The Ongoing Saga of Ruby Trying to Own A Home

ruby_eskimo

debtfreewannabe321 said:

Well done on all the projects on the go and handling it all whilst working. We did this in our last house as we had money put aside. However I couldn't cope with a full time job around it so I only worked a few hours a week and even that was too much whilst trying to project manage 😂 so well done you.

Oh thanks @debtfreewannabe321, don't get me wrong it's bloomin' hard as DH is apparently deaf to the doorbell, and most of the trades will talk to him by default and he hasn't had to give up his office space, so working has been a bit difficult.  But work are very flexible with me so they don't mind if I need to pop off to talk plans with the builder.  

Speaking of work, I am still waiting to hear back about the promotion prospects.  Had a bit of a moan to the boss today as starting to get requests from big boss that fall firmly in the new job realm rather than the current job and it's aggravating my PTSD from my last job because this happened there and that's how I found myself doing 3 different jobs while only being paid for one of them.  He's having a meeting with them tomorrow to talk about it so we'll see what happens.

But the digging up of the floor went a lot easier than they expected this morning so the channels are ready for the plumber to lay the pipework for the washing machine relocation tomorrow.  Just need to hope that he can get the waste sorted as that's the big limiting factor.  

ruby_eskimo

We're ending the week on the plumber finishing with the pipework, the massive holes have been filled and now the skimming of the walls is happening.  So we're all on track, or a day behind depending on who you talk to in the team.  

DH has primed our bedroom and painted the first coat of white on the ceiling and will do the second coat today and then we're spending the rest of the weekend painting the walls - need to pick a colour first today!  

ruby_eskimo

Weekend was spent painting the bedroom - again it looks very similar to the colour we had in the last house 🤣🤣🤣  Oh well it's a light blue but a more saturated colour.  Almost had a heart attack though as the first coat went on horribly and it wasn't cheap paint (Dulux Heritage in the shade Copenhagen Blue).  Second coat was perfect though so 🤷‍♀️  Bought some curtains with some vouchers we had for Christmas but accidentally picked up the shorter length which looks odd to me so going to have to exchange those at some point this week.

Kitchen is coming along nicely.  Floor tiles are currently being laid as I feel a bit bougie with the fact that we're having tiles under the units now but apparently it's not costing us anymore in labour costs and makes it easier for the tilers anyway.  So by the end of the week we'll have the floor done and then we have a couple of weeks to paint everything before the units arrive.  

On the money front, I did have a mild panic a couple of weeks ago but it looks like we might actually have a very healthy buffer in case we need to pay more for the fitting of the kitchen.  Also we're closer to paying off our holiday than I thought so guessing I just didn't update my spreadsheet properly 🤷‍♀️  Either way, feeling a bit more relaxed about money.  Just need everything else in my life to calm down as well!

ruby_eskimo

The start of February has been a bit quiet on the house front.  Kitchen floor is all done, last bits of plastering have been done, and now we wait.  Well, actually we have to paint the kitchen over the next 2 weekends but other than that, nothing much is happening until the appliances come next Friday and the units the week after.  Will be nice to have it all done!

On the money / mortgage free front, still battling to get access to the mortgage account so I can actually set up some over payments.  Think I have to suck it up and call them next week because every time I request a new code, they take so long to send it, it's not valid by the time I get it in the post 😂🙄.

ruby_eskimo

Thought I'd posted an updated last week but apparently I didn't!

We've managed to pain the kitchen and utility room which took FOREVER - like primer + 4 coats of paint forever.  Plus having to get around weird spaces where the roof lights are etc.  First world problems I know but now it's done.  DH has to put the blinds up in the kitchen windows before the end of the week as it looks like the kitchen units are arriving over the weekend 🤞🤞🤞  Oven and hob are here so it's just getting it all fitted and then the worktops templated etc.  I will be so happy when it's all in and the skip's gone from the drive.  Oh and the new sofa will be here in about 10 days so need to arrange for the BHF to pick up the old one.

I also have failed a little on the no-buy front at the moment as I've been sorting out my clothes and slowly decluttering things and realised that I only have 2 office appropriate outfits left and since we're soon to be heading back into the office 2 days a week, I needed a couple more options.  So have gone on a bit of a vinted spree and managed to pick up a few things that will definitely work and I can mix and match but feel bad about buying things.  Just need to make sure I don't go too overboard buying things but it is a bit of an addiction finding all the bargains.

ruby_eskimo

Another weekly update:

Kitchen cabinets arrived last Friday and were fitted on Monday.  Looks really good ( I will share some pictures when it's all done!) and I was just happy that it all actually fit!  Was really nerve-wracking when you're the one who did all the measurements and design.  Only little snag is that we had to put the wall units right to the top of the ceiling so they matched the height of the two tall units we have (oven housing and pull out larder).  This means I can't reach the top shelves so I'll be using my little fold up stool when I do need to get up there.  The plus side is we don't have to worry about cleaning the tops of the cabinets 🤣🤣  Plumber is fitting the sink today, then the worktops are getting installed tomorrow and the electrician is coming Monday to fit oven and hob so we're on the final stretch hopefully!

