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

EssexHebridean

Aww so pleased to hear that the wedding was such a lovely day - and yes, I can just imagine how distraught your Dad would have been - glad a good compromise was found with the clothing! 

Sounds like you made absolutely the right decision on the job stuff too - the break will do you good! 

Spendless

Thank you @EssexHebridean

I have heard from the last place I interviewed for - haven't been successful - the job has gone to agency already doing the role - saying nothing! So I completely did the correct thing in leaving my old job when I did, a gamble that paid off.

This month DS has married, DD finally starts her degree at drama school and I start  permanent f-time work. I do feel for the first time in ages that I'm now looking to the future instead of a life full of 'what ifs'   On that note I've spoken to DH about the jobs that need doing in the house, I know we've visited this situation before and it's come to a stand-still, I now feel we can press ahead, the starting point is our bedroom with the aim for this to be done by the end of 2023.

DD had a little bit of an issue in her job but HR out of the blue contacted her about it, which needed a reply which the latest date did for her and I have to say I was impressed with. This one is making my stance of 'I don't like them till they prove me wrong' difficult to keep to -lol Don't expect it to last beyond the summer due to the geographical aspect but if DD now looks for different values in someone then that's a huge plus 

EssexHebridean

when we were planning things we wanted to do on the flat we made a list of long, medium and short term stuff - the short term bits were all small easy wins, the mediums required a bit more time and effort and the long term were either "nice to" rather than "need to" things, or were big projects. We found that was a good way of feeling like we were ticking lots of things off but also planning for the bigger stuff too. 

Spendless

That's such a good way to proceed EH. By co-incidence  DH had actually started doing something like that  yesterday when I read your reply. He's had an offer from his CB CC, £10 if he bought something at selected supermarkets for £80+. We didn't need any groceries, I'd done a big shop at Aldi only the day before, but our microwave was on it's last legs (it intermittently sparked, only a matter of time before it blew up!)  so he went and got that with the offer. Unsure if they just credit the card with £10 or add that to the CB.  Next payday he will replace the larder under-counter additional fridge we have. The door has started falling over but it's been a spare for over 10 years, don't know how old it actually is. We use this to keep bottles of soft drinks in but also as a spillover for additional butter, milk, cheese and additional condiments  which means I often don't have to bother shopping weekly as I can shop from my own stash. I will then list the jobs/items  the way you've suggested as that makes complete sense to complete in that order - thank you.

Later today DH is taking DD and DIL into the city centre to visit banks. DIL needs to deposit the cash and cheques received as wedding gifts. DD needs to open a student account and also wishes to open up a savings account. DH has got some cash to pay in too and then we can do a juggle of what bank account will pay off what expenses that have been put on there this month as it includes DD's pageant and DS wedding. The period of the CC runs to the 7th of each month to be paid by the 1st of the following, but inbetween on the 15th we have interest applied to our savings accounts, so each month  after the 7th I spreadsheet the items we've bought, and log where they should come out of eg any costs of DS wedding are to come from savings, some amazon spends out of current wait for the interest to be applied to the savings accounts and then pay the CB CC off. 

My wages are pending in the bank and yes if I'd worked this week I'd had almost every penny for the first 3 months of DD's living costs and the amount I'd have been short by is the same as the cocktail fountain I bought at DIL's  hen party, but I don't regret taking this week off, I needed it (I don't regret the cocktails either - lol). I went to press send for P45 earlier on the agency portal, but got  a warning notice not to until I'd received all my wages   - something my agency contact had also told me, so I'll wait until it's in the bank tomorrow before I do that. 

Today I'm meeting a friend for coffee but she's told me she's been unwell recently so wishes to meet at her house instead which cuts the costs. My group of friends from my schooldays had said we'd do a meetup once DS wedding was out of the way, 2 are sisters currently taking shifts to care for their Mum, so we previously did 2 meet-ups so each could attend one, I asked yesterday if we could split this over 2 different paydays for myself and the other friend who would also attend both and instead one of the sisters suggested a local breakfast place and that she and her sister will do a split shift with us at the cafe, an idea I'd not considered but will also cut down on costs.  

Spendless

My wages went into today for the last time. I said I wanted to have 3 months of sending DD money - I am short by exactly one weeks wages and a hen party cocktail fountain - hahahaha. That''s ok though. if I hadn't been offered alternative employment I would have worked this week and I was offered the job 2 days before the hen party, if I hadn't been  I may have not bought the cocktails, or if I did I'd have accepted payment would be coming from a different source than my wages.   I have now sent for my P45. I am owed over £800 in holiday pay I think, if I've understood the procedure correctly this will be credited to me on Monday 21st, but totally expecting to pay tax on the amount and will probably have to wait till next tax year to retrieve it - hey ho.

