The Ongoing Saga of Ruby Trying to Own A Home

greent

Sorry to hear the news, Ruby. Fingers crossed that DH gets out soon. Glad to hear that finances are ok - you dont need the extra worry!

Look after yourself, too - you can't look after DH properly if you're running on empty xx

ruby_eskimo

Afternoon all, thanks again for the well-wishes. DH was discharged yesterday evening and very much enjoyed sleeping in his own bed, once we found the right combination of pillows for the right body parts. Trying to let him do his own thing pottering around but he does need some supervision too, especially on his mandated walks 3 to 4 times a day. It's going to be slow progress but he'll get there eventually.

Still waiting for replacement log in details for the mortgage online banking and he's already received the money as soon as that comes in we can make our lump sum overpayment. It will mean lower monthly payments going forwards so we can bank the extra we budget for and earn some interest to then make another OP as soon as we can next year.

Not a lot more to report - still need to list a bunch of stuff to sell but that may be what the bank holiday is for!

beanielou

Glad the money has arrived.

ruby_eskimo

DH has decided to treat himself to the new shed that he's been eyeing up for the last 6 months with some of the money he's got (plus the savings he'd already squirreled away for the shed). This meant I was out last night measuring the entire garden so he can now spend his time drawing and designing his ultimate vision for the space (anything to keep his mind busy!). We have agreed that he can have his new shed but we need to replace the fences along the back and down one side first so lovely builder is coming to quote next week for that…just when I thought all the projects were done!

I realised I hadn't told you the saga of getting the new carpets that we had fitted a few months ago - they came to fit when I was in the office and DH was working at home, he sends me pictures of the finished install, I comment on the pictures that it looks a lot more grey than I remember but must be the light. Cue a very panicked husband calling me saying that yes it's grey, it's very grey, and that's not what we ordered. He starts to spiral and I have to tell my boss I'm heading home to stop my husband having a seizure. Get home, yep it's definitely not what we ordered, the texture isn't right either. So I grab the massive offcut they've left, head to the shop and say "You just installed this but this isn't what I ordered". It takes 45 minutes for them to realise that they've installed someone else's order in my house and what we did order is still sitting in the warehouse with our name on it. Takes them another 2 weeks to be able to fit us in to install the right stuff and a very noticeable difference compared to what they put in the first time around. Very pleased with the decision we made and the final, final results!

Also realised I hadn't made my monthly payment to my LISA yet so just sent that over on track to max it out again this year 🤞

ruby_eskimo

Finally managed to get into the online banking for the mortgage and have managed to make a test payment to check that all the details I have are correct, so that's fingers crossed a £5 overpayment to the mortgage this year at least!

ruby_eskimo

And since that payment went through, we now have paid £35K off the mortgage 🥳

Still a lot more to go but now we're actually looking like we're going to be mortgage free before I'm 60 - that's the goal and it's only 20.5 years away…

DH made me take him to the big shed showcase this weekend for a wander round. He needs to build up his stamina again so what better way than walking around outdoors, looking at sheds and stopping every so often to have a sit by the pond and watch some ducks. He found the potting shed he's been looking at online and got them to put a quote together for him, and as we were leaving I spotted a different one we had missed (this place is absolutely huge!). DH says "oh that's the really expensive brand, can't afford that" and I then spot it has a massive ex-display sale sign on it. Turns out this one is only £200 more than the one he got quoted, but has a lot more extras that make it essentially his potting shed of dreams. And it's the exact size he wants. Cue him absolutely falling in love with it, rushing back to the office to ask them all about it, and it's now on reserve pending our builder coming out this week to confirm that he can extend the existing base a tiny bit (the door opens on the opposite side so we have to move it over a bit to allow sufficient access). The only real hiccup is that we would need to ask our neighbours over the back (who we've never met) very very nicely if we could have it delivered via their garden while the fence is down as we don't have a side access, it won't fit through the back door in our garage and the company won't deliver through a house (even though it would definitely fit). I'm hoping that the promise of a lovely new fence and removal of a tree that is encroaching on their garden, without them having to pay a penny, will sweeten the deal, otherwise DH will have to give up on his dream potting shed 😔

South_coast

Would the company delivering it take it to the front door and you and DH carry it through the house work as a back-up plan if the neighbours don't comply? It sounds like they're getting a good deal to me, but people are funny!

rtandon27

FiFingers crossed the neighbours are agreeable!

I have neighbours on both sides and for one of them I'd move heaven and earth to assist with anything! The others never in a million years! So fingers crossed your neighbours are pleasant and accommodating!

ruby_eskimo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82121822#Comment_82121822

They are very strict that they have to handle all of it until it's fully installed, because that thought had crossed our mind so DH contacted them to check. He's going to go round and ask tonight so 🤞🤞🤞

But as a back up plan, he's found a company that make an inspired version of the same shed, and will charge a little extra to make it in smaller sections to aid with delivery. If this wasn't ex-display then we could have probably done the same thing if it wasn't prohibitively expensive without the discount 😂 So we'll just have to wait and see. Builder is coming tomorrow to look at the fences etc. so we should have a clearer picture then.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82121954#Comment_82121954

Our neighbours each side of us are ok…the ones we're joined on to can be a bit loud sometimes but that's because they have no carpet or curtains in their entire home so there's nothing to dampen the sound. The others are nice to chat to but we also need to talk to them about the fence replacement and I have a feeling they might not be happy about it even though the fence is also broken on that side - they've painted it and hung lots of decorative things on it… The one's over the back are an unknown quantity…

ruby_eskimo

Happy October! And it certainly is a happy one - DH had his follow-up with the hospital and is (for the moment) technically cancer free 🥳 No trace of the !!!!!! in any of the many, many lymph nodes they removed during his surgery so he's in the clear at the moment and doesn't require any further treatment for now. It's one of those cancer's that likes to come back so he'll be monitored for the next five years and we'll just have to wait and see, but for the moment we are definitely breathing a little easier.

Since the last update we've had the builders in to landscape the garden, build a new shed base, removed 2 skips worth of rubbish from the previous owner and replace the fences, and the neighbours over the back are lovely people and agreed to let us have DH's shed of dreams delivered through their garden 🥳 I think DH was probably more happy about that than his health news 🤣 So now we wait for the company to pick a date to deliver; they already tried to give us a delivery date that DH had said we couldn't do so hopefully it will be here before Christmas! He's making me take him to Hobbycraft tonight so he can look at small organisation bits for it 😂

On the money front, our mortgage payments have now been reduced after the big overpayment we made, so I've opened a high interest savings account to put the difference into for a year so we can build up some free cash and make another OP next year.

As DH is feeling a lot better, we've started on some little projects around the house. Last weekend we cleared out the understairs cupboard which we hadn't touched since we moved in. Picked up a free carpet offcut that was the perfect size from FB Marketplace to cover the bare concrete floor and now have an organised space, a light and enough room to store our emergency supplies and DH's cricket gear. He even made a small shelving unit from offcuts to help organise things off the floor. I've also sold some books and have started to list some other bits on the big auction site that have bids on them. Still have a massive box of clothes to sell on vinted so need to start doing a little bit every day. Slowly but surely we're getting there!

Hope you're all doing well, need to try and catch up on diaries where I can!