Second Time Lucky

amycool

We're donating the computers so no money will be made, but some space in the cupboard. Still no pick-up date though.

So, after argos told me delivery Monday and then changed it to Tuesday, which meant changing it to Saturday, I've just had an email from tesco (should have been Monday) saying it'll be a Tuesday delivery!!!! What the hell? Just by chance, I had actually booked that Tuesday off work, so now instead of having a nice day of wandering I'll be sat waiting inside. Darn.

So, what have I done that's MSE this week?

I made an apple crumble from the apples that were all soft. I didn't have any butter but found a recipe that uses oats and oil. It was quite nice.

Gas use this week was just 2 units, which is pretty good considering OH left the hob on for 2 hours. We're still £350 in credit and getting 3% interest on that.

I drove fairly well during today's driving lesson (didn't stall once!), so that wasn't a total waste of money.

In other money news, my Student Loan Statement arrived today :eek: It's colossal. I've never earned enough to pay any back so every year it gets bigger and bigger. I tend not to think about it but I'll be interested to see OH's as we do actually pay that back and it would be nice to know when we can finish paying it.

Theory Test tomorrow...Feeling very anxious, which I'm guessing is because I haven't done a proper test in years.

Got £40 pending on TCB.

I'm up to £6.50 on VO but I hate it so I tried really hard to get up to £10 and I'm still at £6.50. I get screened out of every single survey, often 5-10 minutes in. Grrr. I'm still plugging away at yougov and I'm about halfway I think to the £50. Ipsos is my favourite.

My Mum wanted to go for Sunday lunch this weekend so I have decided to attempt to cook her one instead. I'm preparing for the face of disappointment but at least it'll save me money.

Firegirl

Good luck for your theory test. Let us know how you get on!

Muser1

Hope you ace the theory test x

debtfreeoneday

Go Amy for your theory test!! You will sail through it.

I've given up on VO as it used to be good, but I can't seem to get anywhere near payout now.

I stick to YG, Ipsos, and OP - have got £20 from pbase since January, so do that a little bit.

amycool

Thanks so much everyone!

Well, it was an unpleasant experience but I passed! :j

Not a great start as I had a funny turn as I got off the bus and had to eat some chocolate and sit down before the dizziness went away. Then I couldn't find the test centre!! There were no signs at all and it turned out it was inside an NHS building. Luckily I had got there early so I ended up on time.

So by the time I got there my stomach was churning and I was really nervous. I used to be pretty calm about exams but that was when I was a confident teenager!! I couldn't believe they made me empty the tissue from my pocket (in case there were notes on it?). A few questions in I got one that I had never seen and had no clue about, and then another, and by the 35th question I was starting to panic about how many I had had to guess. I was feeling a bit dejected by the time we got to hazard perception and on a couple of clips I felt like I'd clicked too early and had forgotten to click again.

So I was fully expecting a fail but the man handed me the paper and just said, "You're done" and seemed really annoyed. Would it have hurt to just tell me I had passed???!!! Anyway, I was ecstatic! 48/50 for the questions and 60/75 for the hazard perception. I did indeed score 0 on 2 of the questions but luckily got lots of 4s and 5s in the others. Everyone else I saw in the test centre had failed!

I have 2 years now to pass the practical, which I'm hoping is achievable. I think I've had about 23 hours so far so I'd hope I'm about halfway there, but if the adoption moves on I might have to stop learning for a while. I need to get my reaction times much faster and I need lots of hours so that gears and things come more naturally. I also need to learn how to parallel park.

In MSE news, as well as passing so I don't have to re-pay to re-take, I was very tempted to treat myself to a big cake, but I resisted and went home. I've put 2.5 lbs back on since I lost some weight and cake isn't going to help.

Muser1

Yay well doneyou :T:T

I so hated learning to drive. So worth it in the end. Keep plodding.

debtfreeoneday

Well done you.. my only advice would be keep up with the lessons, it's an hour a week and it might be nice to have time when it's just you.. don't give up when you have come this far!!!

