Cheery's country living adventure

Cheery_Daff

Thanks folks, always good to hear other people's perspectives! 

So - I've been to the dentist, and we now have to pay upfront so I was in there 10 mins and paid £62.10 - got to go back for a filling next week. On the plus side, apparently I've lost no bone density in the last 2 years (how does he know?) and  my gums are finally getting better, not worse. My teeth have always been dreadful so this is a source of great encouragement to me! 

Home now, and it's been snowing! Final small road was a bit slushy but fine in the new car (which doesn't have snow tyres yet), and the world is very pretty out there right now. I'm currently sat inside with a nice warm cuppa, on the warpath with the car insurance. 

Last year was £421, renewal price if I renew online is £490. Ready, steady... GO! 

EssexHebridean

Good  news on the teeth, less so on the snow! Got a WA message from my friend in Derby at lunchtime - they'd already had a good covering so I wondered whether it would have hit you as well! 

Cheery_Daff

Yes - fortunately it's at the 'very picturesque but not causing much trouble' stage - my favourite! 

Anyway, things are VERY self-congratulatory in this house tonight. Most minor, but not insignificant, is that I pulled my finger out and sorted the car insurance. The two cars are on a multi-car policy at the minute, and I even checked the comparison sites for separate policies. Then I checked Direct Line's multi-car discount - and managed to get both cars for £404 (damn it, where's that Martin Lewis spinning head when you need it?!) I even (get this!!) rang our existing insurer to cheekily ask if they'd match it, but apparently not, so I've ditched them, and saved us £86.66 for the year. 

(And yes, I did check comprehensive as well as third party. Bizarrely the single quotes for comprehensive were cheaper on the older car, and more expensive on the new. Multi car was cheaper overall third party - although their comprehensive was still cheaper than the third party renewal quote). Also it's definitely worth checking earlier - I was getting new quotes to start on the 17th, but actually it turns out the old policy runs out at the end of the 17th, so new one needs to start on the 18th. I updated it, and it reduced by £5!

Anyway, big news I'll post in a separate post... 

Cheery_Daff

So big news of the day - Mr Cheery rang his pension provider and there's no catch! The figures are right! He can actually take it as of today - in fact they're backdating it to the beginning of February. Forms are in the post!   

I'm sure as MSE-ers you'll understand the excitement of this. We still need to decide the exact proportion of annual to lump sum, but the annual will definitely be between £7100 and £8700, and the lump between £27,000 and £47,000. This will make SUCH a big difference to us, well to anyone I'm sure. It'll knock a huge chunk off the mortgage, and will let us have a decent emergency fund that we're properly comfortable with, and will also give us the option for me to drop a day at work (which I won't be able to do til September at the earliest, but even knowing it's an option is extremely nice). 

Can't quite believe it. It feels like some kind of miracle - although in reality it's just the 'miracle' called 'paying into a pension fund for over 20 years'  And if that was his only income it would seem rather meagre of course. But on this occasion the age difference is working in our favour, and we're getting this while I'm still working. 

Anyway, deep breaths and a celebratory gin I think!

Baileys_Babe

Cheery well done on all the work you did on comparing the various car insurance permutations. Like you we are on a multi-car policy. I make a point of checking individually and joint. 

I am really pleased for you both regarding the pension. That will take so much pressure off you.

PurpleFairy26

Fab news on the pension. Where’s that flappy hand emoji when you need it 😉 celebratory gin on a school night is most definitely in order 

redofromstart

Hurrah, that is brilliant news! So pleased it has worked out for you both.

fannyadams

Hi Cheery, just seen your blog posting and wanted to give you this little moneysaving website. 123pricecheck.com to find the cheapest book, DVD or game online. I use it every time I need something like this as it shows me that amazon aren't always the cheapest (plus I'd like to think I'm keeping Jeff Bezos's money for myself and giving it to a company that is in the UK, or pays its corporation tax and its workers a living wage). 
HTH
FA
x

greenbee

Great news about Mr Cheery's pension
I'm going to make myself do some ironing now... I've been battling with work travel booking all day.

Karmacat

Wow, Cheery, I've only been offline a couple of days, and things have almost completely changed for you - congratulations to you and Mr Cheery both.  Those are really big numbers, and to have it in hand as of *now* is great.  I hope you're having a really good celebration of his birthday