From debt to freedom...

lucielle

Enjoy your time off to recharge and do things that makes your heart sing. 

L

MeandO

Have a lovely break from Job 1, HSL2. I hope this lovely weather continues whilst you're off. Good luck with the allotment, sounds exciting! x

Humdinger1

When's the great day @Honeysucklelou2? Xx

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Lucielle, Meando and Humdinger1.

I’ve had a lovely few days. Tuesday was spent in the garden planting out sweet peas and lettuce and potting on tomatoes. I’ve cleaned out1 greenhouse at the allotment and that has tomatoes planted up in grow bags.

Yesterday DD3, DD4, DS3 and I went for a walk on the coast. We parked my car at the destination and DD3 picked me up from there and drove us to the start. We spent 5 hours walking the coast! It was glorious and the views were breathtaking! One of my favourite ways to spend the day. Only costs were the parking at one place and then an ice cream, which was a bit of an encouragement for DS3 to keep walking.

Humdinger - the wedding is next month so not long.  Today I had a £50 payment from Nationwide ( Not entirely sure why but I had had an email telling me this would happen before the end of April). That money has been transferred to savings towards wedding costs. This money added to the refund from
the electricity company will pay for half of the cost of the ceremony.

Spendless

Ahhhh nice. Both in term of the walk and the money from Nationwide. Money comes to money - lol. Isnt this a payment theyve made to certain customers? Whatever the reason, you deserve it. Enjoy the rest of the Easter hols and will love hearing about your big day in due course. 

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Spendless.

The last couple of days have been busy doing some bits at the allotment. DD3 helped me to dig out some roots in the second greenhouse. Some blackthorn had self seeded but really taken root seed o it was quite the workout to remove them. SO has very kindly got done greenhouse glass to reglaze the glass lost over the winter. Both greenhouses are looking much cleaner and partially planted up with tomatoes and courgettes, leaving space for cucumbers and cucamelons when they are a bit bigger.

I’m trying to spend as much time with the children as I know as soon as Job1 starts again, it will be so busy. DS1 and DS2 dropped in last week after work for a quick chat. Moments like that are wonderful.

Some spending this week on uniform for DS3 so that came out of Job 2’s wages.  

DD4 is working hard on A levels at the moment. She had 5 uni offers and has picked her first and second choices. I did find the online student loan calculator and it looks like I will need to contribute about £4000 a year which is slightly concerning  me at the moment. After the wedding I will have to save as much of Job 2’s money as possible to get a head start.

Spendless

Nice that the older boys popped in to see you.

I used to find having to mid year Uniform shop frustrating. Dont start me on school shoes that wore out beyond repair in the last half term and you just knew they wouldnt fit by that September- lol. 

Yes, contributing to Uni has taken a huge chunk of our income and has since 2018  when our eldest first went, weve been supporting a student offspring  ever since  and have a further 18 months to go.

Is your DD4 aware of the financial contribution you will need to make? Does she have a part time job now or can she find something after exams are over so she can contribute towards this expense? 

Spendless

Having give this a bit more thought, have you discussed this aspect with your SO? 

It may be that hes oblivious to the impact on student finance especially if his own  kids are younger, took a different route or predominantly live with their Mum and only her finances were taken into account for Uni. 

Thought Id mention it since you brought up job2 and saving from it and I know youve previously said he had concerns about the hours you work, so better to get a conversation out of the way about it now to make sure you're both on the same page over jobs and budgeting etc. 

savingholmes

All the best for the wedding and for the uni savings. Remember the uni parental contribution is a guide and the young adult may need to take some of that burden too. 

janb5

Hi Honeysucklelou2..just wanted to pop in to wish you every happiness for your upcoming wedding and to say thank you for all your posts.  I feel like an aging groupie as I`ve been there from the beginning!

Lots of love Jan