NST AUGUST 2024

DawnW

Thanks for the challenge @grandmanerd

After last month's happenings, I need a new start. It won't be a cheap month, as my son is getting married in the middle of it, though most expenses for this are already paid. I will also have a funeral to pay for (though my cousin has offered to contribute) and the balance owing for the new ensuite bathroom will need to be paid too. Therefore I will need to be careful with other spending and keep costs down.

I will be going back to using my spending diary - it all seemed pointless when I was supporting my brother, but I need to take back control now.

Alongside that I need to make jam and jelly from freezer fruit, to free up some space. There will be a lot, to share with my daughter, who supplied some of the fruit. So sugar and lemons will need to be bought.

My tax return needs to be done, so there will be a small bill to pay there, probably.

Finally, there will be a small amount of painting to do in the new ensuite, just a little bit of touching up. I may already have paint in the garage, but if not I will just need a small can of white emulsion.

All this, alongside keeping up with the garden, working my two days a week in lieu of rent for my sales unit, and thoroughly cleaning the house after the building disruption will make for a busy month!

abundant1972

Hi Grandmanerd,

Can I jump back on ship for August please? Loving the positivity 🌞

It's been a 🎢 few months; finished all of my treatment (radiotherapy/chemo) and waiting on repeat scans at the end of the month. Finances have been a bit all over the shop and my return to work is uncertain - depending on results... But - I have done a budget again, which has made me feel much better. I'm going to update my signature now and set my NDSs. 

I hope you are all keeping well - will be nice to catch up with you all over the next month xx

Esmeralda2662

Hi @grandmanerd, please count me in for August! Looking forward to our journey through the month x

f0xh0les

Happy New Ensuite @DawnW may it bring you much joy.

Underwear day?? Just the one day though??  mind sufficiently boggled.

I have just filled another box with charity shop stuff.  I realised while working my last gig, I do not like my 2 pairs of work trousers, so I have 4 weeks to find another couple of pairs from the  charity shop to replace/supplement the other ones. Plus I am a stone lighter, so might as well flaunt it. 

Today will involve volunteering, dropping box at charity shop, and trying to find my favourite bra. Nope, no idea either!

Good luck to everyone waiting for the PB app to update

f0xh0les

Well, I left it as long as I could

Pinch Punch First of the Month and NO RETURNS (without a receipt)

laura_lau

Happy 1st August everyone!

Here everything is going well. My mum managed to do a few steps without the crutches today, which is amazing, and she went to her check-in appointment yesterday: blood test is finally looking good, and results from the scan show no infection in the original area. There's something looking either like a new small infection or result from inflammation closer to the hip, she will have to do a new scan in September to check and see if it's still there. All is going well and tonight we are going to a celebratory dinner with her, my brothers, my sister-in-law and my little nephew. Mum said she is going to pay for everyone, so I am keeping my NSD to start off the month!

Since I arrived I found out my brothers and my mum have decided to sell her house and find a new property. There's lots of repair work to be done here, plus there's lots of stairs which my mum is not really able to walk up or down at the moment. The bathroom also needs to be repaired and remodeled to allow more space and a walk-in shower (the only shower is upstairs, she only has a bathtub on the ground floor). So now there are people coming to view it, and I must admit I am feeling very emotional about it. My family has been living here since before I was born and my father did most of the work to do the finishings, until he died prematurely young 20 years ago, so there's still lots to be finished even if it was built 45 years ago. I've never thought I would ever have to say goodbye to this house, and in some way I always thought there's so much of my dad in it, even so many years later I can still clearly picture him sitting on the windowsill to paint the window frames or putting down the wooden floor in my bedroom. I suppose I will think about it properly when the time comes, it might still be a while before it happens.

On the other hand, I might have to start decluttering  a few things while I'm here, it's a good time and it goes well with this month's theme. I last lived here full time when I started university, and after that I moved countries a couple of times and moved fairly quickly because of work, so I've never properly "moved out". There's still so much of my teen-age years in that room, and so much that I have bought or was gifted to me in these years and while I was buying my flat, and I haven't had the chance yet to bring everything with me. So my main mission for the first half of the month is going to be declutter my childhood room and start organising some of the stuff in the basement.

lcc86

Evening turtles

Busy first day of the month work wise. Got up super early to clean my aquariums, then headed to the gym before work. Got most tasks dealt with but not quite everything. Am having a steroid injection tomorrow so have the day off, needed to get the aquariums done today as I'll be in no shape to do so tomorrow. 

