From debt to freedom...

Spendless

Its been a long winter which wont have helped.

I had similar we had almost £1k in credit. DD was reduced by £180, but they would only let us take half of our credit. Wasnt thrilled but thought never mind ask next year. Checked recently and we are now only £100 in credit and my fire has been broken for a few years and my oven broke on boxing day and was replaced last week, so not like I had loads of things on.

At least youve spotted it. Hopefully weather will warm up and reduce consumption that way.

ArtyJ931

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81949449#Comment_81949449

this is one of the reasons I actually don’t mind being on a prepayment meter. I’m in control and pay for what I use. Previously I’ve had sudden unbelievable increases in DD such as from 150-500 a month that have been so stressful. Both houses I have lived in in the last 7 y have been prepayment and actually it has been better. I sometimes add a bit more to it in summer to build up for winter but I have flexibility.

Dakota_Rose

I hope you can take some time for yourself this holiday @Honeysucklelou2. Lots of rest and relaxation is deserved by the sounds of it!

Spendless

I was just having a think and do you still shop at Tesco HSL? i recall you used to and also do you still make overpayments to your mortgage?

I was wondering if you were aware of an app called sprive, where you can get money for overpayments on your mortgage. I can't use it as our mortgage is paid off so I'm only aware of it rather than know details but I reckon it'd be easy enough to find out.

My thought process is if you are still making mortgage overpayments from your wages and you use one of the supermarkets sprive is connected to, why don't you stop using real money for the overpayments use the app instead to get free overpayments (even if this amounts to less for now than you're making overpayments for ) and use the money from your wages currently paying overpayments to put towards DD's student rent.

It might not work for you for whatever reason but just thought I'd thrown it in as a suggestion.

Hope you get some relaxation from Job 1 these Easter hols and balance that with shifts you need to do at Job2.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Spendless. ArtyJ931 and Dakota Rose.

I’ve not heard of Sprive before Spendless. Thank you for mentioning that…I will go and research more. I do make overpayments still but they are very small.

It’s been an interesting few days. Did a shift at Job 2 on Saturday that ended at 1.45 so spent EasterDay feeling somewhat washed out. I did the annual family Easter egg hunt at the allotment but in 2 waves, to accommodate those that were working. Seeing DS2 grinning as he dashed about collecting small eggs and finding his flag was a joy to behold and reminds me why I love doing this each year. The DS children have been doing this for the last 3 years and look forward to it each year as well, which is wonderful.

Have been able to get some seasonal cooking in - mini egg brownies, mini egg cheesecake and simnel muffins.

Yesterday I was able to spend a good amount of time in the garden. Sowed a second sow of peas. Calendulas, chrysanthemums, Nigella and sweet peas. The sweet peas will hopefully flower in August when it’s the village show! I also got to the allotment and did some more bramble chopping and cleared an area ready to move one of the greenhouses. Storm Gerroti or whatever it was called blew it off the frame so moving it will hopefully repair and protect it.

lucielle

That sounds like a very busy weekend! Enjoy the rest of your time off.
L

savingholmes

I feel for you on those kind of accommodation costs for DD. I think you are being very generous in your contributions. We told my DS that we would contribute £400 a month but after that any costs were his responsibility. We did loan him £1K once - but while at uni - some years he earned £9K - so was able to contribute to his own costs. Your DD will also have access to loans through her student bank account - so again in your shoes I would not be taking that whole burden on. Just something to consider. Thankfully - my DD looked at the costs of university and did an apprenticeship instead and now after 4 years at 22 earns a very decent income.

Glad the allotment is going well and that married life is treating you well.

Spendless

From a previous reply I don't think HSL does pay the whole accommodation costs. My understanding is that all her DD's student loan (£6.5kish is min maintenance loan for studying in London not living with parents) pays towards the rent, HSL pays the difference and then student daughter has a job which pays for her food/living costs.

Students rents have risen a lot, especially London ones (my daughter' is also in London and her rent is £10k for the year) and maintenance loans haven't kept pace.

What further throws this situation is that HSL has remarried so her new husband's wages are taken into account in assessing what loan her daughter is eligible for (so it will be total gross income of Job1, Job2 and new husband's wages) meaning she is only eligible for the min loan but HSL's new husband is financially committed to supporting his children from a previous relationship, whereas HSL ex has never supported theirs (and still doesn't) leaving her paying all costs and the debts for the whole 10 years this diary has run and sounds like before that too.

No idea if all banks are different, but mine as students were allowed £1k overdraft in yr 1, could increase it to £2k in yr 2 and to £3k in yr 3, so £3k total, not enough to pay the rent imbalance year on year. My own DD when she ran into financial difficulties in her first year asked her Uni for help, to be told they couldn't because 'our household income wasn't low enough' (mine also receives the min loan) I found this a nonsense because if our household income was lower she'd have received a higher maintenance loan in the first place and wouldn't have been seeking help!

The student loan system is a complete mess at all sort of angles.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Lucielle, SH and Spendless. The situation with student costs is exactly as you explained Spendless…Dd has come home and worked as many shifts as she could so has earned enough to pay for her recent dentist trip and to build up money for food for the coming term.

This week I’ve continued with trying to get jobs done at home. Yesterday I started on the porch which I currently use as a greenhouse. I have an old table in there that is covered in seedlings of varying sizes but underneath the table there has developed a mini mountain of stuff! We have noticed that somehow water is getting in through the front door frame and has soaked the floor so I spent yesterday sorting through and binning anything that needed to go, shredding unwanted paperwork and pulling up the saturated chipboard floor, having manoeuvred the table and plants outside - thankfully it was a gloriously sunny day. Have washed the paintwork down with sugar soap as a preparation for painting and DH is going to help me to lay a new floor and check the sealing on the door frame.

Also got some weeding done in the garden.

DD4’s friend had not experienced an Easter egg hunt this year so went to the allotment along with DD3 to do an extra hunt ( thankfully had some mini foil wrapped eggs left over). It was so funny seeing these 3 ( all late teens /early 20s) racing down the allotment in their eagerness to find the eggs!!

We made it for tea on the beach, the first this year. This is a tradition started when I was fairly new to being a single parent… basically a picnic tea on the beach once a week, on a weekday, from April to late September. It’s carried on with whichever children are at home and is a wonderful time of calm…of watching the waves and chatting together and building memories.

lucielle

It’s funny how they revert to toddlers/young children. My lot are the same when they get together, more so the boys!

L