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

debtfreewannabe321

Finally got out in the garden to sort the pots this last hour. Deciding what I'm taking and leaving ...I have around 15 pots ranging from small to a very large curry plant to take which is a huge improvement on what I feared I'd want to keep 😁🤣 I also have around five fruit bushes I want to dig up but won't do that just yet. Also have a few ornaments I'm taking too but left them in situ for now.

I came across an Ants nest in one pot it was using the pot as an entrance going down the inside where the plant had pulled away from the pot and going through the hole at the bottom into the ground below it 😨 I didn't realise until I had around a hundred ants going crazy and running all over my feet and legs ..... Thank God they were not spiders or I think I'd have been screaming my head off and thrown the pot. I'm still finding the odd ant around me now having fallen out of my trousers 😨🤣

I'm leaving behind around 20 pots for the new owners, things that have died and weeds have taken over and also things we inherited that I'm not bothered about- all plastic pots too so not expensive to replace. So, I'm glad that is done I felt it was going to be an overwhelming job but it took about twenty minutes.

Next job house plants 🙈 I have around 15 just in the room I'm sat in so I think this will be a bigger job ...I'm trying to work out what I can get into the car and how many trips it might take to do it- so when I have the house survey ( for removals quotes )  I'll know if I need them to take any or not .. I'd rather not...I prefer to take plants myself...I consider them much like my children and pets, part of the family and they mustn't be locked in the back of a van being thrown about 🤣...some of my house plants are huge though and I'm unsure how to move them in a car...like the cheese plant for example and a devil's ivy I hace that trails about 15 ft. I've also got lots of delicate ones like my Easter cactus that's in flower ...hmmm. I will have a little googly and see how others move these things as I don't want to do several round trips at 30miles each trip ...

Had another quote come in from a big firm round here for removals and they've asked we do the quote sooner rather than later as August our preferred removals time is their busiest time of year. 

I've booked DP time this weekend to pack the garage with me. He's forewarned so he can't moan and try and get out of it.
The last weekend of June I have also forewarned him we are repainting over the kids rooms if they need it after all their posters have come down...I know it is quite far in advance of the move but it's the only weekend I know for sure they will both be with their dad and out of the way.

Got pasta, pesto (nice vegan one from Mr T) and spinach with garlic bread for dinner which takes no prep and cooks within twenty minutes...so I can crack on and do some more sorting 😁

debtfreewannabe321

Just cooked a yummy dhal. Did Do a big batch but I'm taking some to my friend so not sure if there will be two dinners worth left for us yet. 

Just cooking some chickpeas whilst I'm in the middle of all other cooking so all washing up is done together then I will head off to my friend.

I also picked her a bunch of flowers from the garden, how very MSE of me 😆...I did need another two tins of tomatoes to make the dhal but I used paste instead so I didn't need to go to the shops. On a roll today with money saving eh 😆

Hopefully a NSD now as I avoided shops for flowers and tomatoes 😊 we'll see though it's only morning still....

Not done much else yet have been in the kitchen for hours so just cooking and cleaning in there done. 

Might report back later depending on how my NSD pans out...

MovingForwards

You're doing really well decluttering, selling and keeping your head fairly straight.

If you can get the plants and any other fragile or sentimental items in the car, you'll find it less stressful than having them in the removal van.

Thanks for the falafel recipe, I'm also partial to them.

LadyWithAPlan

Well done on all your forward action .. very exciting 

debtfreewannabe321

Thanks @MovingForwards yeh moving plants and animals and books safely is always my concern when moving things never change really. We've made a few more sales since I was last on here but only very small items going out now we sold all the big furniture/ pond/ garden/ electrical items really.
@LadyWithAPlan thank you very exciting! 

