Help calm me. House buying and selling stress

Morning all, I phoned the pest control company and there's no record of the seller ever using them. I will endeavour to ensure my paper trail is reliable for the time when my kids have to sell.

I also phoned the doctor's surgery and had a call back - the doctor is seeing me at 4.40 pm. Very reluctantly!

I was shocked to find my friend that went into a home has Covid, how an earth has that happened?

The current infection does seem to be everywhere, Shandy. My younger g.children (not quite 12 yrs old and therefore no vaccine yet), all three (different part of country all had a week during the christmas holidays with positive tests and being slightly unwell. The older brother to one, home from Uni and double jabbed, but no booster then went through five days of positive tests and feeling poorly. We were rather concerned when my SiL, very EV and auto-immune problems, trice vaccinated, was to have fourth (booster) last week, when he became unwell. Six days later and he is now negative again (for second day)l Did feel pretty rough for a couple of days, and unwell for the rest of the time. But, completely over it now. He is now taking part in an Anti-viral testing programme, but we have no idea if he was on the anti-virals or not (blind trial).
Obviously, care Homes are not in a totally different world, and people go in and out there - so the infection goes in. Hope she is not too bad.

Decided to do an 'in-store' shop today a Sainsbury's. Not a total success, I went out early as I needed to be back home, unpacked, lunched, etc ready for my knitting group this afternoon. Always need a short rest/sleep after my lunch these days. Went to bus stop at 9.00 am, bus due 4 minutes later, did not arrive, waited for next one twenty minutes later, = did not arrive. So I phoned for a taxi. Did get bus back, but then forgot to ring the bell and went past my stop to next one, (fortunately, not much further on).

Must say, I was amazed as how few people there were in the store this morning. Do not know what Supermarkets are like at weekends, but I can see a time - in the not too distant future -when these all close their doors. Just have large warehouses for arranging home deliveries.

Hope it is nothing too worrying Shandy, that you are seeing your GP.

You don't have much luck with your bus trips Fran

Well I exchanged yesterday, moving on 28th, my buyers were here for 1hr & 15mins! my poor son took our dog out in the pouring rain, thinking they wouldn't be long! Got an estimate of £1,300 for removals, lot more than I thought, will get some more quotes.

Good luck Shandy with all you're doing.

Morning all, lovely mild day here today and it's dry!

Sorry you had another unexpected walk Franbern! When I take the car in I have to get the bus back to the garage, luckily lots of people get off at the stop.

Congratulations Yogi! I believe removal costs have increased, I hope you can get some other quotes to compare. If I had my time again I would pay for packing, I found the kitchen the hardest. I'd also recommend paying for 'late key' insurance, some people on MSE couldn't get the keys until very late as their vendors were 'self moving' and their removal companies refused to unload until the next day.

Thanks for the good luck wishes. Once I've got a roof on again I'll start planning the floor replacement, such a bore - and a very expensive one. At least the seller responded and I know when and which floors were replaced, I can only assume it was woodworm as they also sprayed the attic. She said she made the surveys available, and they weren't, I have checked with my solicitor. Just the single sheet guarantee, which is void as they've gone bust.

Onwards and upwards!

Yogi excellent news. Now you have a proper and agreed and settled removal date. I do remember that that final period was quite stressful trying to get everything done. Hope you have used the previous time to make lots of lists!!!

I had packing carried out for me. Amongst all the expenses of selling, buying, moving etc. this small extra cost was small and saved me a lot of stress. Be warned thought that they use a LOT of boxes, often not putting very much in each box.

Shandy have you made any decisions as to WHAT sort of floor you will have put down when the time comes. I must say that I am so delighted with my Karndean flooring in both my living/dining room and hallway. The only room I now have carpet is my own bedroom. Even had a vinyl put down in spare bedroom with an attractive rug. Makes housework even easier.

I know that the recent problems I have had with buses is mainly due to the fact staff shortages. Firstly, many experience bus drivers were virtually headhunted with much higher rates of pay by lorry delivery firms. And now, to exacerbate the problems, the self-isolating rules mean many cannot report for work. The poor people trying to do rotas must be tearing their hair out. Just think it would be good if the electronic boards at bus stops could show when a bus is cancelled, rather than keep showing it coming and 'due'.

