Buying a little piece of Middle England; Manifesting my way to mortgage free.

debtfreewannabe321

Today will hopefully see us move into the- looking like we're making some progress - part of the room. So far for all the scrubbing, stripping and filling we've done it doesn't really look much different in the bedroom 😫 we hate the prep part but I know it has to be done properly otherwise it won't look good. But, but but... 😐 I spent the whole day cleaning and filling yesterday. We're also having issues with how to cover the stairs in the room it is an awkward shape and we can't fathom how to cover them without making it look very boxed in and large in the corner. I can see why they just decided to build a great big wardrobe into that corner now. 
Anyway, this morning plans are for DP to get on with Sanding whilst I start catching up on jobs in the house like Washing and hoovering. The sanding starts my asthma off every time and I'd rather not do that on my holiday time. Plus we need me fit and ready for the wallpapering part as DP hates it and gets in a mess every time with it. I've never wallpapered a ceiling before though so that will be fun 🙈.
Hopefully by the end of the day we can say we have some wallpaper up, all the sanding is done and we are moving onto the putting picture rails up part and making it come together as a nice space. 

However....DS1 messaged me yesterday...am I in today? He said he wasn't leaving Wales as he'd done too much driving and wanted to spend his holiday resting. I think DDIL may have talked him into a Midlands visit to see her family and us.... So I need to be able to down tools at some point if he shows.
DD has Also been on the phone wanting to come home. If you saw the state of her room you'd understand why she couldn't as there is no where for her to sleep. But even after a video call with her she couldn't see it. I said in the end come home but be prepared for sleeping on the sofa a few nights (I mean DP and I slept on the living room floor in the old house for three months! So I didn't think a few nights would bother her) she said she would rather not and will stay there. When pressed as to why she wanted to come home so much it was because her (selfish) father was demanding they all go to his new girlfriend's house for new year and she didn't want to. Then I had total mum guilt as I'd spent half hour convincing her to stay there and said okay come home. But by that point she'd obviously thought about her room being not finished and said no. 🙄🙈 Exidiot annoys me so much but I'm not going to focus my energy on it. 😠 But grrr.

So no DD and no DS2 I don't think. But DS1 may come by. It's already half nine and I don't know how I'll get myself up for work again at 7am, I'm enjoying these lazy mornings and just working later on the room ...in my own timings. But considering we've set ourselves a target of being done by Wednesday I suppose I ought to get up and get on....

debtfreewannabe321

Oh! And money matters. I've taken £1000 from the EF to pay for three windows to be done. Quite honestly the thought of our glazier coming months after we'd done DD's room and making more mess that I'd have to put right filled me with dread. I asked him for a cash price and it's £1500 for all three. Bargain I think. So we're getting DP office done, DS room done (both completely blown) and DD one done. Then next time I will save for the windows for other rooms as we do them. But that gives us three rooms to work with where the windows are already done this year. DP is due a bonus around march which we will use to put the EF back to where it should be. Need to probably take another £500 out to pay fitting costs too but I'll try and make it up elsewhere for that. Also he's coming out hopefully before end of January so we can get DD room hopefully all completely done aside from the floor by end of Feb. 

 Anyway cracking on with the work now....

debtfreewannabe321

I'm having a sit down 😁 have scrubbed our bedroom and ensuite clean! It's gleaming! Did I say about the cheap cola I bought to clean the toilet? It looks like this loft room was built but then barely used as everything is dated but in very good condition for its age (albeit it wasn't all the best quality)...aside from the toilet which we think because it sat for so long unused it's just hard water stains. Well the coke helped somewhat but dp took one for the team (after I initially cleaned it) and put his hand down there and scrubbed it. It was sparkling clean after that and the hard water stains gone 👏🏻

Looking at my goals I set myself a few pages back....
Goals for the next six months:- 
- Planning permission for extension and pricing for doing it - we started this process not heard back from the architect though.

- DD room decorated - doing it.