BHF are collecting our old sofa on Tuesday, the same day the new one is getting delivered so it's definitely all go at the moment.  DH has asked if we can start stripping wallpaper in the hallway over Easter weekend so looks like we won't have a massive break between projects 😂

Money wise, still waiting on the bank to reinstate access to my mortgage account so I can actually make some overpayments 🙄  We're also going to be paying less Council Tax each month next year (about £100 less) than we have been paying because the council condensed the 7 months we've been in the new house into 5 months of payments.  This should give us enough wiggle room to cover the rising energy costs 🙄

Other than that things are ticking over and I'm just waiting to possibly hear about being put "at risk of redundancy" at work next week ahead of a possible promotion but I don't really want to think about it too much otherwise I'll stress myself out, and there's enough stressful things happening at the moment!

ruby_eskimo

Well so much for updating more often here.  Long story short, there's been a lot going on so will try and keep this brief (hahahaha)

Kitchen - has been installed, still need to finish unpacking things and then organising it.  Small snag though as went to use the washing machine yesterday for the first time in like 2 months and it started leaking everywhere 😨😩😒😢  Turns out that having builders basically throw it around will cause it to break.  It's almost 10 years old so we've had to use the last of the house money to buy a new one which should arrive on Thursday.  Managed to save some money by using a random discount code through a work discount website and then got cashback on gift cards that we used to purchase it.  And should get some more cashback through the actual purchase so tried to get as good a deal as possible for an unexpected purchase.

Sofa - new sofa arrived and is lovely.  BHF refused to take the old one because one of the cushions was slightly faded 🙄  Couldn't get any other charities to take it as they didn't have storage space so had to break it up and take it to the dump which was really annoying.  Couldn't even give it away on facebook!

Work - always a source of stress but this time it's getting ridiculous.  As of yesterday I'm on the at risk list for redundancy as my job is "surplus to requirements". Basically we've been working on a job description re-write for almost 2 years for a few different reasons, which has been approved but has now morphed into the old role being removed and a new job being created, which has to be opened up to anyone internally to apply for.  If I'm not successful in getting the new role, then apparently HR have identified a role to redeploy me into which I found out yesterday is a band lower than my current role and I'm not eligible for pay protection so basically I could be demoted.  There is a very small chance of that happening but there's still a chance so have been a little worried about that for the last 24 hours.  It's also not great timing as there's about to be a lot of people in my industry flooding the job market so there will be not a lot of options out there if this does all go wrong.  

Money - so that brings me to money.  We still haven't been able to overpay the mortgage yet due to accessing the account issues: DH now can't access it either so think a call to Barclays is going to be needed.  As we don't know what's happening with my job we're going to hold off putting pressure on that until we have some answers.  I also have been reviewing our outgoings and seeing where we can possibly make cut backs if we need to.  

Family - more stress here as my dad had surgery in September which hasn't worked.  He's now lined up for major surgery (we're talking 12 hours +) in May and there are many, many risks involved.  There is a less extreme treatment option available but he doesn't want to go for it because he want's it just dealt with in one go.  He's perfectly within his rights to say that but it's just extremely worrying.  Having to support my mum through the whole thing is taking it's toll on me when I'm already not in a good place but I don't really have any option.  

And to not leave this on such a negative note, it was my birthday last week and DH took me away to Prague for a few days which was a lovely unexpected break but I've been absolutely shattered since we got back and not sure if this is just the new normal for me at this older age or if I'm not cut out for the odd day time drink and a lot of walking anymore 🤣 

beanielou

You have such a lot on your plate. Take care of yourself. 

South_coast

Phew, that is a lot of news 😯! Don't worry about not updating on here, but equally we're all here if you ever fancy an anonymous place to vent/worry aloud x

That's lovely news on the trip to Prague, he's a keeper 🩷

debtfreewannabe321

Oh blimey.......and breathe. That's a lot to digest. I hope your dad will be okay. 
Work- if a few of you are perhaps being made redundant would it be better to jump ship to a new job whilst there is less people looking, or is the redundancy package a good one? I hope it all works itself out for you, it's so stressful when everything is up in the air.