I wanna be mortgage free!

twinklie

Ok so we've just sat down and come up with a list of things to do - room by room and here it is.

Loft
Sort the firebreak
Panelling out the loft (we need it functional so we have a space to hide our junk if nothing else).
Repair the chimney.

Bedroom
Redecorate (decoration was ruined when we got the windows done)
Sort out the cupboard doors.

Office/2nd bedroom
Put something over the window e.g. blind
Redecorate
Carpet

Bathroom
New bath and toilet (ours are VERY old and ugly)
New flooring (bare floorboards at the mo)
Sort the ceiling (false one all in panels at the mo)
New soil pipe (which will lead to digging up the back yard - doh)

Landing/Stairs
Decorate (never been done)
Sort ceiling (same prob as bathroom)
Carpet

Kitchen
Decorate (it's awful at the mo, OH's ex decided on red and cream)
Breakfast bar (already got the stuff for this but never got round to doing it)
Put handles on the units (see above)
Sort the doorways out.
Fix a hole in the ceiling and one in the wall.
[STRIKE]Buy a new washing machine (ours is broken)[/STRIKE] Ordered....hope it fits! :rotfl:
Buy a tumble dryer (never had one)
A new cooker and cooker hood (this would be one of the last things we got to make the kitchen look nicer - and OH really wants it. Ours is an OLD brown and yellow cooker at the mo :rolleyes:)
A new fridge/freezer if ours won't make it (it keeps showing signs of breaking down)

Living room
Decorate
New fire (we have a hole at the minute...:o)
New cupboards either side of chimney breast (OH is making these)
Carpet
New light fitting (ours in a 60's/70's nightmare that was in it when OH bought the place).

Vestibule
Decorate

Extras
New doors throughout (ours are all full panel glass - and not safety glass).
Empty and tidy backyard (can't be done until we see the devastation caused by digging up part of backyard for soil pipe)


Hmmm...now any ideas where we start?

OH seems to want to not talk about it or think about it and says we can't do anything till I finish school. I disagree but don't want to back him into a corner so he won't do anything full stop - so have so far said nothing.

I think I could probably get him to sort the loft stuff out and I'm going to research and buy a new washing machine so we don't have to keep going to the launderette.

Got to admit though I feel a little overwhelmed.
OH is also now saying that there is no rush as the earliest we could move is Easter anyway....OOOOOoh how I disagree. I know he'll probably get his own way but there sooner we are done, the sooner we can focus on finding a house, learning how to market ours well, and having a DIY free relax in an ok looking house!

taka

I feel your pain! I'm getting an immense sense of deja vu reading your list!

Brown cooker - tick - I also have a matching kitchen sink! :eek:
Ugly bathroom suite - tick - mine is a "lovely" shade of avocado :rolleyes:
Hole in wall instead of fire - tick
Kitchen awful decoration - tick - oh and mine has artex... on part of the walls :wall:

My flat needs complete stripping back and starting again everywhere except the boxroom. I discovered exactly how bad the walls are in my flat when I stripped the wallpaper off the walls in the boxroom and have been too scared to start anything else!

My evil home to do list...

Bedroom - Strip wallpaper, skim walls, prepare to decorate, replace carpet and decorate. Buy new blind and a bookcase.

Livingroom – In the short term... Wash and paint walls, strip or paint the annoyingly imbalanced skirting board and replace carpet. Strip and wax (or sand and paint) pigeon-hole storage unit. Buy a sofa I like! If this stays a living room - install fire and fireplace instead of having a hole in the wall. If it becomes a bedroom then fill doorway and replaster and decorate etc.

Bathroom - Rip out and replace suite and shower, remove old cold water tank and replaster, Tile and decorate including flooring and fix window.

Hall - Strip wallpaper, skim walls, prepare to decorate, draughtproof front door and decorate.

Kitchen - Paint it less offensive colours while saving to do the following work! Strip wallpaper (currently holding plaster up in places) and replaster kitchen and instal new units. Possibly move units + wall to allow room to become a Kitchen come livingroom. Sort out kitchen sink and appliance plumbing. Fix window.

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

twinklie

OOOH I feel your pain with the artex too. Ick!
You got a timeline for any of your work taka? Maybe we could help each other out with words of encouragement...tips and general your not alone talk!

It's funny though, we are doing all this so we can sell just to do it all again! Argh!

taka

twinklie wrote: »

OOOH I feel your pain with the artex too. Ick!
You got a timeline for any of your work taka? Maybe we could help each other out with words of encouragement...tips and general your not alone talk!

