It doesn’t matter what the reason is, if you need to do sudden home improvements you need not dip into your savings. Savings are often in unique bank accounts that will punish you if you take a large portion of your money out. For home improvements that need to be made quickly, there are many other methods for finding the funds. But why would you need to make these improvements so urgently? Well, it could be that you want to sell your house. Looking around you can see that it’s been left to get a bit dull and outdated over the years. If you’re going to get the best price possible you need a more contemporary look and feel. Maybe you’re remodelling and want to do so on the cheap and spend too much. It might also be because the older materials are becoming a health hazard.

Into 5-digit territory

It’s a good idea to get an estimate of your total cost for the improvements you want to make. Keep track of the things you are changing and the products you have your eyes on as replacements. If you’re heading into the 5-digit territory this can be deemed a large scale home improvement. Not having that kind of cash on hand for something urgent is not the end of the world because Buddy loans are a direct guarantor loan lender. If you have a friend or relative that is willing to go along with you on your home improvement project.  They can elect to be the guarantor. Their property will be used as the base of guarantee that you will make the payments. If you fail to do so, they will be held responsible to make the payments as their property is liable. So make sure the elected guarantor is someone who you can trust and who also trusts you. You can borrow up to £10,000 and not be afraid of being denied because of bad credit. The shortest term of paying back is 12 months and the longest is 36 months.

Plan a moving day

Home improvements often require the house to first be cleared. Usually, the furniture, ornaments and lamps need to be remove. Wallpaper can not be steamed off and ripped if there are things in the way. You then need to lay a sheet to catch everything which will make the house a mess. Bits of plaster, wood chippings, wallpaper shavings and many more things that will create rubbish need to be caught in a controlled manner.

You don’t want to try and repaint your home while everyone else is still in the same room, living like normal. So plan a moving day whereby you’ll use the day to move the sofa, dining table and chairs out into the garden. However this has to coincide with the weather.  You don’t want these items to get soaked. It’s prudent to buy a tarp which you can put over the top to keep those things safe from the elements and buy more time to get the home refurbished.

Clearance sale

Sometimes in order to move into the future you have to sell off your previous household items. Home improvements are varied in nature and when you want to completely change the interior design and style of the house, the current crop has to go. You can auction off your items or sell them at a garage sale. All manner of things can be sold off to make way for the new. Things that have a big presence in your home such as chairs, tables, sofas, cabinets, wardrobes and drawers. You can then use the proceeds you make from the sale, to buy yourself newer and more stylish pieces for the home. Modern corner sofas are not cheap but they add a new layer of luxury to the home. There are lots of sources on the internet that show you how to conduct a garage sale and get access to smaller auction houses for your more expensive items. You can do this for all the items you have sold, such as replacing them with more contemporary styles.

Usually, making home improvements is a planned affair. You want to make sure you have as much time as possible to get it right. However when you don’t have time or the funds, there are other methods you can use to get the money you need. Either get a guarantor loan or conduct a garage sale of older unwanted items.

How do you fund your house improvements?

Charlotte

It’s a time in our lives that we must all go through at one time or another. We love where we currently are because we’re creatures of habit and we fall in love with our almost personified homes.Usually we cannot stay there forever – well, some of us can if we’re lucky. We either need an upgrade, or we need something more convenient for the future.

Some people enjoy the moving process as they think about all of the potential, and the excitement is the dominant feeling. Others, however, tend to feel the pressure and the stress of the whole ordeal. Whilst it’s something that requires quite a bit of thought, moving house isn’t a terribly difficult process overall. Sure, there are a few technical bits and pieces, but if it were so difficult, hardly anyone would get anything over the line. If you’re at the stage where you’re in need of a new place, and you’re not too sure what to think about, let’s talk about some simple stuff.

The Type Of Home

As we mentioned before, you need to pick a home that suits your situation. It would be nice to be able to choose whatever luxurious place we want but, unfortunately, we have to live in the real world. If you’re currently not in a position to commit to a long-term home.  Then you can look online for apartments or other similar properties to rent. If you do have the money and the commitment, then you can scan through sites like Redrow to find the perfect place for you. It’s good to check out new properties from house builders as there is the potential of having custom homes made to suit your preferences.  

Can You Get To Work?

It’s an important aspect to consider when relocating. You need to be able to commute to and from work comfortably in order to maintain a living. After all you still need to be able to pay the bills. You may find an otherwise perfect place to live, but if it’s inconvenient for your job, then that’s a big drawback.

Can The Kids Get To School?

Likewise, if you have children, then they’re going to need to have a wonderful education. A nice morning routine with a comfy route to school every morning is just what they need rather than a rush and an awkward schedule. At an impressionable age, they’ll need to be punctual and frequently attending so that they can learn as much as possible. Plus who wants to have to be up before they need to be. 

What Is The Area Like?

It would be wise to do a little research into what the potential new area is like. You’ll probably want to live in a nice, peaceful and friendly neighbourhood, so it’s only natural for you to do a little research into it all. When viewing the house, you could ask the agent and maybe even local residents what it’s like in the community. Also maybe visit the property at different times. You do not want to be stuck finding a lot of teenagers hang outside your house on a night. 

