From debt to freedom...

Spendless

I think there continues to be more positives than negatives in this stage of your journey, which is lovely to hear about, you managing to see all your children during one day. School trip expenses are annoying but at least you could find it from somewhere. The hard work youre putting in with the seeds will pay off.

Guessing you probably already know but youre aware if youve married before daughter goes to Uni then both your incomes are taken into account for the purpose of the maintainance loan (and also would be the case if youre cohabiting) and that both incomes are taken into account in subsequent years. I dont know what happens in the first year for this if daughter starts and then you marry. Flagging this to you just in case because a lot of our expenditure over the last 8 years has been down to supporting our kids through their degrees as ours only receive the min loan and they wouldnt have been able to meet their rent with that. Many kids do have part time jobs as well whilst at Uni to help with their finances. That may depend on the course though, my daughter does too many hours but can earn a little here and there as a student ambassador. Son was on the brink of finding something when the pandemic happened!
Re start up costs, I also found this expensive! Ikea if you can get to one do a start up pack from memory around £50-£60ish. Its just a little early in the year for stores to have this sort of deal on. Id also give a shout out to your older ones who have previously moved out. You may find some of them have spare items that theyre only too happy to offload.

savingholmes

It sounds like you are still working miracles with all your juggling! Remain in awe.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Spendless and SH.  I’m not expecting DD to get the same loan as DD1 did as I had all the younger children to support and earned less but thank you for the reminder that SO’s income will also be taken into account. 

Plans are going quite quickly now…the banns dates have been set, the date has been set and we went to see the reception venue last night. It will be quite low key but as long as we have loved ones around us, that is all we need.

dawnybabes

Aww that’s so sweet 🥰🥰🥰

Willowtree222

Very exciting. Xx

savingholmes

All the best. I think low key sounds perfect.

Cherryfudge

So exciting! Once you can picture where each thing will take place, it must feel tangible.

lucielle

How lovely. 

L

Spendless

It sounds wonderful. Excited for you.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you SH, Spendless, Cherryfudge dawneybabes, Willowtree222 and Lucielle.

I now have 2 weeks off from Job 1 which I’m thankful for. The last couple of days have been delightful…plenty of sunshine and time to do things that are not work related! On Saturday SO helped me by clearing brambles from the allotment for me. I now have a blank canvas to work with which is exciting and nerve wracking in equal measure!!

I’ve been able to  get a refund of £300 from the electricity company today which I’m putting towards wedding costs.