22 Foxhole East

mark55man

Good luck with the uni thing, plenty of advice nearer the time. My single best piece of advice is to start warning them away from wanting to go to uni in cities which are expensive places to rent. DD1 went to a seaside place a bit down on its luck, and DD2 went to a seaside place very desirable. The latter was a nightmare - and the university itself simply did not care. They literally (!) covered DD2 and cohort in bolognaise and threw them to the sharks

• DD1 rent was £2k a year cheaper (even though even then it consumed her entire loan), and all the properties were all inclusive and well landlorded
  
• DD2 has to rent from year 1 and was subject to an outrageous torrent of neglect and exploitation including an attempt to steal £2000 of deposits and her getting CO poisoning.

My second bit of advice is you can do well at Uni and have a side job. DD1 got a holiday job at home and spent everyday in her holidays working and made enough. DD2 preferred to get a job at Uni so she could work less but over the year. This did mean she was not able to spend long at home in the breaks (you may or may not prefer that!!).

Sorry if this is preaching to the converted with your DH about to be a Prof!!. Your neck of the woods has some great Uni's and cheap living, but I would try and avoid encouraging your kids to stay at home to save costs -as that part of the loans is not the biggest and most of the social growth is through living and sharing with others. I would definitely also try and find a place with accommodation for first years as renting in year 1 is too hit and miss

f0xh0les

I know exactly what you mean mark88man. My concern is that DS1 has no idea what he wants to do. He mutters something about electrical engineering but has no idea what that entails and has (seemingly) no interest in finding out. I don't think he should go if he has no idea if he needs the qualification for his chosen (first) career, or if there is no subject that sets his world on fire. He will also fight to go to a local University where he can live at home. He is entirely too comfortable in the nest.

DS4 (10yr old) is now trying to decide if he can combine being a poet with being a specialist maths teacher in a primary school. He seems to think the workload during the holidays will allow him time to be creative, and male primary school teachers always seem to end up as deputy or head teacher as they are such a rare breed.

Anyway, any or all studying will be done away from home. They need to learn to budget, cook, shop, make do, and prioritize. They will always be welcome home in the holidays and afterwards, but they will not grow up if they do not move out. The life skills are invaluable.


I rented a whole 3 bed house in Wolverhampton for less than £300 a month, then moved to a one bed hole in Portsmouth that was £900 a month. Sadly dh is a terrible University snob. I think it comes with the job.

DH has to get to a-ss Prof first, then wait for a Prof post to open up.

apple_muncher

My stepds had no clue what to do at uni, so he didn't go. Then he chose to go, age 27 ish, and his engineering-y choice was specific in that it was also recognised out in Oz. Where he now is, married and having just bought a house.

f0xh0les

Exactly! DH did an awful course, was badly advised and ended up coming out of uni with a certificate in nonsense, and after 5 years - while recuperating from his exploding knee and months of not being able to weight bear - started with the OU and after about 2 years had a degree in combined studies - while working full time. Which got him to being able to do his MA in a totally unrelated subject and his PhD. So there are many paths, and you can change your mind, but having some flippin' idea of where you want to end up is the best course. Either that, or something totally transferable anywhere in the globe - like teaching or nursing or scuba-diving or cave rescue.

But they are all so laid back and passive - we are very different personalities. No doubt my fault!

greent

Wales is cheap for renting - I have 2 there(different cities) at the mo It's also cheap for social costs - eg: DD pays £2.70 for c1new0rld tickets in her uni city - it's about £13! here :eek:

mark55man

I know what you mean about university snobs - although I know a lot of teachers and sympathise almost always with their viewpoints, when it comes to university rankings I get more unsympathetic. From my perspective as someone who interviews people, unless it literally one of the top 3 I just don't notice. Certainly arguments that it is better to attend the 74th Uni that is miles away and very expensive rather than the 75th that is much nearer and cheap, do not convince me at all

f0xh0les

Happy New Year's Eve!
January's money has come in to my bank account. Kids regular savers money has gone out, all bills go out tomorrow. I have £17 on my credit card. It is all looking, rather marvellous so far.

There was a section on the radio just now saying well over 50% of people will go in to the New Year with an average debt of £19k (not including mortgages). That terrifies the pants off me.

And I am down to the last litre of soy milk, so I will have to go shopping today. But not right now. Later.
DH is in the kitchen busily making a pie for the kids for lunch - me and him are having left over curry and clearing some of the fridge bits.

I had a quick look in the freezer, and off the top of my head, with the addition of buying an avocado and a cuke, we can do:
Chili and rice /Tofu stirfry and rice /Sushi (it has been there for a while, lurking-hence the cuke and avocado)/ Falafel, pittas, and salad/Pasties /Tomato pasta/Garlic and rosemary pasta /Baked potatoes,beans,cheese, coleslaw,chili (leftovers) /Potato, sweetcorn and butterbean chowder /Tomato and lentil soup / fridge-bottom soup / stuffing, roast veg, roast potatoes and gravy.

