Drawing a line under the debt. Take two.

Drawingaline

So life admin has been happening. Still researching cars, but have decided to actually make time to get to one of the garages this week/weekend and maybe make an appointment at another one for the weekend. Need to sort this sooner now, the amount of petrol I have gone through the past two months is ridiculous! 

Been in deep research mode for the girls uni choices too. She was doing nothing and procrastinating (no idea where she gets it from 😂) so I googled some lists of best uni for 'insert course here'. Did a list of 8 in London and 8 outside London. Then I dragged her out of her room and made her look at each one, and we got it down to 12. Today I looked into accommodation costs for the 12, one dropped off as no halls for first years. She definitely wants to look at one, but it is quite a distance away. Will have to go overnight for the open day. There is one more which would need a possible overnight, or a 4am start, but they are only doing campus tours not a full open day so not aure it's worth it. She needs to talk to her subject teacher to narrow it down to 5 to apply for. I am also now having a small heart attack about how her maintenance loan won't cover her accommodation. Damn hubby's big payrise. But with three children still at home we just don't have the spare cash. I think I will be asking my dad to help out a bit. His dad (my grandad) used to help me when I was at uni so I am sure he will help her.

My second job has been much better these past two weeks and yesterday loads of things went wrong, but I was at my managers house working with her there and it was nice to see that we had similar solutions. Feeling much more confident now.

I need to organise the boy an outfit for his prom this week too. It's at the end of the month.

It's going to be an expensive end to the year I think!

savingholmes

Sounds expensive. Good that you are gaining confidence in your new job.

Drawingaline

Well September has continued to be a pricy month. Bought a car!!! Husband is not happy with me at all. I have been researching for months, he vetoed the cheap option I wanted so I found an alternative. I went to a dealers today and looked at the three sizes I liked. I adored the smallest, but it is too small for now, so I went with the middle sized car and found one in a colour I liked (so important after space and mpg!) So agreement all signed and should be delivered next week for pick up next weekend! Then to offload my old knackered car. My idea is to keep it for 3/4yrs then trade it in for the smaller style, and then keep that forever 😂 

Anyway monthly payment should be covered by savings in petrol, tax, roadside assistance and maintenance costs. I spend a huge chunk of my day in my car and I love driving so decided sod it I would do something for me for a change. May regret it yet though!

heidiiii

Wow what an inspiring read. Congrats on debt free since februray!

savingholmes

A newer car is nice. Hope it pays off as expected

Drawingaline

Well new car day has been postponed until Monday as it didn't come in until late last night and they need 24hrs to get it ready. Dad is driving me there after school pick up on Monday. Can't wait! Sorted insurance out, have kept my old car on for 28days and I am glad now as I was driving on fumes thinking I would stick £20 in to cover sat morning, but with all the chaos yesterday I filled it up. I had a two hour round trip to drop the smallest at cub camp this morning, and now I am not getting the car until Monday I need to do the same again tomorrow which would be half a tank. So will keep using it until I am down to the bottom, then make an appointment with we buy any car. I could possibly make a bit more selling it privately, but I can't face it, and tbh I haven't looked after it at all. I sold a previous car on eBay and it was an absolute pain, and took two weeks longer than it should have, just to make £100 more.

Anyway, another expense occurred as had to buy the boy a prom outfit. But he is all kitted out and ready for next Thursday night. He had his haircut too, it was much needed. 

He also had his first shift at work today. He is wrecked 😂 he is in again tomorrow, but we are away next weekend so he needs to let them know tomorrow. The girl was always staying home so she will be working. But it was booked months ago, it's just taken so long for him to actually start (uniform issues apparently) so he hasn't had time to let them know with good notice. Nothing else is planned though, so he should be ok to work every weekend until Xmas. He will need to, he has plans to buy a 2k gaming pc 😱

The girl is booked into three uni open days, the first one I am booked with her, but the second one only had space for her, but it's in Ealing and my oldest friend lives down the road and I haven't seen her in over 18months, so will be kicking the girl out of the car then going to see my friend for the day, so excited 😂 the girl seems quite fired up about uni now and is now thinking about not taking a year out. Which means she needs to save a lot of money this year. She managed 2k last year, will get money for her 18th and probably won't buy a car now,  it she will need a lot more. Any maintenance loan she gets will probably be at least 1.5k less than her accommodation! We will help (as will my dad) but she will need some expensive equipment as well.

Anyway signing out now, been staring at screens for too long.

savingholmes

Lots of positives. Good that your DS has prom and a job. Good your daughter has dreams. Too much has been put on hold. It's good to be living again

Honeysucklelou2

It’s good that the open days have started up again. Seeing somewhere can be so different to the finely angled photos on a website!

New car sounds great!

lucielle

New car sounds good.  Hope Ds' job goes ok
L

Drawingaline

Another uni day booked. This one is down in Cornwall so can't really do it in a day. Need to book a premier Inn, the one by Newquay is cheapest and close enough to finish the drive down on the morning. She seems really keen on this one and is supposed to be brilliant for the subjects she is interested in, but I am worried it is a bit isolated. But it's all up to her.

Car day tomorrow. Hope it has enough petrol in it to get home. The old car has just under half a tank left but we have a weekend away booked next weekend so hope all the petrol stuff dies down now. Don't think any of the petrol stations on town have a drop left 😱