The Ongoing Saga of Ruby Trying to Own A Home

ruby_eskimo

debtfreewannabe321 said:

I love shutters too Ruby - although our house came with some not too bad white wooden blinds so we've left them up after a good clean (they were filthy- we think from coal being burned in the fire?)   ...in awe at all your progress!

Thank you very much, in awe of how you're coping with all the changes for you and DP as well as moving house!  We had white blinds in the old house and they were nice, just I want this house to be the house where we do things properly rather than making do, even if we have to save for a while beforehand.  Although saying that, I really wanted to replace the fire surround and mantel in the lounge but then they re-plastered it so quickly that I didn't get a chance to mention it.  Now I'm too scared to say as it would men undoing a lot of work 🤣🤐

ruby_eskimo

Oohh just had an email saying I've won a prize draw at work for a £50 voucher of my choice, all because I actually bothered to fill out a survey they sent round 🥳.  Torn between being sensible and getting B&Q or homeware related vouchers or getting something frivolous like a restaurant or book voucher instead.  Or getting something to go towards Christmas presents?  If I can split it then I might get half as a treat and half as something sensible 🤔

beanielou

Half and half if you can. 

debtfreewannabe321

ruby_eskimo said:

debtfreewannabe321 said:

I love shutters too Ruby - although our house came with some not too bad white wooden blinds so we've left them up after a good clean (they were filthy- we think from coal being burned in the fire?)   ...in awe at all your progress!

Thank you very much, in awe of how you're coping with all the changes for you and DP as well as moving house!  We had white blinds in the old house and they were nice, just I want this house to be the house where we do things properly rather than making do, even if we have to save for a while beforehand.  Although saying that, I really wanted to replace the fire surround and mantel in the lounge but then they re-plastered it so quickly that I didn't get a chance to mention it.  Now I'm too scared to say as it would men undoing a lot of work 🤣🤐

Oh wow. Are you mind reading me. I said the exact same thing to my DP 🤣🤣.... Including wanting to redo the fireplace 😁. We are making do with the blinds for now until we've saved but I am thinking shutters. Many of the neighbours have them and they look good in the bay windows of this age house so best start saving 🤣. (We need new windows first).

LadyWithAPlan

well done on the win! Definitely keep some as a treat 

I also adore shutters - especially those half ones that stop and wipe being able to see in but the light can still get in 

greent

We have shutters in the family room and the office. Chose an independent small company and saved about £1300 on the price quoted by the national blinds Co that advertises on the TV. Samples looked exactly the same - even down to the Special bags they keep them in....

If you do go for them, go for a split so you can have some closed, some open. Our split is about 2/3 of the way up. 

I really wanted lots of skinny slats but the guy persuaded me to get bigger ones and I'm glad I did. 

Ours are in 2 of the sunniest rooms of the house - we couldn't have them everywhere, I don't think, as they do massively change the light levels.

ruby_eskimo

Well DH said I should use all of my win as a treat so I'm going to do just that 😁  Turns out I can split it between a couple of places so might get some for Lush so I can treat myself when the bathroom is finally done (more on that in a minute) and then I'll see about the rest.  

Loving all the shutter love and agree that we'd get a split so we can still have some light in.  We'd only really need 3 windows doing at the front - the lounge so we can have some privacy from all the people walking past that are rather nosy, our bedroom which is again at the front but we have a street lamp that's on the opposite side of the road so we need the light blocking (as well as the blackout curtains we have) and then in the other bedroom at the front which is like our dressing room (so a privacy thing again).  Will have a look after Christmas at some local people and see what they quote.  In my head I want something simple but I know it will be more complicated than I think it is 😂

Currently sitting in the garage waiting on the car to be looked at.  Really hoping it's a simple fix and I'm not sitting here all day to be told they need to order a part and it will be ready tomorrow.  Also really hoping it's not ridiculously expensive to fix 🤞

ruby_eskimo

Well I shouldn't have jinxed myself - turns out need a new radiator for the car.  Went back this morning only to then be told that the part was delayed and they couldn't do it today so have to go back tomorrow.  Oh and all in its costing close to £1k so I've had to suck it up and pull the money out of the emergency fund.  

Also work on the house is slowing down and not because it's almost finished 😟  No one turned up yesterday due to a miscommunication but plasterer is back today to try and get the ceilings on the landing sorted.  Still has to do the hallway downstairs too but we need the plumber to sort out a pipe first before he can do that.  DH did manage to paint first coat on the lounge ceiling last night so tonight he's going to do the second coat, while I paint the coving so it's ready for the electrician to work his magic tomorrow with fitting lights. 

It's payday tomorrow for me so will be updating spreadsheets and maybe starting my Christmas shopping while I sit in the garage again.  Thank goodness I can work remotely at the moment because if I had to take all this time off work to get the car sorted, I would not be happy!

ruby_eskimo

Thank goodness it's Friday 😞  Had the radiator replaced on the car and managed to wangle a 5% discount because the manager noticed I was back for the third day running and was concerned.  Would have been nicer to not have had to pay the diagnostic fee but 5% was better than nothing.  

House wise we've painted the ceilings and coving in the lounge and my office and now have lights up in both rooms too!  Tonight I'm caulking and taping while DH is sanding woodwork ready to actually paint the walls tomorrow.  Then the big clean up and hopefully moving the furniture back in on Sunday or Monday afternoon at the latest.

Money wise I managed to get my pay rise and back pay through in this month's pay so I've been able to put £1k into my LISA this month so now I actually stand a chance of maxing it out this year.  I need to actually make an OP to the mortgage this month - it's a bit more difficult to do it with the new bank because we don't have another account with them.  To get round this, I'm going to set up another pot to Tilly Tidy bits and pieces into that I can then pay towards the mortgage once a month (and earn some interest on so I can passively pay even more pennies towards the big debt 😂).

ruby_eskimo

Well back after a week off work.  In that time we:

- Finished decorating the lounge and my office and it's looking pretty good if I do say so myself 😀  We've moved all the furniture back in so now I have my kitchen back!

- Moved the bed back into our bedroom so we're no longer sleeping on the spare bed.  Still have to paint it but at least it's a bedroom again.

- Ordered blinds for the house.  Yes I had to give up on my dream of shutters because all 5 blinds cost less than 1 shutter 😂

- Ordered radiator covers for downstairs, one of which I'm going to hack so it has some shelves above it

- Had the electrician in to install lights that we bought 8 years ago for the old house but couldn't have fitted without completely re-writing everything (they look amazing by the way and just what I pictured 😀)

- Had a few days away in Derbyshire for our wedding anniversary, paid for with Hotels.com credit 👍  Sitting in a hot tub on the balcony while it was lightly drizzling was very much appreciated after all the manual labour we've been doing 

- Visited DIY Kitchen's epic showroom and narrowed down the choices we want for when we're ready to order a new kitchen (won't be till well into the new year)

- Celebrated my godson's 1st birthday.  He had a bit of a rough start in life but you would never know it now, he's just the cutest little pumpkin (his birthday is Halloween 🎃) and it was lovely to spend time with the bestie.

- Saw Sarah Millican over the weekend which was a birthday or Christmas gift from DH (we couldn't remember which 😂) which was just what we both needed to finish off a busy week.


As I sit at my desk (eeekkk) I'm being serenaded by the sounds of the plumper and tiler causing absolute chaos upstairs.  They're starting tiling on the floor in the bathroom and hanging the shower at the moment I think, but whatever they're doing it's loud 😂.  

Also started the Christmas shopping at the weekend with a couple of little things for people.  I have ideas for everyone else, just need to actually buy the things now.