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

KeepOnKnitting

Happy belated birthday. I'm glad the show was good even if the seats were naff.

daisy_1571

I'm reading through  (Im back at page 68 in midst of your preparations for moving) and wondered - when you were/are no longer working did you transfer your bit of tax free allowance over as you won't be using your full allowance on your surveys etc?

Just a thought that popped into my head 

I'm back off to page 69 again, see you one day when I've caught up to present day, hope all well  

Daisy xx

CrazyBee787

daisy_1571 said:

I'm reading through  (Im back at page 68 in midst of your preparations for moving) and wondered - when you were/are no longer working did you transfer your bit of tax free allowance over as you won't be using your full allowance on your surveys etc?

Just a thought that popped into my head 

I'm back off to page 69 again, see you one day when I've caught up to present day, hope all well  

Daisy xx

Thanks for mentioning this, I mentioned this to my MD this morning and hadn't thought of @debtfreewannabe321 I bet they could reclaim the last 4 years easily?

debtfreewannabe321

Ah thank you for all the belated birthday wishes 🎈 
Welcome Daisy...and do you mean the marriage allowance or something else? I tried to apply for the marriage one but you had to be either in a civil partnership or married and we are neither atm. Another reason to get married I guess... ❤️

Busy day had here. Money shuffle done. Shopping done. Spent way too much, I fell down the lidl middle aisle deals 😌 oops. A yoga mat, a lilac bush/ tree and a few smaller bits may have fallen into the basket. Oops. So around £210 spent across there and Mr T 🙈. Also picked up some arnica tablets for DD and bought some bromelain on Amazonia for her! So spends have racked up today. I did fill the freezer though. It was empty. And fill the larder cupboards (the old wardrobe) and also bought a big bulk bag of rice, so we are stocked up which is why it was so expensive.

DS and DP got their glasses picked up. So that's that job done. 

DP and I popped into a local conservatory shop/ showroom. We met the owner and he seemed very nice and we are pencilled in for a quote. Yes I know, I know.....we haven't saved for it, or even spoke about it on here but DP and I want a ball park figure and our downstairs is just not working for us at all. We've been discussing it a lot. So I'd like to know my options because honestly you may as well just call me Gypsy at this point I'm thinking of moving again 🤣🤣🤣 okay maybe not very seriously but anyway..... It was mentioned. 🥴

Pots all looking very healthy as they do on the first of the month. And debt repayments are all in process. So we should be clear of all of them very soon! 

DP and I also walked to the local shops and had a wander around a pop up market and a drink in a vegan cafe we like to support. So I got my steps in today if nothing else! Whilst I was food shopping DP did all the washing and cleaning too so I didn't have to do that 😁👏🏻

We've had a lovely late birthday takeaway and hopefully tomorrow will be nice and peaceful and quiet as we did all the chores today! I'm aiming for a NSD too! 

CrazyBee787

I know you have a healthy safety net in savings, but If it was me, I would feel more comfortable keeping this as a back up if you were me. I know you don't strongly like what you have. Is DP anygood at building and has a freind that can help? because my sister bought a conservatory second hand off the net/ fb and saved a fortune and it looks really good, they can scrub up well. You might have to keep your eye out, but her place has been done well - well the conservatory anyhow, even if DP couldn't do it, do you know a reasonable builder with the skills, with a second hand conservatory (still in good nick) it has the potential of being a lot cheaper then going to one of the specialists. Just a thought. You don't want to obliterate your back up if you can help it. 

I know you historically move alot and this has come from your history, but Moving a lot is so not economical, especially if you don't need to (for job/work etc). It might be worth having some mindful sessions or route out the reasons for moving, because it would be better to stay put and resolve any tensions. That room you did for DD is soo beautiful and your living room too, the amount of care you put into your home, why are you not allowed to enjoy it - Unless you think you will make a killing on the work that you do, but the fact is you will need to buy somewhere else and it is likely that any money you make on the property above what you paid will pay for the work you do and the cost of moving. My sister has lived in a constant knightmare ( a doer upper) I personally couldn't live like that. However you could make money out of doing that, but do you think you should check in with yourself and see how much you make or lose. Can you get to the bottom of the reason why you want to move, are you restless when there is nothing for you to do, is there not enough jobs to do in the house, do I feel threatened here? Do I feel unsafe? Do I have a lot of tension here? ask your self a lot questions and see if you can work out if it is true? I am not a psychologist, and I could probably do with a psychologist myself, but try and find out what is making you move - is there somewhere else you want to be, potentially you have itchy feet, what would happen if you forced yourself to stay, imagine staying somewhere what would it feel like, staying at this home, how does that feel? Can you overcome those twitchy moving habits of yours? or could you make some serious money out of it? Otherwise you will be doing yourself an injustice. 

All the best CrazyBeeXX

debtfreewannabe321

Morning all 
Bee, I have a very good understanding I think of why I keep moving 🙈 which doesn't help. I actually enjoy being in a new home and exploring new neighborhoods 🙈🙈 I know I know I need more holidays 🤣.
However this last move as I reminded myself yesterday was highly stressful, expensive and so much hard work because I'm older now. I've definitely slowed down on the moving.
I think the next big move would potentially be when the kids have left home to a smaller house. So possibly 5-10 years away (if they move out). But I want to keep that in the back of my mind when making any decisions because on the last house we were lucky after moving fees to break even with a bit extra....that was my fault for wanting to move but without giving too much away about location we hadn't realised we'd stumbled upon a lovely house in the worst town for drugs and teens being recruited into it - and if they refuse then being bullied mercilessly. You might have heard of county lines. Well I hadn't when I moved there.....and let's just say it was my driving reason for moving when I had two teens myself. So although on my diary I seem very jittery (I am actually that's true 🤣) I did have good reason for protecting my children on that last move. My children will come over and above profit and a nice house every day of my life I'm here to protect them. I homeschooled my youngest DS because he got caught up in the wrong crowd (sadly they lived on our estate and they followed him home one day to 'recruit' him.) I put a stop to that and his education at the excuse for a local school. When both were offered places at the school they're at I grabbed it and also grabbed the opportunity to make them feel safe again by moving. We ironically live on the edge of the city now on the edge of an estate in a super busy location whereas before we lived in an estate but a small one on the edge of fields. And yet this house is safer. Neither of my children left the last house aside from to go to school. As soon as we moved DS asked if he could go for a walk to the city. I said yes and he seemed so happy - still does. He was threatening to un alive himself before. DD also wouldn't leave the old house now she happily wanders to local shops and restaurants and into the city (we're about 1 mile from city centre). I didn't turn a profit on the last house really when you consider everything (on paper or looks like it slightly) but I don't care. 

Both kids love being here. I am getting used to the road noise again (it's at night I'm having issues with sleeping...so need a good pair of ear plugs I think). So we will stay until they're gone. I've tried to not disrupt their life in anyway as when I was younger I moved every 1-2 years (but as I said I like it it didn't bother me...it did my siblings though). DS 1 is also returning home! I'm not sure if I updated the diary with that one. But he will hand his notice in next Feb as he's reached a point where he can claim things when he leaves the forces then. Notice is one year so we have lots of time to make somewhere habitable for him. He will pay us a monthly payment towards lodgings too so we are trying to figure out how best (cheapest) to do his space up too at the moment. 

Oops I do ramble sorry.
Anyway the conservatory....it works out cheaper to put a conservatory on than get the local builder!?? Which I can't believe really but there we go. We were quoted on the low side 60k and high side 80k for the new extension..the guy we spoke to yesterday said 20-35k. DP and I are now discussing what's the smallest we can get away with building and how can we best reconfigure our downstairs to make it work. Initial plans- dream home - huge kitchen diner the entire width of the home at the back. But it meant pulling down the garage block. New plans move kitchen to current dining room and move dining area to the new extension and secondary sitting area to the current kitchen OR kitchen to dining area as above and put secondary seating in new extension and dining area in current kitchen. Current kitchen has issues because it has two doors and two windows and it is basically the most useless space for kitchen. I do a lot of cooking and this kitchen is so badly designed. It's also forty+ years old so lots of broken bits on it...I left a beautiful house, all done up to our standard and design I think it's why I keep banging on about the carpet loan 🤣 which hopefully I will have good news on by mid month...

