Get a grip woman!

boxofpaws wrote: »

Smart move on paying the deposit. You are so organised! Your insurance -blimey. :eek:Have you trawled the threads on here to see if there are any other insurers that might do it cheaper? Our house has an historic subsidence claim (£160 18 years ago, why did they even bother?:mad:), and initial quotes I got were £1k. But some digging on here found me legal and general who disregard anything older than 15 years. Anyway I digress. I'm sure you've looked already, but just in case.

Thanks Paws, it is a good suggestion. We are with NFU at the moment who do specialise in old and thatched properties. There is a large premium related to a few high value items that are covered all-risks (my jewellery and watches) and almost £10k for our Aga, based on replacement value. We did take out a five year commitment to use them until 2020 which means a 10% discount but I am very surprised by the jump. While I cannot move this year I might call the agent and ask what they can do to reduce it a bit.

I think the other thing I should be considering is de-cluttering. We have got so much stuff:eek: We moved from a five bedroom large Edwardian detached villa with 9'6" ceilings to a three bedroom thatched cottage with 6'6" ceilings and lower places where beams cross, and I swear I did not reduce the amount of kitchen equipment, furniture, or dinnerware, or clothing at the time. It sort of dawns on you over a period, but I think I have sort of stopped noticing with much of it. Now it is such a monumental task I don't know where to start.

I watched Shop Well for Less, last night and OMG :eek:

My complacency filter went "ping" - "you're not that extreme" but then I reflected and no, I don't spend that much, but I probably have close to that amount of stuff. The clearing a shelf at a time thing should be me. It won't be before the house insurance premium is due but I know I have to do it.

The old management training story is in my head. The monkey sits there, on my back, transferring from one shoulder to the other, while I climb over the real issue - I need to drain the swamp and kill the crocodiles.

Oh dear. We have had the work done at our other house, where our Son lives. Replacement bath and screen, new tiling, new taps and new shower mixer (separate to bath taps), new waste and all lovely. Then we have had the heating system flushed and cleaned and a new filter fitted so that the boiler will no longer have a black gunky hissy-fit when the pressure is out of kilter and disgorge black filth over everything at pressure.

That is all a huge relief and it has taken nearly two years of trying to get quotes (amazed at how many plumbers will come and look and then don't quote) and then nudging the heating engineer for over a year to do the work (they all prefer new-builds) - note to self... we will remove the old toilet when we replace it, so the plumber is only fitting new bits(!) to speed things up a bit.

The bad news is that the invoice is here and it is almost £1500. Unfortunately the house account cannot stretch to cover that at the moment (one of the lodgers left so we are down on the income) so I have had to sub-it £600 out of the emergency funds.

The good news is that I had the money to do it and in due course I will get it back.

I need to call NFU on Friday and see if I can get the house insurance premium down a bit - it is almost £300 more than last year with no additional cover. The house is an English Oak frame so they can't blame the euro!!