Teetering on the brink

EatingBeans

Hmm, well that last post looked ok on the laptop but came out pretty much unreadable on my phone. Ah well, probably for the best! 🤣
The most recent figures are in my signature. 

stymied

@EatingBeans Given that your assets have increased (new van) does that more or less balance out the increased debt total.

I hope you keep feeling better now the sunshine has returned x

EatingBeans

Yes, the increase in car asset value does cancel out most of the increase in debt but it’s still more debt that I cannot afford. Strictly speaking my overall net worth went up by £1700 in July if I also include decrease in mortgage balance and increase in house value but to me that’s just paper money. It’s the debt value that has a significant impact on my life so that’s the figure that I look at - sadly! 

EatingBeans

Today’s news is dd1 has somehow gained several hefty scratches all over the rear quarter of the 107.  She says she parked it in a car park in Birmingham and that she just came back and it was scratched but no cars in sight. We all believe her obviously. 🤔 Thankfully nothing seems bent so it will just be left as is. I’m not going to ask her to claim on the insurance because despite it being in her name I know how bad it will look for her if she claims less than a month after getting her licence. So, a scratched car I now have - I should probably decrease its asset value to account for it thinking about it. Oh well. 🤷‍♀️

Oh, but did I mention I have an interview for the promotion? It’s on Friday. I’ve prepared my presentation ready and my line manager is giving me a mock interview tomorrow to help me out. I still don’t think I will get it as I know the competition is strong but at least I get to sell myself to the new set of managers who replaced the old hiring panel. 😁

badmemory

I always think the house value thing is a bit of a problem because you need somewhere to live.  Yes you can move to somewhere cheaper but will it fill your needs etc etc etc.  You can't get rid of it unless you are happy to pay rent forever.  I don't count mine at all as an asset even though it is completely paid for.  An asset is something you can dispose of & that is out of the question.  

Of course when you are in the midst of buying then the %age you own may reduce the % age they charge on the mortgage & that is a completely different thing.

Cherryfudge

Well done for getting an interview! Remember the competition may be tough, but also you are tough competition for the others!

Sorry to hear about the scratched on the car - with it being holidays, could it have been kids? It does sound an odd place to get scratches otherwise. And at least it's not something that was a danger to her or that would take the car off the road, however annoying it is.

EatingBeans

Well the interview was due to be today but has been postponed until the 19th Aug. I am relieved as it will give me some extra much needed prep time. After speaking to a few people it seems like four applied, three are being interviewed and there is one permanent post and one secondment that they are trying to fill. So, I am feeling slightly more positive about my chances. 🤞Everyone I have spoken to thinks I am in with a good shout so you never know. 

First though, it’s time for a much needed lazy weekend. It has all been very full on for the past few weeks and I am very tired. I just need to pace myself a bit more I think. 

As for the scratches on the car, it definitely wasn’t kids. Either she reversed into something and scraped the whole corner of the car or someone caught the corner as they were parking, too much damage for just a person on foot. Some spots have taken all the paint off completely but the plastic bumpers cover the entire corner on a 107 so none of it should rust, it just looks unsightly. I suspect the bumper got pushed in quite hard given the shear amount of paint that has been damaged but thankfully it seems to have popped out straight and everything still looks to line up ok. I’m sure it was a close call however it was done. Any harder and I think it would have been structural. 😬

Anyway, the good news is I seem to have gotten back in the groove money wise. I’ve put a few bits on the credit card but only 100% necessary budgeted items (food and diesel), and that was a deliberate choice so that I could leave some cash in the current account to build up a bit of buffer again. So ling as I manage to stay out of my overdraft this month then it will be back to no spend on credit cards from the 1st of Sept. 

I really should take the van to the garage for them to look at why my airbag light is on but that can wait. I am determined to not be derailed from my budget and I doubt it will do any harm waiting a few weeks. 🙂

Cherryfudge

That's quite drastic about the car, isn't it? If she caused it, I expect she will be so cautious as a result that it will never happen again. Not much comfort now, though.

It's ideal that you have more preparation time for the interview - and you've got through round one already if the original applications are now reduced to three.

Have a restful weekend!

EatingBeans

Lots of cleaning, sorting and stopping to rest today. It feels good to be getting everything back on track. 

Yesterday was not such a great feeling after I ventured down the garden for the first time in almost two weeks (live has just been so busy watering had slipped my mind completely!), and funnily enough, the plants in pots had not faired to well in the sudden draught. 😞 I spent an hour giving things a good soak in the vague hope that some at least will bounce back but there will be some that I am sure wont. Even the trees which have a reservoir built into their pots were past the droopy leaf stage, and very much in the shrivelled up crispy leaf stage. Even the lavender looks about dead! 😭 Still, at least I managed to get lots in the ground a few months ago because all those seemed to have done pretty well. The ‘bathroom’ palms are now properly big tropical looking things and one has even sprouting pups which are already a foot tall! Now I just need to remember to protect them come the autumn and next year they will no doubt reach overhead (they are currently as tall as me. 😁 

I’ve booked a tip trip for tomorrow (before I remove the seats from my van and will no longer be able to argue it is really just a car), and I am hoping to squeeze all the bulky things in that just wont fit in the 107. I don’t know about your local recycling centre but I find the rules for mine to be extremely frustrating. If I just owned the van then I could get a permit for a few trips a year (which would be fine by me), but because the 107 is also registered at my address I cannot get a permit for a van and must only use the car. That probably is fine for people with normal sized cars but the 107 doesn’t even have a proper boot lid that opens so it is literally impossible to get a lot of things in it. Whilst my van has back seats in then it falls under the rules for cars (I rang and checked), but as soon as I take the seats out I cannot use it at all to go to the tip. Not to mention the fact that my daughter is always out and about with the 107 and is less than impressed at the thought of me filling it up with rubbish. I don’t understand why I can’t have a permit. Just doesn’t seem fair. 🤷‍♀️

EatingBeans

Sitting here drinking my coffee before the mad dash to the tip. 

I reconciled my accounts (as I do every morning), do a quick survey, and then scroll through Facebook where I see lots of posts about a local 15yr old that died. The videos of the memorial look a bit off (lots of youths gathered, not looking sombre, but instead setting off fireworks in the middle of the street, in broad daylight next to OAP homes). So I look a bit further and discover the boy who died is in fact the same boy who attacked my daughter and her bf this time last year and is known to have done this repeatedly to people for years. It is difficult to know how to feel about his death. On one had he was just 15 and I do wonder what he must have gone through in life to take up beating on random strangers as a hobby, but on the other hand I am relieved that the vicious attacks that have haunted my town might actually stop.🤞 I do wish he didn’t have to die for that to happen but I honestly feel a bit safer knowing he is no longer roaming around. Does that make me a bad person? 😕