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

HotDog2020

debtfreewannabe321 said:

Oh and I got my NSD today Instead! Up to 12 just checked diary and bank lol....only three more before 24th to get my 15!

Well done on your victories and well done sorting the loft, what a task, enjoy some welll desered R&R.

slm6002

I am looking at getting my loft boarded this winter time, and the thought of having to get everything out is both scary and exciting.  I am looking forward to selling / donating hopefully quite a lot of what is up there. Well done for getting things organised

debtfreewannabe321

Thanks @HotDog2020 ! & @slm6002 I couldn't quite believe how much was up there. I never go up there so just assumed it was Christmas stuff and a few suitcases oh wow was I in for a surprise. I am one of those who has a tidy house with everything looking like it's in it's home....and that is because I absolutely RAM everything in to all the cupboards, wardrobes and loft oh and the garage since moving here. So I have gone through every cupboard one at a time decluttering, rehoming, selling, tipping (why did I keep broken things!?) The kitchen is done, the dining room is done (although debating selling a cupboard), the living room has been done three times lately and the huge cupboard in the hall is done too, it now houses all the bedding and DP's jumpers. Every space aside from DD room has been organised and decluttered too. If we move then we don't have to do this process again. Last time we moved it all happened so quickly I didn't have time to declutter so actually paid someone to move rubbish with me it seems *oops* That won't be happening again! We did a full boot load to the charity shop this morning, it feels so good to have a clear out!

The house is clean and tidy now and we are just waiting for our house to go live on RM.

The house we are still interested in had viewers on Saturday but the owner has messaged us saying no offers from them so this is good, if we can sell quickly we could still get it.....it's the best one we've seen so far in terms of location and size. 

I am having an afternoon off, my friend may pop by but I am not doing anything, I am so tired and I have bruises all over me from moving stuff. It's cold out too so I don't want to do the gardening. Hoping to get some surveys and maybe I will start next month's budget and meal planner. We should have a MiP very soon from the TSB, we know what we can borrow up to and we were desperately trying to stay under the maximum but I think to get a house of similar size to what we have in the city we have to pay more. Even the ones that need work. 

Right off to start that meal plan and get organised for a new month which starts at the end of the week.

debtfreewannabe321

copied from May GC thread:
Hi all, we have had our final shop for the month, month ends on the 24th.
We are at : 

£569.34 / 500

Didn't manage to bring it on budget again. I have been over my receipts this morning and there really isn't a lot of extravagance in there.
I am thinking of-
1- taking the toiletries/ cleaning products back out of the budget and budgeting separately for that. So I can easily work out how much is spent on food going forwards.
2- having a month of easy cheap meals with not much choice or variation just to catch back up with myself and restock the pantry without overspending.
3- staying away from the shops for top ups, we went 4 times this month.
4- last resort upping the budget. 

We want to move soon so I really don't want to be upping the budget right now for affordability purposes so I can foresee a lot of Jacket Potatoes, HM pizza and curries in our future  
569.34/ 4 is £142.34 a week so it isn't too bad but I am going to keep trying to get it back under or as close to £500 as I can going forwards. 

debtfreewannabe321

Meal plan for June is done and it is filled with cheap HM stuff. I am happy with it, everyone was complaining when I kept to simple meals but just lately with experimenting with new recipes DD has been non stop complaining so no winning with her really. 
Back to basics for now to reign the budget in for affordability purposes. Plus if we are out viewing properties in the city it is a long drive there and back and I haven't been wanting to cook a big dinner once back.

Our home is listed on RM now, so it's live, not sure how much interest it will get as we are out of the way here, people tend to move here as they grew up here or are here already and upsizing...so fingers crossed there are people that fit that bill looking right now. 

I have put in the first shop of June already from Mr T to be delivered Sunday. £115 so far...hoping I don't have to add anything to it. Still no surveys which is a little disappointing. 
I need to book a  boiler service so going to find someone now, the boiler keeps locking out so really needs to be done asap. 

beanielou

Exciting times ahead. 

HotDog2020

I Second what Beanie says, good luck.

debtfreewannabe321

Morning All 🤗 thanks for dropping in. 
I had a really bad night sleep so feeling really tired today. My hip was giving me some pain and I was hot and cold until the pouring rain started around 3am and I drifted off then until 7 when DD woke me to do her hair. 
Very sleepy and dopey now.
I was going to go and see my friend but she has her daughter off school so I'm just going to stay home. I will give the hoover a quick run around and I've already tidied and done the washing up. Just in case we get some viewings booked soon.

