Sort of debt-free but hope to be a super-scrimper in 2019

[Deleted User]

Sallyforth wrote: »

With the free Wills thing we didn’t donate anything upfront as we both have our chosen Charities we give to if and when we can. However, we have no children and no family as such we want to leave whatever we are left with when we die so have left any inheritance firstly for the care of our cats and then to charity. There could potentially be two wealthy cats with sitters lining up!
Joking apart do take advantage of the free Will service.
Also POA is worth considering as I understand you aren’t married? It could make things a lot easier for one of you in the event of something not necessarily life threatening but debilitating like a minor stroke where one party can’t sign properly. Please don’t think me a harbinger of doom - just treat it like insurance?
Sally

Lucky cats:j

Yes. OH and I aren't married although have lived together since the 1970s. Our surnames are different and we have no financial connections in common. The whole inheritance situation is a minefield for common-law couples with no children and a very small and distant (physically and familiarly) extended family. We want to leave our money to charities too, not some distant relative we don't even know of. Wills and, now I see the value and implications of) POAs are crucial. Definitely at the top of my To Do list. Thanks to you and everyone else for their input on this topic:T:A

GlendaSugarbean

We did the medical and financial POA for Dad when my mum died - the solicitor explained that if you are married your spouse automatically has rights like being able to make medical decisions if you are not able etc. If you do not have a spouse it's a lot more complicated, and much better to set up when all parties are able to give their consent.

I've also had experience of trying to draw up a POA when the person is elderly and has difficulties communicating (stroke, deafness etc). It's much harder and not a pleasant process for anyone.

You can download the forms online and you don't necessarily need a solicitor to submit them.

Lifeisforliving19

Glendasugarbean.....

Just wanted to say I love your username.:)

enthusiasticsaver

Just popping in to say definitely make a will if you are not married and have no close family such as children. It is not expensive, I think we got our local solicitor to do it and it cost around £50 per will. That was a few years ago though. I have POA for my mum although I have not activated yet. DH and I need to do ones for us too. No one knows what is around the corner.

[Deleted User]

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Just popping in to say definitely make a will if you are not married and have no close family such as children. It is not expensive, I think we got our local solicitor to do it and it cost around £50 per will. That was a few years ago though. I have POA for my mum although I have not activated yet. DH and I need to do ones for us too. No one knows what is around the corner.

Thank you:T. Yes, it definitely makes sense to do it.

[Deleted User]

GlendaSugarbean wrote: »

We did the medical and financial POA for Dad when my mum died - the solicitor explained that if you are married your spouse automatically has rights like being able to make medical decisions if you are not able etc. If you do not have a spouse it's a lot more complicated, and much better to set up when all parties are able to give their consent.

I've also had experience of trying to draw up a POA when the person is elderly and has difficulties communicating (stroke, deafness etc). It's much harder and not a pleasant process for anyone.

You can download the forms online and you don't necessarily need a solicitor to submit them.

Thank you for the very useful information:T

I'll have a scout around the internet when I get a minute. There's so much information on pretty much everything under the sun nowadays:j

Karmacat

Sounds good to me, I'm glad you're going to do it, CBC. I made a will years ago, it's very simple, but I wanted it all done and dusted.


Meant to say - in the 1980s, my parents had very simple wills, leaving everything to each other. As my dad's dementia progressed, we all agreed to two things:
- a POA on his behalf, run by mum and my brother (who was the nearest person geographically)
- my mum wrote a new will, leaving everything to the three of us directly, not leaving anything to my dad. If she'd died before him, while he was in the nursing home, all the estate (basically, ownership of a three bed semis and some ISAs) would have been eaten up in nursing home fees).

beanielou

It gave me so much peace of mind to do the will & POA.
My executers were getting worried I was sending them so much paperwork :rotfl:

Lifeisforliving19

Karmacat wrote: »

Sounds good to me, I'm glad you're going to do it, CBC. I made a will years ago, it's very simple, but I wanted it all done and dusted.


Meant to say - in the 1980s, my parents had very simple wills, leaving everything to each other. As my dad's dementia progressed, we all agreed to two things:
- a POA on his behalf, run by mum and my brother (who was the nearest person geographically)
- my mum wrote a new will, leaving everything to the three of us directly, not leaving anything to my dad. If she'd died before him, while he was in the nursing home, all the estate (basically, ownership of a three bed semis and some ISAs) would have been eaten up in nursing home fees).

