New Year...New Me?... Oh how I hate that term!
- Natasha
- Mar 5, 2019
- 7 min read
I cannot believe it's been 8 months since I posted, I really had gotten waylaid with life... and chose to use Instagram as a blogging outlet but It wasn't just as successful *not sure if thats the right word* as I'd hoped and I did miss the who typing blog aspect even more so Here I am again!
Lots has happened over the course of these 8 months, particularly in the last 3 months - 2019 hasn't been the greatest so far, full of stress, worry, concern and illness... but I digress... time to bring y'all up to speed... brace yourself... it's been a challenging year so far!
I got hit with a couple of bouts of the cold over the winter months that waylaid any workout plans, and then work got soooo busy that the evenings were simply time for rest and recuperation!
The New Year gave me renewed hope for good things but in January my car pinged a fault that filled me with dread, a trip to the mechanic seemed to sort it but I was filled with the worry that it could happen againa s its one of those faults you have to just try a few things to see which is the actual fix.
Then at the beginning of February we got hit with a bombshell, that our landlord wanted the property back that we've lived in for almost 4 years, this is the reality of renting I know, and unfortunately we're just not in a position to buy as yet, our hopes are on co-ownership and another year of renting should enable me in particular to pay enough off any current credit I have to ensure we can go for it, but the panic and worry that trying to find a new property to rent gives hit us fully. Cue several nights of crying (by me), loss of appetite and general worry - but amazingly, we found a new property very swiftly, that would accept us and our dog *which is so hard to find usually*
The property is smaller and cheaper to rent, in so much better order than the house we were in and very close to both our parents and work., there are always cons to moving - the relaity of moving from the countryside and detached residence to a cul-de-sac and semidetached property dad have its concerns... but it seemed a complete blessing,
A month of moving, caused untold stress, irritation and another bout of the cold, but we're now in the new place 5 days and settling in to our new home... I'm getting slightly more settled and relaxed about the whole thing now we're in... it will take time to adjust but i'm getting there, and happier with the actual property as a home than I've ever felt in 4 years in the other house... but there's been plenty of stress and irritations between us as a couple along the way... I fully agree with those who say moving house is one fo the most stressful things you can do...It was just AWFUL!
So in the midst of moving, scraping together a deposit and balancing budgets to get us there (whilst still trying to pay off my holiday) - my car failed the MOT and on the way to book the mechanic for repairs.. BAM the fault liight from january returns, now I shoudl let you know that this fault light doesnt just ping up, it also makes the car go into limp mode (as it did in Jan)... so the car shudders and safely decides to shut down. it requires restarting the engine and perservering through a couple more limp mode warnings before it will let me drive it. I spoke to my mechanic (whose swamped) , booked it in for repairs the following week and he sent me on my way advising I can drive it as thats just a warning system. That afternoon the warning light had switched off and I could drive normally. The car went in for service the following week with no further engine warnings, he checked fault reader history and it gave fuel pressure but told me to drive away and if it came back then we'd action it. The Day after, it happened again but again went off, passed its MOT a day later and yesterday , it came on again.... after i'd had the day to end all Days!... keep reading, you'll get a blow by blow of how bad a person's Monday can be!
MONDAY BLUES
So yesterday was fun *not*. To put it mildly I had quite the day!
The weekend was a little bit of a struggle emotionally, just the aftermath of the move and my health felt sucky. I had spent Thursday last week cleaning the old house and moving the final things and the dust, grime that can build up and generally fumes from carpet shampooer, bleach etc had just hit my lingering cold and I'd spent the weekend coughing and dry chested and miserable.
On Monday I was awaiting word form the Estate agent in regards to our deposit being returned. I had some work engagements that took me and a colleague to Carrickfergus and Larne so I tetnatively took my *ready to go into fault mode* car and drove us to those. as the engagements drew to an end, before we headed back I checked my emailed and got the mother of all emails from the estate agent. The content hit me so badly my colleague took me to get a tea to calm me down.
