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

Spendless

Beggars belief but Mr S was involved in a car crash yesterday. On the way home on the motorway and a car suddenly turned into the side of him! It's a pool car as his company car is currently in for repair due to faulty doors. Inspection of damage now it's light and it seems it's just damage to front bumper. Considering the drving conditions were less than ideal yesterday this could have been a whole lot worse. Am hoping this is now the last of the 'they come in 3s' for car related incidences! 

I have a weekend of working ahead of me but after that limited hours next week and a whole weekend off where we are going to DD's London digs to finalise sorting out her room ahead of her returning home, so it's nice and comfy and ready for her to just 'step in to'. Really looking forward to being away. 

We have also received the news that the deposit from her 1st accommodation is winging itself back which will help with finances.

Humdinger1

Oh gosh @Spendless that really should be it for car incidents!  Hope he's OK? Good news re deposit love Humdinger xx 

Spendless

Thanks Humdinger - yes he's ok, but the sliding doors moments are playing on my mind hence the time of this  post, I'm struggling with my sleep - thoughts that  if Nan's infections had got worse before medical assistance was sought, same with Dad and his heart issues and if the car crashes had been different speeds/angles, that could have been 4 of us gone within 3 weeks. That would have been a lot to deal with for those left behind.

I know I need to think but it didn't (DH's philosophy) but I think it's just been issue after issue in a short space of time.

Things to look forward to. I am meeting a friend later and we have a free event booked to attend before having lunch together. Will also pick up some Christmas shopping whilst out.  I only have 2 shifts this week, 1 half shift, 1 full shift and  we are away at the weekend. Bedroom carpet is being fitted. Odd job man coming to look at some jobs we need doing. 

Need to sort out all the financial life admin later. 

Spendless

Checked the bank account yesterday - thought there's a couple more £s in the savings accounts than I thought, then remembered the 15th had been and gone and a little interest gone in. I put the amounts that were paid out into my Monzo account as a way of topping up the alternative usiverse savings. Haven't added them yet as I can see pending the money for my written off car. As I already have the money for it's replacement from an inheritance I received this money is going back into savings. 

Saved myself £25 yesterday by not posting a dress to DD abroad after I was told that was the price to send it! . After checking with DD she now has the dates of the party she wanted it for and it's after Mr S goes out there with work so he can take it. Had a day yesterday with a friend seeing a free light festival event, lunch at a chain with an offer on for main and drink and picked up some Xmas shopping items for me and 1 on behalf of Mum - who asked me if I could pick her up some stuff as her and Dad are struggling to manage 'Christmas' whilst still being overwhelmed by the situation with Nan. 

Spendless

Carpet fitters have been yay - can finally move on to the next stage of putting our bedroom back together. Not sure when that'll be but at least we can now see light at the end of the tunnel. Odd job man has also called and is getting back to us with a price to do all the bits with asked.  

Over the past couple of months I have had cash for various things and not always needed as much as I've taken. Now with the carpet fitters paid - they work independantly of the carpet shop so you pay them seperately, I decided now was time to pay in the remaining money. In addition - confession time -  when I lost my previous job I was paid in lieu of hols owed and not taken, this came to £1k and I have had it sat in my current account just in case it was ever needed. I had to nip into it  once when I started my current job and  JS paid me up what was owed but had to wait a month for my wages (I started on their payday so had the full time to wait!). Car insurance paid out today and I added under £10 from my wages to top it up  to £1k.

So why am I saying all this? It's because with these amounts £1k from my car payout, £1k from my previous job and £195 in cash, I have transferred/banked at post office and the whole lot means 'Jabberwocky' is almost paid off. I said that category was made up of nonsensical stuff (hence the name) and I had a spreadsheet that itemised it. I already  had paid £202 in to it. The remaining amounts were 250 + 575 + 650 + 720. I now have £218 to pay back for Jabberwocky to be fully paid back. This amount relates to upholstery covers that Mr S thought a waste of money in the first place. Want to acheive this pay back asap but ultimate deadline is end of the year. Whatever is in the pot at the time of the 2025 budget will be transferred to my Isa then, for more favourabe rates, plus not knowing what will be announced.

Going forward that would then leave me until Sept 1st to pay back what's remaining in 'lost' and 'stolen'   which both have £500 targets with £36 currently in each one.  I'm choosing this date as the next academic year in which I wont have a student offspring. From Sept 1st 2026 the focus will be on repaying back the educational cost we've had over the years. Not every single one because some have been paid for out of surplus income, some we saved for, some we will write off as 'that's life' but I've identified a handful of costs  that I would like to pay back. 

Spendless

We've had a bill from our water company - we only changed to a meter in the summer reducing our DD by £17 a month. Main shift has been going from bathing to showering, or if bathing having a shallow one.

House insurance was due. We'd had a quote from our insurerers loads cheaper than last year but could still be beaten by competitors. Mr S rang our insurers and told them and they've beaten the ir rivals and their own original quote.  £220 for the year. It has been pad in full so we don't get extra charges for paying by monthly DD.