FOOD-
So I have just done my food shop, pushed it back a day and we are out or low on lots of stuff including coffee, fruit, veg, bread. But I refused to do top up shops and said we can make do. I have just tallied up spends as I have been really slack on updating on the GC thread this month, and indeed on my signature! even with some naughty trips to Mr T & coop the other day for treats I am at £384.66 this month with only 9 days left on our month! I have just ordered from Mr T to be delivered tomorrow and currently the basket is at £103 so that is still well within our spends for this month and my target of £500! I knew I could do it! However, I have gone through the basket each and every week with a find toothcomb taking out all treats that were in excess and it makes me sad that we have to compromise quite so much on the groceries when DP works so hard and I am like, no you can't have that coffee/ treat/ whatever/ if you have that...one or the other because we can't afford both. It is ridiculous. Anyway.... moving on... (i could rant about this all day).

MORE DECLUTTERING-
This weekend I had pre-warned DP we were doing the garage! AND ...we have done it it is organised and packed and tidied like a woman did it not a man. Everything is still accessible as I packed it all into banana boxes, happily supplied by mr T the other day, and labelled and put back onto the racks. I have even suggested DP keep the boxing system when we move, all plumbing stuff together, all tools are together, all excess plant pots together etc. I have cleaned two corners entirely and I don't know whether I said before, am sure I probably did but we did about 5 tips runs....well we managed another 3 seriously how much rubbish did we have!! I can't actually believe it and am a little gobsmacked at it all. So we have saved ourselves probably the space of a small van there in getting rid of all that. We kind of ran out of steam by the time we had finished so came back in, I wanted to empty the loft into the garage so I could properly sort through the xmas stuff as that was the one thing DP never got out when we went through the loft before. I will store it all in the garage after making all that space and that way when we have quotes for removals they can see everything that is going and not turn up on the day and complain about all the loft stuff we never told them about (I always tell them and they still always moan about it). 

HOUSE BUYING-
The conveyancing is all coming along well on our end and also our buyers end. The seller of our new home...he has had endless viewings of properties and still not put an offer in to anything I am feeling very nervous about this....... His partner left him and took the kids and I don't think he ever had any intention of moving from the home we are trying to buy....it makes me nervous that he is having second thoughts, although DP has spoken to him at length and he said he simply cannot afford to live there any more so will have to move. It doesn't mean he will be very quick about it though. I hope I am just worrying over nothing...must get back to my daily meditating and visualising a good end result for all involved....If he hasn't put an offer in in the next couple of weeks anywhere I think I will be thinking about looking at more houses myself (I am still saving properties on RM that are being sent through)..... I don't want to but...but.... (I do like to overthink things). Initially he said he had one lined up which is why we thought it would all be sorted quickly but I think that house must have gone before he got a chance to offer.

EF-
I think we have a little more money to add to the EF of things we have sold but I haven't tallied up what we have yet as we have been flat out busy this weekend. 

NEXT WEEK-
DP is away next week at some point at a conference. The kids are both at their dad's house for a week so I will have a week to overthink everything  myself to chill. I am thinking about seeing my friend, praying for good weather to get out and enjoy the garden a bit. Some baking, cooking (although I had to take most ingredients that were excess out of my basket so not sure I have enough to make anything extra to the basic meals now). Will also walk the dog and sort the loft out too -empty, declutter, re-pack.
DD has the dentist tomorrow, fingers crossed they accept her for NHS braces. 
DD has finally finished all her exams too so is off school until September now!

MS STUFF-
I saw my friend the other day, she loved the freshly picked bunch of flowers, and the curries, falafels and crystals I brought round I also showed her how to sage her house and left her with some sage sticks I had made myself....I came home and picked some more sage from the garden and have bunches drying out in the kitchen ready to make some more. The curry as lovely as it was gave me a horrid tummy ache. I was trying to put as much goodness as I could into it for my friend as she is suffering with the effects of chemo and radio already ...and I forgot I had put ginger in it and I have a mild allergy to it I think as I was cramping up all evening from it must remember to cook mine separately next time without the ginger. I have 4 more portions in the freezer too I think I will have a JP that day lol.

