Tuesday, 29 June 2021
Hi!
We’re probably overdue an update. In today’s update, we’ll focus on our missions.
- Mission 1: find the funds
- Mission 2: ready to sell
- Mission 3: find the house
- Mission 4: ready to move
Thank you once more to everyone who is so generously helping us with mission 1 (find the funds). The fundraising stands at nearly £75,000, which is awesome.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been beavering away at mission 2 (get ready to sell). We’ve made great progress, tidying, smartening up the house and decluttering.
Much decluttering has been needed, especially in the loft. We’ve lived in our current home for nearly fourteen years, during a period where we’ve had decreasing capacity for anything beyond basic survival and meeting our boys' needs. And that really showed in the state of our loft! The easiest option for so many things has been “just put it in the loft for now.”
That has meant the loft has held many things, e.g.:
- Ornaments we put away during James’ most destructive phases when he was younger (and which we didn’t get out again)
- Pictures that we brought from our last home and just haven’t got round to putting up
- Things we’ve put in the loft to make space for all Morgan’s supplies (CDs, DVDs, spare bedding and even two dining chairs!)
- Things we thought we might need one day
- Things that gave us decision paralysis
It’s not just the loft. Over the last few months I have scanned and shredded thousands of documents. Going paperless releases space and reduces clutter. We’re quite close to being able to part with our two-drawer filing cabinet, which a few months ago was bursting at the seams, with unfiled paperwork hiding All Over The House.
Mission 2 also includes replacing our roof. It needed doing. It would have come up on a survey. Replacing it will absolutely increase the “wow” factor. On balance, we think it’s well worthwhile.
We’re also repainting various rooms. The hall, stairs and landing are finally done (after being half-done for an embarrassing number of years). The lounge is being painted this week. Sharon is painting the kitchen. And we’re planning to paint the exterior of the house too, which really has needed doing since we moved in. (We apologise profusely to our long-suffering neighbours!)
We’re working on mission 3 (find the house). We actually went to view a house today. Very interesting, but we’re not sure if we can make the space work. If it’s still on the market when we’re finally ready to sell, we’ll almost certainly go back for another look and to measure up carefully.
We have active searches on Rightmove, OnTheMarket and Zoopla. Even with really tight search parameters, still the vast majority of properties that come up are unsuitable. If you know of a property in the Chester area that may be suitable that is NOT on the market, please let us know: ahfm@pomeroy.me.
Mission 4 (get ready to move) involves preparing the new house for Morgan and James. We can’t yet predict what that will entail. That depends on the outcome of mission 3.
So: we’ve come a long way and there’s a long way yet to go. We are facing many challenging decisions, often which have no “right” answer (that’s life, isn’t it)! We need wisdom, patience and clarity. If you pray, do pray for us?
Thank you so much for following us on this journey. We literally could not do it without you.
God bless,
Rob & Sharon