In a nutshell, the landlord was refusing to return any of our deposit citing that the house was filthy, lounge carpet ruined and the house had damp. attacheing photos of said 'Issues'. I hurt so badly not only for us as a couple but for my poor parents who had stood and bleached that house within an inch of its life to the point they suffered from aches and pains over the head of it.
I had a cry, read the email again and then the anger hit as I saw just what money can do to a person. I've never been wealthy. I come from a family of 'grafters' as they'd say. My parents worked hard all their lives and never had much but gave all they had to us...which is why I've worked since the age of 16 and never taken a benefit (i'm not judging anyone as I know its there for those in genuine need).
I always gave our landlord the benefit of the doubt despite knowing that all he has he got from having a wealthy dad. I've heard stories and always brushed them aside as he'd always been relatively kind to us. But there were issues within that house that I never brought up and so help me now I wish I had.
I let the shock dissapate, let the anger build and drove back to the office formulating my response to that email in my head.
I sat and spent half an hour responding to their claims - inlcuding one that the blinds were all broken or removed - let me clarify that when we moved into that house was 2 roller blinds and a damp pair of curtains in the hallway . we provided all our own curtains, replaced the damp ones with a new pair (which I left at the property) and we also paid for an installed louvere blinds at a cost of £185 in botht he living room and our bedroom! The roller blinds are still there, as are 2 pairs of louvre blinds in the living room, the bedroom blinds and removed an dleft to show the severity of damage the damp in the hosue did to them. But they saw fit to comment on blinds that they never had provided!!!
Oh I don't want to get into the whole nitty gritty of the email content and my response... lets just say I saw all their concerns and raised them with my own. I await the repsonse eagerly but don't expect it anytime soon. but it floored me... how unkind a person can be when money gets int he way - and i've learned a valuable lesson as a renting tenant... photos! so so important, how I wished i'd photographed the property upon entering. I don't know if i'll get any deposit returned, but i'll not give up easily! because we are being treated very unfairly!
So with all this in mind, I drove out after work towards my parents to pick up Annie and *Ping* the dreaded fault light and limp mode. What else could I do, i had a cry. I cried as the fault pinged and went into limp mode after 4 restarts, and I limped the car into the mechanics on the way home after calling mum (she still gets the upset calls even now). Fault reader is as vague and unuseful as ever... It could be a sensor, or wiring... so its booked in for next week again and I'll perserve with it in the meantime borrowing hubby's van for longer journeys. I arrived at my parents and as Richard was training after work I had a wee cry into Annie's fur, had dinner and theirs and then made the 2 minute journey home to the new house, lit the fire, got into my jammies and ate a bun with a cuppa. It was a HARD DAY!
I managed a good nights sleep and woke up this morning in a slightly more positive frame of mind... and I'm trying to keep positive. Relying on Faith to keep me strong and thankful for husband, family and my colleagues who've all been so supportive over the course of a month of stress and upheaval!
So today is an office based, get all the admin caught up on, day, and tonight is GB, we're rapidly heading towards display time so its all guns blazing there and i'm thankful for the diversion.
I have a few plans for upcoming review blogs... Lookiero - my 3rd delivery is due tomorrow, and I want to talk about new health plans as my weight and eating just took a dive.
but I needed this... this update blog allowed me to splurge the toll that being an adult has had on me the past month or so, and the reality that no life is perfect and noone has it all together.!
So I'll finish with the lessons I've learned from the past few months and I'd love to hear your own reala life struggles so that we can moan together.... have you struggled with a rental issue after a seemingly good tenancy? let me know!
bye
Natasha x
Lessons I've learned:
1. As a renter - take photos of the property at the start and along the way if issues arise, so you have photographic proof
2. Don't get sucked in by a 'nice' landlord - Money takes over and truly is the root of all evil!
3. Remember to breathe, when the stresses of life hit you take time to remember all the good things you do have and breathe!
4. BUDGET BUDGET BUDGET! - Don't leave everything to the last minute (I'm the worst for this) - try and always have enough each month for emergencies (This is so hard!)
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