Preparing for the biggest move of our life

bellevie

:j Hours approved, savings here I come:T

We also managed to secure a 2 year tenancy renewal, we asked if we could improve the garden, our landlord approved and the rent increases were not too excessive.

I can't remember if I wrote we changed our car a couple of months ago. I've just been through my statement and seen I'm only topping up fuel every other week!! It's also tax free so all in all I've saved £67 per month!!

Tinkerbelle2000

Hi Bellevie

Hope you are well. I'm so pleased that you have met someone that you and DD adore. You will have your forever home soon enough. Sorry to hear about your loss though and I hope you are feeling a little better about it.

Your debts have come down way quicker than mine, I need to stop silly spends and get the last lot gone. Catch up more soon.

Take care.

Tink xx

RosaBernicia

Good news on car and garden!

bellevie

We had a lovely cheap break to North Devon. Right balance of excitement for DD and a chance for us to recharge. The weather was forcast to be pants, but the sun made its way out. It was cooler than it has been were we lived but somehow we picked up quite a colour, I think it was because it was cooler it was enjoyable. Our home town was 33 most days prior to our holiday, neither of us coped well!!!

Payday soon should be a little better with the extra hours.

MuffinTops

Hello bellevie,
I just wanted to pop in and say hello as I've not been on here in a while and wanted to check in. I hope all is going great and that 2019 is kind to you.
MTx

bellevie

Hi Mt,

Happy new year to you, I hope 2019 brings you all you wish for

Doing OK here, well mixed bag I'll update with a fresh post

Xx

bellevie

Sooo I'm not quite sure where the time went after summer. We all focused on work & school taking each day as it came and before we knew it christmas arrived.

I was relatively well prepared, had started shopping early. We nearly cancelled trip to DP family as DD came down ill for 2 weeks. She had no signs other than a fever burning burning hot. GP sent her home with the usual viral diagnosis. I was sure it wasn't she had no other symptoms at all, no runny nose, no rash, no blocked ears, no chestiness absolutely zilch. The second week I went back to GP quite irate, she was sent to hospital for a quick blood test. High white blood cells suggested infection, of what we had no idea all other checks revealed zilch. We were given antibiotics and they kicked in pretty quickly, by Christmas eve plans were back on track.

Christmas was lovely, tiring but lovely.

Back to work.... Work had been at the back of my mind for a while. The changes ended up being announced as another restructure - we got the news last week.

Two teams being completely wiped out and in affect restarted but merged into one role. The positions coming back are less than being made redundant so there will be some loses.

I get the idea behind the suggested plans but I had some strong views numbers wise. I think I'm in a good position to know because the two roles they are merging I actually work, as two separate jobs at the same desk for same employer.

I have queried with HR why I can't be assimilated into the role as its exactly what I do now but officially known as 1 role. My managers couldn't answer me, but they too are having to reapply for their jobs.

I had emailed HR asking for the name of someone to speak to directly to pose my question. Before they had responded my director stopped me to ask how I felt. I was honest in my feelings that the idea is good, working the two roles I've always wondered why they couldn't be merged, but they have underestimated the work load. The only solution I see if they want a genuine merger of roles is a review of patch sizes, which would mean extra heads.
He took my opinion on board and agreed they are likely to be reviewed, he suggested I put the feedback through officially. He went on to to say the role is essentially what I do now so he hopes I do apply because I have the passion they are looking to keep.

I started to calm a little after that. I did feed back formally using statistics to evidence my point, and put proposals forward that we reduce one role and keep same numbers or to offer identical service the numbers we need.

HR then came back to me with a name.... I almost dropped my initial enquiry but I though actually no. I do the jobs that are being merged, I would like to know why I cannot be moved across.

What really confused me, the job description doesn't actually list duties of the role, more characteristics they are looking for, with an outline of two parts of the role that's it.

The pay of the role is a slight increase, others don't feel its enough but as I have been doing it for the same pay as the sole roles to me its a welcome increase.

The process is going to drag out a little I don't expect interviews to be till March. I think I'm going to save as much as I can and apply hoping for the best. If I'm unsuccessful I should have a few months wages behind me and a little redundancy to buy me time to look for a new job. Fingers crossed that won't be the case.

Money wise we should be ready to start looking properly for homes from December onwards - subject to me not using up my savings being out of work!!

bellevie

My debt saw a slight increase a few months because I got a new larger wardrobe. I could have taken it from my savings but I'm wary of leaving my bank too low, so I opted for interest free.

Out of my savings this month took £200 out for dds room. I regretted the high-rise bed quite soon after we got it, thank goodness it was second hand & cheap. Dd wasn't as good as I'd have liked with bed covers, I hated climbing it weekly. We picked up a bed in the sale @argos & a desk. Sold her high-rise so made our money back on that what we paid. Her room is a little more grown up, suitable for an almost tween and easy for her to look after.

I get paid again next Friday, il make up that £200 and hopefully some more - I have dogs vaccination & car mot in the next few weeks so fingers tightly crossed.

Dogs insurance has gone up £3, I did get 1 month free last year if I remember rightly so it actually isn't a large increase., but I will see if I can cut that back a bit.

Car insurance I think renews in Feb so I'll take a look at that too.

Savings 2 will slowly drop as its moved over to savings 1, its help to buy moving to Lisa. What I don't want to do is move a lump sum and need it as I can't withdraw from LISA without a penalty unless its to buy our house. When I know work is safe and I've got a little more in savings 3, I'll move it all over.
Savings 3 is instant access, I'm building that up as accessible savings but I worked out if I save as I plan to should be able to clear my car finance a year early!!!

Debt 1 should be clear by May, debt 2 by October assuming work is OK. I may switch that up actually because most of debt 1 is interest free..... Back to my spreadsheet

bellevie

Debt & savings transfered to where they need to be.
We also booked our summer holiday, another UK break we have 4 months to pay so I made my monthly payment today.

I've had a good clean up downstairs while dp works overtime. I love a nice smelling home.

We plan to go to aldi tonight see if it's a little quieter than day time.

I have enough in savings 2 & 3 now to clear my smaller debts, but I'm very wary of leaving myself with no back up if I have to look for a new job in the next couple of months.

I've been going over my options work wise. If I stay for the near identical job to mine, I'll be around £110 per month better off. If I am made (or opt for) redundancy I will get a nice booster for our house savings, though I might find myself taking a slight pay cut in similar jobs. So assuming I'm able to get a job very quickly should I need to, both of the ways forward should have a positive outcome for our house buying goal.

I still can't quite decide what I'd rather. I'm torn about the new role that I may not find it rewarding and after a while be keen to leave, but I don't want to leave and find myself in another review. I'm trying not to make rash decisions and wait for the full confirmed details which should be confirmed in the next month or so....fingers crossed I pick the right path.

bellevie

Mse head on today.
I saw a £1.50 cashback bonus offer on quidco & 4% on amazon. I had been holding off replacing my hoover that dp accidentally broke and using an old one that he broke the long arm on..... Dp is very clumsy :eek: so with that little insentive I went ahead.:money:
I also saw 60 cash back offer for car insurance, I went ahead with a quote and it was all in all £105 cheaper... So with cashback £165 saved there.

When cash back comes through that'll go back into savings :T