Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

EssexHebridean

Something my parents were glad of with their house was that there was room to fit a stairlift when Dad needed one - so that is something I'd urge people to look carefully at when looking for a forever home for later life. Our house fits that mould as well as a separate reception room which would convert to a bedroom, and potential scope to turn the current downstairs loo into a shower room if needed - although that would be a fair undertaking.

foxgloves

Morning Campers, & thanks for your comments.

@Suffolk_lass - Yes, it certainly is weird for us to have had such different weather yesterday afternoon & evening, considering we live really quite close-by. Big black clouds moving in as I type, but I don't know if we will have any more showers today - I hope so though as I think there are a few things in the garden starting to look ever so slightly perkier.

@Suffolk_lass - That's an interesting take on the bungalow v house thoughts. Yes, I know about 'bungalow legs'. I do only like walking on the flat, but I think my phobia of lifts helps a little with this as I always take the stairs & would certainly do so until I reach a stage of decrepitude which necessitates me being bundled into a lift kicking & screaming! I don't much like the style of chalet bungalows, but it's too early in the planning process to rule anything out (except the unaffordable of course!)

@Jellytotts - Hope you enjoy the book - I'm hoping to finish it today. It's quite a quick read as they are mostly very short chapters.

Thanks for sharing your downsizing experiences which I found interesting. It was brave to take on a doer-upper. Our current house was definitely one of those & we have both said we won't choose another one, although we'd be ok with adding a new bathroom/kitchen. Refurbing several aspects of our house has given us an idea of how much things cost & not draining our savings too radically will be a driving factor in the sort of place we buy. It's an overall more expensive area that where we currently live, so some of our savings (my ISA to be precise) is being built up to help plug the gap. The 3 properties I am monitoring atm (esp for their final sale price) are all within our budget, given that our house here sells at a decent price, but all of them will require a chunk of money as well as the value we realise from selling so we are going to prioritise looking at pretty much move-in-able places when the time comes. Atm, it's just nice thinking about possibilities. I shall be onto the planning like a military operation nearer the time, & Mr F is also a planner so I imagine there will be a big notebook of various 'House Lists!'

foxgloves

Not much to report today. I saw the showery forecast & decided to have a day of indoor tasks. I can hear thunder in the distance, sounds like it's a still a way off from us, to the North East. I would be happy to have another storm & downpour. Anyway, I've kept the faith re money saving as am not intending to spend anything today & apart from fuelling up the car, I don't think Mr F is either. Little bits & bobs from today:

*A batch of BBQ sauce simmering in the slow cooker (from the "I ❤️my slow cooker" book).

*Have defrosted some hake for tonight's meal as Thursday helpfully & rather vaguely said "Fish & something" on my meal plan. As I'm not busy in the garden today, I decided to try a couple of new recipes to accompany it. I shall bake the fish brushed with curry paste & a squeeze of lemon & am going to serve it with both a pilau rice & a dhal (the latter from a cookery book I have on loan from the library). The dhal recipe contains french beans which is what drew my eye to it when flicking through as we have a box of them sitting in the fridge which I'd identified would need either using or freezing. Using it is, & as I intend to do the full 4 portions of both the pilau & dhal, it will also provide two work lunches for Mr F, who works long days since changing to compressed working hours. So that should be an enjoyable bit of cooking this afternoon & will also incorporate other use-it-ups (a lemon & the last of a coriander plant.

*Fed sourdough jar.

*Entered a competition.

*Did a survey - not many around today.

*Continue on & off with my knitting for the presents box.

*Do a small darning repair.

*Froze yet more blackberries. They are just 'on hold' until the pears are a little riper then I intend to do some bottling as the jars I made last year came in useful for things like impromptu small crumble bases, topping muesli & just heating up for a hot winter dessert as a change from our more usual yoghurt.

*Today's garden pickings: Spring onions & a posy of flowers for my favourite vase atop the piano.

Oooh, I think that was 3 Red Arrows just gone over our garden! We have been told to expect some interesting flyovers our village today as there is something going on at a nearby RAF airfield…….Oh my word, I don't know WHAT that thing was, it looked terrifying! Back in the day. my Dad (RAF) would have run outdoors & identified them. The thunder is also getting nearer so it's very noisy here. I shall go & serve up cat lunch to distract them from the noise.

Take care all,

F x

Sun_Addict

Was the scary aircraft a chinook? We've had one fly over our way a few times recently.

You'll be pleased to hear we also have showers here today although sunny right now.

EssexHebridean

Ahh yes - I believe that the B17 Bomber Sally B was headed up that way today.

Blackcats

I know you will have included this into your relocation planning but stamp duty is a 😱 amount to factor in.

We have done lots of de-cluttering over the last couple of years but we still have stuff in the garage and loft. We haven't needed the garage stuff for at least 2 years so we are tackling 1 box a week to deal with it. Our categories are Sell/donate/dump/keep. Even when we've done this it's still important to us to have storage space. I hope your criteria will include an HQ with a view for your big budget days.