arguments with hubby

tyllwyd

Two windows plus 2 doors for £2000 sounds expensive (it does depend what they are, of course) - I'd get some quotes and haggle.

What is the problem with the garden?

jak

I have been on similar situations with dh! He seems ti think that if you can't see it, it doesn't exist! Drives me crazy. I sympathise totally, it's so annoying- but remember you are doing the best thing for your family and if he's going to be a sulky child about him then he needs a wake up call really.
Sorry I know it's harsh but since when was this all your fault, surely you're in it together? Might be worth reminding him of that...

doodledo_2

tyllwyd wrote: »

Two windows plus 2 doors for £2000 sounds expensive (it does depend what they are, of course) - I'd get some quotes and haggle.

What is the problem with the garden?

I got my whole house done (3 bedroom), a front door, french doors and a bay window for £2500. So definately shop around for quotes.

We ended up using a smaller local company who were brilliant, the larger ones quoted silly money. We had a quote from the "you buy one you get one free" lot and it was £7.5k :eek:

SingleSue

I have transformed my back garden for the grand total of ........ £30!

It has gone from being a rather unpretty, very untidy back garden into an oasis of calm but then it does help having a landscape gardener for a brother who only requires dinner and a little bit of babysitting as payment for his labour.

For the plants, he took cuttings from my neighbours plants (he did ask permission first) and borrowed some from his own garden.

For paving, he scoured the local dump for those that were being thrown away or asked people who he had seen redoing paving if they still wanted the ones they were taking up etc.

For the sunken garden and secret path he again used rocks from rockeries which were being dismantled (plus builders rubble to build stuff up, all free)

He even managed to blag a patio set for nothing!

Yes it has been hard work (for both of us, I even wielded a lawn mower!) but it is possible to do on a very tight budget....even if your garden is 140ft long like mine!

He also did my front garden last summer and our total spend was £40 and that even included a trip to the garden centre for a whole trolley of plants...all reduced of course to between 5p to 25p per plant.

count_rostov

If you're still able to get 0% deals on credit cards then your debt problems are manageable and you can prioritise how you spend your money. We're in a similar boat to you - paying off debts and also doing up our house at the same time. The way we organise our money is all my wage covers the mortgage, utilities and all the rest is spent on debt repayments. My boyfriend is self-employed and divides his earnings into three, paying a third each into his business account, our joint account for household, my car, heating oil etc, and a third into our house doing-up account. I really penny-pinch on the household account so whatever's left at the end of the month goes over to the house doing-up account. This way we can pay debts with one hand, and with the other save up to get the house in order.
I think so long as you divide your spending and debt repayments carefully, you musn't feel guilty about spending money on things which materially improve your circumstances and also put value on your house.

bank_of_slate

SingleSue wrote: »

I have transformed my back garden for the grand total of ........ £30!

It has gone from being a rather unpretty, very untidy back garden into an oasis of calm but then it does help having a landscape gardener for a brother who only requires dinner and a little bit of babysitting as payment for his labour.

Would he like a 2nd adopted sister?:think:
...Linda xx

RAS

stapeley wrote: »

A skip is £120 . So garden can easily use up £500.

Alternatively, you can list stuff on www.freecycle.org and large amounts of it will be taken away for free, compost anything that is vegtable and use some of the stuff in the re-design.

Then one load to the tip should do it.

nicolacarr

we need a skip for house and garden rubble. new lawn as old one has chicken wire under(dont ask) new patio slabs are broken and uneven. the biggest problem is that previous owners had a drive put at the bottom of garden but dug down so really dangerous for kids. we need railings of some sort around to stop accidents.

RAS

nicolacarr wrote: »

we need a skip for house and garden rubble. new lawn as old one has chicken wire under(dont ask) new patio slabs are broken and uneven. the biggest problem is that previous owners had a drive put at the bottom of garden but dug down so really dangerous for kids. we need railings of some sort around to stop accidents.

Nicola

Please sign up for freecycle and someone will wan the rubble (believe me), you can get the patioslabs for nothing and probably railing.

At least try.

nicolacarr

just signed up for freecycle will let you know what i find