It's funny though, we are doing all this so we can sell just to do it all again! Argh!

Funny you should ask that actually! I'm just starting a 101 in 1001 challenge blog today where a large no of the renovations feature! (see here for more info from some other MSE'rs):rotfl:

First up on the renovations will be the bathroom! Renovations savings currently at £3907.30 with ~£600/month being saved towards it (target is £6000)! Should be able to start getting quotes/ suites /tiles etc pretty soon! :j The rest will hugely depend on whether I spend all £6k on the bathroom and whether I get to do a PhD or not (and if I am accepted, whether its part time (same salary as now) or full time (massive drop in earnings! :eek:)).

twinklie

twinklie wrote: »

Kitchen
Decorate (it's awful at the mo, OH's ex decided on red and cream)
Breakfast bar (already got the stuff for this but never got round to doing it)
Put handles on the units (see above)
Sort the doorways out.
Fix a hole in the ceiling and one in the wall.
[STRIKE]Buy a new washing machine (ours is broken)[/STRIKE]
Buy a tumble dryer (never had one)
A new cooker and cooker hood (this would be one of the last things we got to make the kitchen look nicer - and OH really wants it. Ours is an OLD brown and yellow cooker at the mo :rolleyes:)
A new fridge/freezer if ours won't make it (it keeps showing signs of breaking down)

Ahem...just bought a washing machine. Should be here within a month. Did the whole price comparison thingy and went through quidco. Only get a tiny amount back but I'll be soooo happy to not have to spend hours at the launderette. CANNOT WAIT!

twinklie

taka wrote: »

Funny you should ask that actually! I'm just starting a 101 in 1001 challenge blog today where a large no of the renovations feature!

I had a good look at that but decided I'm probably just not dedicated enough - I have enough trouble updating this...ha ha.

Blimey...what you thinking of doing your Phd in? I'm having enough trouble doing my MSc and working full time. How you'd do a Phd part time I've no idea. Your braver than me. :j

taka

twinklie wrote: »

I had a good look at that but decided I'm probably just not dedicated enough - I have enough trouble updating this...ha ha.

Blimey...what you thinking of doing your Phd in? I'm having enough trouble doing my MSc and working full time. How you'd do a Phd part time I've no idea. Your braver than me. :j

Ahhh... My job helps a bit! I'm currently a Research Assistant at a Uni and potentially a PhD could be done doing the sort of Research I do now anyway(or similar). In theory its very possible but doing it part time could get very messy - part of my current job is supervising every Tom, !!!!!! and Harry who needs training in our group (which can be VERY time consuming sometimes) and I wind up with all sorts of departmental stuff and random testing of things too. It could be a nightmare trying to balance the 2 plus there is no guarantee we'd get more funding (or even more funding on a remotely related topic...) to allow me long enough to complete it. Doing a full time PhD (in the same lab on a similar topic) would mean I have a much more defined role but far less money. Thats if I get accepted and can get any funding at all - I have a 2:2 + lots of relavant experience but there is no guarantee its enough to get full time funding...

*and breathe...* :rotfl:

twinklie

Well good luck to you taka. I'm impressed with it all. What are you a research assistant in? Are you science? NOTE: I assume everyone is these days! lol

I complained to OH that we were starting to live like my parents due to the junk piles that were creeping in. He seems to have gotten rid of the junk piles in the middle of the night!!! Looks like I found out how to motivate him! Ha ha ha

Incidentally, taka...I'm finding that list thing 101 in 1001 days too tempting...you know I'm gonna end up doing it!

twinklie

Ok so after saying I'm not going to do it I've got up to 40 on my list on the blog I've just started. DOH! I'll finish it later but I really should get started with the lesson planning now or I'll be stuck later in the week. lol.

Finished it now and here is the link to my 101 things to do in 1001 days blog. http://twinklie-101thingstodoin1001days.blogspot.com/
I'm hoping it keeps me focused and stops me babbling so much on here.

benbenandme

Hi Twinklie, when I lived in a similar house with my ex, I found the best thing to keep me going was clearing clutter / sorting out drawers/cupboards etc, so that *when* he did finally get round to doing it there was less stuff to be moved / rehoused while the work was going on, which kept the place feeling a bit more organised and stopped us getting too fed up with it all. Also it will make it easier when you come to pack everything when you move

Could you do some of the trips to the diy centres to get any stuff he may need? Often my ex wouldnt start something because he didnt have the right stuff, or he would wander off to the diy place and return hours later when it was too late to get on with anything :rolleyes: