Christmas shopping

On Sunday I made sure I was up and out on the great British high street before 11am ready to meet one of my best friends for a spot of belated birthday lunch and Christmas shopping. I seemed to do my shopping in almost one swoop, and only have to buy little top up presents closer to Christmas. What's more there were some great bargains to be had when you search hard enough.

This year see's Christmas presents stripped right back; here's what I have bought and wrapped up so far;

Mum- a decorative candle holder which holds three glass votives, found in a department sale for the bargainous price of £4.00.

Dad- Best of REM CD £6.00 from Amazon with free delivery.

Sister- Calvin Klien make up set £15.00 and knitted hairband £2.00 from TK Maxx and Primark respectively.

Sister's BF- Bench boxers and sock gift set £8.00.

Nan- Decorate black sequin embellished scarf £4.00 Primark and black box frame in which I'm planning to put some of my photography work (perhaps from the wedding) £6.00 from Tiger.

Granddad- Aftershave and deodorant set from Next £10.00 (they do some really nice smellies for men which smell like 'the real deal').

Secret Santa at work- A miniature snooker table for his desk, a minuscule £3.00!

BF- A superman onesie from Primark £15.00.

BF's sister- A vintage style burnished gold long necklace with camera pendant- £5.00.

I was pretty pleased with these as they all come in at the same price I spent on one person's present last year! Not forgetting the £1.00 gift wrap from Primark and left over box of cards from about three years ago that were £1.00 for a huge box from Wilkinsons.

This week is my work Christmas party. I was planning on buying a new dress as a little treat, but since my having to pay for a £40 cab the other week and doing myself out of my interest I'm just going to recycle the classic LBD and stand up on the train home so as not to FALL ASLEEP! lol.

Happy festive season!

Silly season

Where to begin? I haven't posted yet again in a while, but things have been kind of emotional/hectic over here in my little corner of the globe. It all started when I found a property online at a good price and made the mistake of ringing the estate agent who roped us in to see about four flats half of which were out of our price range and booked in to see the mortgage broker.

We spent a busy few weeks viewing properties, most of which I would get attached to, could imagine living in but weren't quite right for one reason or another. And then I stumbled across one online, great price, iffy location but once we went to see it it was the best location we had seen. The flat was great, decent sized kitchen, fitted appliances, bathroom a decent size and we wouldn't have to do any work to it. The mortgage was affordable, as well as the ground rent/service charges.

We put in an offer, it was accepted and it seemed things were going our way. However, I was told different stories by each of the estate agents I went to see the property with, such as four people had pulled out previously and that was why it was such a good price. Immediately alarm bells started ringing, and I went to visit it with my mum who asked the seller all the practical questions I had overlooked such as how old the warm air heating system was, how old the flat roof was and which type of construction the building was. The seller clammed up, went pink and I couldn't help thinking she might be hiding something.

At my wits end we went to see the estate agents again to try to find out what was going on, only to find out no-one had put an offer in until a week before us which wasn't accepted. The property had been on the market since August 2011. Feeling rather uncomfortable, worried, stressed out and emotional I thought it was probably best not to even get a survey done as we were worried from the off it wouldn't be worth the cost only to find out what we expected and pull out anyway. The fact the estate agents couldn't get their stories straight worried me, and ultimately we didn't want to buy a flat that we couldn't sell in five-six years time.

After imagining living there, and starting to plan next year- holidays etc I couldn't help but feel disappointed and fed up for the whole weekend afterwards. As Christmas is approaching there is very little choice of property on the market but curiosity keeps me coming back to the property websites to check just in case.

There is one flat online in a great location, we went to see another flat in the same block previously, but this  isn't available to view until February which seems ages away. Hmph! I know I shouldn't but I cant help but feel sorry for myself and that we'll never have our own home.

Coupled with the fact I rushed in too quick before withdrawing the offer of pulling my money out of my two ISAs and fixed rate 5% saver, losing out on all the interest because I thought I would need access to the cash soon.

I also fell asleep on the train after a work night out in the city and ended up at the end of the line at 12am and had to fork out £40 for a cab home, and the student loans company has started taking my repayments after two years taking £60 this month. Queue not a happy bunny all round. Chin up and soldier on and keep saving, nothing else for it I guess.

Sorry for the essay! advice please?