I will end this though by saying I am grateful. We love the area, we love the convenience for school and my work and going out. The garden is big too considering we are urban. I know Many have less than this (2 houses ago I was one of them) but we do need to do some work on it. It was on the market for a long time for good reason. The bathroom is horrendous. The kitchen makes no sense and it's just been unloved for a while. I think of I could make this beautiful I wouldn't even be mentioning a move (although....there's a lot of stairs and sometimes my hips don't like it). 

Anyway. It's a beautiful day today I'm hoping to get into the garden and continue clearing and making space for some cheap raised beds for next month. I'm very excited by that. At the moment it is just grass and a few trees. I can't wait for some things to start growing with colour 😊👏🏻. I've rambled enough. I'll leave it there 🤭😉

greenbee

I feel your pain on the kitchen. The one here is almost new... and almost unused! Clearly not designed by someone who likes to cook as the fridge is miles from the sink, the lighting is all wrong (if you stand at the worktop you get shadow as the lights are behind you), the island is too big so you have to go round it in any direction, and there is only one double socket on the whole HUGE long length of worktop (there is also a switch for the shed lights, which is obviously handy when you're cooking!). 

I'm doing the 'easy' stuff first - sitting room is done, and the bedrooms are almost done. I'm making the best of the bathrooms, as while not at all to my taste and not particularly well designed, they are acceptable and I can't justify replacing them. But having done all that I'm looking very hard at the garage, utility, and kitchen to work out how I can make the space work better. There's a lot of it, but it is badly laid out. It does take time to get things right, so it's well worth looking at all the options before making a final decision. 

debtfreewannabe321

greenbee said:

I feel your pain on the kitchen. The one here is almost new... and almost unused! Clearly not designed by someone who likes to cook as the fridge is miles from the sink, the lighting is all wrong (if you stand at the worktop you get shadow as the lights are behind you), the island is too big so you have to go round it in any direction, and there is only one double socket on the whole HUGE long length of worktop (there is also a switch for the shed lights, which is obviously handy when you're cooking!). 

I'm doing the 'easy' stuff first - sitting room is done, and the bedrooms are almost done. I'm making the best of the bathrooms, as while not at all to my taste and not particularly well designed, they are acceptable and I can't justify replacing them. But having done all that I'm looking very hard at the garage, utility, and kitchen to work out how I can make the space work better. There's a lot of it, but it is badly laid out. It does take time to get things right, so it's well worth looking at all the options before making a final decision. 

Until you mentioned island in the kitchen I thought omg we have the same kitchen 🤣.
Our house is a standard small '30s semi. So small front room, small kitchen small dining room. They already knocked through to the dining room from kitchen which saves us doing it but they kind of made the kitchen into a weird shape as they left it where the original tiny galley one would have been and just added a bit more on 🤣 I shall have to take a pic for you all (when I've put the washing up away) and show you what I mean. The fridge and freezer are in the conservatory... through the dining room 🙈. I hate it. But also trying to remain grateful because I won't manifest better 🥴 hehe. But this house is very top heavy. Four beds,two baths and downstairs teeny front room, teeny kitchen and decent size dining room which is why I'm considering using that for my kitchen now....🤔 Plumbing wouldn't need to be moved very far either! 

I'm doing what you are too. Easy jobs. Painting making it more 'us' with paint, shelves and quick jobs. But I want prices now for big stuff so I can plan... 

greenbee

This house has been over-extended (I realise it's weird to say that when I'm planning on converting the garage, but Stinky dog makes the need for a boot room/porch for grubby wellies and smelly dogs more urgent - he's in the kitchen at the moment - and my office is tiny considering the amoung of time I spend there), and I keep thinking that if they hadn't had such a big island they could have had a smaller extension 🤣.

The kitchen here (1980s) was fairly narrow, and the dining room was small, so knocking those together made sense. What didn't make sense was knocking the boot room into the kitchen as it's SO dark back there. It would have been better to extend the tiny office that way. Downstair loo was moved, and is so tiny and awkward that it's hard for less mobile friends and family members to use, and the utility room has four doors opening into it - one of which opens into the WM door, and another into the TD door . I don't think any thought went into the design at all. 

CrazyBee787

I have dm'd you my response to your entry. I do hope you have a lovely relaxing day as planned, all the best CrazyBeeXX