Morning all

Thank you Shandy & *Fran

Both my movers said no extra waiting charge. I have another today, then I must book one. The one yesterday seemed very nice and local, no quote come through yet. I have my son to help, but I still have to do everything, sorting out, then boxing up etc. I will leave the kitchen & bathroom till 2 days before move, 3 if I decide to do my work the day/evening before if I feel I'm ready to go, I can then have more time off afterwards.

I had packers in when I moved from UK to Holland and when I moved from my big house a few steps from the river & nature reserve [yes lovely] I called the movers in at the last minute to help as I didn't think I'd get it done in time, big house with only me and my 2 girls to help as son in Uni.

Have a nice day everyone, hope it stays dry for you Shandy

It took a lot longer than I expected to pack my things, was very glad that I had at least, sorted all the garage stuff beforehand. I would definitely get packers in, I did it myself because I wanted to be in control of what was going where, I employed men with a smaller van, there was a low arch to get through. It took 6 trips and I think the cost ended up over 2k. They were local and were very good but the project management I did was very worthwhile. I still get that feeling of `its over and it worked`

I am still waiting for my painter to get in touch re completing house painting, he said he would contact me this week after arranging his diary. I am sitting on my hands, know he will contact me and will do a very good job but am oh so frustrated, waiting from october to get my interior finished. I still have big lounge, small cloaks and small sewing room. The small areas are completely empty, the lounge has very basic furniture in it, everything is in other rooms. All the furniture now had stuck on felt pads, I first cut 4cm off the tall bookcase legs, so that I can slide it into the hall. The floor is wonderful for solo sliding of furniture, beautiful too, looks like real oak.

Fingers crossed for your painter giving you a starting date for your decorating Karmalady Your floor sounds lovely, I'll keep it in mind if I do mine in the future.

Secured my movers, it was the one I liked, he was the only one who took his shoes off and we had a nice chat. Charging £800. So I'm pleased with that.

They said I could leave things in my dressing table & bedside tables draws. I thought great, I'll just give them a little tidy, took me 2. 1/2hrs! Got rid of loads of rubbish & sorted out. Couldn't believe it took me so long for just that!

Glad you have your mover company sorted. I can totally understand how a small thing like being respectful and taking off shoes can have such a good effect. I can remember totally going off a plumber I had called for an emergency repair several years ago, who did NOT take off his heavy boots before clumping up my light coloured carpeted stairs. Did not use his services!!!

I had a sort of brainwave re my bedroom. When I moved to my house in 2003 they left behind the pair of bedside tables in the main bedroom which matched the built in wardrobes. These have served me well, as are slightly larger than most such tables, have a slide out flap and cupboard not drawers. Brought them with me, and have been considering getting new ones to mach my current bedroom furniture which all has nice oak coloured tops.

Nothing I have seen has particularly interested me and are quite expensive (not a lot of change from two hundred quid). So, I have now purchased a large sheet of 'sticky back plastic' in oak pattern, and will cover the tops of those and keep them. Cost me just under ten quid.

Morning all, sunny today, hurray! I don't feel very well this morning, taking it easy today.

karmalady, I hope your decorator can come soon and you can get back to normal.

Glad you secured your movers Yogi, good luck with your packing.

I've come to terms with my floor situation now, and hope when they are investigated the previous woodworm treatment by the dissolved company worked. It would have been nice to know before I moved in, but I have to deal with the here and now.

Have a good day

I've just seen my old postlady. We won't be getting any post today, there are so many post people off with Covid.

Here come the bills, I have lost track, not using m/s money on my old laptop. I need to transfer all upcoming dates into my new book. I have transferred all bank account and savings details into it but have lots more to transfer from my tatty old book. Car insurance this time, saga, the big bills start coming from this point on. I shall draw a calendar on a page and pencil the approximate amounts in

Painter thinks he will be starting early february, worth waiting for, in my bare room but never again. I can deal with any bits in future, the paint is very matt and covers anything. I used left over 10 year old paint for touching up repaired holes etc when I left the last house. Kept it in a lock n lock box and sealed around that

I lowered all ambient temperatures by half a degree a few days ago, not noticed it at all and obviously my body has adapted, as well as me wearing vest equivalent, a pretty mey camisole under a thin hand knitted woollen jumper. cotton flannel skirt and warm tights. I feel very snug in that outfit. I find a skirt and tights much warmer than trousers

Thank you Fran & Shandy

Hope You're feeling better today Shandy Could be all the stress of what you've been through with & since your move.