- Pay off the carpet loan - this is due to be paid off January's-Feb pay. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Now I could have and should have used the money I'm setting aside for this for the windows. To keep the EF in tact but I cannot bare to see that loan anymore. It's so demotivating. So I intend instead on keeping the £400 SBF for it in the EF account. So basically the money is there if I need it for an emergency. It shall stay there until next months pay at least. Then after that I will top the EF up with the money from either the SBF money OR DP bonus. Or both. Leading to...

- EF to reach £3k it WILL reach this. Even with us robbing it. By six months time unless we need it for an actual emergency it will be there. 

- One mini break with the kids (or without if they don't want to go) - not done anything with this yet.

- OP mortgage by £600 - £60 already set up to go out. I'm sending survey money over to top that up too. So I hope to make this target!

- Replace 2 windows in the house. - will have 3 new ones by end of Jan hopefully. That's all the first floor bedrooms done then and Money I was going to put aside for this in the budget will now go back to EF or elsewhere.

Can hear DP sanding 👏🏻 best get back to cleaning or he'll think I'm slacking 😉😊

Watty1

Love reading how it is all coming together.  Reflecting on progress made is so important.    You have reminded me I should do that later today.

LadyWithAPlan

You are doing so great and agree with Watty on how reflections are so important - plus having our diaries means we can really see our progress.
I looked at my pension and savings now vs  3 years agi when I started my diary- I am impressed that somehow they have kept rising despite a busy life

debtfreewannabe321

Thanks @Watty1 & @LadyWithAPlan I went to reply yesterday but DS turned up 😁🤗
We had a lovely day and ordered pizza in. I was going to make us jacket potatoes and beans and salad but then we all collectively had a lightbulb moment at 5pm that it was a Sunday and the shops had closed 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣 so pizza it was. 50% discount with our taste card. But still came to £47 😵‍💫. The child benefit that arrived today though was earmarked for it and it was lovely to catch up with ds and ddil again. He didn't leave until 8pm and I tried and tried to get him to sleep on DD mattress in front of the fire (only place it would fit as DD room is turned upside down 🤣) but he insisted he was okay to drive and left anyway with a big flask of coffee. He arrived back in West Wales around 1:45 am 😵‍💫. He can't wait to get his new posting in the new year so he's at least in England meaning he has only a 3 hour drive to family. 

Today I am popping to the shops. Need a few bits. I have a very strict list. It's just enough to see DP and I through to Wednesday evening and then I will go shopping on Thursday before the kids come home. I'm working to Thursday having the kids home but of course that's always subject to change. DD messaged yesterday and she was at her dad's new gf house and wasn't happy so I'll have to play it by ear as to when they are coming home. 

We've moved all the money around this morning. Only thing I'm short on is food money now that pot is around £400 short. So when I get my maintenance that will cover that. Windows are being ordered today with a view to having them fitted in a couple of weeks (excuse the pun). 

Right, tea has been drunk, toast eaten and I'm going to crack on. I want to report back with some progress on rebuilding the bedroom today seeing as though all progress so far has been destructive 🤣. It's very clean in there now though we scrubbed it after the sanding just as DS turned up! He also offered us another solution to the under stairs issues of making it good that we hadn't thought of. So dp is going to try his idea. I have a b&q voucher that needs using before the weekend so we will make a final list of whatever we need later on including paints and head over to use it. £16 off an £80 spend so mustn't let it go to waste! I should have used it before but totally forgot when I was at the till. 

KajiKita

Glad you had such a good time with DS1 😊❤️ and glad he got safely home this morning! 😳

Hope the decorating / restoration goes well and good on DS1 giving you a new idea for the underside of the stairs 😊

KK

beanielou

Glad you enjoyed your time with your DS. 

