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

debtfreewannabe321

I've listed several large items. Well mirror, room divider shelf type large items. Cleared out from the office (old one) DP had hidden everything behind his desk 🤦🏻‍♀️ so as that moved out tonnes of things were found. To think it is a box room and he managed to get that much stuff in there is pretty impressive. 
We've emptied out the cupboards in the old office and re-homed everything we found, had a massive clear out. And have sent items to CS bags, scrap pile, bin and recycling. The office is done now and everything moved in properly. 
DP is removing the cupboards. We have sized the room up and ordered wardrobes for the room (well these- https://amzn.eu/d/2KcvaOO ) two lots of as there is hopefully the right amount of space for them and also a chest of drawers and full length mirror (which I don't have yet). I did the budget and found money in the budget to pay for them outright so no CC debt. 

We've divvied up the budget as follows -

Fixed bills - £1760
Food -£600 (to account for DS1 coming over and Xmas) 
Takeout - £50 (Xmas eve)
Xmas market spends - £200
My work get together - £40 (just a few drinks)
Presents (birthday and Xmas) - £200
Pocket money - £400 (DP needs to pay for his cc with some of his 👀).
Wardrobes - £200
Filing cabinet dividers -£20. 

No float as it was spent on the wardrobes so I decided to up the pocket money so we can use that as a buffer in our main accounts. 
Haven't taken into account any child maintenance even though it's supposed to be £400+ I have got £200 the last couple of months so we will see what arrives. I've allocated none to EF or OP so I could use any money he gives me for that. 

Okay we are going to pop to town after lunch so I'm going to feed us then we will get rid of CS stuff, tip the cupboards, and take DP old phone to see if we can get any money for it. If we can that will be a nice bonus 🙂. 
Feeling okay today, pain wise and mood and clearing the house out. Little by little helps no end with my mood. 

greenbee

debtfreewannabe321 said:

greenbee said:

I've just used (not the actual paint, but mixed as a colour match) F&B Studio Green on one wall - it would probably look almost black if it was on all the walls and with low light. It's very similar to the colour that's often used in art galleries. I've got F&B Lichen on the woodwork and then a white ceiling (other walls are F&B Bone, which is a greenish neutral). Dulux Mallard Green is another nice dark green, and I like the look of 'Midnight Teal' too (they are both heritage colours, and the colour card comes with a useful little tool for selecting toning or coordinating colours). 

I love the fact that every time I (or rather, the decorator) finishes a room it makes it transforms it from the grey, depressing place I bought. So I'm going to make an effort to day to get myself moved back into my bedroom and get the hall tidied and organised!

Oh I like the sound of these colours. The room is south facing so can take a dark colour I think. It gets very hot in there mud summer so I'm going to go ahead and paint it dark. If I hate it worst comes to worst I'll just repaint lighter 😆. There was colour in this house when we bought it but it was very 80s, not really my style. So we can live with it...but after seeing our kitchen and living space transformed and DD room and the new office it does inspire us to carry on 😄.

My house is 80s with 2016/2021 additions. There were no 80s colours left (unlike the 1980s pink-and-green house I bought last time 🤣) - it was mostly millenial grey. I like the fact that each room has it's own distinct feel now. Although the open plan kitchen-dining-living space at the back, utility room, and downstairs loo are still grey. But I'm hoping those can be fixed next year!

debtfreewannabe321

greenbee said:

debtfreewannabe321 said:

greenbee said:

I've just used (not the actual paint, but mixed as a colour match) F&B Studio Green on one wall - it would probably look almost black if it was on all the walls and with low light. It's very similar to the colour that's often used in art galleries. I've got F&B Lichen on the woodwork and then a white ceiling (other walls are F&B Bone, which is a greenish neutral). Dulux Mallard Green is another nice dark green, and I like the look of 'Midnight Teal' too (they are both heritage colours, and the colour card comes with a useful little tool for selecting toning or coordinating colours). 

