The Ultimate Incentive to get debt free… again. Dinah & NIM go head to head!

Dinah93

Yes, I can't remember how long I bake for but it's on my blog if you have the link. You might find you need more frosting than on one big cake too.

Tete_en_l'Air

Sounds grim Birdie - I've worked in a place where no-one ever spoke - even the job didn't have much interaction to it - and it was soul-destroying. There's a lot to be said for getting on with your colleagues!

Dinah93

Are you due to get a lot out of the shares scheme Birdie?

Birdie85

About £7-8k if the shares stay at the same level- fingers crossed! It's about triple what I'll have put into it.

This whole office feels like everyone just leaves their personality at the door and collects it on the way out. Even in the little kitchen if I'm making a coffee and someone comes in I'll try to make small talk and it's like pulling teeth! They're like robots!

Dinah93

That'll be a canny windfall. What are you planning to do with it?

Birdie85

Well OH will be getting about the same amount, a bit less than me because me puts in £10 a month less than I do, but we'll be getting around £13-14k and we're going to use most of it to pay off the builder. Might have a holiday out of it too!

Dinah93

Which builder is this sorry?

Birdie85

We bought the flat on shared ownership, the builder put down the deposit for us. Seemed like a good idea before the LHA moved in and destroyed the resale value! Don't like to think about it too much!

Dinah93

Ah okay, so basically you'd own the whole thing this time next year? That'd be good, should make it less expensive when you come to remorgage too. Have you had many issues with the LHA after the first few weeks? Did you get a 1 or 2 bed - ie can little Birdies come and nest in it too? Given how keen you are for children, have you considered seeing out part of your final year on maternity as you can take that from 20something weeks and clearly the job isn't satisfying you.

Birdie85

Pretty much, yes. The LHA are still a bugbear, the neighbours could be worse... but they could be better! Considering that you have to have a code to get into our garage it's someone who either lives in the blocks or one of their visitor's who stole OH's bike. What a co-incidence that he spent every morning last week fixing up his bike in the garden where they could all see him and the minute it is rideable again someone takes it! They're also trying to get £600 off us in back payments for maintenance fees that they never asked for in the first place. They just picked a date at random to back-date to and sent us a massive bill! Gits. I'm still on with that actually as we agreed to pay the £7-something a week fees from now on and offered to back pay to January when they first got in contact and set up a DD, got a letter through yesterday detailing our DD's for the next 12 months and we're paying £87 a month! What's up with the other £59 a month they're taking?! Not happy since we've not agreed with them what we're going to be repaying. Blah, long convoluted argument that's turning me grey and they are all utterly useless!

Luckily the flat is a 2-bed so we can have a little one live with us for a year or 2 if needs be. I honestly see us selling up for a loss and having to rent a house though. Don't like to think about it though as it upsets me! We're not really thinking about rushing into having babies yet, we'll be thinking about it towards the end of next year, although I may do as you suggest and bring the baby plan forward if I can't stand working here any longer!