What would you look for if you were to move house

Charlotte xxx

 

Activities?

 

Are there clubs and groups for people to join? Is there a local park? It’s good to know if there are any recreational places in any new town or village. You don’t want to get there and have nothing to do after work and on the weekends.  

 

Moving house is one of the most stressful things which a person can do in their lifetime. However, this does not stop us on average we move every 23 years if we own our own house. In some areas this is more frequent such as Midlothian, Scotland your likely to move every 15 years.  On the other hand Powys, Wales your more likely to stay in your property for 33 years.

As a result of these people moving it is not surprising that removal services are a big business. After all we are all so busy and need people to help us move into our new properties. We even choose removal men when we moved into our new property last year. However, because we was actually moving from one city to another. We found it hard to get a company within the budget we wanted.  In the end we ended up getting a fixed rate price which meant it did not matter how many hours they were on the job. It did not work out to expensive thankfully.

Another element which I did not love was having to ring people up. When you are moving house of course you do not have a lot of time to be spending on the phone. I wish there was more companies which I would have been able to get a quote online from. This would have meant that I could have do it any time of day rather than having to try and remember during office hours to give them a call.

Recently one of my friends was looking for a removal company as they are moving from London back to the North. They were telling me about the company which they used which was The Man Van. They do allow you to get a quote online which is great when you are busy. Another thing which surprised me about the company is that they are based in London however, if you are moving from the capital to somewhere else in the UK or Europe. They are willing to do the job I am sure this is something that a number of companies would not be willing to do.

You do not have to be moving house to use The Man Van if you are moving offices. This is something which they can help you with as well. Even if you have purchased a large item which you need delivering this is another service which they offer. This is very handy because how many times do you see a bargain on Facebook Marketplace. Then realise you have no way of been able to get to get it to where you need. I do not think their are many companies which would offer this service.

They also claim to be a cheap removal service in London with friendly and careful support. To make your removal as safe and tireless as possible. This is always something which you want when your moving because it can be stressful worrying if they are going to break something. Or is something going to go wrong while your moving these are all worries which I had when we moved.

Have you ever used removal men when you have moved properties?

Charlotte xx

This is a sponsored post.

Moving house is one of the most stressful things which you can do. As many of you may know this is something which we did last summer. We combined two houses into one and created our first family home which was amazing. There was a lot of stress involved due to things keeping going wrong. One element which saved us a lot of stress was having a removal company.

Due to the nature of our move we moved 50 miles from my house and around 25 from where we had been living. On top of this we had some things at Joe’s parents another 70 miles from the new house. This meant that we could not do everything alone. The stress was already high because this is what you find when you are purchasing a house.

There was a lot of logistical planning which went into moving house. It was almost like a military operation but a lot more organised. It including having to hire a van from a company to be able to get the things from his parent’s house. We had a storage unit which we was using to put purchases in alongside things we had already moved. This meant that we did not have to purchase as much when we moved. There was only a period of around 2 weeks after the move before Joe deployed again.

One day while we were in the storage unit we realised how full it had become. We had planned to do the removals ourselves to save money. We knew it was going to be a number of trips between the unit and the new house. Of course, this was going to cost us a lot of time and also money in fuel

The reason that we had decided that we were going to do it ourselves because removal costs would be high. This could not have been further from the truth. I was pleasantly surprised we managed to do it in all in one trip with a huge van and a smaller van. Of course, there were smaller elements which had to go in our car mainly fragile pieces I was worried about. It took the removal men around 3 hours to empty the storage unit. It was a huge 100sq ft unit, and there was two of them. I seem to remember Joe had to help them to get it done quicker as well.

We paid around the £300 mark for this service, which I did not think was too bad. This was due to the distance as well for them it was almost a whole day job. For sure it would have taken us longer and we would have had to sort out childcare. I am sure that we saved money because we would have to have hired a van and also pay fuel. This did save us having a huge argument as well which is not doubt something which would have happened.

When I checked at the price of the removal van against what the average is I realised we got an amazing deal. I hate speaking on the phone so I wish I had known about get a mover. This would have meant I did not have to make calls because they get quotes of local removal companies. They then email you the quotes because we all know when you are moving house you do not have a lot of time. There is always something else which needs to be done.

I am so glad that we spent the extra money and got the removal men which we did. It saved us a lot more stress which is always a bonus everything was put in our garage so we could sort it as and when we needed it rather than rushing. For sure if we were to move house again no matter how far away from our current home I would be looking at get a mover in order to get quotes. Anything which makes life less stressful is always a bonus to me.

Have you moved house did you use removal men or did you do it yourself?

Charlotte xx

This post is a sponsored post by get a mover

As you may know, if you have been reading my blog for a while we have purchased our first home. We purchased it way back in June and are looking to move within the next month. It is all systems go here so this means that we have been doing a lot of decluttering, packing and all sorts. Today I thought I would share with you some of the things which we have been doing in order to be prepared when we do finally move in . If you do not know we are actually purchasing our first home together so this does mean that we are combining two houses at least. So we are not moving as you may traditionally and we are actually moving around 1 hour away from my family home and around 40 mins from York which is home at the moment for us.