I love the fact that every time I (or rather, the decorator) finishes a room it makes it transforms it from the grey, depressing place I bought. So I'm going to make an effort to day to get myself moved back into my bedroom and get the hall tidied and organised!

Oh I like the sound of these colours. The room is south facing so can take a dark colour I think. It gets very hot in there mud summer so I'm going to go ahead and paint it dark. If I hate it worst comes to worst I'll just repaint lighter 😆. There was colour in this house when we bought it but it was very 80s, not really my style. So we can live with it...but after seeing our kitchen and living space transformed and DD room and the new office it does inspire us to carry on 😄.

My house is 80s with 2016/2021 additions. There were no 80s colours left (unlike the 1980s pink-and-green house I bought last time 🤣) - it was mostly millenial grey. I like the fact that each room has it's own distinct feel now. Although the open plan kitchen-dining-living space at the back, utility room, and downstairs loo are still grey. But I'm hoping those can be fixed next year!

I remember loving the grey phase. Ughh couldn't think of anything worse now 😃🤣 now I'm in my anything goes so long as it sparks joy phase. Red chairs with pink cushions yep both spark joy, oh and a gold sofa in the same room with navy cushions yep sparks joy 🤣 wonder if I will get bored of this phase too lol.

greenbee

I've never liked grey Unless it's to complement another colour. I just don't think it works in the light in the UK. I'm sure at some point I'll wonder why on earth I chose the colours I've got here (and then I'll remind myself about the grey). But I'm trying not to pay attention to what's in fashion (although it does influence what's available if you're buying anything new) and focus on what makes me happy. 

Watty1

Visited someone who suffers badly with depression and her entire house was grey.   Really grey.  I struggle with depression but was fairly sure I would not get out of bed in her house.   Painted mine white.  Everywhere. Trade white. I love it.  So peaceful.  After PPH that was needed   (Also we had a lot of heritage colours everywhere)

debtfreewannabe321

@greenbee pink and grey and green and grey were my go tos for ages. Now I'd rather white or a neutral like Egyptian cotton with the colour. @Watty1 I love a white base but when I had three kids running around and a dog getting it all dirty I gave up on that idea 🤣.

debtfreewannabe321

£65 made from an old phone in a drawer 💸🙌🏻.
NSD as managed to find free parking, and we ate before going out. Leftover curry for dinner. 
The old office is all emptied out aside from my dining sofa which cannot be brought down just yet because we've no room until the old kitchen is plasterboarded/ skimmed. It's ready for the holes to be filled where cupboards were removed and pictures. And then we can paint. We found a whole tin of paint in a neutral colour which will do just fine for it 👏🏻 so no spends on that. And wardrobe purchased so that room cost less than £200 to do so far. I do need a new curtain pole but I know dun3lm do one for about £10 which I will get. I've found a nice rug for it too. So this room should be done soon 🤞🏻.
My new alarm clock has just turned up so I'll get that set up tonight..I don't want to be bringing my phone to the bedroom any more so this a step towards that happening 🙂.

debtfreewannabe321

I managed to order some Xmas presents online which will save me traipsing around the shops..three friends are bought for now - all gifts from Neal's yard- I was on there buying my face cream and found they've got 20% off everything for BF so I've spent £72 on face cream (which I've run out of) and 6 presents, oh and I also ordered some bach remedy for me and some tea.  I used DP email and card and got another 20% off as a new customer and then cashback via TCB too so less than £68 over all spend and my face cream is usually £34 so I was happy with that for some nice presents 🙂! Just some stocking fillers left to buy now..and I'm undecided about buying for my sister's family or not. Unsure I'll see them as she's dropped off once again on contact. I'll leave it closer to the time to decide.
We found lots of Xmas snacks I had bought earlier last month when clearing out the old office so I will keep those in mind when doing the Xmas food shop next month.
Ordered a new curtain pole too- £10 from dun3lm will collect once it's arrived in store. I need a cheap light too but I am going to look in the garage first I think I might have some ceiling shades and then I can swap out the nasty cheap metal lights that are up for a ceiling pendant and put a shade on it. I think I have some nice silver Moroccan type covers. I'm all about not spending at the moment on the house, can you tell 🫣😆. Hopefully it won't show in the finished room. 

