Suddenly we're moving. Almost certainly to a large top floor flat in New Brighton.
A lack of space has been a perennial problem with living here. We came from a large house to a 38 x12 foot single story box, and had to either ditch, store or cram in all the stuff we've accumulated over the years.
But recently, the site owners have become annoyingly enthusuastic about enforcing petty rules, and our stay here was only ever meant to be a stopgap. We worked out that if we stayed here for about 5 years, the money we spent would be equal or greater than the money we'd have spent on rent.
The reason we had to move out was that we'd fallen further and further into debt, and we'd just ran out of room. Too many instructors chasing the work, and I didn't have the website bringing pupils in at the time. A huge global financial crash didn't help either. Then things changed. My business took off, and suddenly we were living somewhere very cheap, but I was bringing in a lot more money. So we suddenly had a bit of disposable income. We didn't manage to accrue a lot of savings, but we were able to live without the stress and pressure of wondering how the fuck we could make ends meet.
Moving will mean we have a lot less spare money to spend on going out for something to eat, or getting that thing off ebay or amazon or whatever real shop we went to, and we will no longer have any outside space. But I will have less of a commute, we will have a lot more room, and we're closer to Bren's immediate family.
Bren spent a lot of time looking at what was available, and we ended up going to see about 8 different properties. We could have got a big flat in Birkenhead for £425/month, because it's quite a scuzzy area. Bren vetoed that. So it came down to two, both in New Brighton. She preferred the other, but we compromised on the big top floor space.
It's all happening very quickly, and we're having to look at our contract with the site.
The bastards have us over a barrel. We might not get anything for the van, not after all their fees have been taken into account.
Ah well. Life is change. Unlike before, we just about have the means to deal with this, even if we end up giving our caravan to the site owners.
driving lessons in North Wirral? learn to drive in Hoylake? driving instructor in Birkenhead?
3 comments:
Good luck! Moving is stressful, but when it's being done by choice, there's generally plenty of positives.
I hope it turns out well.
Another of your strikingly candid (that's positive) posts.
I would be interested, from an accounting point of view, how you have calculated that you will get nothing for the caravan. It seems highly counter-intuitive, if not daylight robbery, bearing in the mind the amount you paid for it. You might not want to post this info on a public blog; you might not want to tell me at all!
There is something circular about all our lives. Here you are looking at flats around North Wirral again.
If you are willing to accept my circular nature of life theory and my very limited experience as a MAAT, you might want to write out cash flow projections on an Excel spreadsheet (piece of cake for you) and ask yourself am I being too optimistic or sufficiently realistic lest the carousel of life bring you back to a caravan park in Moreton several thousand pounds worse off.
I hope this comment is adequately negative and cautioning to balance out all the positive comments you will get from friends, family and other readers of your blog. This is my role in my life. It wins me few friends.
Thank you for the comments :o)
@ Jim - It is a choice. In a way that makes things a little bit harder. If we had no choice, or Hobson's choice, things might not be pleasant, but they would be at least straightforward and obvious. But there are pros and cons. There is the hassle and expense, but mainly, we've spent some happy times here, and leaving would be at least a bit of a wrench. We would like to harvest the fruit and veg we've been growing. We would miss the peace and green-ness, and the fact that we havea little bit of it to call our own. So it's bittersweet.
@ Pete - It's an old van now. Around 15 years old, and we've made extensive alterations to it's insides to make it more home like. Ideal for two people needing somewhere to live while doing a self build perhaps, but not for a family of four spending a week on holiday. If we don't sell it, the site must, and they're not going to get a huge amount for it. But yes, the contract is a rip off. It's also something that we put our signatures to and agreed to be bound by.
We had hoped to get something back, even if it was just a grand or two, but it looks like we're actually going to have to pay a couple of thousand pounds to get out. I might scan and post the agreement.
There are still a couple of hurdles to hurdle before we can say with 100% certainity that this is going to happen. We can't be certain right now that our credit rating is good enough to satisfy the landlord/estate agent. We should know in the next day or so.
So we're looking at those hurdles with a sort of fatalistic mindset. If we get knocked back, well that's God's/Life's way of saying "go this way"
If we end up staying here another year, we can live with that, and knowing we're leaving, we can prepare and build up some savings. The caravan, being effectively worthless, is not going to depreciate any further. If we go, well that's fine too.
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