But annoyingly, because of this stupid last litre of milk situation, dh has just popped into the room 3 times in ten minutes, and asked me to pick him up a .... while I am out. Obviously we are in desperate need of a pastry brush!!! Help! Send aid!


I weighed myself this morning, and I am 14 stone 2lbs. How?? That stops now. First goal, under 14, next goal 13.7. Less talking, more action. This is getting sorted.

It is unacceptable to me.


I got up, stripped all but the teenagers' beds (they are still in them) and they are all being laundered. I will hang them on the line while I clear the rest of the laundry in the dryer. Tv is dire today. I have transferred all the important data into my new diary for tomorrow. Still need to copy it over onto the wall calendar, and make sure the wall calendar gets moved so that it can't be seen from outside the window. All the holidays and dh's conferences are written on it,and it is stupid of me to hang it where any passing wall jumping oik can see when the house might be empty! How flippin' daft am I??

I think that after all the bills go out, I will still have £1,300, so another £1k can be shunted off into savings, and frugality can reign in January.

Volunteered again last night - only 2 clients came. Which in a way is good, as they were obviously fed and did not need urgent food packages, but it does mean that the afternoon session this week will most likely be complete bedlam. We are drowning in donations of mince pies with a very short end date. Everyone has been so generous we are having problems getting it all processed and sorted. But donations fall off rapidly after Xmas when the bills start coming in, so it will all be used, and appreciated, over the next couple of months.

DS3&4 want to sit up and see in the New Year (I quite fancy snuggling in bed with dh to be honest - he has a sore throat and is grumpy), so I guess I will be sitting up with them to see the fireworks.

I have hung up my new charity shop bag with care on the coatrack by the front door, and I have already got a full rag bag, 2 unflattering jumpers and 3 books in there.

I have sorted my thick tights stash (they are flippin indestructable! Two stripy pairs are definitely over 12 years old), found my sets of thermals - it cannot go on being this mild. So I am feeling a bit organised, am looking forward to visiting my lovely newly made up bed at 00.02. But first,(well, after lunch) I am going to have to get a crate of milk, a pastry brush, some sesame seeds, a scouring pad, a friendly weasel (or stoat), an avocado and a cucumber.

f0xh0les

I bought drinking glasses for us yesterday as well. Mr T's el cheapo specials, 25p, so I bought 12, but they double up as pudding portion control vessels, and you can make pretty layers of fruit and cream/custard/ ice cream in them. I got some school shirts for DS4 as well (£3.50), and so got to use my £4 off a £30 spend, and I spent..... £30.31. Go me! Lots and lots of ys bread, ciabatta, pittas, bagels etc. all the stuff the boys love for breakfast or with soup. If we were to be snowed in tomorrow (not a hope of that happening!) we could easily do 2 weeks without spending another penny. Plus I still have half a tank of petrol left from December's allowance.

Found myself wondering what Bobarella is up to these days. Blast from the past!

So, it is 2020, and I have been enacting my NY Res already. Measuring the oil I use into the pan while cooking. Simple, but effective! Chili is made and just waiting to be reheated for tea tonight with rice and a naked coleslaw.

DH has nabbed one of my jumpers from the c.s bag to check it does not look better on him than on me (he told me I looked like Action Man and wanted to know if it came with Eagle Eyes. The swine). Anyway it is long (on me) and warm, and cost me £1 and is army green. He is welcome to it, and any commando rolls he wants to do in it.

The house looks funny now it has been de-christmas-ified. Will have to have a rejiggle of the furniture and a move about of the candlesticks. declutter and get on with it.

DH is back at work tomorrow, so he can get his online payslips and I can get on with the remortgage. 30 days and counting - if I do it all online it should not be a problem. It is not like they will have a problem arranging the valuation - I am here all day - and at 59% ltv on the original purchase price, and we only want to borrow just under 2 x dh's annual salary. I can't see it being a problem. But then, I don't suppose anyone does think it will be a problem until it is. At least this time I know DH has a credit score, and that he exists! He has come a long way in 4 years.

In uber-frugal news, I have melted all the ends of candles I have been saving and have made a lovely 3 wick candle in a beautiful copper bowl I bought a candle in years and years ago. I do love my candles, but it is very annoying when you end up with a large lump of wax and no wick left. Well, that is no longer a problem - saucepan, gentle heat, wicks I bought sometime last winter, and I finally got round to it. £15 worth of candle for less than 15p. Plus my pretty bowl is back in use. Hooray!

mark55man

Happy new year f0xh0les - that candle sounds lovely

On remortgage my mistake was to shorten the term by 2years, I should have kept the term the same and overpaid. if you change the term with the same provider they will do a new affordability and it took ages. if you are changing provider, not quite sure if it makes a difference or not

f0xh0les

Keeping the term the same as it is now - 18 years, I wanted to know if we could shorten it, but the L&C advisor could not understand why I would want to do that when we could easily pass the affordability on 18 years. Anyway, enough about him, he lost his company the commission by not listening to what we wanted.

Might even get myself the £175 switching bonus and jump ship to the Shanghai bank this year. Every overpayment helps.