From debt to freedom...

savingholmes

Hope you manage to balance the funds.

Enjoy your holidays 

Sun_Addict

Great news about your DD!

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Spendless, BalanceBy50, SH and SA.

Can’t believe time is flying by at such a pace. DD got her accommodation sorted out. The weekly rate is eye watering which means the monthly rate is more than the mortgage here. She is able to use her student loan for 2/3 ish of it  but I will need to find the rest. We have decided given it’s central city position to go by train and get anything that she might need in situ so as to keep luggage down.

Had an interesting day  over the bank holiday weekend, going to see DS1’s new home. He moving to the other side of the county and is buying a house with his g/f. It is very sobering how much money they are having to spend to buy a fairly small new build. DS is very excited and they have worked hard to save up the deposit. With one child going far away and the other across the county, it’s a very weird time!

Spent some time last week harvesting elderberries at the allotment. I found a recipe online for elderberry syrup and gave it a try! It is supposed to be good to fight off colds. 

Spendless

That sounds familiar, astronomical student rent, higher than what  your own mortgage payment is/was! 

I misread what you wrote at first re DS1 and thought he was moving to the other side of the country! Glad its only across the county for you even if its still a distance. Its lovely to hear of him doing so well. 

Enjoy whats left of the summer hols x

Cherryfudge

It is indeed a weird time as they move out and start up on their own - but before you know it the University city and the first home will also be part of the bank of memories. 

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Spendless and Cherryfudge. 

The final days of the holidays are here😢. I spent most of today preparing and planning for later in the week for Job 1. I do love my job but also enjoy having the time in the Summer to catch up with my older children that don’t live with me anymore! Had a lovely day last week with DD1 one day and DD2 a couple of days later.

DD3& 4 went shopping today, ostensibly to stock up on bits and pieces in readiness for university. 

Payday was on Friday so all the direct debits left my account today.  DS3’s birthday is soon so I did get a gift for him today. I’m toying with the idea of doing a Forest school type party for him, at the allotment.  It would enable him to have a party without needing to spend vast amounts of money.

foxgloves

A forest school type of party sounds fab! 

Spendless

Forest school type party sounds fab idea. You have both the amenities and the skillset to facilitate this. If you do go for it, I want to hear all about it on here - lol. 

savingholmes

Forest school sounds perfect. Very in vogue too.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you for the encouragement Foxgloves, Spendless and SH.  Last week we did a Forest school style party! We did a scavenger hunt followed by a hunt the flag game whereby each child was allocated a colour and they had to find a hidden flag of that colour, rather like the Easter egg hunts we do each year. The children enjoyed exploring the wooded area of the allotment. We had a bbq and finished off toasting marshmallows. I was surprised by how much the children enjoyed the simplest of games. 2 wanted to stay and not go home!!

We are back into routine now with school for the youngest 2 and Job 1 for me.  In a week’s time DD4 goes off to uni. She is starting to pack. DD3 and I are taking her  there so train tickets have been bought and accommodation booked for a night. I’ve done a couple of extra hours each week at Job 2 and used savings to cover this. From now onwards my wages from Job 2 will have to go on the uni accommodation costs. DD4 has worked over the summer and saved as much as she can to go towards the costs as well.