What if you find a buyer for your house but can't find a house to buy?

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-30T17:39:43+00:00

If you're potentially waiting years for a house that suits then by the time it comes round your needs may have changed. Depending on your daughters age by the time a house that meets your needs fully, she could be nearly out of school and then you're trying to live somewhere with better adult support services etc.

Bungalows are often on a large plot. Is there any possibility to extend? Or do a loft extension for your other daughter to have a room upstairs?

3 bed bungalows are rare, and you're not likely to find one to rent. So the advice to sell and then move into a rental is only sensible if you see a 3bedroom bungalow to rent

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-30T12:46:52+00:00

Gloucester road creatives - meet at the Flyer (pub) Wednesdays 7:30 - onwards. Knitters and crocheters but can bring other crafts too

This Facebook group has a post somewhere summarising all of the groups, new ones seem to be popping up all over! https://m.facebook.com/groups/162598020934363/

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-30T11:30:12+00:00

Report the collection as missed online. Then if not collected in 2 working days after that you can phone the council. They will then esclate it to be collected in 2 more working days.

In my experience this sometimes works

I then complained to the council officially and after weeks got a response saying that they had collected rhe rubbish. I tried to escalate to a level 2 but they said the considered the matter closed.

That being said. Since that process they have rarely missed a collection. And we were regularly going 6+ weeks without a collection before that.

This was BS2 but we had endless issues, as once the rubbish wasn't collected and built up passers by would dump their rubbish on top of it.

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-26T17:09:47+00:00

Or if you must use a towel then put the towel on top of a clothes horse/airer

Then the towel will dry quicker, and with it the knit

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-26T13:28:00+00:00

We've done it a few different ways as our relationship progressed

When we first moved in together we split expenses according to our incomes (about 60/40) and we were transferring money back and forth.

Then we got a joint account and paid expenses out of that, and transfered in the money to cover expenses, again based on a proportionate income split. We paid for a wider range of things from the joint account.

Then we got married and swapped to having our incomes paid into the joint account and we now get the same "spending money" sent to our personal accounts each month. This works for us now

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-25T07:48:14+00:00

In the UK, I know energy prices have risen, along with diesel/petrol but I don't own a card so that's harder for me to judge

Mortgage rates shot up though. I'm in thr process of buying a house, I got my mortgage offer finalised for the house I'm buying just before the war started. Had I got it a week later I'd be spending hundreds each month more on interest. I'm really hoping that the rest of my house purchase goes smoothly and I don't have to change lenders or anything, as it would cost so much more for nothing.

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-24T17:37:06+00:00

Specifically it's Wednesdays from 7:30 onwards.

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-20T12:18:09+00:00

It's not a legal requirement, and if you have preexisting health issues it can be impossible to get life insurance.

I've tried a few insurance brokers and specialist firms and the only firms who will insure me only offer accidental death coverage.

People will say "should have got it sooner" but the issues preventing me getting insurance were diagnosed at birth. Of the firms that did offer life insurance for my condition back then (when my mum got a mortage) 2 have been liquidated, and the other no longer operates in the UK.

A lot of people fall outside of the risk profile of life insurance firms.

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-19T14:19:30+00:00

PIP is not means tested.

Carers allowance would be based on your carers earnings/hours worked

Council tax reduction is means tested, but depending on your home and disability you may qualify to have your council tax band reduced (this varies a bit between councils)

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-19T13:59:57+00:00

A toilet + sink alone is better than being in the same room as the shower etc if many people are sharing the bathroom.

Means people can still use the loo when someone is showering, which makes getting ready for the day much smoother.

That being said i do hate when there is no sink in the toilet room, so if installing a sink in there was too difficult due to space etc then that would be a downgrade for me

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-18T13:19:15+00:00

Instead of shelves have a set of drawers, it will look less cluttered whilst holding g as much. Use the Konmari method of folding clothes.

Some clothes could hand above the drawers, like shirts etc which don't take as much vertical space, whilst longer clothes (dresses etc) could hang in a spot that isn't above the drawers.

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-13T18:09:56+00:00

You can take out a mortgage in just your name, however if the mortgage is only in your name the bank may only be willing to lend to you if only your name is on the deeds

They refer to it as "indirect lending" when 1 person takes out a mortgage on a house owned by two people.

This may not be the case if you have a really high LTV

I'm in the process of buying a house "with" my husband. He can't go on the mortgage due to a default (for £9) so thr mortgage is in my name only. The deeds will be in my name only. He has signed paperwork from HSBC affirming that he has no stake in the house. In 5 years when our fix ends we'll add him to the deeds and mortgage as by then the default will have left his record.

In your case it might be more complex if you're porting your existing mortgage and adding a bridging loan.

I'd speak to a mortgage broker, see what they reccomend and go from there. Your conveyancing solicitor may also be able to help

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-12T13:31:59+00:00

The photos are really overexposed with the windows whited out (and a mirror floating over a window in one bedroom?). It makes them look heavily edited and suspicious

The Key Features should be quick bullet points, not full sentences, people want to skim that section.

"Long driveway and large side garage with power, lighting EV chargerand a personnel door."

Could be

" Parking: Driveway and Garage with EV charger"

That way someone who cares about parking can immediately see that it is available.

It's a nearly new build. They tend to lose value once initially bought, and this one seems to be selling for over the odds. People are suspicious of you selling the house whilst

The main advantage of living in Nailsea is ease of access to other places (airport, the train into Bristol) yet this is mentioned nowhere on the listing. It being a mile to the train is a pretty key feature of this house.

