From debt to freedom...

Parkyp

We’ve always been able to get our bulk rubbish picked up by the council for free (a few exceptions) they Only started charging couple of months of ago for this service and surprise surprise people are now starting to fly tip. A pram and a cot is lying next to the street litter bin 🤷🏻‍♀️. I’ve emailed the council so hopefully they will uplift it. 

Spendless

Can't say I'm surprised at a rise in cases at where must be a popular holiday location. To holiday abroad is so much faff, the tests can add up and be expensive (we paid £235 for 18yo daughter to have all the ones she needed to holiday in Greece). The UK Government can and does change the goalposts of countries being visited and there's also the rules for the country you're visiting. So many people have decided it's not worth the hassle and have holidayed in the UK instead. 

Likewise the story about the tip doesn't surprise me either. Staff still off for covid related reasons, or left during the lockdowns for jobs that weren't as affected and as long ago as last summer I felt that some business were fetching in rules that suited them rather than their customer base. Changes that they always wanted to make but wouldn't be popular so daren't, the pandemic  meant they could do this. This site included with the removal of certain boards. Our green (garden) waste bin stopped being collected last month - unfortunately I missed the date and it's full of grass cutting and I've heard that collections won't resume till March. I do wonder how many changers will remain permanent or very long term. I went to a national home furnishings shop the other day. When I didn't see anything I wanted to buy and making my way out, I didn't need the till and there was a mini maize maze made out of merchandise to navigate, so looked for the door, walked over there to walk out. There a member of staff asked if I was leaving, when I said yes, replied it's that door (round the merchandise maize  maze). This sort of scenario has happened before in a different shop. On this occasion I looked to the wide open door I didn't need to touch, to outside and into their adjoining car park  - there wasn't a soul there! So, I pointed this out politely and walked ahead. I know it's not the member of staff fault, they're just following instructions. It won't have been for click in click out purposes either because it's a large 2 storey floor and never full - not even on Christmas eve. This is where I think there's an issue. Obstacles in the way so everyone goes and holidays in the same places and then each place following their own 'layer' of rules, some of which make no sense - I do wonder when/if it's going to end.  

Grocery bill coming down is helpful for your finances. When does DD1 leave? 

Parkyp

Re- shopping bills has anyone noticed the prices sneaking up. 

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you SA, Parkyp & Spendless.

Spendless - you are right. The rise is in part due to people holidaying within the UK. It is always busy every summer but apparently this year there is a decrease in property available for local people to rent as many landlords have gone over to AirBnB for let their properties rather than long term lets, so even more on holiday.

The grocery bill coming down is good but my income has also gone down when I renewed the tax credits to reflect DS2 ‘s change of abode. To be fair I had expected the decrease because even without the living arrangements, I wasn’t sure between college or apprenticeship. I think I’ll see more of an effect when we are back into the school routine.

DD1 moves in about a month. It has been so lovely to have her back home for this time, in spite of  the huge disappointment she had last year. She has worked hard and is getting excited about her next step🙂.

I’ve reached the point in the holiday from Job 1, that I’m starting to feel edgy about all that I still need to get done in the next couple of weeks. I was very thankful yesterday for beautiful weather so lots got dried on the line and am hoping to get more done today.

Honeysucklelou2

Today looks to be a spendy day and I haven’t even left the house! By 10am I had spent £200 😳😨😱😬. It’s the school uniform shop in the main. Shopping physically in store is not possible as the school have tightened up on their uniform requirements, so it has to be their regulation skirts, so online ordering was essential. Youngest DD is moving from primary to secondary so there was quite a bit to buy. Unfortunately she is a completely  different shape and size to DD4 so things can’t really be passed down. The sports uniform has also changed so can’t pass down what’s left of the other clothing DCs either!

On the plus side I looked at N3xt’s clearance section. I have found some really smart trousers for work there in the past for £5 or £10. I was pleased to find a couple of light grey items of clothing. Job 3 requires clothing to be neutral in colour ( light grey / beige/ pale mustard type colours) so the light grey should fit that and keep me warm🙂. 

I paid for the online things via cc as one of the uniform companies I’d not used before so will use wages from Job 2 to make an extra payment to the cc to cover.

The weather is lovely again today so am hoping to get to get some outside jobs done.

Cherryfudge

Uniform is so expensive! You would think nowadays schools would lighten up a bit and require (for instance)a certain colour and length of skirt or trousers. Your own 'uniform' buys show how much more effectively it can be done.

Is your daughter excited about moving up a school?

blah1234

Hey HS, just read your entire diary (took me a while haha).  You are doing a truly amazing job with an ex that honestly makes me so annoyed for you. I hope the court date is soon and you can  put this to bed and finally move on.  

Drawingaline

I hate the cost of secondary school uniform. Ours have changed the logo which means I haven't been able to pass on uniform from the year 11 to the year 8. And the smallest will most likely be going to a sen school so another set will be needed in two years 🙄

Drawingaline

The only plus we have here is that the sixth forms are all colleges with no dress code and with the older two working (hoping the boy has his first shift soon) they can find themselves!

Bluegreen143

The school uniform thing is interesting. In Glasgow apparently they have a policy to make uniform rules not very strict so it can be done cheaper, because there is such high levels of deprivation in certain areas (my experience is with primary, not secondary yet). A lot of my friends use supermarket trousers/skirt, supermarket plain white polo and supermarket unbranded school jumper in the right colour. But Monkey (my 5yo’s) school is stricter and he needs shirt, tie and red branded school jumper - he can still wear any navy trousers at least so the trousers and shirts came from the supermarket. 

Personally while he does look super cute and smart I’d rather he got to wear navy joggers and white polo shirt and soft red jumper each day, at least for the younger primaries - would allow them to move more freely and be cheaper/easier but they’d still all match!