Okay going to try and have a NSD tomorrow aside from the food shop as I am pre-spending December's budget. 🙈 However, in my defence it needed doing and I'll be glad when the Xmas shopping is all done. Also be glad when the dressing room and DD cinema space is finished. 🙈 Although I should be grateful for some low spend projects because next on the list is three bathrooms 🤔. 

debtfreewannabe321

Morning all,
I got the clock working on the lumie clock. 😃👏🏻 Took me long enough. I tried to use the sunset button feature but it didn't go down quick enough. So I ended up switching it off. Then this morning I tried to turn the time on and pressed the wrong button and ended up blinding myself with sunlight and the sounds of a terrifying lion 🦁 which I thought had come to maul me in my drowsy state. Once awake we switched the damned thing off and we realised it wasn't a lion but a cat purring 🤔👀 and if you turn the sound down it sounds like someone snoring instead 🥲 hmmm. I'm unsure too why they chose a goat sound on the other option to wake you up rather than, let's say, gentle wave sounds or rain. Ummmm, hmmmm. Anyway it works. Sorta. I'll figure out the rest I guess. I don't really want to spend any more at the moment so we'll keep It. Perhaps further down the line we may get a more expensive one and erm, better one. But for now we'll keep It 🤣 terrifying lion and all.

DP has two jobs today, fill holes and paint dressing room (one job) and prep for his interview (he's already started this one). I need to water all the plants in the house. I've been a bad neglectful plant mum lately and I've had to cut a few back yesterday so will go round cleaning and watering and feeding them today - I think I have too many and what with work, pain and everything else I just don't do much above what I need to now. Perhaps I need to write down a schedule for doing jobs like this so I get a reminder. 
Okay, off to drop dd at work now. Then I think I'll come home and try to book a shopping slot with big river site for Mr M as I got a £10 off £80 spend voucher ...we've got enough food to last a few days if need be so ill see if I can get a slot. Right off for now and might be back later with shopping spends as we've reached the last week of month so money is quite tight now! Will also fill out my spends diary and try to keep up with that this month otherwise money just runs away from me. 

debtfreewannabe321

DD is at work safely ✅

Weekly shop is done. Aside from three bits they didn't have so need to go to Mr T. Delivery will be tomorrow morning! I managed to use the £10 off voucher (after clicking everywhere trying to find where to paste the code to) £76 for the week and after Mr T top up hopefully I'll have a few pounds left! ✅

Plants are all watered downstairs so I'll do upstairs in a mo✅

I've heard from two friends over the weekend, ones I usually check in with every week and say hi and I haven't bothered. They've been ignoring my messages or taking forever to respond and I felt my energy could be elsewhere so I stopped messaging them a couple of weeks ago. They actually reached out to me which made a nice change. So I've responded to both this morning- one is a work friend and since she moved on we have naturally just drifted anyway, but the other is a friend from school so was a bit sad it was always me reaching out. 

I'm going to deep clean the new and old kitchen as much as I can do this morning because my dust allergies are playing up. We keep on top of the new one obviously but the old one is hard to clean because we are lacking a floor and we've had to use the old sink for DIY so it's a bit dusty and needs a clean through. I'll hoover downstairs too. 
Then I have about six hundred washes to sort through 😭.okay slight exaggeration, but not much..we did four of five washes yesterday and now I need to sort them. ☹️ I've run out of work clothes so I have to do this and iron some.

I'm going to make a shepherd's pie with all the leftovers in the fridge too....!