DP doesn't know what is happening with the CMS as we don't know if his DD has finished college or is staying on another year. She won't tell him. Not very helpful but I guess we have to wait to see on that one. I had to try and pacify DP and say it really doesn't matter if we do have to pay it, even though it is double as we will be on countdown anyway it will only be 1 more year max that he has to pay it so don't stress (I think he is more upset his DD still won't talk to him but there isn't anything we can do about that sadly).

Hmmm not much else to report finance wise I don't think ...i had a nsd Friday and today. Yesterday i gave in and went and bought rubbish sweets and choc as was feeling so drained from emptying the garage and tip runs all day! It didn't cost much though and I factored it in to the food budget so all okay we don't do that often enough to be telling ourselves off about it

SURVEYS-
Oh - £10 in vouchers in my email waiting to be cashed in. I am £1 off payout on pr0lific just waiting for some to go through for that one. That's pretty good going considering I have barely been on the laptop this last week  

debtfreewannabe321

Hey all, waiting for my Mr T delivery so thought I'd jump on quickly. Not a NSD we were waiting hours at the dentists 😐 and were starving by the time we came out. She got accepted for an NHS brace though! Then we decided seeing as though we needed to go to the hospital for X-ray we may as well eat there and go to the hospital when it opened for the afternoon. So just under a tenner spent in Greg's and I also went in to H&B as I have £2.50 on my card that had to be spent before the month is out. So I spent 74p over getting some tea and some chocolate for DD. Also had to pay for parking which was £2. So not a hugely spendy day but spends nonetheless....Mr T is just under £100 as they had to substitute a few things. So that's well within budget.

I have some cash to cash out on surveys I will do that this afternoon. I also cashed out some vouchers and have used those to spend on things I need for the new house like shower heads with water filters. 

Not much else to report today but will try and update signature in a bit.

debtfreewannabe321

Morning all, so the kids should be off to their dad's house today for almost a week. DD has decided she doesn't want to go until tomorrow but I had already booked the use of the car for today .Her and her dad had been discussing when they would be going without consulting me which is no good really...I had already consulted with my ex last week and we'd agreed on today -and then they were having more discussions after that and decided on tomorrow. Ummm if you want me to drive half way down the country to meet you I need to be made aware of when beforehand...I do get annoyed with them just assuming I have nothing to do and they don't need to consult with me. 😑
I can't use the car tomorrow as DP has a meeting so ex is now trying to see if he can meet with me today after all. So I guess I will have to leave my whole day free now instead of having it planned ..just in case. Annoyed.

Anyway. Moving on...I have cashed out some money on surveys, I have kept it in my current account though as it's very low. I've also kept some money from vinted in there ...I might transfer across to savings at the end of the month if it's still in there by then.

I'm planning on going through the house today with a duster (where have all these cobwebs come from!) and hoover and will wash the bedding. Not much else planned as I don't know what's happening with dropping kids...so will just have dog to walk and a dinner to plan.

I love my kids but honestly DP and I were kinda looking forward to a couple of days break from them...they've both taken to staying up past midnight and keeping us awake the entire time because they slam doors, run down stairs and are talking etc...even after being told off for it. They just do it a teensy bit quieter and think they are ninja like when they're really not so we've not slept properly since last week. Both of us are tired and we're looking forward to some good sleep.

I'm planning my revenge this morning I'm about to go and put one of my '80s love compilation records on very loudly and speakers are below DS and DD room 😁❤️ perhaps if they're up early they will go to bed earlier 😁🤞

Should be a NSD today. I have to add the groceries into the spends and see how much I have left of the budget. That money can be transferred across to savings at the end of the month if we've not spent it elsewhere by then.

Right off to find the cheesiest record I own to get them both up ☺️

ladybird1106

Turn that volume up and singing at the top of your voice. 🤣

Love🐞

beanielou

Singing loudly. 

debtfreewannabe321

It worked 😅 they got up.

They're packing up as their dad has decided he wants to meet today now. So will take them in the next hour or so...three hours round drive ... already feeling tired at the thought of it. 
Nevermind I will hopefully get a good night's sleep tonight minus noisy teenagers 🤞😁