Prosperous soul embraces creativity & mortgage neutrality

Merlin's_Beard

Sounds like the money shuffle is going well. Glad to hear the cat is none the worse and hitting his weight loss goals.

savingholmes

Thanks Merlin. The cat also nicks food from the neighbours so hard to keep his weight under control. He's also vocal in his requests for treats.

In MSE news - work has agreed to pay my overnight stay - so that £ will come back to me. I've not claimed expenses since they upgraded the system though - so need to learn how to do it all over again. When I do - that will mean £100 will come back to me - probably in December pay - for fuel & P inn. Not an issue as paid on points CC. Will delay repaying that bit until then probably.

Orangetoes

Ooh good news about work paying for the premier Inn. Sounds like good progress on the house. Amazing work o the savings too. How nice to have multiple savings and not debts! 

beanielou

Your cleaner & handyman have been busy bee's!
SAvings are amazing.

MovingForwards

Good financial goals.
Your handyman has done, is going to do, loads. The whole house and garden are coming together.

SuperSecretSquirrel

Great news on work paying for the hotel 🙂

It really sounds like you've struck gold with your handyman, he gets a lot of stuff done in a very short amount of time, and he sounds very cost effective - especially when he turns up with free materials to complete some of the jobs!

Between him and your cleaner who is also happy to organise and declutter you are onto an absolute winner! A fantastic way to spend your pip money, getting things done and making lots of quality of life improvements 👌

SandyShores

Hi savingholmes, just wondering do you already have your outside lights?  If not have you considered the battery operated lights?  I purchased some from here:  https://www.lights4fun.co.uk/  - they come on for 6 hours each day and then turn off again.  I'm planning to keep them on the timer for the winter, but then will manually turn them on and off in the spring/summer.  It says the batteries should last at least a month using the timer function.  Asd@ were amazing for cheap summer solar lights but I wanted something that would last a bit longer now the darker nights are here and its lovely to look out and see them especially when you arrive home on a dark evening.

savingholmes

Thanks Orangetoes, SandyShores, Beanie and SuperSecretSquirrel

Beanie and Orangetoes - it felt surreal writing the list and it being savings and not debts

MF and SSS - It is lovely having help in my home and garden. Jobs that have nagged at me for years are finally getting done! Him coming with free materials is a game changer.

I moved £450 out of San savings - and redirected £50 towards the pond and the other £400 into B savings. I haven't moved the other bigger savings pot yet as I want to see when the handyman next plans to return and I may need some of it for that depending on when he does the tree and when I get the electrics done.

Sandy - I already have 3 packs of lights that were a xmas present a few years ago that haven't been used yet. Your suggestion sounds a good one though.

I need someone to help me claim my expenses later but next I need to make myself shower, get ready and log on. Dentist later which I'm dreading but is prep for the next bridge - and then roughly 2 weeks later I should have it which will be positive.Taxi service for DD again later. I need to go for my prescriptions at the same time. I asked for the GP to up my HRT but they want an appointment to discuss it... Frustrating - I have effectively been taking extra for a couple of months - but have now run out of the spares so needed to get it put on my prescription properly. 

savingholmes

I've submitted my expenses so will have over £100 coming back to me - hopefully in a few weeks time - as long as it gets signed off on time.

Been to the dentist today - I know it will be worth it long term but it was so hard to be there. My mouth is throbbing - despite ibuprofen beforehand and because/despite of the 2 injections! I had to talk for work shortly after and I was totally slurring my words and rubber lips. I also picked DD up from the station - and was rather spacey. I'm going to move my hygienist appointment which should help a little with my time owing situation. My next dental is 9am for the bridge fitting so hopefully that one won't impact my day.

I currently owe a day's worth of time - so I am debating what to do. I was going to ask if I could use a day's leave to get back on an even keel. I already owed time but this week and last I felt so exhausted I've not been able to do my full hours. I've felt better as the week went on - but taking the cat to the vet yesterday and then an hour out for the dentist (door to door) today has screwed up my time further. Last week my counselling appointment meant I finished earlier too - it all knocks on. I may shave a day or more off my xmas break to compensate as I still want to leave some time off for the Jan-Mar bit. With hindsight - I had too much time off in one block last Easter... and it snowballed from there... 

I may ask if they will make a disability adjustment for me so I don't have to constantly make time up for my counselling appointments. My counsellor has moved location - so 30 minutes travel each way instead of 10 and can only see me at 5pm on a particular day as that was the only room availability as she's gone virtual for most of her clients. She doesn't do evening appointments. I don't see many people in person so don't want to go virtual. I don't want to change counsellor she's the most effective of anyone I've previously seen. I've had something like 13 counselling appointments (on work days plus some during annual leave) since April resulting in me having to make up about 26 hours worth of time. No wonder it's been impacting my ability to get my working hours in.

Realistically I will struggle to make the time up as I have so many appointments this month. I paused and logged back on to check how many days A/L I have left other than the 6 I'd planned to take at Xmas, I have 4. If they won't credit me for any of my counselling appointments - then I need to reduce my xmas break down to 4 days (plus the 3 bank holidays). I could then use 1 day to cover this shortfall - and leave myself 5 days for the new year period. Alternatively, I may need to ask for at least a couple of unpaid days leave to support the cumulative impact of appointments.

I'm lucky I have an understanding boss and that my specialist skills are appreciated - but I hate asking for favours / adjustments. I'm getting better at vocalising what I need though - and writing this update has helped me clarify some things. Wish me luck.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Hi SH
Popping in to say 'hi' and have had a brief read of the last few posts.
I'd say you could definitely ask for an adjustment, do you have occy health in your company?  They can say that you need x number of hours grace to cover your appointments.
If that doesn't work, could you take the appts off unpaid so it doesn't affect your annual leave?  Or condense your hours to cover i.e. work longer on other days.
It's a shame your counsellor isn't more flexible, but if you're finding them beneficial that's worth it's weight in gold