My Proper DFW Diary

Lucy5781

Baby girl arrived on her due date, via section as I reacted badly to the induction and she was bordering on being distressed, she had a bowl movement too. All fine though.

DH was off sick, planned, for corrective surgery on his ankle for about eight weeks from DD being five weeks old. He's now back to work.

We now get some child tax credits as well as additional child benefit due to second child though ironically I'll have to let them know when I receive monies from mum's estate. House finally went on the market five months after she died, despite us having it clear after about six weeks. Expecting a response from HMRC shortly for Probate to be granted, at which point her liquid assets should be available for interim distribution.

Quite shocking to have gone from £16k debt to about to inherit about ten times in six years... And it being due to losing my mum.

I'm about to start some counselling for it soon too.

After reviewing possible penalty issues, we aim to put a chunk of it towards our mortgage. Then there's a kitchen/ bathroom/ conservatory re do planned.

Aiming for at least one nice holiday for the family.

Honestly sometimes it's little things like being able to get my hair done, having some friends to soft play for DS's birthday next month etc

Lucy5781

Four days after I wrote my last post my father in law was taken into hospital via ambulance with severe pancreatitis, after over two weeks in an induced coma, he sadly passed away in the early hours of yesterday morning.

We're beyond shocked. My husband and I have now lost a parent each in barely more than six months.

It is no small blessing that both of them had complete wills reducing the bulk of the problems associated with death on this level.

My mother's probate is halfway through a ten working day period of being approved so that should finally begin full resolution in just over a week.

My poor husband is now feeling exactly what I've been telling him for the last six months, the person I want to talk to about everything, is the one I've lost...

Lucy5781

So, interim distribution of mum's liquid assets happened earlier this month.
Warned my bank as it's only a basic account originally opened to parachute prior to my DRO five years ago.
That was fine, until I made an Amazon order that was paying to about six different merchants so my card got blocked.
Called them at 4pm on a Sunday and they still got it sorted in barely 20mins. Was pleased with that.

Paid back MiL for loan for car. The second hand seven seater we bought immediately prior to having DD drank fuel. Like full on alcoholic drinking problem. DH's enhanced mileage barely covered half the costs.

So we got the ex demonstrator Dacia Logan MCV the day after it became eligible to sell. '18 reg with 19 miles on the clock as no one had ever test driven it. MiL gave us the cash up front knowing my funds were due imminently and I paid her back less than a fortnight later.

FiL was barely three weeks away from turning 65 when he died, turned out he actually had about four life insurance policies linked to their multiple property mortgages which he had effectively written off due to being so close to turning 65. They're paying out over £600k to my MiL which is extremely fortunate as she is disabled, retired and never expected her husband to pre decease her.

I also cleared the credit card and overdraft DH had incurred over the lat six months keeping us afloat without my mum's occasional help, the poor, thirsty car choice and his lack of Saturday job for eight weeks over the summer.

I've put aside enough to pay for DS to stay at preschool until he's eligible for 15hrs in January 2020. Due to his birthday being Sep 2016 he's got ages to wait, but being two already, he can go to the local pre school if we pay for it. DH earns too much for DS to get any funding as a two year old.

And I spoke to HMRC about the Child Tax Credit and my inheritance. They'd only be concerned if I was earning interest on a legacy pay out. I'm not. It's just in my cash minder, basic bank account. The weekly payment has dropped by almost half due to DH now earning a bit more anyway but I just add that to the pre school funding account.

Right now I'm just appreciating not worrying about being down to my last £20 on top of mourning the loss of two of our parents.

Lucy5781

My Mum's house finally exchanged and completed last week. The proceeds are with the executor solicitors, should be heading this way shortly after probate/clarification no tax is due and solicitor fees are processed. We're six weeks away from it being a year since she passed away already. And not long after that, already six months since we lost my FiL too.

Will then have to transfer about half of it to our joint account so, heaven forbid, if anything happens to the banks (potential Brexit issues etc) we have the full amount covered under the £75k thingy by having it with two different banks.

Need to plan DD's 1st birthday party, she's one in three months!

And get architect and planning details for renovating and extending the ground floor of our house to the rear. Lots of pipework needing replacing too, fair bit of old iron pipework still in this house, built in 1928.

Once we're done with building works we'll look into possibly getting a cat or two.

Lucy5781

Should be getting another interim distribution this week.

Lucy5781

Final payment from the estate is about to come through. Almost 18mths that's taken.

Ironically at the end of September my DRO record will drop off the register, taken out in 2013, six years have now almost passed.

We're currently extending our house, re fitting kitchen and bathroom.

Lucy5781

We're now about eight weeks into a planned 14 week build of our extension and garden office, which will include upgrading our kitchen and bathroom.

We moved here three years ago whilst I was seven months pregnant with DS. Total homes under the hammer time warp place. Painted nearly everything a neutral shade and beige carpets. Kitchen we just painted the walls after stripping wallpaper and replaced oven and white goods and bathroom, was a horrific pink tile job which my dad covered over with basic small white tile for us just to make it bearable.

So, this is where the bulk of mum's inheritance is going. It's also paying for my son and daughter to have two mornings a week preschool time before they qualify for any nursery funding (15 hours a week the term after they turn three, Jan 2020 for him and September 2021 for her) otherwise they'd both be home with me with nothing formal education wise, as I'm not working and husband earns too much for them to get anything at age two.

I'm really looking forward to having proper storage in our new kitchen. I want to batch cook and meal plan better for the future. I struggled to prepare food whilst pregnant, both times, especially handling meat and second time I had gestational diabetes so I had to eat quite differently from hubby etc anyway.

Right now, DS is slightly fussy food wise but not impossible to feed and despite still only having two teeth at 15 months, DD is a proverbial dustbin. Eats from my bowl if she can, she's had chilli and bit out of my salad this week alone.

I really want to get back into cooking and baking and now both my kids are old enough to eat typical meals as well as help make them if possible, I can't wait to be able to use the new kitchen properly!

And the bathroom. Well it currently has an enamel bath which is tiny, narrow and possibly about 50 years or more old. It has awful staining, we treated it with special enamel product when we moved in but it wears off again. It's impossible to use any modern cleaners on the deposits left from years of leaking taps etc.
CAN NOT wait to have a normal new one I can use typical cleaning products on!!!

Lucy5781

Think we're like 16 weeks into the build now, last touches due inside over the next few days then we can move our stuff back into the kitchen and bathroom.

Mum's inheritance also helped me pay for this summer! We were out of the house totally for almost three weeks in August, I paid for us to have a Haven holiday in the middle of it. The repeated days out to soft play places etc to occupy my now three year old and ever more agile 16 month old would not have been possible otherwise, all my bus and train fares as well.

I'm paying for DS to have an extra morning a week at preschool until December. He needs it for one thing but also it'll help him be ready to jump to five mornings a week from January 2020 as well. Then from April DD will start two mornings a week as well.

Once we get to next month I'll be applying for DS's actual nursery place for next September finally.

Lucy5781

Oh.... At the end of this month it will be six years since I took out my DRO.... It will mean the record falls off the register etc.... Wow.

Lucy5781

And that's it. Six years since DRO was taken out.

Feels weird not having Mum here to talk about it.