New Year bills.

Couldn#t exist without internet banking ...although with all these hackers about I do worry ! not that there is ever any money in our bank accounts ! OH, like yours, following two strokes is not allowed to carry money ,,OR credit cards as he racked up bills of over 8,000 one year ...took me a considerable while to clear it ..so now, unless it is an absolute emergency and I don't have enough ready cash, not a lot goes on the credit card (unless also it is a big purchase where I can save a bit by buying it here on the UK card ..although now the virtual collapse of the exchange rate following Brexit makes it not a lot cheaper after bank charges etc !! I check my bank every day so that if anything untoward has occurred I can action something immediately ! So far (fingers crossed) I have not had a problem, In my French bank, If I purchase anything online they send me a code to my mobile phone to input in a space on the retailers website and I have a special code to alert them in case of a problem ....well remember the days working in London when half of Friday lunch time was take up queuing in the bank to get cash for the weekend and following week ..and each cheque was charged for ! Our bank here is very different .. each branch is autonomous, like in Spain, which makes paying in at a different branch quite difficult and involves about five sheets of paper each with a signature ! you can pay it into a machine in the branch which holds your account ,,,,,I used to find the UK easier when you could simply use any branch of your bank ..I still use my old bank in the UK wherever I am ! Hate this time of year when I have so many big bills to pay there is nothing left ! Thank goodness for the freezer which is full of stews and things to tide us over until after the bills ...which will not be in the foreseeable future with electricity first winter one (and after the strokes the DH feels the cold so has to have the heating at cooking levels) then the first instalment of the income tax and some insurance ......I am going to hibernate ......

\happy AND PROSPEROUS/ New Year all !

I read an article by a top London banker! who said he does not and would not use online banking, he has a sub account that he puts a minimal amount for when he really has to pay by card, another sub account for bills etc and takes anything remaining in his wages the account and moves to the many savings accounts with numerous banks and other places ! His reasons being that if a banks system collapses you will be left with no money in the interim to buy food also as he said, you have no proof that you have any money in the bank, if their computer makes a mistake you are done for.

I think there would be some warning if one of the big banks was going to collapse grannypiper seems a very odd stance for a banker to adopt but he's lucky that he can have multiple accounts and savings in numerous banks unlike a lot of people less well off.

My bank sends me a text message if there any transactions on any of my accounts over an amount that I set myself which is one safeguard.

Do you have a link to that article by the top London banker Grannypiper?

If a bank collapses it wouldn't make any difference if you did or didn't have an internet account, or however many sub-accounts.

You are protected up to £75,000 per institution - but I don't see how it can make a difference whether you have an online account or not.

Hi Ruby, I'm concerned about your son asking you for money for good. Does he not get wages or benefits? As for decorating his room i would leave that up to him and if he doesn't bother then don't you worry about it!
Carpeting I would leave until finances are better. I have floorboards upstairs with rugs which I find easier to care for.
Please look after yourself. ??

Should be food not good!

tanith, just bumped into an ex colleague whilst walking the dog, he got £3 his wife also worked in the same place and got £10. Do not feel so bad now.

Ruby you have mentioned that your son is a student, so has probably used his student loan up for the term ( if that's how it works ) Does he have a job while at uni?

Don't know what I would do without Internet Banking, I live 6 miles from nearest Branch now the one in my small Town has closed. From 24/12/2015 - 18/10/2016 I wasn't allowed to drive (DVLA & Medical Rules), I can't use buses & have limited Mobility. My money comes in through the month & it is difficult to budget, Civi; Service Pension 2nd of month, ESA every 2 weeks, Housing Benefit every 2 weeks & PIP every 4 weeks

I keep an Account book so I can keep track & transfer money between my Bank & Savings Accounts so I have money to cover Direct Debits.

On a lighter note & nothing to do with this post - it must be cold outside, my cat has just come in after 10 mins instead of a few hours

Yes, my DS is looking for a job to supplement his student loan. He gets money again second week in January so is short now. I don't mind a few quid just to get him some basics, I wouldn't see him starve at home so why would I at uni? Plus he has just said the radiator doesn't work in his room so he is freezing also. He needs to tell someone, I did tell him, so it's up to him.

As for his room, it is on the outside of the house, the biggest of the bedrooms, mine is tiny in comparison and attached to the neighbours so my thinking was to make his room more gender neutral and then I could use it when he is not there, being able to watch tele etc and not disturb anyone and he could have it on holidays when I went back to my old room. Meantime, I could buy a smaller bed for my old room and use some of the space for sewing or something.

I do think the idea of a lodger has fallen flat on it's face just yet, especially as I am up for multiple tests in the new year. I have two appointments in the first week! So, better on my own for now, get through all this and take time to recover from whatever they are going to do to me.

