Renovations and Repayments.

greent

AlexLK wrote: »

So, this morning I have mainly been ... spreadsheet fiddling. :eek: This may have been for music teaching but I'm actually quite pleased with myself. Who knows you may see a real MSE'er made out of me, yet.

Yeay!! Next step is to do one related to the mortgage/ expenditure, or something else finance related!


Love the posts today, Alex - a real air of positivity to them


x

littlegreenparrot

Hurrah for some positivity!

I know it won't last, (it never does for me either) but the thing to do is try to hold on the knowledge that the sun will always shine again :j

Just wanted to pick up on the fees you mentioned for the PGCE course. I don't know if you've looked up how student loans work so will go through it briefly.

You apply for and hopefully get a student loan (I don't know what the current eligibility is for adults). That pays for the fees. You only start paying back the student loan when you are earning over £21,000, and its a sliding scale. The repayment goes up as your salary increases, and it comes off at source same as National Insurance etc. The point is that it doesn't have to stand in the way of other plans.

Apologies if you know this, I come across a lot of people through work who are under the impression that someone just gives you a bill for £9000 as soon as you qualify.

Ali-OK

AlexLK wrote: »

So, this morning I have mainly been ... spreadsheet fiddling. :eek: This may have been for music teaching but I'm actually quite pleased with myself. Who knows you may see a real MSE'er made out of me, yet.

:T

To both have a spreadsheet and to fiddle with it - that's a terrific step forward.

AlexLK

turtlemoose wrote: »

I'm glad to read this, best thing I've seen in your diary for a while.

Thanks, it does remain to be seen if it all works out. :eek: Can only try, eh?

maman wrote: »

I had an idea about this. One of my own plans for 2016 is to do something about all the family photographs I have accumulated/inherited. I'm the eldest of my siblings and realise that if I don't document something alongside them then no one will know who's in the photos and what the family events were in them. I was wondering whether, as you write so well, whether instead of just making duty visits to your father you could see it as a project. Perhaps start documenting what he's telling you. So a bit of genealogy but more a social history for your son when he's older. Just a thought.

This has been discussed on here before, which maybe where you got the idea from? When my father is a little brighter, it could be a nice thing to do.

I've been there for lunch today and told them I'm cutting it down to two days per week due to work / other commitments. It's not a lie but I could see them everyday if I made two journeys to work / other commitments instead of one. However, over the last few months that cost me both time and money.

maman wrote: »

That's an excellent idea. Not sure how far away they live but would it be possible to pop in after school sometimes. That might seem a bit more normal than making it a special event.

They live about 40 miles away. I do want to try to make an effort with them this year as they were really good with our son when we went to see them over the Christmas period.

maman wrote: »

Any plans how to celebrate your 10th Anniversary?

We're going on holiday.

greent wrote: »

Yeay!! Next step is to do one related to the mortgage/ expenditure, or something else finance related!

Love the posts today, Alex - a real air of positivity to them

x

:rotfl: I know, I know ... one step at a time, please.

Thanks, trying to not dwell on the negative too much at the moment, I'm aware it does me no favours.

AlexLK

littlegreenparrot wrote: »

Hurrah for some positivity!

I know it won't last, (it never does for me either) but the thing to do is try to hold on the knowledge that the sun will always shine again :j

I'll try my best to remember that, thank you.

littlegreenparrot wrote: »

Just wanted to pick up on the fees you mentioned for the PGCE course. I don't know if you've looked up how student loans work so will go through it briefly.

You apply for and hopefully get a student loan (I don't know what the current eligibility is for adults). That pays for the fees. You only start paying back the student loan when you are earning over £21,000, and its a sliding scale. The repayment goes up as your salary increases, and it comes off at source same as National Insurance etc. The point is that it doesn't have to stand in the way of other plans.

Apologies if you know this, I come across a lot of people through work who are under the impression that someone just gives you a bill for £9000 as soon as you qualify.

I know how the fees work; they are paid in instalments over the year if they work in the same way for the PGCE as other university course fees?

As for taking out a student loan, I would rather not get myself into debt with the government if I can help it.

Ali-OK wrote: »

:T

To both have a spreadsheet and to fiddle with it - that's a terrific step forward.

:rotfl: Even managed to merge cells together ... no calculations though, yet.

gallygirl

AlexLK wrote: »

:rotfl: Even managed to merge cells together ... no calculations though, yet.

Did you use Tippex?

AlexLK

gallygirl wrote: »

Did you use Tippex?

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

No, I used the computer Tippex.

cat1978

Happy new year Alex, just catching up after the holidays as was trying to avoid my laptop and internet!!

2 things popped into my head as I have been reading -

1, fantastic well done on smashing your £10k saving target. I know you changed the target to £12k and didn't reach it, however I think you need to focus on the fact you hit the target you were aiming for at the beginning of 2015, and only changed the target to keep you motivated in saving. By doing this, you saved 10% more than your original target :j

2, I know your parents keep going on about all they've done for you financially etc, however maybe they would have been better to let you stand on your own two feet instead of bailing you out? That way you may have learnt to deal with your own finances at a younger age and not run up the debt that you first posted. What's the worst that could happen? Your house could have been repossessed. These things happen and it wouldn't have been the end of the world.
I'd just like to add that I was worried about my house getting repossessed at one point and ended up with depression. I only got better when I realised my children were more important that owning some bricks.

Sorry for long post.

Good luck for the New year

Cat x

AlexLK

Happy New Year, Cat.

Thank you, re. savings. Unfortunately, towards the end of the year I almost completely lost motivation for making money (which is how the savings come about, mainly). This year, I must admit the desire has not returned. I am pleased with the £11,000 saved, though do forget I managed that because the vast majority is sat outside. Perhaps I'm being a bit negative but I don't think I'll achieve the same this year as my heart really isn't in it at the moment, hopefully will be in a few weeks / months, though.

Regarding my parents, in some ways I suspect you're right, especially when I was a student. However, I cannot see how them refusing to pay the mortgage a few years back when things were really bad and neither Mrs K nor I could work full time would've helped things? Furthermore, I really cannot agree that effectively being made homeless without the possibility of securing another mortgage for 12+ years would not be the "end of the world", for if my parents had been so hard-hearted to let such a thing happen, surely I could've forgotten the prospect of any other help from them. This, of course, is all hypothetical as I don't believe it would've come to that, due to various reasons. However, I do find it in very bad taste to be telling someone that having the bank throw their family onto the street would "not be the end of the world". :eek: I really hope I've missed something and interpreted this in the wrong way, to be honest.

newgirly

Hi Alex, I am not commenting on the issue of your parents paying your mortgage as I don't know the details and may well do the same for my kids if needed.

Cat clearly has personal experience with this and I am reading it as she came to the conclusion that her kids needed an happy mum not one who had worried/stressed herself into a situation that she became ill with depression. Millions of families are happily raised in private rented or social housing very successfully, and although repossetion and bankruptcy is a horrible situation to find yourself in, life still goes on to be blunt and you would be very unlikely to actually end up homeless and on the streets.

Don't tell yourself you are not going to set a savings target yet alex incase you won't reach it. It's only a few days into the new year, why not have a couple of weeks to just think it over, maybe set a different or lower target? You have achieved so much in 2015 both personally and financially it would be a shame to not give yourself the credit that you are capable of doing the same again.

We believe in you alex, so should you