Second Time Lucky

LauraJo · 12 August 2015 at 9:56AM

That's sooo annoying about the phone comp - I'm sure they have to mention something in the phone call about the contract (having worked in telecoms it rings a bell)
Threaten to go to Ofcom that usually will get a fee rebate...
They can't just hide stuff like this in the small print...

amycool · 12 August 2015 at 2:08PM

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

Sweets v strawberries - it's all about balance!! I like it!

Still might be worth a try with the phone company, the worst they can say is no?

I hated my School uniform, I don't think I have anything of that colour in the house and couldn't wait for it to be stripped off at the end of the day.

One set of grandparents arrived yesterday and bought soooo many clothes for the little people, so that is me done for Autumn for tops, fleeces and leggings - just need trousers for little man I reckon.

Do you have a timescale for the next part of the process yet?

My Mum buys my sister's kids tons of clothes but not sure she'll be able to afford to keep doing it as the number of grandchildren keeps rising!

I remember as a kid we had a neighbour whose children were a bit older than us and every now and then she'd dump a bin bag or two of clothes in the house and we'd go through and pick what we wanted!

We have a few more meetings to attend and then a panel of various people will scrutinize the social workers and us to see if they agree it is a good match (quite rare that they say no at this stage). We then send a video and a photobook, a special toy and a blanket with our scent on to the foster carers, who start to prepare our LO for her new parents and new house. I'm not sure how long this usually takes as it depends on how well the child takes the news. It's a bizarre situation for the adopters as you have to make all of these things not being 100% sure that you'll ever get to be their parent, but obviously the alternative would be awful for the child and no matter how hard the process is for us, it's a million times harder for her.

amycool · 12 August 2015 at 2:10PM

LauraJo wrote: »

That's sooo annoying about the phone comp - I'm sure they have to mention something in the phone call about the contract (having worked in telecoms it rings a bell)
Threaten to go to Ofcom that usually will get a fee rebate...
They can't just hide stuff like this in the small print...

Being in disputes with companies is probably my least favourite thing in the world.

I've had arguments over fees and money before with a couple of companies and unfortunately I'm the kind of person who doesn't sleep for days as a result and it consumes my every waking thought! So for the sake of £55, I shall just take the hit and remember not to take my custom there again! I'll be more careful in future too!

amycool · 13 August 2015 at 2:56PM

Somebody please hide away my bank cards. Yesterday I spent £50. In my defence, I got 5% off, so actually £47.50 and I'll be getting about £1.50 cashback. I bought a load of books. 2 for my Mum for christmas, a set of 10 for my nephew for christmas, 11 for advent calendar prizes, a set of 10 maths, english and science for if PDD (potential darling daughter) gets bored of not being at school, a set of 21 for PDD for christmas, and a set of 6 for PDD for her birthday. So a ridiculous amount of books really and mostly gifts.

I must stop buying things now.

Another driving lesson today and more roadworks. I know it's good to practise edging forwards but I think I've pretty much got it down now. We did more roundabouts. I still hate them. I wish there was an intermediate stage to the driving test. If there was something where you still need to have someone with you just in case, but essentially you can drive. So you can get insured on the family car and then you have a year to just get better and then do the proper test.

I feel like I'm a pretty safe driver, I just need lots of time to hone everything.

LauraJo · 13 August 2015 at 4:31PM

amycool wrote: »

Being in disputes with companies is probably my least favourite thing in the world. I've had arguments over fees and money before with a couple of companies and unfortunately I'm the kind of person who doesn't sleep for days as a result and it consumes my every waking thought! So for the sake of £55, I shall just take the hit and remember not to take my custom there again! I'll be more careful in future too!

Whereas I see it as a challenge

They are never going to meet you so don't worry!
I once had a 'sit in' at a garage where they did some work I didn't ask for (and specifically had said no to). Eventually they wanted to go home

Talking of dry shampoo I recently bought the Aussie one (rubbish use Batiste!) and it leaked and damaged my sofa. Got that repaired at their cost. Worth a quick letter...

amycool · 17 August 2015 at 12:50PM

LauraJo wrote: »

Whereas I see it as a challenge
They are never going to meet you so don't worry!
I once had a 'sit in' at a garage where they did some work I didn't ask for (and specifically had said no to). Eventually they wanted to go home
Talking of dry shampoo I recently bought the Aussie one (rubbish use Batiste!) and it leaked and damaged my sofa. Got that repaired at their cost. Worth a quick letter...

