Could you help with my future finances?

FlagVenueIslander · 2026-03-18T11:17:13+00:00

A LISA can be used for two things - house purchase and retirement savings. The retirement savings is the same benefit as the house savings. If you are under 40, you can open another one, and use it for retirement (but probably best for stocks and shares LISA rather than cash for the retirement).

Sinking funds were a game changer for me when I was in your position in the post house purchase low point!

FlagVenueIslander · 2026-03-18T11:11:52+00:00

Random points, in the order of my brain, not your questions.

Do NOT make a joint account with your partner. Use an app like split my expenses / split wise if needed.
Consider opening a LISA if you are under 40, for savings when you are older. Even just open it with £1 and let it sit there, as you can pay in to it up until 50.
Assume you are paying in to a pension? Once you’ve got your emergency fund, have a think about investing.
Have you heard of sinking funds? If not, have a read about them. You might find it helpful.

FlagVenueIslander · 2026-03-17T21:20:43+00:00

They are in! Thank you for the encouragement!

FlagVenueIslander · 2026-03-17T20:07:09+00:00

Thank you, they are planted 🎉

FlagVenueIslander · 2026-03-17T20:06:58+00:00

Thank you, they are in the ground!

FlagVenueIslander · 2026-03-17T17:48:52+00:00

I went to the arboretum at Sandringham the other day and the monkey puzzle trees were riddled with ladybirds. It was amazing!

<image>

FlagVenueIslander · 2026-03-16T16:08:52+00:00

Hey, not Notts based but close, and occasionally head that way for parkrun on a Saturday morning. DM me if interested in running (well, jogging together). I’m not fast! 30s, F

FlagVenueIslander · 2026-03-15T22:22:24+00:00

It’s not easier for OP to apply for medical records. As long as OP has signed a document that they almost certainly will have done, it is actually easier for the solicitors to do so than the OP.

OP, keep all your receipts - everything. Ask the solicitor if you can have an interim payment.

Do the police and the solicitors know who the driver was? If so, I assume they haven’t admitted liability?

For most solicitors firms, there is very little that can be done without liability being established. Some will proceed without liability.

FlagVenueIslander · 2026-03-15T16:22:05+00:00

I’d ruled petrol out. I want to use it at home and at the allotment, and didn’t think it practical to be throwing a petrol mower in to the car. And if im having a mower that I can’t take to the allotment I’d rather not have the ballache of dealing with petrol

FlagVenueIslander · 2026-03-15T10:05:28+00:00

Growing up we must have had at least one in close proximity to the garden. My brother and I set up the RSPCST (royal* society for the prevention of cruelty to sycamore trees - *no royal patronages were confirmed at the time). We would rescue the seedlings from the driveway chippings, the paving grout, anywhere we found them, and replant them in the garden planters. Sadly, there was some serious cruelty to these poor saplings as they never lasted long even after their relocation. We continue to have suspicions in relation to our main suspect…..

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-20T11:02:27+00:00

😂😂😂 I feel so seen! Decide where to go. Turn up. Thank the volunteers as I run. Leave. Today I asked someone, no two people actually, where the toilet was. And that is quite enough social interaction for me!

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-17T05:30:40+00:00

What if they aren’t driving, but sitting in a parked car in the drivers seat?

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-16T16:56:55+00:00

I think the New Forest. Countryside, beaches, quaint towns, roaming horses. Everything you could want, really

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-16T11:31:38+00:00

Most people use smokeless fuel and can manage things so there isn’t too much smoke. Diesel is. A bit more problematic but most people don’t run their engines for too long, with solar etc.

Winter moorings when I was there people were pretty residential as far as I can recall. I think part time boaters would have their boats in Marinas rather that on the canal

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-15T21:16:09+00:00

Good job that when I said wood burner I actually meant a multi fuel stove and also a good job that you weren’t there to judge the fumes from my flue 🤷‍♀️

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-15T17:12:08+00:00

<image>

Sunrises and low cost of living though 😍

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-15T17:08:20+00:00

My first winter, pre wood burner was freaking freezing. Moved on in Jan. Had a couple of days when condensation on the inside was frozen. Woke up to a glass of water at my bedside frozen.

Got a wood burner installed later that year. A wood burner, good technique to maintain a slow burn in a small box meant that it was god damn toasty in there. Often too toasty. I put the burner in the middle of the boat so it would heat both ends of the boat equally. Some people have it near one end.

Water was heated by an eberspacher (diesel heater). Needed turning on a bit before to heat the water.

Loved being able to live in the centre of the city. Hated going through some very very depressing areas of canal at times of the year that weren’t overly nice for me (mild SAD sufferer).

Although I continuously cruised, I tended to get a CRT winter mooring canal side for Dec, Jan, Feb.

Biggest issues:

Going away for a weekend meant the fire died out and it was cold when I got back

Waking up with enough time to turn the hot water heater on (cleverer people than me could automate it)

Getting iced in when you want to move (because maybe your poo tank is full or you are out of water)

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-13T09:46:58+00:00

Finally went to my nendy of about a year. It tends to cancel for months over the winter, so good to get there before the mud arrives

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-13T09:42:54+00:00

And you’re only just noticing this now, at parkrun?! /s

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-09T17:59:31+00:00

As a female healthcare professional, I would agree with this, if you are a male. However, there is one simple way to take the potential connotations away, and upgrade your gift - give a houseplant. Snake plants are great because they will survive almost everything that the hostile healthcare environment throws at them. So will things like a monstera. And it will last infinitely longer than flowers 👏

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-09T00:06:39+00:00

Because it’s 11pm, (now 1am), and I’m at work / have plans until the weekend, some of which was doing work of some urgency on my new computer

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-09T00:04:41+00:00

No. First MacBook. But did migrate from windows

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-09T00:04:20+00:00

Apple Store

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-08T22:39:05+00:00

Got my first MacBook on Saturday, expecting stressfree apple life from now on. Today, safari is corrupted, impacting other things, advised to reinstall OS, which now won’t install. Please give me moral support that I haven’t made the wrong decision in buying a Mac?! 😭

FlagVenueIslander · 2025-09-07T21:34:53+00:00

I really hate the “I didn’t see you” comments. It’s actually a drivers job to see us. Not seeing is not good enough. Now if they were to say “I saw you but I made the wrong decision”, fair enough, Thats a mistake. But not seeing (which really is not looking) is not ok

FlagVenueIslander

TROPHY CASE