I enjoyed seeing my friend. wasn't the freebie I was expecting as she was up to going out, so we went, I know she has money issues so I treated her and I was ok with that. This is the same friend  I helped out a couple of months ago and caused myself some money stresses by doing so, she revealed that she's been ill and not working since earlier this year and not told me, which sheds a lot more light on the situation and to me also emphasises the need to be upfront about things ..something I once said to the toxic ex when him and DD were together - and on that note there's more stuff I'd love to say about this but the timing isn't quite right for me to do so. I will reveal more when I can ...watch this space or more accurately this diary. In the meantime I stumbled across a quote last night which sums it up to me - 'No sympathy for the Devil, keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride' 

Taking onboard what EH said about getting small goals done. I decided to do some personal ones, mindful that from next week I'm working f-time and little opportunity to shop outside of weekends. For a long time my engagement ring has been misshapen, always put off getting it fixed thinking I'd have to spend time without it and the cost. Popped it into an independent jewellers today who fixed it in 5 mins for free! I first noticed the ring had gone out of shape in 2015!!!! Then onto a perfume shop. I'd had to take the full size bottle of my fav perfume to DS wedding last week as the top had come away from my handbag spray, bought a refillable atomiser and resolved it that way - some colours were discontinued and cheaper and as it happened the colour I wanted was one of them - resolved for £8.   Next onto the watch repairers, I want to wear a watch in my new job so I can check the time and not have a phone out, I had 2 watches for repair. A new watch battery was £15 which I got done, the other watch had broken glass and also  needed new battery, £65 to fix! Said not to bother, I might as well put £65 to another watch!  You win some you lose some. 

EssexHebridean

That's great ticking off of little niggly stuff there - and a good example of where it's sometimes well worthwhile to spend a little, but at other times it's a "no thanks - that's not worth it to me" situation. I still have a couple of normal watches but only ever wear my Garmin now. 

Spendless

Insomnia bites -  so thought I might as well update my diary. Though how come a dog is happy to play whatever time of day. I might be awake but I'd prefer to sit quietly at this time not play ball!

Started my new job on Monday, lots to take in but enjoying it. Worse thing is no table in the kitchen area to eat at (nowhere to put one either) .  I've worked at places like this before. I have no idea why employers put in loads of stuff to help staffs well-being and don't  give consideration to them being able to spend their unpaid  lunchbreak eating away from their desk! So what to do with the time - given it's an hours break I get. I've been going home as some people do, it's about a 14 min drive from door to desk, but that of course bumps up my petrol costs. I'm going to have to think this through. One thought I've had is that the village where I now work has a recycling centre (tip) and  a couple of charity shops, I'm wondering whether to make one of my lunch hours a 'get rid of the clutter' day and each week put something in the car that I'll get rid of on a set day. 

I have my holiday pay pending from my previous job, £651 to go into the bank on Monday.  I have paid  £129 in tax totalling £360 I've paid this year when I wasn't earning enough to be paying tax at all (the other was due to the back pay of being underpaid going into the first week of the current tax year) . I'm expecting to have to wait till next financial year to be able to get this back. A pension contribution has also gone out of it - but I'm now old enough to see this as a good thing as well as a NI contribution, which once upon a time I found frustrating, but now I'm aware I have some underpaid NI years - caused by me not  initially searching for a job when one finished and I felt I was needed at home due to DD's MH at that time followed by a pandemic where I lost my job within a week of lockdown 1 . It would be nice if people got an automatic NI credit for the tax year 20/21 and maybe  also 21/22 not everyone WFH or got furloughed or were in a position to find something else. Now what I need to do is get the breakdown of DD's student loan and the schedule of her rental payments, to work out a budget for sending her money to live on and having enough to meet the 1st terms rent without going into savings. Especially important since my first payday won't be a full month's wages due tot he date I started and will also be just after DD starts her course. Date she's leaving is up in the air at the min! 

Interest was applied on the savings accounts this week. It seems to have come round so quickly since it was last applied on a Saturday (to my surprise) in July possibly because since then I was offered my job, handed in my notice at old place took a week off and DS got married. This means we need to pay the CB CC. Already done a spreadsheet for it, some are wedding expenses related and also DD's pageant. 

As the dog has now gone back to sleep, I'm going to see if I can manage to get another hour. 

peb

Tbh I've rarely worked anywhere where there's somewhere to eat lunch.

Could you do the actual eating in the car then have a walk?   That's what I did when at an out of town office.  It's a bit dangerous if you are in an area with shops unless you are very disciplined.

Glad that the new job seems to be working 

Spendless

CC paid today. At the end of July DH was paid a bonus, I moved this into a savings account to pay for wedding expenses. Today we worked it out and after we've paid for the outstanding wedding items which were to be paid on the day plus the expenses of having travelled there, we have £200 left of the bonus. Happy with this. 

I've got a schedule of DD's rent payment and worked out how much I need to put away plus sending her money to live on and definitely manageable with my new job. Out of interest I then worked it out if I'd been successful in getting the permanent post, because though the grade was going up, the amount of hours were going down and I would have been left with just under £150   a month out of my wages for anything else. I mean we'd have made it work, but I think this shows everything happens for a reason. 

My car needs a new exhaust part though, that's £120 but it has a hole in it so has to be done. 

EssexHebridean

Nowhere other than my desk to eat lunch at my work[place either, although my lot are extremely good about not bothering me with work stuff during my lunchbreak as well. I always make a point of going out for a walk at lunchtime anyway - usually do at least a mile so 15 minutes but sometimes a bit further depending on what I feel like.