Prosperous soul embraces creativity & mortgage neutrality

doingitanyway

Glad you had some creative time 

EssexHebridean

GAP that made me howl!

Apologies SH - I thought I'd posted on here a few days ago but when I've clicked across this time it's just shown me what I thought I'd posted still in the reply box - oops! 

Good work starting to plant the seeds with DD around the financial stuff too. 

savingholmes

Thanks all

GAP - I don't think me and DD would survive living together that long... 

I've come up with a figure I'm comfortable with - discounted until September - when she gets a pay rise and then full rate. Will see what happens. Going to discuss it with my counsellor before her. I don't want to charge so little that staying longer is too easy an option - while still wanting to offer her some security.

Ex's house has fallen through. The car he's passing on is damaged and he only just told her. A few different wake up calls for DD - and another I won't mention here... Drove 50 miles for her yesterday - originally planned to be 3!! Have to do a different 50 miles today but there are special circumstances although it's irritating Ex is unwilling to help.

Paid £356 to my CC so my balance is much healthier now. Also been better this month at immediately repaying any spends - so I get points but not the burden in a future month. I had to ring Am**** but they are going to refund my £9 postage so that's a relief.

My backpay looks like it will be delayed until May - so won't be able to pay off holiday until then. It's on a 0% card though so it should be okay. I'm relieved about the U turn on NI but will effectively have less £ coming in next month due to the delay in backpay. After that the NI and new rate pretty much cancel each other out for a couple of months - until the NI changes again in July. I've no idea when I will hear about my regrade (or P1P) but desperately hoping I get them so I can buy more holidays. If DD does start contributing more - that will help with the rises in utility bills and fuel etc.

beanielou

PIP will take a while unfortunately. 

MovingForwards

I appreciate new drivers are known for having bumps and accidents, but having an old car with dints is a bit different to one damaged; very mean is the politest I can say.

The rose tinted glasses should start to fall off soon, then DD will begin to understand your position, even if it's not admitted.

At least the back pay is coming. P1P will probably be towards the end of the year, based on posts elsewhere. 

You're doing really well with budgets and plans.

jwil

You're doing really well.  Love the patterns!  Glad you got your refund.  Shame about the back pay delay.

Have a good weekend

edinburgher

I couldn't wait to leave home as it felt at the time that my parents were a pair of mean sods who were never young 😀 I got the impression they felt much the same (well, about me moving out).

Now I'm a parent, I feel like I'd be happy with my kid (soon to be kids) being at home for as long as they like. It's common in my area (where a crappy 3 bedroom house that looks like a crime scene sets you back £250k+) I'll freely admit, however, that I'd basically expect them to be self-sufficient if they were 18+ - no problem cooking for everyone/shopping etc. But I'm not "babying" them if they're young adults  I hate housework, can't wait to have some unwilling helpers

savingholmes

Thanks Beanie, Jwil, MF and edinburgher

I couldn't wait to leave home either which has left me bemused at my kid(s) wanting to stay despite the back handed compliment.

Well yesterday I rang BG again. 40 minutes later!!! I had my direct debit set up, my latest bill and am now listed as a VIP customer... The good news is that 44 days cost me roughly £88 so even post 1/4 they are now only proposing £80 a month for elec which is much better than I had been expecting. If DD and I hang our washing out more that could come down further. I also need to go around switching things off at the wall to reduce energy leakage. I've done a lot of that already - so just double checking really. When DD is back in the hotel - I need to switch things off in her room as she just leaves stuff running. Often leaves the window open too!!! (Roll eyes).

Sh311 want me to increase my direct debit to £150 for gas - taking no account of different usage between winter and summer as I haven't been with them long enough. So completely ignoring that request. Previously in the summer my spend was more like £14 a month for hot water so I can't believe that I will need anything close to that - even allowing for a winter buffer. I will see how things go.

PE haven't been in touch but still have money ring fenced for them.

My CT is £60 more a year - but that's as I predicted. At least my mortgage is fixed. If DD starts contributing more - I plan to use it to clear my CC faster initially. If she pays the higher rate from September - I'm likely to split it between fun, mortgage, pension and savings - some of which may include towards her moving out but without telling her that.

Beanie / MF - I'm expecting the P1P to take 6 months based on news reports - and there's no guarantee I will get it anyway. And if I need to appeal it will be longer. Because they pay backpay to the date of request - I'm seeing it as a form of savings if I am awarded. My regrade could be similar. It could be like buses with them all coming at once.

I've sold something on FB for £8 that I listed ages ago. Collection this afternoon. Still need to get dressed and then hope to get out into the garden,

try_harder

Well done on your sale .I find FB brilliant for selling ..

Hope its lovely and warm where you are

savingholmes

Thanks @try_harder - I am channelling you and I have listed a bike and a metal shed on FB. Will see how that goes. Someone is coming about the bike tonight. I got it free - but it hasn't been used since - so not sure how well it works. £8 item from earlier now collected.

The weather is glorious. I've mown the lawn. My front garden is looking good. 

For the back garden - I'm thinking of flattening some cardboard boxes and covering my veg patch so I can hopefully revive it without the effort. I have some compost still from last year. Alternatively I might put the cardboard down and then cover with pots or even landscape fabric. I have some. Might be the easiest way to clear the weeds. I have a small patch of grape hyacinth. They look pretty. The rest of that patch looks very weedy! I have a very weedy ex-pond area that also needs clearing out and then need to decide what to do with it. It's kind of in the too difficult basket as while it would be lovely to revive the pond - that feels expensive and I don't want to spare the £ for that currently. I'm also not convinced it would help with future house sale as we nearly didn't buy it because of the pond.

I have a tree that I want to get chopped back - but my rope on my branch cutter has broken. Going to buy a new one for now - will see if BIL can mend the old one at some point. I've got copper nails so I will hammer those in which should help slow the tree growth and might even kill it. It's a swamp willow - probably self seeded - but I paid £350 for it to be cut back a couple of years ago and I don't want to have to pay again but it grew a lot last year. We should have got rid of it altogether but I underestimated how quickly it would re-grow.