Moved Home, Super Long June 2017 Update
It has been hectic since my last post, we moved in the first week of May as planned. The house is a 101sq meter, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom + downstairs toilet (yeah, I know, but I didn't build the house). The move only adds 5 minutes to my cycle commute which is ideal, and it's 30 minute ride from the inner city, yet surrounded by farmland and green space, so ideal for dog walking and a eventually, maybe even a child. The house was built in the early 00's, it's reasonably modern in appearance, although most of the paint colour and fittings are not to our taste, for example:
Every room needs some work, but it's perfectly livable, so there's no pressure to get it all done right away, that toilet being the only exception
. The house really just needs our stamp, or should I say, a dash of minimalism and white paint.
Jobs done so far:
*I oiled all door hinges, it's beggars belief than anyone can put up with literally every single door creaking. The previous occupiers were clearly not DIYers.
*I swapped out numerous dead or halogen and incandescent lighting to edison style LEDs, I think I will leave the existing CFLs in place, because they are still pretty efficient, but it takes a while to reach full light output, which I find irritating coming from a fully LED lit apartment, which is instant on. I may change the CFLs out in frequently used rooms for now, and leave the CFLs for hallway and guestroom.
*I also weeded plant beds, cut back overgrown hedges, the lawn has been left by the previous occupiers in a dire state, not much I can do about this now, so will have to wait until September, there are more weeds and moss than grass. I transplanted the few veg annuals that I had from the old place.
*Began prepping living room for painting, removed nails and screws from plaster and took down the old broken curtain rails, filled in holes and cracks, swapped out hideous light fixtures for nice new copper pendants, sanded and cleaned the walls, then...
... I was struck down with a Peritonsular Abscess, I've been bed ridden all week. It's the most horrific pain, I was lucky I went to the GP when I did to get antibiotics, I was told by the GP that it could lead to obstruction of airways or sepsis. Thankfully, the pain and swelling has receded and I'm out of bed again. I think I took too much on, on top of the house move, I have been training for a triathlon, swimming and running 3 times a week, cycling at least 20 miles every day. Think I just need to take it a bit easier with the extra swimming/running for a bit. Happily, DW and I are taking a trip to Cyprus next week to soak up some sun, drink some beer and get away from the chaos of the new home, so I'll have plenty of time to relax and pick up a book again.
When we return, we will resume with some more technical DIY challenges, namely plaster boarding the en suite, installing new cermaic fittings, tiling, grouting and repairing the shower, currenty the faucet only spews scalding hot water, I imagine this is a thermostat failure, possibly a job for a professional plumber. I’ll also need to buy some ladders so I can clear the house guttering, treat and repaint the facias, as well as do some work on the garage roof. All the outdoor wooden furnishings, doors, and fences need attention too. We also need to get someone to in to lop conifer trees on the property, which so big they are over shadowing our living room and making it dark in the morning and early afternoon.
I need to work up some plans for the garden, this is the job I'm most excited about, DW doesn't see it as a priority, but I want it to supply most of our food in the long run, which may be possible, but I'm considering getting a local allotment plot to supplement this. I have been dreaming about having my own garden for a LONG time. I cannot wait to put a lot of the theory I have been reading in permaculture books into practice, I hope to establish
fully fledged permaculture food forest. I am under no illusion that this is quick job, deftinely more of a long term vision, possibly 5+ years away from completion. I need to get on with planning where my fruit tree's will work best etc. There's currently a cherry tree and stawberries in the garden so far, everything else is simply decorative in nature, so a lot of it may yet have to be sacrificed to the compost heap!
On the spending front, as one might imagine, fixing up a new home is expensive, but I would consider most of the stuff as one off purchases, as for furniture, we’ve opted for mostly used/reclaimed or new solid wood pieces. We deliberatly went for solid wood items, for durability and optionality (i.e. sanding, repaiting etc). So as long as DW doesn’t change her mind and begin to demand new furniture to stay ‘on trend’ most of what we have bought can be considered BIFL stuff, so hopefully won’t have to deal any of that expense again, otherwise I may well be forced out of early retirement as soon as I get there!
Discretionary spending has plummeted out of necessity since we have been unsure how much exactly everything was going to cost us, we needed as much padding in our accounts as possible. I think we have had one take out meal on the day we moved, and we have eaten out twice since April, which is pretty good going for us. I have bought a couple beers recently, but we have been so busy moving house thst there has been no time to spend money. We are pretty much cash flowing everything at this point, with no debt being carried on credit cards, which I’m very happy with. I haven't made any contributions to my investment accounts this month, and possibly won't do for the next few months while we rebuild our cash savings funds back up.
Mortgage payment is roughly £300 each, over 28 years, we'll be overpaying by quite a lot, at least £200, maybe more. It's been a while since I had to pay housing so I will be caerfully monitor spending over next few months to ensure I am being good!