Settling In

Well we've now "officially" moved. There's still some stuff left at the old house to move and we need to do various other things (like clean everywhere and stick back the wallpaper Little Girl pulled off) but after a marathon moving weekend (Saturday and Monday - we had Sunday off) we're finally in our new house.

I'm currently back at the old house to do various bits and pieces and at the moment am waiting for the wallpaper paste as it has to sit for ten minutes before you can use it. Our phone line is still here till Friday so I can get online here till the phone line is transferred and then I'll need to sort out a new ISP at the new house so may be MIA for a little while.

The neighbours who took the playhouse seem to have taken the doors and windows too now so now we don't have the dilemma of what to do with them now as it seemed a shame to throw them away but it would have been a bit awkward to say, "Here do you want the rest of the playhouse you stole."

The move ended up being rather marathon like partly due to the sudden very hot weather and partly due to Hubby being ill. On Sunday he was complaining about aches which we just thought were from all the moving but on Monday he felt worse and then in the evening we discovered he had a fever. The fever had gone this morning so he did a shortened job this morning and isn't gardening this afternoon. I have had a slight sore throat and nearly lost my voice at one point but I think it might be related to the slight smokiness in the house (the previous owners appear to have been smokers ) as I haven't been feeling ill at all.

We're really loving our new village as it is slightly further from the nearby city and is separate rather than being effectively a suburb of it like our old village (which was nice too but just not as nice). It has loads more shops including a butcher all within five minutes walk (or fifteen minutes with Little Girl) but being in an estate rather than on the main road, it is much quieter and peaceful at home. We are actually still on a bus route (which is good as it means they salt the road in Winter) but as the road is not going uphill the buses are not as noisy.

Well I could ramble all day about how much I love it but there are more important things I need to do. If I don't get a post up before Friday, there probably won't be any more posts for a couple of weeks other than a Diigo post this Monday. I'll have to get a new tour of my home done soon too.

New Neighbours and other New House Ups and Downs

Well we completed on the house on Friday so are now officially homeowners. Being a repossession there's a lot of cleaning/tidying up to do before we can move in. We're making the front garden a top priority in order to make it obvious that there are people who own the house now.

On Friday when we went round to check a few things after picking up the keys I noticed a plastic play house in next door's front garden. Later on I thought, "Wait a minute! Wasn't there a playhouse lying on its side in the garden here when we originally looked round?" When I went and checked in the garden I found a patch of bare earth in the lawn and also the door and a window to the play house still in our garden. We're not sure whether/what to do/say about it since we know they took it and part of it is still in our garden.

Little Girl absolutely loves the new house. Every time we go there she goes hyperactive and starts running round in and out of all the rooms. On Saturday when we took my mum and brother round she dragged my brother all around the house and garden multiple times - I think she was pleased to have someone who wasn't too busy doing other things to take round. She also absolutely loves this walk in cupboard in our bedroom:

(Don't you just love the decor.) On Friday she kept requesting to be shut into it which we did as it was useful to have her contained while we were doing other things and she seemed to really enjoy it. (It's not as bad as it sounds - the cupboard has a window so it's like a very small room.) We eventually had to take her out as she decided to make a start on redecorating for us by removing the wallpaper. She has also requested it as her bedroom although it's actually too small even for a cot.

We did think initially when we phoned the gas and electricity company on Friday that we would have to pay off debts of just over £200 (about $300) but it looks like we won't have to. They are coming this week to reset the meters and give as new payment cards. Usually it is much more expensive to pay using meter cards but we are switching to Ebico as soon as we can. Ebico is a Christian non-profit energy company who on principle charge the same rate to all their customers regardless of their payment method. We switched to them over two years ago in our current house and have never had any problems with them.

When we got the keys we were only given keys for the front door and the padlock for one shed so we have to get a locksmith to change the lock on the back door. We (or rather Hubby) sawed the padlock off the second shed door and we replaced them both with new padlocks. It's all a bit dusty and dirty in there but there are a few things which will be nice when they are cleaned up such as a little play table and a doll's pushchair.

