LBM and determination in full force.

Kitten868 · 6 April 2018 at 7:00PM

I can't believe how cool you are about your seriously carp car salesman! He didn't put through your insurance and let you drive off the forecourt uninsured. I also didn't think he could buy your tax on your behalf either. I would be having serious words with the dealership owner.

I also can't believe you think Halifax online banking is good. It's so overclunky for no reason.

I think you're doing great. My advice is normally live on SMP before you live on SMP but I don't know what your SMP package is. I've never heard of a company 'lending' you future wages. I would think very carefully before accepting this. You may be much worse off when you return to work. Or feel trapped in the job. You need to be certain of your SMP package. Many companies offer full or 90% pay for longer periods. The NHS in particular is brilliant for paying more over SMP and offering to pay the total SMP over equal instalments throughout. Have you considered splitting your maternity with your partner?

In your position I would snowball definitely the Halifax first and then the windows. Keep posting here and you can do this xxx

stinabean · 7 April 2018 at 9:29AM

Kitten868 wrote: »

I can't believe how cool you are about your seriously carp car salesman! He didn't put through your insurance and let you drive off the forecourt uninsured. I also didn't think he could buy your tax on your behalf either. I would be having serious words with the dealership owner.

I also can't believe you think Halifax online banking is good. It's so overclunky for no reason.

I think you're doing great. My advice is normally live on SMP before you live on SMP but I don't know what your SMP package is. I've never heard of a company 'lending' you future wages. I would think very carefully before accepting this. You may be much worse off when you return to work. Or feel trapped in the job. You need to be certain of your SMP package. Many companies offer full or 90% pay for longer periods. The NHS in particular is brilliant for paying more over SMP and offering to pay the total SMP over equal instalments throughout. Have you considered splitting your maternity with your partner?

In your position I would snowball definitely the Halifax first and then the windows. Keep posting here and you can do this xxx

It contributes to my poor money management - both me and OH are reeeeally laid back. What's done is done!
I was really annoyed. He asked me if it was ok and I was about to say "no, I could really use that money back" and he chimed in with he'd already done it the day before :mad: So yeah. Nowt I can do except try and be organised so it's not a problem!

Halifax banking is the dream! TBF I've not tried many others. I switched to First Direct briefly and while they were amazing, I hated their online banking. I like seeing absolutely everything at once and being able to transfer between accounts without having to log in and out of different sites. Who would you recommend as an alternative to Halifax?

Wage lend - it's been done before (not with me). Basically they don't offer any benefits so my maternity pay is the standard government issued one, no extras. I've been there for quite a while compared to others in the same position and know my job inside out, I'm very comfortable there. I mentioned I thought I'd struggle and they offered to help in some way so I asked for a monthly loan while I'm off - when I go back (which I 100% will) I'll be paying it back but on my own terms. Eg If they lend £100 a month, I won't be paying back £100 a month, maybe just £50 etc.
Annoyingly my work have turned down splitting maternity/paternity

Jobs for today are:

1 Another small grocery shop after I've done a cupboard/freezer stock take.

2 Back up and wipe our old iPhones so we can sell them, profit to go on debt.

3 Then off to Dunelm to look at some black out blinds, as we are not sleeping too well and figure we should get as much shut eye as possible before baby arrives :eek:

Other than that, I know OH wants to go for a drive in the new car (the above is all walking as car parks are stuffed on a weekend) so we might take the dog somewhere new for a run around

Kitten868 · 7 April 2018 at 11:32AM

I wasn't having a go. I just have a people around me that put up with carp salesmanship (mainly my husband - he's the one who agrees to that ridiculous insurance extra).

From my experience I would say Nationwide especially the app is great. Halifax does my nut with all the extra pages and phone calls to add payees but we've kept them as I think it's best to have an account where your mortgage is. Plus if i dont look at the direct debit account i can forget its there. Co-op is by far the worst. From memory Lloyd's and Natwest are similar to Halifax.

With mobile phones sell them at cex if you have one. They're great and tell you what you'll get upfront.

