From debt to freedom...

foxgloves

@Honeysucklelou2 - Our local council garden waste collection is fortnightly, apart from Dec & January when it's just one a month. We make very good use of it. Yes, we have 5 compost bins, a shredder & a worm composter, but we also have quite a big garden & grow a fair bit of food. We use our council wheelie bin for thug weeds (brambles, elder, bindweed, hawkweed, etc, as well as seedheads of things we don't want to be spreading everywhere. Useful too for fibrous stuff which doesn't break down easily like a particular pondweed which seems to reproduce like crazy here & branches up to 10cms diameter.
The annual charge for this service is £35 & there are plenty of budget cutbacks we'd make before getting rid of it. Our tip is only a couple of miles away but involves crossing the town centre & often sitting in traffic queues & level crossing congestion.
F 

jennystarpepper

Re your flooring, I did a re mortgage mid 2019, I think they do a 'drive by' valuation these days and now with the pandemic it could be that an in house valuation is not needed.  I arranged mine with L&C and the HK bank.

Someone on the mortgage board might have a better idea, you might be able to put your cash to other use?   

Having a valuation done this way saved me time, money and stress. 

Bluegreen143

I didn’t know some councils charged for garden waste! Our garden waste/food recycling is free (Glasgow city council). Collected every 14 days, same for blue bin mixed recycling, but every 21 days for your waste bin which is a pain in the bum. And every 8 weeks for the glass bin but to be fair it doesn’t fill up quicker than that. But agreed, the glass & garden bins got cut each lockdown.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you everyone for your comments about the garden waste...interesting to see how collections vary around the country. I’ve researched the cost and our local council charges £55 a year. The first year has the added cost of the bin too as it has to be a council issued bin. I have a couple of Dalek type composters that I can also use but as @foxgloves points out, for the brambles and tough weeds, the garden waste bin would be useful.

Thank you Jennystarpepper - I hadn’t thought that a mortgage valuation could be a drive by one. 

Yesterday was a busy day followed by a long meeting so was quite tired by the time I got home. Have started clearing papers and other clutter that has been around for far too long! 

Bluegreen143

We just had our house revalued. The guy did come in the house but in terms of the house condition, he was literally just ticking either “poor”, “average” or “above average” (he ticked average for us) So if we had done any improvements, unless they were high spec I don’t think they’d have added much to the value.

savingholmes

Hi HSL - I fell into the trap of making improvements ready for valuation. I went via L&C to c00p via their new trading arm -and was shocked that they just did a computer valuation and no visit. They literally just too an average of the 2 sale prices in the last 12 months and that was that. So definitely be wary of over-investing...

MeandO

I echo what savingholmes said too - my recent remortgage was literally a computer valuation, despite the fact I've spent a fortune on home improvements and the extra money was for that purpose too. I would save the money for now and put it towards a debt or emergency pot. xx

jennystarpepper

Just  another point... hope you don't mind me saying.

When a you look at changing / re / new mortgage you sub your last 3 months of bank statements... I had a comment of 'you don't spend much'.   This is worth considering before you apply they  do look at your spending.

You are doing an amazing job. XXX

Child support, you need to talk to your legal people, you cannot back date. 

peb

Others have said it, valuations are often computer based nowadays, not always but I'd ask your broker what your proposed lender does. And yes, things which you can inexpensively update aren't usually considered.  

Drive bys haven't been done for years  - I Remember C&G doing them about twenty years ago and they flummoxed sellers as no surveyor had been.  

I wish you well - I'm sure it's been explained to you if your ex doesn't sign the transfer deed within a reasonable time frame a judge would do it on his behalf.  Of course this will add to the time and frustratingly the costs

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Bluegreen143, SH, MeandO, jennystarpepper & Peb...I appreciate your thoughts and advice on mortgage issues. I have made an appointment with the mortgage advisor that the solicitor  recommended, who has given me good advice in the past. Unfortunately he only seems to have appointments within school hours, which of course, I can’t get to, so I have one booked for the Easter holidays. In the meantime, I did complete a computer form for L and C which indicated that I could borrow more than I need, which seemed rather more hopeful that my current mortgage provider.

Life has been a bit up and down in the last couple of weeks. A dear friend is seriously, seriously  ill 😭. Work is busy. Mother’s Day was lovely in the sense that DD1 was Home . Sadly DS1 made no contact and even drove past our  house to get to the allotment, without coming in☹️.

On the money front, the electricity company have written to say my direct debit will be £267 from April which is less than I had feared.  Having given my change of job and income figures to the tax credit office, they have, after several weeks, decided that I have been overpaid and stopped all tax credits without warning, so I’m having to use what is left of already depleted savings to pay for food and transport costs this week until I get to payday on Thursday. I had planned to make debt repayments with Job 2’s wages but these have been diverted for food for the moment. I need to rigorously replan the budget for April. Despite the financial ups and downs, I am very thankful for Spring and for being able to enjoy the blackbird song, the beauty of the flowers around me and for my family.