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

EssexHebridean

Afternoon all - hope everyone's weekend was good? We had a fair mix of hectic and restful with a decent amount of productive - which was exactly what was needed! 

I went to the gym as planned on Friday then spent the rest of the day prepping stuff at home for the viewing/caching up on some TV stuff/processing some more photos from the airshow. MrEH was out in the evening as I had mentioned so I had a mini pizza (made using a flatbread from the freezer, topped with a mix of ketchup and tommy puree, a sliced cooked sausage and mozarella (also from the freezer) along with cheesy chips. Felt quite indulgent but all from stuff we had in which was excellent. 

We had the viewing on "The One with the massive garden" on Saturday morning first - sadly I think we both knew almost as soon as we walked in through the door that it wasn't right for us - the house didn't appeal in the slightest and it needs a massive amount of work - to the extent that it is currently hugely overpriced. here was also a lot of traffic noise from the fairly busy road running across behind, so feedback has been given there to that effect.  A little later on we had the second viewing on One Careful Owner - which threw a curveball. Obviously we had some things in our minds that we wanted to check out - and having done so, we've come to the conclusion that there is too much to be done there to make it right for us, too. We both still love the house, but we can't see any way of ending up with what we really want in terms of layout without losing too much garden - and that would even assume we could get planning permission for the extension we'd want. We'd love to be able to make it work, but realistically, it's not practical. So a tough decision but that is now also off the table.  the viewing on ours happened during the afternoon - we used the time to go out and get shopping sorted - and we are waiting on feedback from that one. 

Lots of further discussion on the house-hunting situation, and we have decided to expand our search to a higher budget level but only on the basis of finding somewhere "done" that needs no work - as if we're not needing to factor in altering a place to any amount, we can afford to spend a little more of our savings than we originally planned. I've done some sums and worked out where we can comfortably go to, and RM search parameters have been adjusted. We have already seen one in the higher price bracket that we love - and we have a viewing booked on that for tomorrow evening. It feels like quite a jump as we've added a full £50k (eek!) on to what we would be prepared to think about spending - but if it means avoiding the stress and upheaval (and more relevantly cost!) of having to do any significant work for the foreseeable future then it could well pay off for us we think. there is another we also like - lower down the price bracket but again potentially not needing much done to it - we've not booked anything for that yet as it will probably need to wait until the weekend if we do end up viewing. I'd be lying if I said that it didn't feel emotional letting OCO go - but I'm not in doubt that it is the right decision for us. 

MSE stuff - popped into T's on Saturday and got back the overcharge, plus a £5 credit on top as well as an apology from the store manager. We think that it was to do with the manual inputting of MrEH's newspaper subscription voucher - it would appear that the checkout operator applying that somehow wiped out all other discounts being applied including the clubcard prices - what the store manager couldn't work out though was why this has happened. He's going to put it through to be investigated as well as he thinks it is yet another issue with their new till system. 
Subsequently went on a shopped at Mozzas instead - still feeling mildly gripey about T's and we like M's anyway so all good! Nice little bimble round, bought all the stuff we needed and not too much we didn't - £40 spent. I'll take that! 
Lots of "eating from stores" this weekend too - Saturday lunch needed to be quick and so was pittas filled with grated cheese - heated on a hot dry frying pan to melt the cheese and slightly crisp the bread. Tea was good old favourite cheese and crackers - yum!  Yesterday's lunch was a YS'd meal from M's split between us, with some cheese and crackers alongside, and dinner was a cheaty roast - using sliced lamb leftover from a previous weekend from the freezer. We had tatties in needing used, ditto parsnips, so I roasted those, and used the last of the purple sprouting broccoli alongside. For puddings I made a batch of muffins inspired by buying a punnet of blueberries from M's and we still have some of those left. 
Banks checked and fine - the mid month stuff went out this morning. I need to log in to online banking to change the amount on the Service Charge Standing Order as you can't do that via the app and we should now be squared up on payments to that. 

We've got a good deal more voluntary role stuff sorted over the weekend - we are right on the brink of handing stuff over for the next stage of work to be done before it all comes back to us now which feels positive and also a little scary. Also found time to get out for a walk both days - we combined the second viewing on Saturday with a circular walk, and yesterday went to have a nosy at the outside of a couple of places we might be interested in viewing and walked a loop after that, then headed out for a shorter walk at the nature reserve in the afternoon.