Difficult day for me yesterday. My youngest should have been celebrating his 45th birthday - it is now nearly twenty years ago that he died. So difficult to think of what he would be like/doing etc. Kept myself pretty busy, so not depressed, just nostalgic.

With regards to money - I carry out a very quick (takes about two minutes in total) check on my bank account, and my two credit cards, each morning as I finish my brekkie. Do this on my 'phone. For both credit cards, every time I use them, I write it down in a small cash book. So, I always know exactly what every payment has been made for, and would pick up any fraudalent use of them with 24 hours at the most.

Getting rid of my car does mean that my usual heavy payment month (March), will be much easier. That is when I used to have insurance renewal, money aside for Service, MOT, etc. RAC renewal. My home insurance also gets renewed then - but in the flat just for contents, it really is quite minimal amount.

Slight annoyance with not having a car as I would like to visit some local kitchen fitting showrooms, my daughter is taking me to one next weekend (need to make an appointment), but I have always been totally independent, I do find it hard to ask her to give up some her valuable 'free time'.

Morning all, not as frosty as I'd feared this morning. The pavements around here are black tarmac, and really slippery, I've started wearing my Yaktrax with any frost. My friend fell and broke her wrist and elbow walking her dog a few years ago, falling does scare me

Martin Lewis did a good show about bills last night karmalady. I'm with TalkTalk and pay £30 per month for my broadband, I do need to switch, I'm just worried as the signal here is so poor because of the castle.

I've just received my pet insurance renewal and it's gone up £50 per year, but as my dog is now 13 and 3 months, I won't switch that as he has 'previous conditions'.

I'm keeping the heating on 20 degrees because of the wet ceiling, going to be a bad bill, but I'm fixed for gas until February.

So sorry you were reliving the pain of your loss yesterday Franbern, hugs to you. Your daughter won't mind taking you to the kitchen shop, I'm sure she'll enjoy looking at them with you.

I'm glad to be half way through January, I do feel miserable at this time of year, roll on spring. Have a good day everyone

I went out, fully warmly wrapped, sun streaming into my house and I came back in two minutes. Very slippery patches on the ground, outside is dangerous, there will be falls and broken bones today. Shandy re yaktrax, they are only positively good on packed snow, not really on ice, they grip into snow, you still need to test every footstep on an icy road

Falling scares me too, especially now that nhs is struggling. I even hold the stair bannister, wear indoor stretchy shoes with straps etc and tentatively test each step outdoors before I put my weight on that foot

Franbern

Fran so very sorry to hear about the sad passing of your dear Son, must be very hard for you

Shandy pet insurance does get expensive as your pet ages.
I arranged for my internet to be connected to my new home, we move on the Friday & get connected on the Monday, so that's good, even better, it's gone from £40pm down to £27 same deal!

I

Yogi, not bad just having to wait Fridayto Monday to get your wi -fi connected. Can remember when I moved here, it took five days. Do not understand why it takes so long - surely it is just a switch of a button. Mind you I had to wait for a new hub to arrive. DId use my mobile connections on my phone, but also a couple of times took my laptop to my daughters and SiL's house to piggy back onto their wifi. My SiL came over to connect up that new hmub, which is fortuate that he did as one of the essential joining wires had not been included. I would not even have known this, let alone what to do when it did not work. Probably have phoned for a BT engineer to come, which would have cost me a fair wack. SiL, just popped to local shop to purchase that wire for a couple of pounds. I was totally amazed as to how much I missed being joined up to wifi and was so happy when it was finally connected.

Even in the past couple of years have got even MORE dependent on that - have Alexa controlling some of my lights, etc. Also my new Humax is also joined to wifi.

