Mouche’s adventures with her first mortgage (while coping with her first baby)

tootallulah

Definitely go and see the school if you can, two years out is the time to choose and get your name on the list for the school that you want.

mouche

Thanks tootalullah that’s decided then – we’ll go to the Open Day and see what we think. They aren't a 'top' private school - in fact they are what I believe is considered a 'budget' one so lets see what that translates to.

Last night was a nice night out with my friend and not too expensive either. Spent about £15 on drinks and a meal and £2.50 at ELC on a pair of scissors and a bottle of paint. I have a feeling LO is allergic to the Crayola paint I got him at Christmas. The one time he used it, he woke up in the middle of the night really itchy all over. I haven’t let him use it since and he’s not happy about that as he loves painting. So I thought I’d try the ELC version and see how it goes.

I have decided that now the weather and my mood is better, it is time to step the MSE up a gear. I can’t do much with limited free time but I have signed up for some focus groups, I’m doing YouGov (up to £44.75) and OnePoll (£28.45) regularly and I have accepted my first mystery shop in years. It will give me a £15 reimbursement on a £25 grocery shop at my regular supermarket so quite a good deal. OH and I did loads of mystery shopping in our first few years in the UK and financed most of our holidays with the proceeds. Time to restart it methinks (though I think the days of going to 3 different KFCs after work after over!)

LO moment: OH had to go to work early this morning and LO woke up just as he left at 6am. He kept saying ‘Mummy, want dinnn’ and I couldn’t understand what he was saying in his funny accent so he gave up and tried ‘Mummy, want lunch!’. I gave him some biscuits (he gets a proper breakfast at nursery) and as he was eating them, I attempted to take one. He said ‘Not for you Mummy. Mine.’ He did give me several afterwards but his initial reaction was so funny. Plus, I love how he’s putting together sentences now – he’s only 2 years 2 months.

My chores this week have gone ok but am very much behind on laundry – here is my plan for the week ahead.

Friday: Laundry, mystery shop prep work
Saturday: Laundry, list one item on ebay
Sunday: Laundry & ironing
Monday: Closing bank accounts; filing paperwork & tidying ground floor
Tuesday: Tidying bedroom & tidying shelves in LOs bedroom
Wednesday: Laundry & tidying home office
Thursday: DAY OFF
Friday: Laundry & list one item on ebay

mouche

To all my MSE friends ... never leave your dishwasher or washing machine on when you leave the house. Our dishwasher caught fire on Sunday and in the 10-ish minutes between the smoke alarm going off and the fire brigade arriving, our kitchen floor has been ruined, several counters and worktops have been charred, the walls in the kitchen are black and the whole house is covered in soot. The smell of smoke is so bad that we have been advised not to move back in (we're in a hotel) till it's gone.

And this happened when we were all home and were able to take immediate action. I dread to think what would have happened if it had happened when we were out or in bed at night.

The fire investigator said this is very common with Hotpoints and Indesits but all dishwashers in the normal price range use poor quality parts and can go up in flames like ours did. The only truly safe ones are £1000+ which normal people can't afford.

So please everyone, don't leave your appliances on when you are not home - even a relatively minor fire (no one hurt, house still standing, can enter the house though not stay) disrupts your life completely.

Brodiebobs

oh dear, i used to work in house insurance and these sort of claims were a scarily common occurrence. In a claims dept of over 100 handlers i'd get at least one a week.

Sounds like you had a lucky escape, hope it all gets resolved quickly for you.

gallygirl

:eek: so glad you're all safe :eek:

Hurdler

OMG Mouche - and that is scary because I have a Hotpoint DW and TD in both my house and at the flat I rent out. I bought them because I thought they were a good make!

kirstypark

usually the ladt thing i do before leaving the house in the morning is switch my machines on - will have to change my routine. Thank goodness no one was hurt, you must have got such a scare.

