A new chapter, An empty nest, Drama school & Last year of Uni

Spendless

Had an £800 tax bill yesterday, ouch! DH is PAYE but when the changes came to child benefit years ago, though his salary was under the amount  the company car plus other benefits put him into the bracket where we had to pay some back. This has always been done via his tax code. For the tax year he completed for in December, a couple of unexpected bonuses (taxed at 40% already) knocked him over eligibility and I *think* this has created the issue. He did read that anything under £1K could go through his tax code but was then unable to get through on the phone to talk to anyone, so has paid it out of savings. It's not paying it that's an issue, it's that yet another large sum has had to come out of savings, especially when I've just lost my job, otherwise a few weeks wages could have paid the bill. Sigh, was it only a few weeks back I was talking whether I could save £2K by September to pay off what I thought the mortgage balance would be early and contemplating the jobs needing doing  in the house!

There's still various activities DD is doing with her fellow college mates to say bye. Thankfully one of them was to climb a hill and then go for food at another's house (My Mum sent her back with home made cake, the lemon drizzle cake went down a storm especially with the American's who'd never had it) so at least free. Some more students leave this weekend. From what is being said it sounds like they have been given a weekly/monthly allowance by their families whilst they studied and now it is ending so they're all skint. Ironically DD was contacted by someone who runs a drama group looking for holiday cover. DD's message to her sent last October had gone into spam. She's interested but says DD needs the Scottish equivalent of a DBS first. I've looked but it sounds like DD can't make that initial step as an individual. I'm also reluctant to pay the fee if she intends returning home soon.  

savingholmes

Hope you get a job soon. Things will turn out. A lot of places are crying out for recruits

Honeysucklelou2

Sympathies on the many March birthdays...although with all the gfs and bfs appearing July and August looks set to overtake March here!!

Are your DS and gf able to look for jobs for the future or are exams and dissertations taking the time at the moment?

Spendless

Honeysucklelou2 said:

Sympathies on the many March birthdays...although with all the gfs and bfs appearing July and August looks set to overtake March here!!

Are your DS and gf able to look for jobs for the future or are exams and dissertations taking the time at the moment?

DS finishes in May, so not a great time for him to be starting to look. I'd rather he put his energies into his final dissertations. Gf can look now. DH did her CV for her last weekend, so hopefully she'll find something.

DD still auditioning and with trips coming up has said she'll look for something at home first. If she doesn't find anything, she will return to Scotland (so long as some friends still there) and look for something there to last until her tenancy has finished.   

EssexHebridean

Ahh November used to be our family "birthday heavy month" - so I feel your pain.  

Fingers crossed that everyone gets sorted out with employment soon, too! 

Spendless

Daughter came home unexpectedly, which meant she was also able to visit Nan for her birthday. Nan was looking more frail (Mum was later told she'd had covid but Mum wasn't aware till then) and a bit tearful but was ok, until later when she was either rambling or suddenly had an unpleasant memory come to mind. Unfortunately she thought DD was the culprit of this memory and told her so which upset DD. We had to reassure her Nan was ill and elderly and possibly hadn't realised who she was (If the memory is correct, I suspect it involves a relative that hasn't been around for over 20 years and DD didn't even know who we meant) On a more upbeat note DD was contacted about a job, an acting one (tourist attraction work) and went for an audition yesterday. As part of it both me and her were given a free tour. I looked up the price later and it would have cost at least £18 each. 

I'm having to re-evaluate everything since I lost my job. The debt free date will be later than I anticipated, unfortunately. I am thankful that earlier this year I bought several items to use as gifts and a juggle around of them means I haven't got to buy anything else for forthcoming birthdays etc 

Spendless

DD got the job! Will mean commuting, but to the same city she used to attend sixth form college, so is used to the journey. Think it starts next week. 0 hour contract, so we've said we'll help her with commuting costs at least to start off with. She believes it starts next week, so not sure if/when she can go back to her Scottish digs and say bye to her remaining college friends.  Even if we help her with travel costs, this is going to be so much easier for us than her being reliant on us for every penny. 

Coxy11

That's wonderful news about DDs job @Spendless!

savingholmes

Great news on DD's job. A step in the right direction. Hope something comes up for you soon too.

Honeysucklelou2

Great news about your DD’s job.