I wish I could be like you! I'm afraid it's never going to happen, unless someone hypnotises me.

amycool · 17 August 2015 at 12:57PM

I am the proud owner of a new washing machine!

I saved a bit of money by fitting it myself (got OH to do the heavy moving) and we're hoping our in-laws can take the old one to the tip. Failing that, I'm sure if we leave it on the drive someone will take it.

I have already used it and it's pretty good. I love the fact that there's a 15 minute quick wash for last minute panic situations!

The paperwork came through today for the new broadband and phone. I hope it all goes smoothly for the switchover.

We also got a weird letter from the mortgage company asking whether we were happy with the advice we originally received. I wonder if they're being investigated.

A cheap weekend after a very spendy few weeks. Spent about £30 on the food shopping, which was helped by getting some free veg and eggs from the in-laws' allotment. Sadly we once again failed to win a penny on the lottery and I still haven't received my cashback. I'm wondering whether it's because I did it under my OH's name.

Used a deal from here to get a fancy hardback photobook (for the adoption) for just £19, so we spent the weekend taking photos and designing it.

Right, lunch then driving lesson.

amycool · 17 August 2015 at 5:13PM

Re-mortgaging thoughts this afternoon...

I was a bit clueless about it all to be honest so I did some research. I hadn't realised that you have to pay valuation and conveyancing fees, so any saving has to take about £700 of fees into account. The product I'm on has no exit fee, which is nice.

If I were re-mortgaging today (I'm not, I have a year left) I could stick with my own lender and go down from 2.64% to 1.99%, fixed for 2 years. The cheapest other option is a 3 year tracker at 0.99% (but surely a tracker can go up or down?) and taking into account fees, I would hardly save anything. Not really worth the hassle. So that makes me feel better.

Now I just have to hope that rates stay nice and cheap for next year. The alternative is to stay at the same rate but fixed for 4 years. I guess it depends what is happening and how much security we need. I quite like the 2 year options as then you can overpay your 10% and if you have any left over, you don't have long to wait before paying a lump sum. We made that mistake on the first mortgage - we took a 5 year fix and then couldn't overpay anywhere near what we wanted to.

Another thing to think about is whether next year we use some savings to pay a chunk off. Our savings are earning 2.4% on the 123 account, so at 1.99% interest, it may as well stay there I guess. I'm thinking if we have anything over the £20,000 limit (and not earning a penny of interest), that should pay some of the mortgage off. But we also need a new car. Hmmmm....and we're nowhere near the limit at the moment! Being a SAHM is going to take some getting used to! No more relying on wages to build the savings up quickly.

I think it's good to think about these things now anyway, especially as once I have a child I will no doubt have to snatch the odd minute on the computer!

amycool · 19 August 2015 at 8:02PM

I'm sure in normal company this would be deemed very sad indeed, but as I'm amongst other MFWs, I will share my excitement at receiving my first Annual Mortgage Statement since moving in!

Although I check the account all of the time so I know where I'm up to, it's nice to see it in black and white on paper.

So, in the last year we have paid £12478.17 into the mortgage. We paid £1655.40 in interest, which just makes me all the more determined to keep overpaying. That £1655 could have gone towards a new (to us) car.

What I'm wondering is whether we should set up a recurring mortgage overpayment once I stop working, so it's seen as essential. At the moment I just transfer what I think is an appropriate amount each month, once I've seen what we have left. My worry is that if we don't have much left, I'll feel like I must save it. But I think it's really important to keep overpaying to save more in the long run, and we have a nice sized emergency pot already. I think about £150 a month should be do-able, and obviously if we have more, I can overpay more. I doubt it will be as satisfying as the £500 a month I've been paying, but much better than nothing. In fact, it would save £2505, assuming no interest rate changes, and 2 years 11 months!! Definitely worth it.

In other news, the photobook ended up being worth £45 and I got it for £19, plus £3 cashback. I'm hoping it'll be nice quality.

Right, OH wants me to watch Pound Shop Wars - it's hilarious.

debtfreeoneday · 19 August 2015 at 8:07PM

I have £100 set up as a regular overpayment and then build up £50's here and then when I can and overpay those, if I didn't have £100 set up, I could see it being spent elsewhere..

Second Time Lucky

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