😂

foxandflowers

@slm6002 thank you for this! It’s good to have a list of things to check. I really want to go into this with my head not my heart, but that can be difficult. The owner died in 2016 so it’s been empty for a while. 

Sarahwithlove

I agree, check electrics, check for damp, age and condition of boiler and make a list of what would need doing right away. It was inconvenient living in a property with work being done but the result is worth it. You get to choose how you want your home to look 

lucielle

Can OH help out with the painting instead of you taking time off. 

L

Slowdown

Hi
I’ve been reading your thread and think you are doing very well indeed. Nothing is easy if it requires effort and if it’s easy to get (like the dungarees) then it may not be worth having at all. I applaud your efforts. 

I have a couple of pennies to throw into the ring regarding your house move. Great stuff. Nothing wrong with moving but….. having grown up in a ‘doer upper’ and moved into said same in 2005 I have a few cautionary comments. 

Doing up a place, no matter how quickly or slowly requires patience, determination, some kind of eye for design/decoration/planning/DIY skills, plenty of spare time and oodles of money. I know someone suggested an additional 10% but I’d go more for 15-20 and maybe more. Houses that haven’t been lived in for sometime are v susceptible to damp/rot/leaks and general degradation. 

Our current house is still not finished and we been here 18 years! We ignore missing light fittings, unpainted skirting boards and doors that don’t fit quite right. It all becomes part of the furniture - in the house and in your head. We put a new roof on last year (it was commented on in the original survey 2005) and as the water dripped through and damp wriggled it’s way in we forked out £30000 to replace it. 😖
It strains relationships and tests you quite severely. And of course there’s always the “Oh, wish we’d done that differently..”
I do not wish to rain on your parade and think you should definitely go and see your desired property but eyes wide open is the key here. 

I have every wish to see you continue on your amazing journey and will follow with claps and hurrahs at each step. I’d very much like you to be sure of your next steps because they are very important and life changing for you all. 

Keep going. ☺️👍

foxandflowers

Morning all, 

Thank you for your helpful & encouraging comments. 

I have had a mixed weekend, ending with tripping over the dog, fell into the shoe cabinet and have broken my toe. Putting my boots on for work this morning was not fun! I am limping around like a mullety Quasimodo. 

We are rapidly running out of money. We had a very successful de-stash of the attic last night, prior to the toe incident, and I've found lots of things to sell on Vinted. So I will be listing those over the coming week, whilst making sure to not fill my house with clothes because we have a viewing on Saturday. And while I typed this I just sold a t-shirt so that's another £5. I really need to get back on to doing the surveys in the evening. 

Had a very MSE weekend for the most part. Watched the new Black Panther movie on Disney+ with hot chocolates with my daughter on Saturday night, after baking and doing some diamond painting. Sunday, we took the dog to the beach (free parking!) and wandered around for two hours on the sand while the tide was out. All free wins. Then things took a bit of a turn for the worse... I started watching the Good Doctor on Prime yesterday, episode five had me sobbing. I wasn't prepared to be emotionally turned over by it, and I think that, combined with my toe and general feelings of helplessness over the debt/money situation contributed to an hour long crying fest. I'm supposed to have quit smoking but I had a cheeky cigarillo on the patio to calm down. Oops. At least I didn't drink. Normal response to trauma based feelings = alcohol. I ended up in bed watching Bridget Jones with DH instead.  

I'm leaving work in 20 minutes (yay for flexi!). I had my appraisal this morning. I woke up at 5.30 this morning and was so nervous,  but it went really really well and they all said how pleased they are with me and how quickly I've picked it up. I will now be working from home one day a week, and this will increase over the next few months. Woo! I will still have to drop off/go and get my daughter from school but at least I can concentrate better at home. And get laundry done. It's a huge relief that it went as well as it did, because I am the only person on my team on probation (other new starters transferred departments so are already permanent).

Anyway, off to view the 1970's disaster-house. I hope I love it as much in person. My husband doesn't think it will be what I think, and that it will be small and a no go. I guess at least this way we will know. I'll let you know what we decide.

SuzeQStan

Hey F&F - aw no boo to the broken toe u poor thing! Feeling sympathy pains here for you 😞

don’t beat yourself up too bad re the cigarette - just a w but do you have any nicotine replacement products you could reach for next time? When I quit it was nicotine gum for me - so much easier to pop a little gum in your mouth than stand outside in freezing cold 😉 

congrats on what sounds like a fab work review! WFM flexibility is good - everything crossed there will be a pay rise for you as well & that the house viewing is successful! 🤞🏻

Let us know how you get on 😊

foxandflowers

Hi all. 

Only 20 days until payday! I had an email this morning that my Stepchange DD has been set up, which is exciting. I'm looking forward to making that first payment. The plan to sell the car is falling slightly by the wayside, only because I still need to change the numberplates, and that will take up to another 8 weeks from when we get the car back... plus the car is cheaper to run than the van. DH thinks the gearbox on the van might be on the way out, which is just FANTASTIC news. I was going to try and learn to drive this year, but with our luck with vehicles I think that might actually be a terrible idea. 

I paid off the last installment of my daughter's tablet that she was gifted for Christmas this morning, so that is £13 a month that I forgot to budget for that will magically be appearing back in my account. I really need to sit down and go through the accounts forensically, but I just don't have the motivation for the task. It's too depressing to contemplate having to analyse every 0.79p spend. Logically I know it adds up, but I hate being confronted with my own stupidity. 

I remembered to bring lunch with me to work today. I'm going to try and do two NSD's tomorrow/Thursday (we will need to get fuel/food for the stepkids on Friday) because I am noticing discretionary spends are creeping. Somehow I keep thinking well, I've made £5 on vinted, so it won't matter if I spend £5 here, because it's £5 I didn't have before and then thinking the same thing the next day? So then I've spent £10, when I haven't made £10, and can't afford to be spending money anyway. Grr. 

@SuzeQStan I am actually due a payrise in June Which currently cannot come soon enough. I am so fed up of not having money. 

Anyway, I guess what most of you want to know about is the house... Which I'm going to put in a seperate post because otherwise this rambling one will be way too long and nobody will read it.