The bins are full but I phoned the council and the day for emptying happens to be when Hubby will be there all day for all the different people who are coming to do things. They alternate between the rubbish bin and the recycling and garden waste bins but we only usually put our rubbish bin out once a month anyway and it will be nice to have a proper bin for recycling instead of a hessian bag which allows paper to blow all the way down the street.

Once we completed I gave the months notice on the current house to the estate agent by e-mail. Yesterday they phoned back claiming that we could only finish on the same day of the month that the tenancy started so we would have to pay up to 30th June and not just to 7th. I told the lady that none of the previous places I'd rented had rules like that and she said it was written into our contract but she would see if the landlord would give permission for us to finish early. I've checked through the tenancy agreement again and can't see anything other than that we have to give one month's notice. Hopefully the landlord will agree to the end date we have given as we don't really want the hassle of arguing about it but it would be over £250 (about $350) extra so we aren't going to agree to it when it isn't in the contract.

We haven't been able to do much cleaning yet since we don't have electricity or water but they will hopefully be sorted out on Thursday and then we can make a start. Based on the condition of the carpets we decided it would be worth our while to buy a carpet cleaner. We decided to go for this one (although we paid a few pounds more to get it from Comet so that if it goes wrong we have a real shop to take it back to). The previous owners apparently smoked and had a dog so I should be able to report back on how well it works.

Nostalgic Tour of my Home

Since we're about to move house I took pictures to look back on what it was like so I thought I would share them as a home tour. You can see my previous tour here. You can click on the pictures to see them bigger.

After you come in the front door, you can turn right into the living room. This gives you the tidiest view of the room (unless there are toys everywhere).



Under the stairs is the messy part


Through the door we go into the kitchen...



My husband and Little Girl had just popped out in the middle of washing up to pick up some tomato plants someone offered on Freecycle.

We don't have much of a garden but we have a pot of rosemary and oregano just outside the back door. (The little pot is from some time when Little Girl was "gardening" in the pot.)


Upstairs you come to our bedroom first:



Then the bathroom:


And finally Little Girl's room:

Lots of "junk":
As you can see her room is a bit of a junk room but she only sleeps in there so it doesn't matter too much. I'm so looking forward to being able to decorate her room after we get the new house.

Woohoo

My husband got a phone call today yesterday from the solicitors saying that we exchanged contracts today yesterday and God willing we complete next Friday. Now we can actually get going with things so I may be posting less in the next few weeks. I've designed and ordered some change of address cards on Vistaprint as I reckon it's the cheapest way to do it without spending loads of time. They don't have return address labels on offer at the moment so I'm going to wait for those until they do. I must get my plans done of where to put everything now as I still haven't done the scale plan for the living room. Oh, and pack.

"Give thanks to God for he is good."

A House Update

After almost eight weeks of phone calls, form filling and sending in documentation of just about everything under the sun it looks like God willing we will be exchanging contracts this week which means we could have our own house by the end of next week.

Although I haven't started proper packing yet I have started packing a few books. I'm currently entering them on my Library thing account as I pack them.

I've also got measurements of the living room, hall and bedrooms and have started making scale card cut out diagrams of them so I can work out in advance how to arrange the furniture. I already have cut outs of most of the upstairs furniture anyway from when I've been organising here but I still need to measure and make the downstairs stuff.

The new house doesn't have any curtain rails (with repossessions you're lucky if they haven't removed the boiler) but we got some last week on Freecycle. The lady who gave them to us also gave us some blinds which means combined with some old curtains I was given when I rented a flat with no curtains, we have curtains or blinds for both bedrooms, the stairs, the living room and possibly one or both of the kitchen windows. Of course most of the stuff won't really go together but it's better than having no curtains at all so I'm happy.

Food wise I have a freezer full of meals I've cooked so that once we get the house I can concentrate on sorting things out without having to cook dinner each day.

As I can hear Little Girl calling, "Mummy out" I think I'd better go get her up from her nap and finish this post.

New House Cleaning Plan

Since we're hopefully moving house in the near future, I abandoned my plans to update my Home Keeping Guide as so many things will be changing it is not worth doing it before the move. Instead I have been working on plans related to the move.