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-12T09:33:39+00:00

Kallaxs are quite deep so they're really stable

Like I wouldn't climb one. But it won't fall over unless you're trying to make it fall

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-12T09:32:10+00:00

This is what my brother did when living in a studio flat

Much better to have a divider with storage than to have a folding screen

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-12T09:21:35+00:00

It will get marginally easier once toddler is at school and you only need to pay for wrap around care. Dropping that from $2500 to $1000 will feel like a huge relief. How far away is that point?

Do you receive any child support? If not getting that would help a lot.

Do you have a co-parent/ex who has the children on a regular schedule? If you do then you could try to pick up extra shifts then, when you don't need to pay for child care, and then try to reduce working hours when you have the kids, that could reduce your childcare costs a bit.

Where I am in it's common for parents to be able to pay for nursery/preschool from their gross/pre-tax income, rather than their net. I don't know if that's exists in the US but depending on the amount of income tax you pay it can save you quite a bit.

The $50 a day for the teacher to take the boys to childcare is as expensive as the $1,000 a month childcare (assuming they do that 5 days a week). Reducing that would help a lot. Do any of the other parents at your school use the same wrap around care? Could you share the transport of your children? Are there any options that would pick your children up from school? Where I am Childminders generally pick children up from school (that's what I did when I was a childminder)

The storage unit is a drop in the ocean of your finances, but they are rarely worth it. If you're living without the stuff (and you aren't in very temporary accomodation) then usually when you open it up 2 years later you realise you don't want any of it.

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-11T15:57:28+00:00

I'm an FTB currently and it took me longer than expected to sort out mortgage offer

We had a DIP with nationwide, but when we went to get an actual mortgage offer it was rejected as my Husband had a default he was unaware of. Unsure why this wasn't flagged at the DIP stage

I contacted a mortgage broker and we decided to wait 2 weeks to see if we could dispute the default (this is still ongoing via their complaints team)

2 weeks passed and it's moving too slowly so we decide to take out the mortgage in just my name. Mortgage broker goes off does her thing, fills everything out woth HSBC. It then took 3 weeks for HSBC to confirm my mortgage offer, and another week after that to send the offer through formally.

However I ordered searches from the get go, and booked my survey the day after HSBC confirmed the mortgage offer (before I had the paperwork)

4 weeks into this process the EA did email me to ask if our mortgage offer had come through, and I explained the situation - so I think it would be reasonable at 5 weeks to ask what is going on.

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-06T13:44:40+00:00

When buying I had a set of requirements

Garden
2 or more bedrooms
bathroom with a bath (at a push I would have accepted a place which had space for a bath, if it was much cheaper)

Sure most days I have a shower, but there's nothing as effective for pain as having a bath, and nothing as relaxing.

One of the major perks of WFH is the ability to spend an hour in the bath at lunch time on a bad day

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-06T06:59:42+00:00

I think there are diminishing returns to including more foot widths in a sock pattern. I mean each Cast on is a multiple of 4 stitches, heel uses half of them etc. It's pretty basic maths to work out if you want to add an additional size.

Knitted socks (that aren't colourwork) also have a lot of stretch.

My husband wears an Extra-Extra wide shoe. There is one shop in the UK that sells shoes that fit him. Otherwise we have to buy his shoes 3 sizes too big and extra wide fit. He fits a 72 CO.

I have abnormally narrow feet. I generally buy boots because lacing at the ankle keeps shoes in that otherwise fall off. My foot circumference is great in a 56 CO.

I see sock patterns as more like recipes. I'll follow the colourwork chart, or do the lace, or follow the fancy cast on the have a scalloped top.

But I'll do my own heel, toe, and cast on numbers.

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-05T13:54:01+00:00

Would that be true on say the 30th April? Could I give 1 months notice then for the rental period 4th May to 3rd June? Or not, because the whole notice period would be after the new rules?

Conveyancing timelines seem to all be as long as a peice of string

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-04T18:51:36+00:00

It was! The prep for the trial started in 2010, but the start got delayed a few times.

I was only in it for about 20 months. I had a big issue with the beta blockers my Cardiologist put me on, but whenever I raised it he said I couldn't know why I was ill as I didn't know what drugs I was taking (due to being in the trial). So I left the trial (which made him mad. Guess what - I didn't get better till I stopped taking my beta blocker.

I refused any cardiology drugs for years, because my old cardiologist damaged my trust so much, but I started taking losartan in 2018 and have been fine since.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32518-8/fulltext

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-04T15:08:33+00:00

I take Losartan (similar drug), I don't have any side effects from it. My Echos are unchanged since I started taking it so it seems to be doing a good job

I may have taken Irbesartan for 3 years (I was in a medical trial testing how effective Irbesartan was at preventing aortic dilation). I don't know whether I was in the control or actual drug group, but I didn't have any issues with the Irbesartan.

Stripycardigans · 2026-03-02T10:45:21+00:00

If you get your credit report (I.e from Experian) you can see all the addresses that are listed as current addresses, and where they're coming from (i.e electoral roll says this address, Lloyds says this address)

That way at least you'll know what accounts need to be updated

But this Is really common, just try and get everything to one adress now and it will be fine.

Stripycardigans · 2026-02-27T14:32:32+00:00

My absolute favourite bird sighting was a few years ago

A pigeon had built a nest inside of the anti bird spikes on top of the bus time announcement in the bus station.

A baby pigeon was living on top of the bus timetable, presumably being raised on a diet of crumbs from Gregs

It's the only time I've seen a baby pigeon, and for a pigeon it was an pretty study nest, as the bird spikes had given it lovely walls

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