Get your SMP terms drawn out for you so you don't need to wrangle it while you're off xxx

blue_eyed_girl123 · 7 April 2018 at 1:19PM

I like apps where you can do most of the stuff through their app - T35co has been best for this I've found. N4tW3st is a nightmare for piggybanking as you can't transfer more than £250 through their app. Also most do fingerprint login now so no need to remember passwords

. I quite like Hal1f4x but wouldn't have said it was a favourite

.

stinabean · 7 April 2018 at 7:12PM

Kitten868 wrote: »

I wasn't having a go. I just have a people around me that put up with carp salesmanship (mainly my husband - he's the one who agrees to that ridiculous insurance extra).

From my experience I would say Nationwide especially the app is great. Halifax does my nut with all the extra pages and phone calls to add payees but we've kept them as I think it's best to have an account where your mortgage is. Plus if i dont look at the direct debit account i can forget its there. Co-op is by far the worst. From memory Lloyd's and Natwest are similar to Halifax.

With mobile phones sell them at cex if you have one. They're great and tell you what you'll get upfront.

Get your SMP terms drawn out for you so you don't need to wrangle it while you're off xxx

Oh no I know you weren't

I'm not very outspoken in person and find it hard to show annoyance to someones face - led me down a path of shut up and put up haha

Ooh I might give Nationwide a go then - will take a look at any switching deals - thanks!

Ah yeah, I do need it in writing! I have something in an email but it needs clearing up and confirming exactly what both sides can expect moving forward.

BEG - Shall also take a look at Natwest and Tesco - thanks for the tip!

stinabean · 8 April 2018 at 2:27PM

Happy Sunday all!

Tis typically a lazy day in this house, all going well I get the majority of the housework/washing etc done before sunday so we can relax. OH has just taken himself to bed as he's falling asleep, I'm chilling listening to music!

Did an Asda shop today which was more than expected, but 100% due to OH coming in with me and adding bits :shocked: but tbh no more than our "average" weekly shop anyway so.. rolling with it.

Got a NatWest account I'll be using for the food shop and takeaways moving forward, just waiting on paydays to get it going.

Also done a weekly dinners plan and pinned a list to the fridge so we're not distracted.

Small goals achieved today - trying to stay awake myself!

stinabean · 9 April 2018 at 9:48AM

Ahhh monday.

I've received the shower quotes back and they're much higher than I thought they'd be

I don't have enough in emergency funds to cover it and don't want to use a credit card (I probably don't even have enough credit left to do so) so we are stuck without a shower for the forseeable future.
We can have baths of course but we're definitely people who shower more than bathe as it's quicker, we also use the shower to wash the dog (he currently stinks). I just don't know where I'm going to find £700 out of nowhere and obviously desperate to get this done before baby arrives as I 100% won't have that kind of money once he's here! :think:

That's taking up all my headspace so far today, can't really concentrate on anything else. Especially as we probably could have juuuust scraped enough together for it if the stupid car salesman didn't use most of my £250 deposit on my car tax in one payment :mad:

blue_eyed_girl123 · 9 April 2018 at 12:00PM

Maybe complain to the car company and say that you're not happy that the salesman chose to do that and it's now had a knock on effect that you no longer have a shower. You could always ring Citizens Advice and see if the car company did anything against the law

.

stinabean · 9 April 2018 at 12:26PM

blue_eyed_girl123 wrote: »

Maybe complain to the car company and say that you're not happy that the salesman chose to do that and it's now had a knock on effect that you no longer have a shower. You could always ring Citizens Advice and see if the car company did anything against the law .

You know, it never occurred to me to complain. My dad was so loud and rude with it, I've grown up shying away from that kind of confrontation. I think I'll give them a call and see what they say.
Thank you

blue_eyed_girl123 · 9 April 2018 at 12:44PM

No worries, I sometimes find writing a letter or email is more helpful because it removes that confrontation and you can be clear in what you're saying without any need to be aggressive

.

LBM and determination in full force.

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