Bathrooms & Budgets

The bathroom is complete! And yes it has taken nearly two weeks thanks to paint that takes 24hrs to dry between coats, and the need for three different types of paint depending on whether my brush is aimed at the ceiling, the top half of the wall or the bottom half of the wall, I have turned into some kind of mad obsessive when it comes to my bathroom and driven the hubby mad with colour charts although I think he enjoyed the many trips to B&Q.
The best news is I managed to come in under budget! £85.24 total cost which included new bath mat, shower curtain and mirror.  It has to be said however that buying the cheaper B&Q paint rather than splashing out the extra £7 for Dulux was a false economy.  B&Q took three coats before the walls stopped looking patchy, whereas having used Dulux on previous, less stingy occassions covers perfectly well with just one.

Before                                                                          After


The time involved has kept me occupied and out of reach of boredom, along with the continued good weather and subsequent runs to the seaside or round the woods, now the bathrooms finished though what am I going to do? My £100 budget won't stretch to refurb of the kitchen which requires new doors, plastering, flooring, cabinets and paint.
The next project is making a bathroom cabinet, although my belief that it must be cheaper to make my own than buy one is being thwarted by the cost of wood which seems ridiculously high, is there a shortage of trees that I haven't heard about?

Having stuck to my own budget this week, I watched George Osborne's Budget for the 2012 with trepidation, but was very relieved to hear that there is a commitment to keeping interest rates low, with two mortgages both on variable rates even a small rise would be hugely detrimental on my new vastly reduced income.  My hope for a lower fuel bill was not answered however and as such we will still be limited to local acivities for entertainment.
It seems that if my income stays the same next year I will no longer be a tax payer thanks to the new persoanl allowance increase, which is nice, but gave me a peculiar feeling as though I am no longer a contributing member of society, having worked fulltime since the age of sixteen I never thought or planned to be a part timer let alone someone who didn't pay tax!
In other news my grievance at work continues, having had the first meeting earlier this week the case is now being investigated with an outcome expected in 15days although I suspect they will take their time and drag it out.  The meeting took two hours and although not as unpleasant as expected it was emotionally draining and clear that my employer will use any loophole they can find to ensure that they come out on top.  So now we wait.

Good vs Bad

Thursday demonstrated the advantages of working part time gloriously well.  With the assistance of some gorgeous sunshine I got out of bed at a decent hour (a downfall of not having to get up for work every day is that it is all too easily to stay in bed for most of the morning) took the puppy for a long walk and then went for a run to the seaside and back (its quite nice having the beach only a couple of miles from home) The run and the sunshine really boosted my mood and kept me motivated through work in the afternoon and beyond.  These are things I would not have had the opportunity to do while working fulltime, by the time I'd have been on the way home from work the sun would have been fading and I certainly wouldn't have had the motivation to go out for a run (the puppy has ways of dragging me out for a walk however) The other benefit is that it didn't cost a penny!
The weekend brought rain, persistent rain, and a reluctance to do anything outdoorsy.  The problem being that anything indoorsy costs a considerable amount of money or is at least an hours drive away (as is everything from here) which means costly petrol and with hubby still only working a few hours a week and my wage so reduced I managed to talk him out of every suggestion based on the costs involved.  I worry that the goodlife can only really exist as long as the sun shines and in Britain that isn't all that often.  As a result the weekend time was used up with DIY, cleaning and snuggling on the sofa, not bad, but not ideal.

This weekend we're going to redo the bathroom (on a budget of £100, I'll let you know if we manage to stick to it)

Picture of bathroom as it is now and as its been since I moved in 18months ago, could be worse as I'm sure my best friend will tell you, green suite and orange walls are a little more difficult to live with!

I have just put a coat of primer on the window having spent many, many hours stripping the old paint off.  Admittedly we started stripping the paint at the end of last year, but soon got bored. 
So far though it has not cost a penny just a lot of elbow grease, some leftover paint stripper and the primer I used on my bedroom drawers.



I don't mind DIY its quite therapeutic and when the local decorators quote anything from £90 upwards just to paint the hall and landing (which with the right equipment would probably only take half a day) I find spending the day doing it myself very satisfying, although it does make me question whether I should have been a painter and decorator rather than a teacher as I know I have never been paid £90 for a days work despite being required to have a degree and a teaching qualfication!

The sun returned yesterday though and having walked the puppy I put my trainers on and returned to the sea front, much quieter than Thursday and I am definitely getting faster.  Hubby's work has also picked up a little and hopefully will continue to do so, for this reason we are treating ourselves tonight with a date to the cinema (Orange Wednesdays of course!)

Employment: Parttime 0.33 of a fulltime contract
Lodgers: 1 (potential lodger viewing this week)
Eating out: 2
Hubby: 1 (8 months of married bliss minus one argument)
Dog: 1 (all healed and fur growing back nicely)
Stepson: 1
No Spend Days: 6/14 (must do better!)