Big bills all paid, chased HR about my notice period etc as they still haven't responded but not gonna stress myself about it now.

MoneyFreedom24

I love this. It really resonates with me so can you please add me in. Thank you x

grandmanerd

I was awake and alert quit early (I'm often awake early, take my pills and may get showered etc but then I often drift back to sleep). Asked DS3 to bring me the last yoghurt from the fridge whilst I had my shower. I said it was probably raspberry and probably in the fridge door but no he brought me plain yoghurt. Decided I would go to the local owned diner around the corner and packed various things into my bag.

Ate every scrap of a regular breakfast and had a large glass of orange juice (not really good for me but some days that sugar kick is what I need + I don't like most of the drinks they stock). Before I left the house I checked the fridge and the yoghurt was exactly where I said it was (tomorrow's breakfast now with lots of raw oats stirred in) but DS3 would not come so I could point at it (it's bright pink).

Read my book whilst I ate breakfast. Earlier I'd thought of a list of people who might help with some of my questions and jotted down some phone numbers, addresses and buses. I decided I'd go to the local Citizen's Advice - not generally something they deal with but perhaps they could point me in the  right direction. Filled in a form, took a number and settled down to wait (they had said it was about half an hour). My back began to nag so when an advisor took me through to an interview room I elected to sit on my walker (only a couple of inches different in height but varying my position does help.

Had a long chat with the voluntary advisor, told him the whole sorry saga and he thinks I need to draw a line under it, for the sake of my mental and physical health. I suggested that I write out my workings (what my brother would end up with if the house were sold for £110 K) and state my final offer. This is option one. If he rejects this then I'll push for moving to an immediate sale by modern auction (against my principles but so was having to move mum's tenant on - hadn't realised how much doing that had hurt me). Pretty sure he won't want to go for the sale by auction but if I have to start looking for another property I need my money now (within a month) not sometime next year. The advisor thinks I need to have a watertight legal document drawn up or my brother (the entitled weasel) will keep trying to come back for more. Signing a bit of paper giving him half the profits if I later decide to sell is not happening.

He said I'd more or less decided what to do before I came but the whole thing was very therapeutic and helped me get it straight in my head. He asked if there  was any other information I needed and he printed out the Land Registry contact info including the phone help line and a list of local solicitors. He doesn't think the Land Registry will object to my calculations as the property is at the bottom end of the market. I also enjoyed looking at the roofs and backs of shops from a raised vantage point whilst he was away printing..

I was hoping to go to my bank (8 miles away) but I was aching so much (and felt a lot further forward). I called in the Pound Emporium (been trying to get there since last Thursday) and then went to Boots to activate my new bank card. It seems they've given me a new pin number but that hasn't arrived yet. Went home, sat and ate, picked up the latest list of dubious transactions and checked through. Took myself upstairs, finished reading my book and then put my mask on as I was starting to doze off. 

DS3 asked if I'd enjoyed my sleep.  

Grateful for friendly advisors, making progress, books and games. Will report other progress (rough plan for the month) tomorrow.

weenancyinAmerica

I had to buy my sisters' shares out when we changed this house to my name only. Took out a special mortgage where I don't make any payments on it, but it does keep growing over the years. I can make payments if I can afford to, but it isn't possible at the moment. If I want to move out before I die, I can sell the house and keep the difference. If I die and there is still money in equity, then my sisters can sell the house, pay off the mortgage, and split the difference as they are my heirs. It has been 11 years since we did this (16 years since my mother died). Still need to clean out the garage of some of my parents' stuff. I also have the important stuff - photos, etc. - inside in a closet to go through with my sisters. We are aiming for this autumn so I can have the closet space. I currently have 4 roommates and not much room to spread out otherwise. Main reason I am working on decluttering. 

I am having trouble walking due to spinal stenosis and my roommate Di is also having trouble walking, so we are postponing going to Disneyland next Thursday for my birthday. We had planned to go as one roommate works there and was willing to get me in - Di has a pass- but we will let him do it when one of us can walk again. Looks like I will be taking two roommates to doctor's appointments on my birthday and going out to lunch with my sisters the next day instead. Oh well. Things never go quite as planned, do they.