I am spending this weekend turning those old bedside tables into matching ones to my current furniture. have started to paint them (second coat on first one this morning), will then cover the top with the sticky back plastic wood colour. Then start on the second one.

Am finding it much more difficult that I thought to find small local companies who can carry out the entire work on my kitchen that I want. I know that Wren, Magnet, Wickes, etc. will do, but really prefer local companies. I do need one that will do ALL the work, from taking down and disposing of existing kitchen, wall tiles, etc. to doing the small amount of changes to electricity and plumbing in there as well as fitting new units. The ones I have contacted just fit new units, but not cover the rest of the work. There is one that claims they will do all of this at my local garden centre and will go there with my daughter next Saturday to talk to them.

d*Yogi*, I saw on a different thread that now the removal is in its final stages you were experiencing worries about it. This is so normal - I had this all the way through my move. Each time it went pear-shaped, I desperately wanted to move and each time it appeared to be going well (including those finals days between Exchange and Completion), I could only think about what I was giving up. So, do not worry, concentrate on all the positives this move to a flat will give to you.

Shandy you did mention that you had an appointment with your GP and that you had not been feeling too well. Hope the appointment went well and you got some answers and your are now feeling better.

Monday (17th January), is reputably the day that more people experience feeling down and depressed than any other day in the calendar - not surprised. Half way through January, the excitement of Christmas and New Year over, bills coming in and winter seems to be going on relentlessly. Please cheer up everyone. Bulbs are peeping through the soil, early spring flowers will soon be out to brighten us, and 2022 is, surely, going to be a better year than the past two.

WOOPS!!! Just about avoided a near-disaster -and all my own fault. Started painting the first bedside cabinet. Quite heavy, so decided NOT to move it out of the bedroom - and very carefully used several sheets of newspaper on my new bedroom carpet. Was very careful, and no problems. Completed second coat on it this morning. propped open the door with this paint tin. Directly after lunch, paint was dry and I covered the top with the stickyback plastic. Then went to move the cupboard back to its normal position, forgettng that paint tin.

Large spillage over my lovely new light coloured carpet. Panic!!! Amazingly, I have managed to get it all off and clean. Taken me nearly two hours to do that. Really did not want an insurance claim, etc. So stupid of me - nobody else to blame.

I have decided to do the second cabinet in a different area, where there is no carpet.!!!

oh Franbern, I bet your heart stopped for a minute and very well done for dealing with it

Oh Franbern what a shock! I was nervous of doing that and put my small sample paint tin in a big yellow washing up bowl - couldn't believe it, I caught the edge of it and flipped it over, ha ha! Luckily on the tiled kitchen floor and it's a water based paint so came off the tiles. Bet you'll sleep well after that cleaning!

We had some very cold spells, it is time to prune my roses, I did 24 yesterday which took a full 4 hours. I have 7 more to do but they are all in containers on the patio, the mud on my clogs was horrible and my kneeler had to be scrubbed. Nature is amazing, just sleeping for a while. Charlotte potatoes have arrived and are sitting in egg cartons for chitting. The last of my seeds has arrived. The cycle is turning

Morning all, another sunny day, phew! I'm like a cat on a hot tin roof, every noise makes me jump.

karmalady that was a labour of love. I've got a huge lavender bush I need to trim and keep putting it off, I must do it today.

I'm not doing potatoes this spring because of the roof coming off. Garden will be smashed to pieces when they throw it all down.

Have a good day all, I'm off to the beach with my patient dog.

Morning all

Thank you Fran yes I am very scared about this move, as I'm downsizing. I do have a very big bedroom, as this was the living room, through lounge into dinning room which leads into the garden, but turning the dinning room into my son's bedroom. It's partitioned by glass panels, which when my son moves on I will get rid of. Not ideal, [plenty big enough for just me], but my son is 35yrs, so hope he will get a job, then a girlfriend and so on. Big kitchen, so my dinning table, fingers crossed, will fit into the garden windows recess.

Oh Fran you couldn't make it up could you! It was reading so well till you moved your cabinet back Oops! Well down clearing it up and not panicking.

Hope you're feeling better today Shandy

Well done on your gardening Karmalady, dogs love gardening too don't they