Starting from the Start

floss2

Willowpop wrote: »

.... Offer to pay whatever you can now and then the inventory and cleaning stuff when you move in and know it is clean and are satisfied with the inventory. Might be worth asking if you can do that?

Ooh, I like that idea...very smart

StarMummy_2

oh thanks. great tips i'm going to sit down with a pad and pen and see what I can come up with. work out all the pro's and con's etc and as fiftyeighter said if it doesn't stack up it wasn't meant to be

floss2

Don't forget to let child benefit & tax credits know when you move and remember to factor in the 25% reduction in your council tax. Also, check if you'd be on a water meter, as that may be cheaper than rates for you & the little one.

roxy7699

Would you be entitled to any housing benefit? You may not be as its lower than where I am but every little helps and maybe worth a try if you take it.
I also believe in it wasn't meant to be but if parents can help when it is in a good location for schools then push for it. Assuming good places don't often come up.

lissadenton

Crowdpleaser wrote: »

Days out? I have the perfect thing! Got a smartphone and able to download apps?

Right, get yourself to geocaching.com and read up about treasure hunting! Download app. Go somewhere, follow the arrow on mobile phone, find treasure, child thinks its the bees knees! Take your picnic for your halfway stop!

Basically our whole summer holidays was taken up with it and the kids said it was the best time theyd ever had! x

Passed this onto my children and grandchildren. Sounds great fun, especially as my daughter home educates.

lissadenton

StarMummy wrote: »

well i went to see the property and it's lovely, nice 2 bed terrace with a small grassed garden, brand new floorings, kitchen and bathroom and (just) in my budget. BUT I can't afford it. I've rented before so know about deposits and application fees so I had budgeted accordingly, however this agency expects extra for an invetory to be done and to pay for professional cleaning at the end of my tennancy (must be paid in advance) all for the grand sum of £300 extra so the cost of moving would be £1500 + the £675 for the first months rent! i have the bulk of this saved but i really cant afford all that this month especially as the only appliance is the cooker so i'd have have to buy fridge/freezer and a washer dryer etc. feel like i could cry! the market here moves so fast the property will be gone by the end of the week and properties are few and far between especially in catchment for DD's school.

Wouldn't you rather stay at home and save up for a little while longer . At least until the better weather comes. My son and his son lived with me till my grandson was 5. They moved out when he met a lady with her own son and now they've had a son between them, so it all worked out really well.

My grandson had me while his dad worked. He didn't do anything like 60 hours but it just kept the stability for the little one.

Please don't mind me speaking plainly, I don't mean any ill will, I just think if everyone gets on well then staying a while longer gives you more time to save and maybe get your hours cut a bit. You have the rest of your life to scrimp and save.

My son was only working part time when he lived at home. Now he's full time and does overtime....and he's so much poorer!

He used to drive a sports car then and had a couple of foreign holidays with and without his son. This year he managed 6 days in Lincolnshire.

Bless him!

StarMummy_2

lissadenton wrote: »

Wouldn't you rather stay at home and save up for a little while longer . At least until the better weather comes. My son and his son lived with me till my grandson was 5. They moved out when he met a lady with her own son and now they've had a son between them, so it all worked out really well.

My grandson had me while his dad worked. He didn't do anything like 60 hours but it just kept the stability for the little one.

Please don't mind me speaking plainly, I don't mean any ill will, I just think if everyone gets on well then staying a while longer gives you more time to save and maybe get your hours cut a bit. You have the rest of your life to scrimp and save.

My son was only working part time when he lived at home. Now he's full time and does overtime....and he's so much poorer!

He used to drive a sports car then and had a couple of foreign holidays with and without his son. This year he managed 6 days in Lincolnshire.

Bless him!

The pressure for moving by January is to get her into the primary school she goes to nursery at. she goes to nursery there as it's close to my work. the school is currently well out of catchment and the schools where my parents live are not great. cut off for applications is Jan 15th.

I know i'd be better off financially not working/working part time but I have to work in order to qualify so it's an investment in the future really.

