Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

EssexHebridean

jwil said:

Glad the oven is getting sorted.  Hope you have a nice time with DD.  Shame DS can't make it.

You've done a lot of improvements to your house, it's great to see you making it your own.  I'm now very much more trying to buy once and buy decent.  I've spent so many years 'making do', I'd rather do without now where I can.  Better for my wallet and the environment.

This is precisely our mindset with our house move - if we're spending what is for us a lot of money, then we'd rather spend a bit more and have things done nicely. We're going to need a lot of furniture items for the new place - particularly if we get the one we are after - and this time we will be waiting until we can afford things we really want, and spending a little more. I'm done with making do, or feeling as though we should make compromises and be satisfied with that. 

And when we move I suspect I will very rapidly attain cleaner-envy stage myself! 

savingholmes

Thanks Blackcats and EH

Yes - a different world beckons - I've lots of tarting up to do / organise first. The cleaner decluttered another bin bag of stuff and we agreed she'd tie it up and I wouldn't look. A charity bag is filled ready to go. She took some art supplies away with her. She did some decorating and unscrewed some stuff for me so I could potentially carry on in between her visits. She was a lot less messy than I am when I do it. The handyman hasn't replied to my text so no idea when he'll come again. I've put some cardboard down on some bare earth near the veg plots so it doesn't get overrun with weeds.

In earth shattering news of the day - the person who I helped with their appeal - has now been awarded backdated P1P going from zero to £514 a week! Shows what a travesty the original and second decision was. Best of all it was dealt with by a 20 minute phone call rather than having to go all the way to court. I missed the first call, listened to the message and got really nervous - and then shook for the call and the rest of the hour afterwards. I'm so relieved. I was literally afraid of going to court to appeal and didn't know how this person would cope either.

Finished off the cake as my reward! I was amused to find that DD has been helping herself to cake when she nips home to collect stuff so more of it was gone than I expected!

Chrystal

Fantastic news about the Pip SH and I agree that it's a travesty of justice the way they turn people down, often without seemingly reading the forms!
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some 'determination' for you to release some of your clutter.  A whole new life awaits and if you fill it with yesterdays memories there's no room for todays and tomorrows memories.  Sending you loving (((hugs))) XX

savingholmes

Chrystal said:

Fantastic news about the Pip SH

.  A whole new life awaits and if you fill it with yesterdays memories there's no room for todays and tomorrows memories.  Sending you loving (((hugs))) XX

Thanks Crystal

Yes so pleased for the person.

I like what you wrote about memories too.

I saw a house last night on RM but it had gone already.

I have arranged one valuation for 2 weeks today and emailed a second EA. I spoke to the handyman and he should come and do at least half a day tomorrow. I have Monday off already and the following one is a Bank holiday so booked 2 more days off after that. Hopefully I can make good progress especially if I pay for some help.

Been to the hairdresser's today. I bought some more pretty containers and plants for the garden. I am in work briefly tomorrow then back to WFH and supervise the handyman. 

jwil

Brilliant news about the PIP, well done!

Exciting about the potential house move, that should help focus your mind when decluttering - 'do I want to pay for this to be moved to the new house?'.  Good luck with it and enjoy your days off.

savingholmes

Thanks Jwil. I'm hoping that mantra will help. In the past we paid for storage while trying to sell so we could empty more of the space and 'look tidy' with what was left. So now I'm saying to myself - it's not worth spending £250 or more a month storing this - I need to let it go. I'm hoping my house would be a quick sale but who knows.

Annoyingly the white paint I ordered has dispatched but isn't due to arrive until the 23-25/5 which is pretty useless! So annoying. I had thought it was next day delivery or I'd have nipped out to get it. It's rained overnight. Hope the handyman still comes.

I need to finish getting ready and go. This is the part I struggle with - making myself leave one task and start another. Especially when the new option doesn't seem appealing like going to work... 

Starlight_at_Sea

I find transitions between tasks tricky too SH. I sometimes use podcasts with the timer set to 15 min just to get myself moving between things! Exciting plans for current house and for move, it is amazing what can be achieved especially with some of the tasks outsourced! 

Merlin's_Beard

Starlight_at_Sea said:

I find transitions between tasks tricky too SH. I sometimes use podcasts with the timer set to 15 min just to get myself moving between things! Exciting plans for current house and for move, it is amazing what can be achieved especially with some of the tasks outsourced! 

That's a good idea - I'm another who finds transitions difficult (either I wildly anticipate them and grind to a halt for hours before I have to Do The Thing, or I drag out starting it until I'm late)

DancingInTheRain

Exciting about the potential move, hope you have a great weekend x

savingholmes

Thanks Starlight, Dancing and Merlin

Merlin's_Beard said:

Starlight_at_Sea said:

I find transitions between tasks tricky too SH. I sometimes use podcasts with the timer set to 15 min just to get myself moving between things! Exciting plans for current house and for move, it is amazing what can be achieved especially with some of the tasks outsourced! 

That's a good idea - I'm another who finds transitions difficult (either I wildly anticipate them and grind to a halt for hours before I have to Do The Thing, or I drag out starting it until I'm late)

I do all of these.

The handyman painted my kitchen for me. He worked really hard - so I paid him a full day even though he was only here about 5.5 hours. At a rate of £100 per day still good value. He got loads done. It really demonstrated though how much clear counters, tops etc make a difference - and how much removing visual clutter makes a place seem bigger. 

I've one viewing lined up for Sunday evening and have just requested to see another. Both are at the top of my budget and seem to have big gardens. You never know if it is just clever photography though.