Congrats!

in_need_of_direction

Brilliant news. I'd say stick with the driving even if adoption goes ahead. You may have a greater need for it then.

amycool

Thanks everyone!

I've been feeling a bit anxious about driving since I passed my theory. I think maybe I was purposely putting it off because I knew I could never do my practical if I hadn't done the theory. I know I'm still a fair way away from being ready for the test, but it's now a vague possibility, which is scary.

I went out a few times at the weekend - once to aldi and back, where I stalled in the car park (there was a beer festival on next door - loads of drunken idiots about), then I picked my Mum up and drove her to mine (she was terrified). I had horses, cyclists, road works, and a fair bit of reversing to do. By the time I had returned her home I was feeling a bit jittery so let my OH drive us back. Oh and I got beeped for the first time!!! I was at a red light on a hill and the filter arrow came on, so I was getting my biting point for about a second and a boy racer beeped me then overtook me. OH was angry! Ironically, I then had a situation where it probably warranted a beep (stupidly forgot to take the handbrake off when the light went green and stalled) but the car behind was nice and patient and I probably took about 7 seconds to get going again, which wasn't too bad.

Luckily OH's parents are retired so I'm hoping I'll have some free childcare for driving lessons after we adopt. It is only an hour a week, and yes, I will probably be desperate for it! :rotfl:

I've been having a little think about interest rises and used an online calculator to see what would happen if they rose. From what I've heard, they won't be shooting up to 10%, so we should be okay.

If they rise 1% - an extra £29 a month
"" 2% - an extra £58 a month
"" 3% - an extra £88 a month

This is based on our 2.64%, which is fixed for another year. We should be able to cope with those scenarios.

My new camcorder is great! It takes photos too and I've just been playing around on the basic movie editor that came with my laptop that has sat dormant for 6 years. My only issue is with my awful voice. I have a very nasal voice at the best of times, but played back on video it's truly terrible! I've mostly been recording the local bird life. It has a pretty good zoom so also handy for checking the roof...:D

I cooked Sunday lunch - it went very well. We had peas and courgettes from the garden, which my Mum said were very tasty (she had never eaten a courgette before!). She brought cake - I ate loads.

Today I am sitting in waiting for the mattresses to arrive and I've already done the ironing. Social worker is visiting later in the week so cleaning probably needs to happen too.

Looking at the finances at this point in the month, it looks like we should be able to overpay £500.

Mattresses have arrived!

amycool

I think I have mentioned that I was due to come into a little money from my Grandmother's will, but that I hadn't been notified of anything. Well, it turns out my Dad has been lying (shock horror!!) all along. We ordered a copy of the will and it turns out that whilst she was in the care home (suffering from dementia) the will was changed - leaving everything to my Dad and his girlfriend. His sister (my aunt) isn't mentioned, and neither are any of my siblings.

Whilst she was alive he promised members of the family that we'd be getting 20% of the estate, then after she died this was downgraded to 10%, then just 10% of the savings. Even a few weeks ago he was promising my brother that a cheque would be in the post soon. I have no idea why he would lie.

Anyway, I was rather shocked to see the size of the estate and I can't help but feel a bit angry that a man who cheated on his wife and left her with 4 kids to live in poverty whilst he bought 2 houses and went on foreign holidays with his new girlfriend, is now going to be incredibly wealthy. My grandmother didn't even like him.

The amount he told my brother we would be getting is actually 1% of the estate. If we ever actually see any money (unlikely) I guess that's how much he thinks we're all worth. There are other things that have been said that make me sick with anger, knowing what I know now, but this is supposed to be a mortgage free diary, not Jeremy Kyle.

I guess I just have to think that the most horrible people I know are all financially very wealthy but seem very miserable (I'm not saying this is the case for everyone - just my family!). So now they can expand their "portfolio" of properties, but they'll be relying on strangers to care for them when they get old, whereas my Mum will be poor but will have 4 kids who love her.

Looks like I'll have to get saving if I want that car!