CrazyBee787

It is impressive with what you have done with your holiday, glad you enjoyed DS and DDIL visit. Good luck finishing.

debtfreewannabe321

Morning all, thanks for popping in KK, Beanie & CrazyBee 😊
Yesterday was a bit of a disaster and then a triumph right at the last minute. We put the wallpaper (imagine a scene from laurel and hardy and you wouldn't be far wrong with how we approached this) up on the ceiling. The first one went up ok. The second one was also ok. Then we ran out of paper on the roll long enough. So we opened another roll. We couldn't get the pattern to match.  by this point the first roll of paper we got up, two lines, was drying. And expanding. And looking like it was about to fall off. We had pasted the ceiling not the paper. We checked the instructions again. Paste the PAPER 😐 argh. We hurriedly rip off the paper before it sets all screwed up (as it was expanding it was moving and folding and bubbling and looked awful). So we scrape it all off and start again. We got another roll of wallpaper and started again.
The first strip went up beautifully we had a technique. I stood at the end putting it up and lining it up and brushing it on. DP stood at the end where he had to unfold it and keep it up over my head. I literally looked like I had a floral wallpaper veil that was 4m long. We put the second up and then went for lunch. It dried okay 👏🏻. We put up the second roll
We were running back and forth from one end of the ceiling to the other turning the paper every which way to find the pattern. And something said to me...check the batch. Now I'm sure I'd already done this but I checked And the pattern was totally different 🤦🏻‍♀️. We had only two lines of wallpaper up at this point. Had wasted over an hour putting up and ripping down wallpaper and then rehanging more. And that's all we had to show for going on two hours work 😆. 
We made our shopping list and went off to see if we could find the right batch numbers...the nice lady at the till let us swap them even though we had opened one (not used though). We found only four rolls left in that batch so took them all. 
Got home and started again by this point it was 3:30pm we'd wasted a whole day on this. We'd done the two easiest lines as well and from herein we had alcoves, lights, and stairs to cut around. 
By 6:30pm we'd done half the room. Trial and error involved muchly. It looked 'okay'. DP was tired, I was tired. We'd spent much of the day in a stress position as DP called it with our arms upright dead still holding paper. About an hour later, he said, next time YOU want wallpaper on the ceiling I'm telling you to do one. In as many words anyway. I was mid wedding veil at this point and nearly smothered him in it 😠 needless to say we had a stroppy moment and had to stop for dinner. We'd done about 3/4 of the ceiling by this point 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️ 
After a very quiet dinner with us both simmering I said I'm off to Start the painting of the picture rail (he'd done those first thing) and the skirting/door frames. He came to join me and we made peace with one another and worked quickly to paint everything white. It looked good by the time we'd finished. So spurred on with a second wind we were like let's finish the ceiling. I couldn't actually bare to do it today I wanted it done. But even with working out how to hang it, cutting it in to segments to make it easier we still took about three hours to do it. We downed tools after 10pm. Exhausted. But also relieved it was done. I've checked this morning and it's still up! Yay! Success. And for the record DP wanted the ceiling papered NOT me. He liked how it looked everywhere in the house already and wanted it to match and I agreed. Cheeky git. 
Around 4am I woke up with a picture in my head of what to do with that awful staircase in the corner. Box it in and make a wardrobe. 🤣🤣🤣 I know, I know, I can hear you say, but isn't that what you ripped out? Yes. And no. In that corner was shelving which was around 6ft deep and wide (who needs a single shelf that big?) and the picture I woke up with looked like a pretty built in walk-in wardrobe (not huge American style but big enough for a couple of rails and shelves) with a pretty arched doorway and finished off with picture rail/ skirting/ coving to maintain the built in look from the rest of the room. It solves the problem of the current wardrobe she has being too big. And also is cheaper than buying a new wardrobe and hides the ugly stairs again. 👏🏻 Just to measure it up now. I drew down the picture of it when I woke and DP thinks it's all doable and easy enough to make 😁👏🏻.

He's down there finishing off the one picture rail we were short of yesterday and I will go down and paper the walls...the papering really needs to be finished today so we can get paint on the walls tomorrow. So wish us luck...and I pray it's not another 10pm finish.
DP and I are both looking forward to going to work next week for a break 🤣.