Ding! Ding! All change, please... (now replaced with new diary on MFW)

RelievedSheff

We would be lost without our garage freezer 😀

RosaBernicia

Belated happy new diary EH.  All sounding good!

RB xx

starnac

Happy new diary KC (bit late I know, Sorry)

Seasidegal58

Belated Merry Christmas, a very Happy New Year and prosperous 2023 to you and your family EH!
I don't believe it - I'm away from the board for a few weeks and come back to find out you're looking at houses!  Sorry to read that the initial house fell through but I'm sure your new Happy Home isn't too far away in the future!😀🏡

EssexHebridean

Hey - Happy New year to you all, and thanks for popping by! 

Honestly - it's been all go here over the past week, we're almost (only almost!) pleased to be back at work for a rest! 
- Our bedroom now thermal papered and that wall painted.
- Our bedroom other walls cleaned down
- Our bedroom tidied to within an inch of its life - and aiming to keep it that way
- Spare room outside wall painted the same colour as it's opposite number in our bedroom.
- Spare room furniture reorganised to "zone" it better into "sleep space" and "work space" - it will actually be better for MrEH to work in as well!
- Both bedroom windowsills sanded and painted
- More caulking done in various places - very nearly finished with that, now (hopefully - we've said this before!)
- Sealant done round the bath - not perfect but better than it was!
- front Balcony cleared and lots of clutter got rid of
- kitchen balcony cleared and lots of clutter got rid of
- Front room walls partially cleaned down - still one wall to finish there
- bookshelves rearranged and tidied all over the place - and two taken out to the garage for storage too to make rooms look bigger due to less furniture in them

Spendiness has inevitably occurred - storage boxes and baskets - boxes mostly sturdy enough to be stored in the garage as and when needed, and the baskets should make cupboards look tidier when people open them to look. And a new linen bin to replace the one that I think I've had for around 40 years - it was still functional but the plastic had started to get very brittle, particularly on the lid...and when MrEH put a bit of weight on it he discovered this as it broke! The running total at the moment is in the region of £84 for that lot - there will be another set of larger boxes to get yet, we think. All stuff that will be useful wherever we end up though, and we've already used several smaller boxes for clearing stuff out of sight - one of the larger ones is currently on the go as a "random stuff" box too. 

I've lost track slightly of grocery spends - we did get a decent YS'd haul in T's yesterday though, £8-odd for a decent bagful including fillings for serval days lunches, a pack of coronation chicken that I'm throwing in a stir fry tonight, some cheese, some "picky bits" to go with future weekend teas, some chicken chipolata sausages and a couple of other bits. Did notice though that T's have got crafty with their receipts - now showing the amount of the reduction rather than the actual final selling price - which can only be to reduce the number of people querying things! I'm confident that we are still well within budget though - and with a week to go. I'm also going to be holding off on too much stocking up now as it's not sensible to do so allowing for wanting cupboards to not look full to bursting for viewings!

We've been keeping an eye on property listings and have seen a handful of places we're interested in viewing - we've been for a nosy round the outside of all the areas  and MrEH is going to try to arrange viewings for 3 places on Saturday morning. one I'm more keen on than he is, one he's more keen on than I am, and the other we both love the property but the parking in the area looks shocking! We're keeping on looking too - plus also keeping fingers crossed that thigs could still change with the one we made an offer on before.

Missions for this week then:
- Finish prepping flat for marketing
- Keep the place tidy as we go along! 
- Get back to meal planning properly - we've got lots in the freezers now!
- dehumidifier to go on in one room or another every night - and during the day a few times in our room too.
- At least one gym visit (probably Friday morning)
- me - surveys!
- MrEH - voluntary role expenses
- Keep watching property listings
- One big task to do on the voluntary role stuff too - then we can pass a chunk across to others for their input before they pass it back to us in a couple of months!

I also see that the forum are asking for our MSE resolutions in 3 words - so I'll pledge that mine is going to be:
 "STOP AND THINK"

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, you are making SUCH good progress! Well done!! 

I remember when we moved, we bought SO many storage boxes 😂😂 We were boxing and labelling little stuff for years before we moved while we decorated, so we still have dozens and dozens of plastic takeaway containers labelled things like '2 inch screws' and 'dice' 😂 When we moved, Poundland were selling two sizes of boxes for £1 each and we bought SO many.

But for us it worked out great - the little ones are mostly now in the garage, still all nicely labelled. The others are spaced between garage and house, lots of them house my sewing stuff, and it'll all stay in those now, easily finable. So at the time we were thinking of them as an accessory to moving, but actually they were really just a long term organisational strategy (which helped justify the amount we spent on them 😂)

Do report back on your house viewings!

RelievedSheff

Good luck with the house viewings.

Sounds like you have been full steam ahead with getting the flat ready for sale.

EssexHebridean

Cheery it was precisely your storage boxes that made me suggest them to MrEH the other day! I'm going to write the rough contents of each - or at least where they have originated from) on a post it note and shove it inside so it's visible I think so we can see easily roughly what is inside each one. Just need to make sure that they all find homes tucked away somewhere or in the garage as don't want folk viewing to mental label us as "the one with all the boxes!" (Yep - we've been referring to properties we've seen online in that way already - "the one with the triffid in the kitchen" being the stand-out so far!) 

Thanks RS - we've got three viewings lined up for Saturday now, but my suspicion is that one will almost certainly get offered on between now and then as we know they have lots of other viewings lined up on it.

In other MSE news - I have been paid and have shuffled some money. Also remembered that I needed to shift money internally within Sant-And-Er to cover the regular savers. My FD regular saver has been transferred too, and I've done my £50 to my personal reg saver within Nat1onw1de too. The final payments to both of our C0v3ntry Reg savers have gone out, and those will be maturing later this month. 

We sent £410 to the 0% card at the end of last month, and the £50 regular payment went today - firmly on target for getting that cleared this month now - once the mid month DDs have gone out I'll review how much is on it and whether we reckon it can just get sorted there and then as that might be easiest. Looking forward to seeing the end of that one without having to dip into savings for the money that was originally set aside for the things we used it for. 

One financial task I must do this week is to re-do the transfers for various monthly amounts - food is increasing by £25 a month, and we both plan to pop extra into the account we use for saving for the food show too, so that we can cover the tickets from there again, and maybe even some of the accommodation costs too. 

Makingabobor2

Wow you have been busy, and still finding time to fit in a trip to the gym. Just shows how much can be done though, when you are determined and actually make an effort. ....I don't mean you personally, I meant people in general.  Always hear people say they don't have time for this, that or the other, but its all about making time and prioritising isn't it?  And if your dream is to get a new house, then you have to work at it.  If other people dream of getting out of debt, having a bit holiday, losing a lot of weight....whatever it is, you can do it with determination. 
Love how you refer to the houses you have seen.  Before we moved into our present house, we viewed many, and if we talk of them now, they are still.....The one with the knickers hanging in the conservatory...(yes seriously),  The one with a sink full of dirty pots, and The one where they were changing the baby's nappy when we arrived and there was a whole pile of nappy bags with dirty ones next to the sofa!!...can't even begin to tell you what that smelt like. I always remember the estate agent asking for a review of our visit and I was quite honest in what I said......lol.  

Like you, I was thinking I need to re-look at my spread sheets and redo transfers for various things. Food is certainly increasing and I think I should increase the amount I save for annual insurances, as I'm sure they will be dearer this year.  

Cheery_Daff

I have vivid memories of 'the one with the teenage boy in the bed' when we were viewing 😱😂