I do have a (new-ish) partner we have been dating for a year and he gets on brilliantly with my daughter but he works in London and his career is catapaulting at the moment so we are just not in the position to move in together at the moment. I think I'm going to super scrimp over christmas and push my luck by moving at the last possible moment. I've had a look at the schools website and discovered the catchment is slightly larger than I thought and there are more possibilities for housing on the edge of the catchment that are slightly cheaper. so that's great. I think I am entitled to about £100pcm in housing benifit BUT the majority of landlords/agents dont allow HB tennants. so there is no point claiming it.

my costs of living will be better when I move, my car insurance goes down due to my age and it being a safer area, my fuel costs will be cheaper as it will be 3 miles from work instead of 27, I won't have to spend so much on entertainment as there are a lot more options with parks, and the library etc.

I Have everything planned out it just al rests on getting a house.

Mum and Dad although generous arent at all wealthy and all their savings atm are going towards a trip of a lifetime next spring for their 30th anniversary I could never ask to dip into that just so i could move now.

I believe it will all work out I've just got to try a little harder and watch those pennies. I've been really good this week and It was my turn to food shop last week so I don't have to do that again for 3 weeks, so all i have spent on is fuel for the car (£50- and thats on a diesel that does 70mpg bloody commuting) and £90 holiday club fees for half term at nursery, rent , mobile and medical expenses all done until next month

roxy7699

Morning.
With the housing benefit as long as you can secure the property and make the rent payments the landlord or agency doesn't need to know. Once you are in you can make your claim, it's paid in arrears to you anyway so will be a slight ease. They say they don't accept it as they don't want people solely reliant on it who don't work.
I totally understand the school catchment thing and its good so many bills will go down. Don't bank on the car insurance due to age though. I thought that at various ages, at 29 it's still not gone down. Whatever car, whatever age I still seem to pay the same.
Maybe you and the little one can make some sort of scrap book with styles of things and colour accessories for what you would like the new home to look like. A pink bit of fabric for a pillow etc to keep you focused and is good mummy child time.

2childmum

Just a quick note - watch the catchment areas - they usually change year by year depending on how many kids apply each year and how popular the school is - the school my daughter has just left has a catchment area that has shrunk dramatically - to within a few hundred metres over the last couple of years - many of her former classmates would no longer get a place even though it is an easy 10 minutes walk for them. I would hate for you to get somewhere on the edge of the current catchment to find you miss out on the place you would like.

StarMummy_2

I've had my renewal through and turning 25 plus an accident that was on my claim but is now out of date (thank you very much ex-boyfriend- how it effects me and not him when i was sat on the sofa seems so unfair) so my insurance is down by a massive £250
That's handy to know about the HB thing so thankyou (i'll try and be good and put whatever HB i do get into my 'financial cushion' fund as i have budgeted living expenses without it I don't technically need it)

I love the scrap book idea as will DD, atm i have a board on pinterest.

After feeling deflated yesterday my instinct was to 'treat' myself to something pretty to cheer myself up, like I usually would. I didn't. Instead I went home after work and had a route through my bottom drawer at all the 'new' things i've collected. So YAY for that little money saving victory.

I'm actually shocked at what I have managed to collect. here is a list.

Single bed
chest of drawers
toychest
bookcase
2x childs bedding
rug <- these are all the bits currently in DD room that i've bought and we are taking with us

Coffee table (TK MAxx super bargain bartered them down from £120 to £37) and it's so beautiful, it's a wooden frame coated in intricate metal work very eastern/moroccan.
bed sheets
cushions
throw
bath mat
2x bath sheets
wine glasses
tumblers
12 pc crockery set only £3 on sale in wilkinson
cuttlery
glass fruit bowl
bedside lamp
K-Mix pink toaster Bargain in sainsburys (RRP £60 paid £17)
DD- got some lovely owl bookends for her birthday
kitchen clock
Dressing table bought of a lady who buys antiques at action and paints them, only £85 and it is stunning.
the kiss- framed print another TK maxx bargain of only £12.


unfortunetly its the big expensive necessities i need to buy like a bed for me a sofa, white goods etc. but i'm getting there