How did you get on at the school? Have a few freinds who have kids at private school and have heard them talking about hardship funds or burseries if things go bad financially after a few terms. I think good schools make an effort to keep the children on if there is genuine hardship in a family. One family i know where the dad walked out and made no contribution were able to let both boys continue and even gave a help with uniforms and trips as mum was a student - mind you that was about 10 years ago and there are more families than ever facing financial problems. Maybe some redudancy insurance and critical illness cover might help to give you peace of mind?

mouche

Thank you everyone for your good wishes.

Hurdler, I think it doesn’t really matter which make you have as dishwashers especially seem to be susceptible to this kind of problem and it ends up being luck really. Having said which, please check the recalls page for the Hotpoint model numbers you own. Apparently they have recalled a few models for causing fires. Ours was not one of them but was the model number just after the last recalled one (according to fire investigator). In fact this goes for any make. I’ve been looking into it and lots of companies have recalled dishwashers including Bosch and Indesit.

Kirsty, definitely change your routine. I know it’s difficult if you can’t have it on while you’re a) not home and b) asleep. But god forbid, anything like this happens, you want to be home and awake.

The private school was interesting. It was a lot smaller than I’d expected and probably has less facilities than state schools (though I haven’t seen a state school yet). But I really liked the children I spoke to – they were all well-mannered and articulate. The Year 6 girl who showed us around told us she’d been in 4 different state schools and left the last one because she was being bullied. She loves it at the private school and her little sister goes there now as well. I also spoke to some parents and they were very happy too. The fees are also very reasonable – considerably less than I was expecting. Assuming a rough figure for out of hours care, the total of school fees and out of hours would be about £3,000 more per year than I currently pay for his nursery. £3,000 per year is what I am currently saving towards his fees already so I think we should be fine fees-wise. We have decided to view the other 2 private schools in the area and then decide.

But of course, the fire has put all our plans take a backseat for now. We are still in a hotel and the insurers are trying to find a flat for us to rent temporarily. They suggested we organise our own local builders as their contractors are all busy with the flood hit areas. So we’ve been trying to get quotes from builders, facilitate visits by the loss adjustors, keep on top of the 1001 calls we need to make and things we need to find out. OH and I are both back at work from today as well. Not to mention that LO needs entertaining and a hotel room is not the best place for that. He’s also acting out at nursery and they think it may be because he is confused about what’s happening – he keeps saying his house is ‘broken’. Fun & games. MSE is out the window for now.

mouche

Just a quick update to say we are still in the hotel but the builders start work tomorrow and hope to have us back in the house in two weeks.

In the end the works needed are new kitchen floor, partial replacement of kitchen counter + one kitchen unit, painting and redecoration of whole house except for loft conversion (which wasn't really affected).

Plus, all items in the kitchen have had to be thrown out, including, to our surprise, the fridge freezer and microwave. Carbon damage apparently. Plus toaster, kettle, washing machine, all pots and pans, most crockery and cutlery, dining table and chairs, most of LOs toys (playroom is open plan onto the kitchen) and LOs highchair. I suppose I should be excited about being able to get new equipment + redecorate the house but a) worried we might be underinsured and b) worn out with a nasty head cold coupled with OH working ungodly hours and not being able to help with LO much.

On the plus side, had a lovely massage and facial on Saturday as a mother's day gift from LO.

Money shuffle done for the month. Did some kind of miscalculation and ended up with £325 extra so promptly made an OP before discovering the mistake and finding £300 'missing' If it looks too good to be true.... Have compensated with savings but think it will be the last OP for sometime as all my unpaid leave will come out of next month's salary. Plus, of course we are getting the new fixed rate if we remember to sign and post the papers this week. Might be difficult since I haven't actually seen OH since Sunday morning due to above-mentioned ungodly working hours.

Wasn't that quick an update was it?

kirstypark

clever LO getting mummy such a great present! Hope the house gets sorted out quickly.