We've been to see around 15 houses now over the last few weeks and our favourite by far is the very first one we saw still. Purely because of location. We've seen some nice houses but in the wrong location - too far out of town or wrong side of the city (too far from schools and main road out of city for DP). I'm glad we saw so many because it affirmed to us both where we want to be. I learned that lesson with this house now and I'm holding out for the right area 😂 you can always make a beautiful home from any house that's big enough if it is in the right location. We went for house over location in this one we live in now and well, lesson well and truly learned.
DP has been in talks with the guy from that first house as we put in a cheeky low offer after we had seen all these houses, he accepted more viewings at the weekend but he said they pulled the house apart and were a bit rude 😬 (and to be fair if I hadn't seen so many others I honestly would not be favouring his so much but comparison is a wonderful thing sometimes for indecisive people) ...he said if we up our offer he will accept ours and proceed with us which we agreed to yesterday. Now the pressure is on to sell ours quickly 😬 but houses in that area and that end of the road and size rarely come up in our budget so we feel it's silly to say no just in case we have issues selling ....and now I'm having all sorts of anxiety over selling quick.

I guess worst case scenario is we don't sell and we have to let him down (really don't want to as he's really nice. And we love the house now.) 

And we don't move. 😔

He knows the score we told him we were just listed and sent him the RM listing as it went live ... It's well within our budget to move there so we could potentially take an offer on ours as we won't lose out as we've not stretched ourselves really. He also hasn't found anywhere to go to yet but has things in mind. Hmm. Anyone got words of wisdom to calm my anxiety 😬 

I'm cooking chickpeas and mixed beans at the mo in the pressure cooker. Will make something with them later for dinner. The dog has taken a fancy to chickpeas as a treat too and they're not making him sick unlike his low fat super expensive treats.... 🙄

Should be a NSD now I'm not going out. I sold another small item on v1nted yesterday. my new tactic of  sending people offers as soon as they favourite it is working 🤣 I've only made a tenner on all three items but I don't mind they have been sat unworn in my wardrobe for a long time. One pair of shoes I sold is older than two of my children 🤣
Jobs for today - walk dog, hoover house, tidy around, get some more bits listed for sale if I can find some. And make dinner. Oh I sold an old keyboard too yesterday. Well DP did he had to first find a plug that worked with it. And it works and is a good brand so he listed is a bit higher than most and it sold immediately 🤗 £50! That's being collected later. That money with my vinted money will be put aside for our next bill. I want to make £95 to cover that before it's due. So that is £60 already. It's good having a clear out before we are anywhere near a moving stage so that we have time to list things and sell them rather than CS everything which is what I've had to do before in last minute panics. It really shows me too that I've wasted so much money on random purchases that weren't thought about and then these items barely used. That keyboard for example has been moved three times now....and always ended up in the loft! Just because I enjoyed playing the piano as a kid does not mean my children wanted to learn it .... It makes me want to only purchase things after really thinking about it. And not compulsive spending/ shopping which is what a lot of these purchases are from before I went MSE again. 

Right off to make some breakfast and start jobs list. And might be back in a bit to catch up on some diaries with a cuppa.
Also want to try and get some surveys done. I am close to payout on one for some vouchers. I need more paint so I'm trying to be cost neutral...make the money we intend to spend for the next few months- so first few things are the next bill money to find. And then paint money. Right best be off to do them chickpeas then. 

debtfreewannabe321

Yay I managed one pay out on surveys, just a fiver on a voucher, but alls good. I have sent my I.D off to be verified with the EA this morning. Having a faff with maiden name to married name and back to maiden name. 
Will clean up lunch mess and walk the dog, it is so cold he has hidden away all morning with his jumper on, but I think I can entice him out now it has warmed up a little   Need to cut the grass but it rained so much last night that it's sodden out there. Will get my NSD too, can't think what number I am on now, will go back and read the page before to see and update signature.

debtfreewannabe321

I am up to 14 NSD's! I can do this! Yay!

I don't think I said but I was thinking about viewing another house up the road from the one we have had the offer accepted on, it is already done up....it sold before we even got the chance to view it for full asking price which was maxing our budget out to be honest and possibly borrowing from savings. So this one is a better bet and DP have said we can do the work as and when I get another job and we have extra income. It will mean we only have to borrow possibly up to £30k rather than 50-60k on top of what we already are porting across (97) I feel better about the smaller amount so it's all good and it will all work out as it is supposed to I guess....(can you tell I have been chanting mantras all morning about how everything is in divine and perfect order and it will all work out as it is supposed to.. ) 

Thinking about viewing another house tomorrow which is on our second preferred street. However it is a 2 bed with space to convert to a 3 bed (was a 3 bed but they made it a big 2). The one we offered on is 5k more (well our accepted offer is) and has 4 beds..........so I think it would be a back up to us in case this preferred one falls through. I have said to DP if he needs to cancel though as he has meetings it is fine. 

Right I am off. Again.......