Besides, as I read it (with my benefits), I could only get £20 a week from a lodger. Not worth it really to give up my privacy, don't you think?

Quite agree with that, rubylady, and those all sound like good ideas.
Maybe you could write out a list of what payments are coming up, when and how much. I find a list makes it all seem more manageable, rather than trying to remember everything.

Internet banking - you can always print off a statement for yourself every now and then, to give proof that your account exists, and to make it seem more 'real' to you.

If a bank's system were to collapse you'd be in no better position without internet banking than with.

rubylady If the £50 note was for Christmas you can't really ask for it back, but can you find out what supermarkets are near his uni and send him some vouchers?

It is hard for students now; we paid DD's fees and rent and she had a job as well, but we often topped her up with bags of food when we went to see her.

We pay our bills monthly which is better and do keep a check on it, although I am wary about using a credit card online.

I only buy online from reputable sites. I'm not paranoid like some I know who refuse to buy anything online for fear of having card details 'out there' but it's only common sense to realise that there are some dodgy sites out there. And if you've been doing an internet search it's easy to end up on one of them. They look like the genuine article.

If you enter your card details into one of these then they have everything they need to sell your card details or use them themselves. It's not enough just to look for the little 'padlock' sign as this can be built into these sites.

I keep a separate card for online use.

For now I am not sending him any money, he can learn to budget, just like I have to. He's spent some of his money on getting take away so he will have to learn to do the cooking like he knows he can but refuses to. Harsh but fair, I think. I have just paid his mobile phone for this month and have told him again to phone the company so that he can take over the contract and pay his own phone bill from now on. He has to learn, surviving off some rice will not do him any harm, but me keep bailing him out will long term. Obviously if he had nothing then I would help but he has food, he just doesn't have money for pizza take away. He can go and buy some veggies in January and make soup!

Other than that, the bills are getting sorted out now that some people are back to work. So problem easing slowly. Over £100 on my mobile phone bill though. Time to Skype I think.

www.amazon.co.uk/Nosh-Students-Student-Cookbook-Recipe/dp/0956746470
You could send him a copy of this cookbook

Pay as you Go phone?

Marieeliz, hope it doesn't change you!

Ruby , you are right he will have to learn to budget , if you let him he will come to depend on you bailing him out . When I got married my husband was a student teacher with a tiny grant , I was a student nurse also poorly paid . I would never have asked my Mum for money and to be honest we lived on eggs , liver, mackerel and ham hock soup !! not all at once of course but they were the cheapest meal makers you could buy at the time . If you get to the point that you are worried about him starving then Jalimas idea of supermarket vouchers is a brilliant idea . If you give money he will possibly just buy more takeaways or spend it on his social life ! I would leave the decorating and carpets for now. The other thing is - why does he have the largest room and why can`t you have it permanently now he has moved out ? it sounds as if you need some comfort with your health conditions and not to be moving back and forth when he comes back from uni . look after yourself x

Yes, rubylady, I hate this time of year too re the paying of bills. This stems from my Grandmother being Scottish and celebrating Hogmanay. They had a custom in their family that you paid all your outstanding bills of the Old Year and then went into the New Year debt free. Nice idea, and I have always tried to do that but with the holidays and the pensions people holding on to the money until the last possible moment it is proving more difficult in modern times.

Jamila I bought him that book before he went. I have no idea if he took it until I don my CSI suit and go in to clean his room up! All cleaning materials bought, I'm just in a lazy relaxed mood at the moment and enjoying every minute of it.

He seems to still be ok, he text me earlier, so that's good. He did come home before Christmas for a few days but threw a dicky fit so he was on the first train back the day after. I don't need that going on anymore and he has a lot to learn. So he's had a boring week with only one other student staying in halls over Christmas but she doesn't come out of her room, apparently. Time for him to learn that he can't treat me how he likes or sponge off me if he spends his money unwisely. Three months of him being away have done me the world of good.

Just ordered a copy of that book, Jalima. I meant to buy my son (also first year uni) a student cookbook for Christmas, but forgot. I think he's spent the first term eating home made stir fries. Are you on commission?

Rubylady, I try to convince myself I'm like a mother bird. Once they've learnt to fly without dropping to the ground, I think I've done my job. It doesn't always work out like that, of course.

until I don my CSI suit and go in to clean his room up

Already!

I remember the end of year clean-up in Halls, then the end of two-year clean-up in the student houses .......

No daphnedill
I should add that other sites are available to purchase that book.

I bought something similar for DD but I don't think she opened it.
Spag bol seemed to be the order of the day if she ate anything much at all.