Since the house is a repossession, it needs a good clean. It is certainly not as bad as some that we viewed while looking for a house but obviously when your house is being repossessed you don't worry about making sure it's clean when you leave and then it has also been sitting empty for a while.

I have tried to come up with a comprehensive cleaning plan so that I can make sure we take all the things we need with us to clean the house and we can do a decent job. Also since there's going to be more than one person doing it (me, Hubby, and a friend has offered to help us) it's useful to have some kind of checklist so things don't get missed out or done twice and everyone can find something to do.

So far I've done a first draft for the living room, kitchen, bathroom and each of the bedrooms (which are just the same as the living room except for no fireplace to clean so I haven't posted them here):

(

Living Room

Feather dust cobwebs. Feather dust windowsill. Feather dust ledges. Feather dust fireplace.	Feather duster
Wash down walls. Clean windowsill. Clean ledges. Clean fireplace. Clean radiator. Clean skirting board. Clean door. Clean door handle.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags Washing up gloves
Clean lightswitch.	Baby wipes
Clean window.	Vinegar spray Cleaning rags
Clean carpet	Vacuum cleaner Bicarbonate of soda Spoon Tea strainer Carpet stain remover

Kitchen

Feather dust cobwebs.	Feather duster
If everything is very dirty do preliminary quick wipe down with old towels and plain water to remove excessive dirt.	Old towels and warm water.
Wash down walls. Clean tops of cupboards. Clean fronts of cupboards. Clean windowsill. Clean radiator. Clean skirting board. Clean door. Clean door handle.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags Washing up gloves
Clean lightswitch.	Baby wipes
Clean hob. If encrusted, cover with damp old towel for an hour to soften then clean with soapy water. Make bicarb/vinegar paste for any remaining dirt.	Old towel Warm water Vinegar/bicarbonate of soda Spoon Old mug Old toothbrush Cleaning rags
Clean oven. Put bowl of hot water with lemon juice in for 1-2 hours until almost boiled dry. When cool enough, add bicarb/vinegar to water and use to wipe down oven. Wipe out with plain water.	Pyrex bowl Hot water Lemon juice Spoon Vinegar/bicarbonate of soda Cleaning rags
Clean sink Draining board/sink - make paste of vinegar/bicarb, pour over, leave to soak then rinse. Drain - 1 tsp bicarb and ½ cup vinegar down drain, leave for ½ hour then flush with water. Wipe over with soapy water.	Vinegar/bicarbonate of soda Spoon Cup Soapy water Cleaning rag
Clean inside cupboards. Clean with soapy water first then with bleach.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags Washing up gloves Bleach spray
Clean worktops. Clean with soapy water first then with bleach.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags Washing up gloves Bleach spray
Clean window.	Vinegar spray Cleaning rags
Clean floor Use mug to pour water onto floor for scrubbing then use old towels to mop up dirty water before adding more fresh water.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Old mug Old towels Washing up gloves Scrubbing brush

Bathroom

Feather dust cobwebs.	Feather duster
If everything is very dirty do preliminary quick wipe down with old towels and plain water to remove excessive dirt.	Old towels and warm water.
Wash down walls. Clean windowsill. Clean radiator. Clean skirting board. Clean door. Clean door handle.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags Washing up gloves
Clean lightswitch.	Baby wipes
Clean tiles Clean with vinegar spray then treat with car wax.	Vinegar spray Car wax Cleaning rags
Pre-clean bath Pre-clean sink Pre-clean toilet. Wipe over with soapy water then clean with vinegar spray (leave vinegar for 5-10 minutes before wiping off).	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags Washing up gloves Vinegar spray
Clean bath Half fill with warm water and add a cup of washing powder.	Warm water Washing powder Washing up brush (to stir)
Clean basin Fill with hot water, flash and washing up liquid. Soak for at least half an hour then wipe out.	Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags
Clean toilet Spray with bleach then wipe over after 5-10 minutes. Put 3 Steradent tablets in before leaving to be left overnight.	Bleach spray Cleaning rags Steradent tablets
Clean taps. If buffing with vinegar spray is not sufficient leave a vinegar soaked cloth around the tap for half an hour. Run taps over with vinegar cloth then with a dry cloth.	Vinegar spray Vinegar Cleaning rags
Clean mirror. Clean window.	Vinegar spray Cleaning rags
Clean carpet	Vacuum cleaner Bicarbonate of soda Spoon Tea strainer Carpet stain remover
Clean floor Use mug to pour water onto floor for scrubbing then use old towels to mop up dirty water before adding more fresh water.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Old mug Old towels Washing up gloves Scrubbing brush