Really happy that our household bills are reducing so much as this is freeing up money to get (much needed!) work done in the house.

Booked  DD's flight home. We had booked a flexible ticket and so glad we did as plans have changed during the course of her stay for various reasons. She will be home in time for Christmas. Just as well it was looked at yesterday as many flights unavailable (I'm assumming already booked up). and he had to speak to a couple of people eventually one suggested using another airline that was in their capacity to do - because they were X airline flying on behalf of Y airline, and doing this meant a flight was found on the required date. Don't know yet if I'll be able to accompany Mr S picking her up because my work rota hasn't come out  that far ahead yet. The downside of not having fixed days to work.

Today being Friday £10 has been moved into the alternative Universe account. £5 to extra rent  which now has £45 in it. I then moved £3 to jabberwocky as that made it a round £2400 in that pot (£215 to go till completed) and then put a £1 each in lost and stolen making it £37 in each one.

Today I have my first 3 day run of being off which incorporates a weekend and we are going to DD's London digs, staying overnight courtest of hotel loyalty points and doing the final bits to sort her room out -we ran out of time when we last went. Family is dog sitting. 

Spendless

badmemory said:

I hope that the terms for receiving HRP are different for your mother's time.  But for mine you had to have been paying full stamp before the pregnancy.  I am keeping my fingers crossed for her.

Definitely sort those POAs & why not do your own too.  Hospitals can be dire without them.

Your prediction turned out to be correct. I had seen the question 'did you pay the married woman's stamp (using the official name that I currently can't think of) ?' on the form we sent off and it saying if so you wouldn't be eligible. I asked Mum if she had and she answered "No". This turned out to be because she wasn't aware/didn't understand the question.

The letter Mum has received tells her that she paid the reduced stamp from the mid 70s. This coincides with her return to work part time when my younger sibling is a toddler. Mum has either forgotten, it never been explained properly or (my suspicion) a box was ticked saying she wanted to do this and Mum has signed not reading. There was Zero point in Mum signing up to pay less NI because she didn't earn enough to be paying it at all!  Dad said this as I explained the letter. A google confirms this and I know parents have remembered Mum's pay from that time correctly as only 2 years later Mum's wages had to be taken into account when they bought the property they still live in  - that's a story I grew up with. From the early 80s Mum was self employed and that seems to have been what 'saved' her. If the rules back then were the same as the ones I read in an article from a few years ago, you couldn't be both SE paying NI stamps and paying a reduced rate. The irony that Mum blamed the SE years for not receiving the full state pension when the reality is without it she would be far worse off.

Back from an enjoyable weekend away. Hotel and  buffet breakfast paid for by loyalty points. DD's room only took an hour to sort out and is now ready for her to 'step into' whenever she decides to return back after Christmas. Went out for an Indian meal the night we arrived. Gorgeous food. We paid with DH's new CC. We will pay it in full once bill arrives but did it  because we have to spend x within y time to get some perks and this helped towards it. I do smile when we try and pay with this particular provider where we live compared to when we head to the London area because we recently bought a carpet for our bedroom as it was a few £100s asked if we could pay with this CC but it was 'sorry we don't accept' yet head to where DD studies instead and a small Indian  restaurant for a far smaller bill says 'that'll do ncely' - lol.  

Today's plans - a lot of financial stuff. This includes sending off parents POAs, ours will be done once youngest returns home as we want her to be ours along with her brother. Refund of deposit from DD's prev accommodation has landed in bank account, so we need a detailed looked at that and the expenditure we've had in the past few weeks, CC bills due next month to be looked at too. 

badmemory

A lot of employers were dire at that time & when a woman married actually suggested they stopped paying full stamp.  Thankfully mine was different & said they had to ask but it was a bad idea.  I believe that a lot of women should be complaining about their employers & they have questions to answer.  A bit like the ones these days that try to discourage emlpoyees from paying into autoenrollment pensions.  Some employers will never change.

Spendless

badmemory said:

A lot of employers were dire at that time & when a woman married actually suggested they stopped paying full stamp.  Thankfully mine was different & said they had to ask but it was a bad idea.  I believe that a lot of women should be complaining about their employers & they have questions to answer.  A bit like the ones these days that try to discourage emlpoyees from paying into autoenrollment pensions.  Some employers will never change.

Was there an advantage to the employers doing this do you know? Thats a question DH asked me when I explained it all to him. Am wondering  because there was no benefit to Mum paying a reduced rate since she earned too little to be paying it at  all.  Not that it makes any difference to outcome, just curious. The  employer in question (High street name) went bust in the mid 00s around the time Mum became SPA. Just as well she didnt remain there! 

badmemory

I don't know but I suspect there must have been.  They would not have had to pay sick pay for a starter.  If there was no benefit to the employer why would so many of them persuade women to go on the reduced rate.  Some employers never even told the employees they had a choice.