Changing Plans

So, you may ask, what sort of home improvements are we planning to do? Well, we haven't settled all of the details yet but here are the headlines:

1. Bathroom - knock down wall separating bathroom from toilet, replace the whole suite, tile etc.

2. Kitchen Extension - demolish temporary rear utility room, extend kitchen out into rear garden.

3. Dining Room Extension - replace existing rear bay window with full-width extension alongside (though not as deep as) kitchen extension.

4. Front Extension (idea only at this stage) - put 2-3ft extension onto front of house incorporating extension to living room and an enclosed porch.

5. Rear Garden - major landscaping in terms of levelling off slopes, building retaining walls, new beds etc.

6. Interior Decoration - redecorate living/dining room & two bedrooms.

There are a number of other smaller scale things we want to do as well but they probably don't merit a description at this stage.

All in all, that's a lot of work to pay for, and a lot of disruption to live with. Our original plan was to do it all at once and move out of the house for a while once the building work got to a particular stage (since the work would involve knocking through exterior walls in the two main ground floor rooms). That way we would hopefully take advantage of the VAT cut as mentioned previously.

In the last few days we've revised our approach a little. We're now going to leave the biggest expenses (2, 3 & 4 above) until next year as we want to start the work in early springtime, in order to give us a chance of it being finished before the summer is completely over, and we're probably not going to be in a position to do that this year. Also, with Cirrus going to school in September, we don't want to disrupt his home life too much. Even on the financial side this makes sense. Rather than spend the money on it this year and saving a few hundred quid on VAT, we can put it onto the mortgage and save over a thousand in interest before we're likely to be paying much of it out again.

We'll still look to do the bathroom and some of the garden and decorating jobs this year as they won't cause as much disruption, so we'll still save a bit on VAT but the rest of it can wait until we've decided exactly what we want and planned it properly. That way there's more chance of us being happy with the result.

The Year Ahead

I seem to have had less time to myself over the last couple of weeks and during the little I've had, I've been far too tired to think about writing anything. So, where was I?

Ah, yes. Plans. Big ones at that. More on that in a minute but first some background and a catch up.

My grandmother's funeral went very well. Despite having a very small family (she was an only child, as is my mother), around 40 people attended the service at the crematorium, which made it into a much more meaningful affair. Mum read the eulogy, which was full of little nuggets that brought back special memories of her. Suffice it to say that it was very emotional.

She had been heavily involved in local politics for decades and was the chair of the Conservative association for many, many years until she gave it up in 1999, at the age of 79. So we expected a few councillors and other local political connections to be there. And they were, along with the MP for the constituency, even though he was first elected in 2005 and only knew of my grandmother "through legend". Okay, the funeral may have been a couple of days after the parliamentary Christmas break began so he didn't have as much on as he would have a couple of weeks earlier, but he came on to the reception and was among the last of the guests to leave, two hours later. Definitely beyond the call of duty.

With that over and done with, thoughts naturally turn to what to do with the estate and this is where the plans all stem from. You see, my grandmother, while not what you would call rich, was certainly well-off. Enough to make us glad that Mum could lay her hands on her father's will and prove that he left everything to his wife, so we won't be paying any inheritance tax. And because the family is so small, once Mum has taken whatever she believes she needs, the rest will be split three ways. The numbers are still up in the air at the moment but it's likely to be roughly the same as two year's salary for me; a significant sum.

So all of a sudden, we don't really need to worry about tightening our belts in these uncertain economic times. In fact, we planning on taking advantge of them and spending tens of thousands on improving our home and garden, hopefully all this year so that we can get away with paying 15% VAT - I'm now something of a fan of the reduction, although I don't believe it's working more generally. There should also be enough left to allow us to replace the car and to pay a lump sum off the mortgage.

More details, at least, those I'm prepared to give out - you may have noticed the above is a little light on facts, on those plans as they develop. For now, all that remains to say is that, if everything goes to plan, 2009 will be the year that our lives and our finances become more comfortable and secure. And how many people at the moment can say that?

Something Munchy

The phone in my pocket starts to ring. On the other side of the train door the weather is pretty awful and my hopes are raised at the prospect of a lift home.

The number on the phone is unknown, which means the call is coming from home rather than the car. Those hopes begin to fade.

"Hello?"

"Can you get me something munchy on the way home?"

The hopes are lying in tatters around my feet right about now. "Pardon?"

"Can you get me something munchy on the way home?"

"Erm, okay. Any particular sort?"

"No, you know what I like."

"Right."

"Get two."

I manage not to say anything about how this conflicts with certain efforts to be good. "Two?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. See you soon."

I put the phone back in my pocket. Looks like I'll be getting damp, then.

Blimey, the lengths you need to go to to hide a chocolate craving from a three year-old.