*sigh* this may take a while

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Our bathroom starts being fitted tomorrow

We've bought everything in for it and only went slightly over budget at £2700 instead of £2500.
That's for a 4 piece bathroom, tiles, flooring, new door, cabinet and radiator.  We're pleased with that and we did have a £500 contingency, so as long as nothing major comes up during the work, we'll be fine.

I'm at work Monday-Wednesday and DH is working from home... kids are at home for half term, so could be interesting!  We've got the en suite and a downstairs loo, so we'll be ok with the bathroom out of action.  I'll try and get the children out the house Thursday and Friday as they'll have cabin fever by then  

EssexHebridean

Exciting about the bathroom - and good idea to have the contingency, from experience it’s almost certain that *something* unexpected will come up! 

enthusiasticsaver

Exciting that you have a new bathroom being fitted. 

ohdearhowdidthathappen

EssexHebridean said:

Exciting about the bathroom - and good idea to have the contingency, from experience it’s almost certain that *something* unexpected will come up! 

Yes... inevitable

enthusiasticsaver said:

Exciting that you have a new bathroom being fitted. 

A long time coming and it's all saved, no debt... unusual for us and is a nice feeling  

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Feedback on the big fish hoover I got via the MSE link.... I am impressed overall.  I'd say our old Henry has better suction, but big fish wins overall.... very portable, love the handheld option for stairs and cars and like the lack of bag.  There's a toggle you can use for extra power (uses more battery) and find myself using it most of the time as it helps match the Henry.  It came with 3 batteries and I can do our whole house on 1.5.... high level content on my diary this eve but thought I'd give some honest feedback  

Drawingaline

Nice to see feedback. Funny how we all like different things. I will never find one to top Henry I don't think, mainly because I dislike bagless ones. I find no matter how I empty them the dust just gets everywhere so defeats the whole point of them 😂 but I know it's very light and portable, which is why my sister likes hers.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

I do like the Henry... but comparatively it's pretty heavy.  I like the lack of bag with the big fish... i empty it whenever one of us is emptying the bin and then there's loads of space for the stuff.  I'm always surprised how much !!!!!! these hoovers pick up.  Minging

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Soooo tired... they're really bulking our lists up at work and we've got trainees too. 
I remember being a trainee  (it's a postgrad course so these are all qualified professionals already) and am outwardly very supportive, but when one is put with me I feel the pressure to complete my own (very) busy list and train the student.  We've suggested making training lists like other depts do where 10 mins is added onto the appt to allow for the student. Very firm 'no' from management   Annoying as occy health have already said our lists are as busy as they can be without damaging our joints and mental health.  
Will be interesting to see what these new guidelines bring... at the moment bosses are saying we must wear masks to protect patients but they won't have to wear them.  Hmmmm.  And that maybe we should pay for our own LFTs... I don't think so.  We shall see  

Alchemilla

ohdearhowdidthathappen said:

Lucielle, such a lovely idea.  Entitled teen is so picky though, I wouldn't risk buying her something she might not like and I couldn't return. 

Money is such a flash point with her, we're back to arguing constantly about what we 'should' be paying for and how tight we are in comparison to 'everyone else'.

Recent examples (literally within last fortnight)-
-Driving lessons, we've said we'll pay for 10 which I feel is loads as will be about £350.  That's apparently tight as everyone she knows has had ALL their lessons paid for.
-18th Birthday - she's expecting about £1k spent on her as that's the norm.  I've made it clear we will not be. Tight.
-Laptop... her one is old and laggy.  Wants a new one after she finishes year 13.  I've said we'll look at it if/when she goes to uni or gets an apprenticeship.  That's tight too apparently.
-After A levels, a group of them are going on a UK break.  I've offered to pay for accommodation (£150) and apparently that's tight as others are getting £250-500.

Honestly, it's exhausting.  I've said to DH that from now on we'll say what we're willing to contribute and everytime she calls it tight, the amount will automatically halve.  We work hard and to constantly have stuff thrown back in our faces is very demoralising 

I've told her that she's got a job now and once her Alevels are over she can increase her hours and save.  Her child trust fund also matures soon.  She then needs to prioritise where she spends it; laptop, driving, travelling etc and with our contributions all of it would be doable probably.  I was very calm and she literally just laughed at me and said I was pathetic expecting my child to cover my shortcomings in being able to provide!  I was fuming!

Oh WOW. Just WOW!
Maybe she needs to volunteer in a shelter of a food bank?

Suffolksue

I certainly wouldn’t be funding a gap year ,she either goes to university/apprenticeship straight away 
or get a full time job 
would be saying’Shape up or Ship out ‘!