Make a list

Making a list of what we needed it something which helped me so much because this meant that I did not purchase things which we did not need. Even though we did by some bits which I am sure we have more than we need of. I know there are only a small few bits which I need to order now.  I also found that making sure that I have the Quidco cashback toolbar on has helped me manage to get a chunk of money back. For example, on our washer and fridge we got £17 back and of course, every little bit helps.

Sell what you don’t need

This for sure is something which we have been doing because of the fact that we had all of Jess’s things from when she was a baby down at the grandparents. This has meant that we do have several things twice so it has allowed us to be able to sell one of the highchairs for example so of course, this does mean that we have been able to get more pennies. We have been able to sell a 3/4 bed which we no longer have a need for because of the fact that it is way to small for to adults to share and it is so low. This does mean that we do not have to move this and end up storing it in the garage someone is actually getting some love out of this. I have also been able to put this money towards something else which we need for the house.

Make sure you’re getting the best deal

This is something which we have been doing before moving into the house. We have made sure that we could get the best deal for the things which we need on sky because what is the point of having things which we do not need. For example, the cinema package is something which we would not get the best used out of so we might as well spend the money on the sports package which is something for sure I know I will be using. We made sure that we go the fastest internet as this is something which we need because Joe is always gaming using the internet. While of course I like to spend a lot of time doing things on my blog.

Pack slowly

This is something which of course we have had had the luxury of doing because it has taken so long for us to be moving into the house. This has meant that instead of having the stress of packing everything in the last few weeks we have been able to spend time slowly making sure that thing is in boxes related to the room which they are going to be going in. For example all of the things which are going to be in Jess’ room are in a box which says Jess on it. This is something which is going to be able to help so much when we move because we are going to be able just to take the boxes straight to that room.

Have an essentials bag

This is more for when you do actually move into the house on the day you get the keys you do not want to have to be opening every box to find a phone charger for example. This is something which I am going to create in the next couple of weeks before we do move. In this bag/ box I am going to make sure that we have our phone chargers because of course, we need them to have power. We will end up making sure that we have our kettle to hand when we move because of course who can live without coffee. This is something which we are going to make not long before moving and making sure that we have them to hand. I think the plan is to actually put them in the car boot because then there is no way where we actually end up losing the box on the day of the move.  I think also in the box we are also going to have some loo roll and some snacks. The fridge we have ordered does not get delivered for a few days after we actually move in so we can only have small shops till it is in.  We have choosen this so that I do not have too many people coming with deliverys when we first move in.

What tips do you have to someone moving house before they actually move?

Charlotte xx

 

 

As some of you may know we are looking to purchase our first house this summer.We finally want to have a house were we can all live together instead of spending half of the time solo parenting. While spending the rest of the time together it is now about time to combine two homes into one. With the budget we have it could mean that we have to make sure that the house is something which we can improve over a period of time. So it could me we do move and improve the house. Hopefully this is only simple things such as painting and making sure that we have our own touch on the place. I really do not want to be one of those peoples who have to knock wall down and build an extension because we really want to move in this summer. As you can imagine i don’t really want to live in a building site with a toddler.

Like most people location of the property which we are going to purchase is important but of a study of 2000 people conducted by Slater Gordon found only 35% stated that this was important. For us we want to be able to have good travel links due to the fact it is unlikely that we are going to have a job in the area we live. We also want a house that is going to be big enough should we have another child it will mean that we do not have to move we may end up moving again however,I hope to be in the house for a long time as well. However, you never know if you are going to have to due to job relocation or something similar. So you could say that I am one of the 1000 who wouldn’t say that they are never going to move in the future. As some of you know moving out fully is not something which I have done so it does mean that the whole new moving house experience is new to me.

I guess you could say I have moved a few times because I have actually changed houses while at university but these were not properties which I could have stayed in long term however, on average adults move 3 times during their adult life. So who know I may just not be normal.

This means that we are likely to be moving and improving the house both things which I barely have done in my life. However, some tips which I have been given when speaking to people about moving houses is make sure that you have removal men to take things from our house to the new house. This is something which I am unsure if we will have to do because we will be purchasing a lot of furniture new because we don’t currently have a family home.I know there is going to be a lot of bulky things which have to be moved so this could see us hiring a van so we can actually get them to the new house.

Another tip which I have been told is to make sure that you tell people that you are moving this is people such as the bank, phone companies and others who you may have to pay bills for. Don’t forget if you have something such as a subscription box do not forget to tell them that you are moving otherwise you will not have it at the new address. This is not going to be a problem for use because we are still going to have people who we know at the address which we are moving from. But usually of course this is something which you will need to do.

There is not guarantee that we are not going to have to do work on the house this could see us having to get tradesmen such as electricians and gas fitters. These are people who you need to make sure are qualified don’t try and do it yourself or you could see yourself as one of the 220,000 people who end up in hospital a year as a result of DIY.

Are you a person who would rather move than do their house up?

Charlotte xx

This post is in collaboration with Slater Gordon