Just a quick hello............

Hello and welcome to my new followers Mrs M and Betty, thank you both for joining.

I have been a bad blogger and its been ages since my last post. I have been sooooo busy . I am moving into my new house in a fortnight and its been really chaotic. I am still having work done but am hopeful that it should be finished shortly. Its been a long and exhausting journey but the end is in sight !

I hope you are enjoying your summer and will I be back in September. TTFN xx

Gold Cash In

I have cashed some old jewellery in today. I have had these items in my jewellery box for years and could not possibly tell you the last time I got them out let alone wore them. I decided to cash them in as they were not sentimental pieces. I cashed in a necklace, bracelet and a few old rings. I got back £270 cash which I am going to put towards some stuff I need for the new house. I saw some items at Ikea that I wanted, a new bed for my daughter and a cabinet which came to coincidentally £269. I am going to use my cash bonus to buy the items. I may even treat myself to a lucky dip with the leftover £1.... TTFN x

One room finished, only eight to go !

Finally I have one room finished ! I have redecorated the box room and the nice carpet fitter man came today to lay the carpet. I can now start to use that room for storage whilst the other rooms are being finished. I was like Queen Bee today with my workers all busy around me. I had one workman doing the loft insulation, one doing the cavity wall and another fitting the carpet. The loft is like a room of clouds with all the new thick insulation lay down. I can't wait to be inside my new house all toasty !!

Neverending Decorating

Things seem to be moving forward now with the house. This week I have the loft people coming over to insulate the loft. Once this job is done I can start storing things away again. I have also had some quotes for a new boiler and fire to be fitted. I had a budget for the fire and managed to get it on offer with 20% off, the saving has almost paid for the fitting so I have some money to go back in the pot. This week I have been decorating. Most of the house is now undercoated ready to be glossed but I think I will have this done after the jobs have been completed so it doesn't get knocked about. I have painted the lounge ceiling, after the fire is fitted I just need to paint the walls and get the carpet fitted , then I will have one room ready and finished ! I can't afford to get the hall and stairs redecorated . It was papered but aged and a bit dingy ! I have given it a few coats of white paint and it looks so much fresher and bright. I have some other paint for the top coat but again I will do that once the  jobs have been finished. This afternoon I painted the ceilings in my daughters room and the box room, I also gave the box room its first coat of wall paint and that is looking a lot fresher too. I'm finding that even if I can spare an hour or two in the evenings it seems to be getting so much done. 

Freebie for a homeowner

I am still here, my time just lately is spent at work, working overtime, doing favours for others (more on that another time) and trying to get my new place sorted. I am tired , aching and fed up but trying to keep my chin up and keep motivated. I recently enquired about the energy saving schemes and our local council is advertising free loft and cavity wall insulation for homeowners. So a lovely surveyor came round, and confirmed we meet the criteria and can have it done for free. Yes FREE !! Saving around £500 on the upfront insulation costs and then future savings on our energy bills. Its a refreshing change not to be knocked back for something. We are looking forward to having a toasty house in the winter. The lovely people are coming next week to complete the job.

Ongoing DIY

A few days absence from blogging as I have been busy working at work and also at the new house. At work we have overtime again so I am trying to make hay whilst the sun shines, as usual it could be withdrawn at anytime so I am racking up as much as possible to add to my DIY pot. The DIY pot although it is not an insignificant amount of money it is not huge and a quick calculation of jobs required and money available shows that there is not enough money available ! Some jobs that were ' nice to have' will have to wait will the 'need to have' get done first. I initially intended to do some bits in the garden but that will have to wait until next summer, time and money permitting. In the meantime we have concentrated upon jobs that we can do ourselves. To date we have rubbed down all the woodwork and plan to undercoat it in the coming days. We want to get a local decorator to gloss it as neither of us are particularly skilled in that area. My husband spent Saturday on top of the garage roof clearing away the tropical garden that had been growing there, evidently for quite a few years. Where we live it has been really rainy of late and the rain drain was blocked with a beautiful fern growing out of it. It is now all cleared and the rain can drain away properly. Some of the jobs are messy and time consuming but at least we are not paying people to do it. We do not intend to move house again for a very long time and want to get as many , messy jobs done and out of the way before we move in.

Gas & Elec Meter ..Continued

Hi folks and thanks for your comments regarding the prepaid meters. I have googled them but there is so much contradictory information. I am annoyed because either way it is going to cost me more money through no fault of my own, either pay inflated prices with the key or pay to have them taken out ! I had a conversation yesterday with someone about it and their argument was that I shouldn't have bought the house then as I knew those meters were in there ! If that was the case no properties would ever get sold because there is always something you dislike or needs updating/repairing ! In the short term I need to have the key to have power to do jobs but when I move in I will get the meters changed I think. It is a different provider to the one I have always used so if it is that I do have to pay , then I may as well pay my existing provider to remove them and keep my business with them. I could keep the key and see how I get on but I think it is inconvenient to have to keep going and topping it up every week or so. Have a good weekend x