Am I understanding this correctly Karmacat?
Are you saying that if you make a will leaving the house to other relatives, then it can't be eaten up in nursing home fees? Just asking as my mum is in a home and my dad still lives in the family home. They had both made wills years before she went in the home, but I don't actually know what is in them. I was under the impression, that if my dad passes first, while mum is still alive, then the house will be taken as payment, regardless of any wishes they may have had about leaving the house to me and my sister. Am I just a bit confused by this...

[Deleted User]

A quick update on latest events.

I'm ashamed to say that yesterday was very unproductive in all areas and nothing on my To Do list was crossed off:o. I'm a total politics freak, much to the bemusement of OH who has no interest in it whatsoever) and all the current TV Brexit coverage is taking over my life:eek:. I had the TV in my sitting room switched on from when I got up at 6 until after midnight when I finally dragged myself away to go to bed. I managed to do a few other things yesterday that didn't involve too much time out of earshot of the TV but nothing important that was really pressing:o. Thankfully OH was out and I could have the volume turned up really high so I could still keep up with developments when I was doing jobs in the kitchen:j. It looks like being another similar day today and as OH has to go out shortly and won't be back until teatime I can satisfy my addiction in peace;)


I challenged myself that this year I'll save as much as I possibly can and I've written at length in this diary about the reasons why. Apologies to those who've ploughed through all my ramblings. I've decided that if I start off the year and try to maintain maximum savings for at least 6 months I can save the same amount each month that I paid to my DMP when I first faced up to my debts in 2013 and went hell-for-leather to repay them. That's £850 a month:eek:. I've set up a SO to transfer this amount each month from my Nationwide current account to an online saver with the same bank. It isn't set in stone, I can change the amount any time I feel it's too much and can cancel it altogether with a couple of clicks:j. More importantly it's an instant access account (and as such offers a laughably low interest rate:() so I can spend it if I ever have to.


By the end of June, if all goes to plan, I'll have £5100 which should be more than enough to cover any car I might want to buy if I need to by then. I'm hoping I won't and at the moment think my old car will survive a while longer:j. I'm not going to save any specific amount in July as that's the month when all my car-related expenses become due (car tax, car insurance renewal, pre-MOT short service and the MOT itself:eek:). When I was deep in debt I paid car tax and insurance by monthly instalments but it costs a lot extra that way and as soon as I could pay 'upfront' I have done. Of course, should the service and MOT show up anything that needs replacing or fixing I'll need to cover that too. I think I might need 2 new tyres before then, given the amount of driving I have to do just to reach the basic and essential destinations. The current ones are still legal, OH checks them regularly, and I wouldn't want to have bought new tyres just prior to the car being scrapped:eek:. I'll wait as long as poss before making a decision on that, maybe to the service if OH thinks they are still roadworthy until then.


I decided that, as I've been so stingy about treating myself and spending anything on myself for so long, I can carry on a bit longer. I can slacken the reins a bit but don't intend to go mad. I don't want to go back to my destructive way of buying anything and everything that takes my eye just because I can:eek:. Look where that got me!


Because of this and because I have so much to declutter:o I've decided to use whatever extra I make from selling things as part of my 'treats' fund. Back in the bad old days, when I didn't know where the next penny was going to come from in order to buy groceries, even the smallest sum of money made from selling things was like a lottery win:j. Nowadays I can afford to pay for groceries without the extra and if I use it to spend on myself I'll have an incentive to keep going with the decluttering. It's likely to be a lifetime of work for me, getting rid of everything and being minimalist. I guess I'd still need to live to over a 100:rotfl:


I listed 10 items on Sunday to take advantage of eBay's free listing and no final valuation fee offer. I'm amazed that 5 have already sold on BIN:j. I always offer free P&P (which I incorporate into the asking price anyway;)) as I think that's an incentive for people to buy I need to get them parcelled up this morning and posted this afternoon after Prime Minister's Question Time on the Parliament channel on TV at midday and before the No Confidence vote on the Government this evening. I'll make a total profit of £91.75 after deducting postage costs which will head straight to my 'treats' fund. It's not all profit as such as I had to buy the stuff in the first place but it was so many years ago that I can't even remember what they originally cost. Maybe I'll spend a bit of it to get my hair cut sooner rather than later. I always trim my own fringe but leaving the rest to grow stragglier by the day is not something I want to go back to:(


Have a nice day, everyone:beer: