Fresh Start At Fox Towers.

Cherryfudge

I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your aunt, Fox. It sounds to me as though perhaps your Mum was a potential next of kin so might have inherited if there's no will. If your aunt wasn't married and had no children, but other relatives did, that is probably why you've not had this situation before. You are a close relative so they look to you for information.

It's yet another thing to do but if you're able to send the certificate (even scan and send if they'll accept that?), it will help clarify things. There must be something to inherit somewhere along the line if they are looking for heirs, which might or might not benefit you. Perhaps it could be an 'adventure' as per your resolutions, even if not a planned one? After all, you never know what could come of it!

What a shame about the weight loss - definitely look after yourself and restrict trips to B&M! My step total was just short of 10,000 yesterday as well, despite going for a walk, but I'm telling myself that at least we went out and got some daylight and gentle exercise.

I hope you find your laptop charger soon.

foxandflowers

Thanks Cherry. It's been almost a decade since I was last able to see my Swiss family, so I do feel rather sad that I wasn't able to say goodbye. I don't expect to inherit anything, but anything that I do inherit I would be grateful for. I've sent off copies of both death and marriage certificates via email. Now we wait and see what happens. 

I was very good and went for a walk at lunchtime, because I ate my packed lunch at around 11am. Oops. It was entirely worth it though, as I saw a cormorant on the river. He was playing, diving under water and then flying back up to the same spot, and then diving again, keeping pace with me as I walked. I clocked 6,000 steps, and on my way back to the office I found, crumpled under one of the bridges, a tote bag with woodland animals on, including pink foxes and orange foxes. I took it back to the office and washed it in the kitchen sink; it is absolutely beautiful, and folds up small enough that I will never be caught without a bag for life again. It is currently residing in my handbag. 

Very tentatively, I do believe my luck may be on the rise again. ☘️ 

Cherryfudge

Well done on both sending of the certificates and on going for a walk! The tote bag sounds really cute, it was waiting for you to rescue it. 

The cormorant too - what an amazing sighting on an ordinary day! We never get them but a few weeks ago we were walking over a bridge going out of town and saw a white heron in the beck. I had no idea they were around in this area. It makes it a special day when you see something like that.

Kim_13

The distribution of your Aunt’s estate would follow Swiss law, but if she were in the UK, with no spouse or children, her siblings would receive equal shares and you would inherit your mum’s share in her place. A quick Google suggests the Swiss may operate similarly, though there have been some recent changes around shares that I can’t get my head around.

dawnybabes

Lovely that the bag has foxes on it.  Glad you taking some time for you, you are important too ! 

foxandflowers

Morning campers.

Swiss Mystery has received my documents - although they say there is vey little to inherit and the list of legal heirs is quite long so I shall put it out of my mind. They have asked me to get in touch with the Swiss Embassy and register both my marriage and mum's death, and I suppose perhaps my daughter's birth too. I had no idea I had to do any of that! I am a bad adult.. 

I have won £10 on free spins over the weekend, and have scanned in some books to World Of Books and made £6.16. Since their re-brand they seem to be more generous and give approximately 50p per book, whereas Ziffit used to sometimes only offer 20p. So I have boxed up 13 books, and I have a further 7 to drop off at the charity stall in Tesco as they didn't scan. 

We also sold some Playstation headphones at the weekend for £80. Put £20 into the hire van (that goes back tomorrow) and I then was naughty and bought a dress on Vinted. ARGH. I had my eye on it for ages and it got reduced, so I offered even lower than the reduced price and then it was accepted. I have decided to set myself another challenge for the year. Last year I purchased 67 physical items for myself. This year I plan on purchasing no more than 24 and everything must be secondhand. If I sell a like for like item (ie books for books, clothes for clothes) it will be item neutral, and I must donate a like for like item for each purchase. Repairing doesn't count towards this total.

So I am 21 items decluttered, 1 item brought in that counts to my total. Sadly the very cheap work shoes I bought last month are already deteriorating so I think the second monthly item may well end up being a pair of shoes. I did find my old work handbag lurking under the bed and have put it back into active service as it holds my laptop perfectly. 

Need to ring warranty company and see what's happening. I have a knot in my stomach over the whole thing. I hate confrontation of any kind, but this is getting beyond a joke.

Still need to do my 2024 round up post. I'll get there. 

stymied

Hi @foxandflowers I reckon I'm on about £3 an hour on one of the testing type apps on the iPad (TesterUp). Some of the games it gets you to test are quite fun although it can also be a bit of a slog. Do you think Mr Fox would be willing to give something like that a go?

Edit: hmmm I may have under counted the number of hours I’ve played the apps. May be more like 50p an hour…

foxandflowers

@stymied - potentially a good idea. We were discussing over the Christmas break, if we were to get another puppy once we have settled into the new house, whether he could do Rover or Holidogs as a way to generate income to a) cover costs of puppy, b) get him earning some money of his own. He liked the idea, but only if we had our own dog.

Did not manage to chase the warranty company as their phone lines are down (!!) but the garage has still not paid my mechanic, who is now going to be charging storage fees. I am at the end of my tether. 

In other news, my friend's husband is going to service my boiler for free. They are like guardian angels to me.

Bluegreen143

I’m assuming those are dog walking/sitting type gigs. I would have thought it would be much easier to care for other dogs if you didn’t have your own to consider and would think it might be a bit much if you had a puppy?

I’m going to be honest and I hope you don’t think I’m being rude or harsh (feel free to ignore as it’s your life). 

In your shoes I would not take on the financial commitment of a pet until you’ve been debt free and in the new house 12 months. 

If you are constantly in the black every month it will signal you can actually afford it. 

Until you’ve lived on your new budget for a year you’ve no idea if it will all work out ok given some expenses are seasonal. As you already know, a dog is a huge strain on your budget. 

I wouldn’t count on dog sitting etc to make it cost neutral, that’s a bonus if it’s done, but you need to be able to afford a pet within your usual budget because they still need vet visits and food etc even if there’s no pet sitting that month. 

I also think it should work the other way - if your DH shows willing to do the work for a year or so then it might indicate readiness for a puppy. Not “I’ll only go and do some paid work once I get the puppy”. The work and earning should come first.

foxandflowers

@Bluegreen143 I agree entirely, honestly. It appears I am the only one that doesn't want a dog, but as I would be paying for it, I have put a ban on it for the first year. I want to get everything paid off, and then see how the budget balances, and then see how much I enjoy having a little spare money to Do Things Outside Of The House, and then decide if a dog is worth it.