Plans for this week are to get this phase of the voluntary role stuff done and handed over, that viewing tomorrow evening, ideally I will get to the gym twice but that *might* not happen...and that is about it really. there is some stuff we probably need to think about ahead of holiday - I need to get my lists out for that so we can see what we need to give attention to there. I confess we are now slightly hoping that the ferry issues do run over what is anticipated as it would currently give us a FAR better (Although also longer) crossing and a miles easier/shorter drive on the mainland - sod's law says it will get sorted though and we have to go back to the original plan! We can only wait and see on that one - no chance CalMac will commit to that before they have to!

Cheery_Daff

Sorry about OCO but it does sound like a sensible decision. If we ever move I'll definitely be paying a premium to have somewhere finished!

starnac

Cheery_Daff said:

Sorry about OCO but it does sound like a sensible decision. If we ever move I'll definitely be paying a premium to have somewhere finished!

Same here! I have said we will never move again! But! (and it's a big but!) if we ever did, I would want everything finished and ready to move into. And I would definitely pay a premium for it!

lucielle

It sounds like a head over heart decision and one that you’ve put a lot of thought into. There will be something out there with your names all over it!  

L

themadvix

Sorry to hear that OCO is not for you, but definitely better to make that decision now rather than later. Is Rose's house still yet to be viewed?

Glad you got the Mr T issue sorted - clearly everyone needs to be checking their receipts very carefully at the moment!

Fingers crossed that CalMac don't get their act together then, if that would be better (ooh, just talk of CalMac makes me wish we were heading to Scotland this year!).

foxgloves

I absolutely get where you are coming from on those houses, @EssexHebridean. Our (vaguely) planned house move is still a good few years away, but both of us have said that we won't consider another doer-upper or any property which requires a lot of work. We know what we have spent on our current house to get it up to standard, particularly in the last 3 years..We are pleased with it all, but it has been a lot of money since we moved in 20 years ago.
I know when the time comes, I will find it hard to walk away from properties which tick all the other boxes, but really we will be looking at re-carpeting, decorating & either a new kitchen or bathroom tops. We won't buy another money-pit.
Good luck with your continued hunting.
F

EssexHebridean

Cheery, Starnac - if we had the ability to move somewhere else while work was being done that would be one thing, but without that it really does cause a huge amount of disruption and certainly I found the sheer amount of dust everywhere incredibly tough to deal with, as well as not feeling that your home is your own with builders and other trades in and out. L - yes, we figure we'll know it when we view it!  Vix - Rose's house we tried for a viewing on but apparently the owners wanted all viewings in a small window of time on Saturday morning during the time we were already  booked to go to Massive Garden, so at the moment that one is off the table.  Foxgloves - we've put a lot of money into the flat since the mortgage went - complete strip out of bathroom and kitchen and more recently the hallway of course as well as various simple decorative tasks - and we love what we've done, and know that we do have a good idea for what will work and designing things that work for us, I'm just not sure I want to do much more of it any time soon! I've also rather had enough of living in a place which is "liveable" too - we've got used to a nice kitchen now for example, and once you're used to it...  

The one we are viewing tomorrow shall be known as "The one with the huge Kitchen Diner" ...  

themadvix

Oh, that's a pity about Rose's house, but I guess they may have to reconsider if they don't get any offers.

Totally with you on it being nice not to have to take on a project. I know we were thinking of a huuuge project, but I am glad we didn't and one of the reasons for deciding to stay put for now was that we'd got the house just as we wanted it.

Makingabobor2

We keep saying when we finally downsize it has to be somewhere with a really nice kitchen, bathroom, good double glazing, easy maintenance garden and preferably already got a conservatory....oh and a newish boiler. Really don't want somewhere with loads of stress, as we will be quite a bit older before we finally move and can't be doing with it. Hoper tomorrow's viewing goes well. 

foxgloves

Defo a good idea to check state of boiler, I agree, @Makingabobor2. We moved in here on a Friday night & on the Saturday morning, the boiler exploded! 
F