I now need to do a list for the hall, stairs and landing which I forgot to do before because it's not a proper "room": It will probably be pretty similar to the living room and bedrooms. I also want to make an overall list of what we will need to take and a list of things we need to buy (probably just a bleach spray since ours is broken). The other thing left to do with regard to cleaning is to go through my bag of old clothes and cut any suitable ones up for cleaning rags; I know there's more there that could be used but I hadn't cut them up as I don't normally need a huge amount all at once.

If you have any tips to share, please feel free to leave a comment.

Menu Plan Monday #1

I've actually been menu planning for over a year now but this is the first time I've gotten around to posting one. We used to have a veg box delivered on a Wednesday so my plan usually goes Thursday to Wednesday and I usually plan it on Wednesday afternoon. Sadly the farm which delivers has had to fold due to a 55% drop in customers but this has coincided with a time when we want to use up various stocks and cook food for the freezer in preparation for our move so I have planned out two weeks going from 19th March to 1st April. Combined with what we already have in our freezer, by the end of the month we should have just over a months worth of dinners in the freezer.

Monday 23rd: Tomato rice with sausages (onion, red pepper, garlic, thyme, stock, olive oil, tinned tomato, bay leaves, basil, grated cheese and sausages) ~ 2 meals for freezer

Tuesday 24th: Veg casserole (whatever random veg I have around with some herbs and spices and tinned tomato all thrown in the slow cooker all day) with lentils and rice and possibly a bit of salsa (tomato, onion, sweet chilli sauce and lime juice) ~ 2 meals for freezer


Wednesday 25th: Spaghetti bolognaise (mince, lentils and rice from Tues, grated carrot, stock, tinned tomato, onions, garlic, Worcester sauce, basil, oregano, chilli powder, spaghetti, grated cheese) ~ 3 meals for freezer (bolognaise only)

Thursday 26th: Chicken casserole (chicken thighs, random veg, onions, coconut milk, black pepper, white pepper) served with boiled potato ~ 2 or 3 meals for freezer

Friday 27th: Tuna quinoa (quinoa, tuna, stock, onions, black pepper)

Saturday 28th: Lasagne (as spaghetti bolognaise except lasagne instead of spaghetti and also milk, egg, cheese and white pepper for cheese sauce) ~ 3 meals for freezer


Sunday 29th: Quinoa from Friday

Monday 30th: Cheesy pasta

Tuesday 31st: Spicy tomato pasta

Wednesday 1st: Cheesy pasta from Monday

Accepted

Our offer on the house was accepted this morning. The repossession company expect you to complete within 28 days so God willing we will be in our own home by 1st April.

Hubby spent this morning making phone calls back and forth to the mortgage broker, the estate agent and the conveyancing solicitor. While Little Girl is napping I have been printing off and filling in forms and now I'm waiting on a call from Hubby once he hears back from the mortgage broker about a query we have. Once that's dealt with (and I've got Little Girl up and fed), we'll be driving round to where Hubby is working this afternoon (he happens to be working for friends from church) so that he can sign the forms and fill in the bits I can't do and then hopefully I can get them off in the post today.

I think I might be abandoning some of the goals I set myself for the first quarter of this year as moving is going to take up a lot of time and be a high priority. I would love to start packing now to get what I can out of the way as soon as possible but I think that would be a bit counting my chickens so I am resisting that temptation.

I am so thankful for how smoothly everything seems to be going so far and I pray that God will continue to uphold us throughout this time.

Waiting...

... for the phone to ring. This morning we put in an offer on a house and we are waiting to hear back. It's a repossesion so if it's accepted, we will have to really get our skates on and there is a higher than average risk of being gazumped.

Please pray that if it is God's will that it will all go smoothly and that we don't get too stressed during it all.

Thanks.