What's your cautionary tale?

[BrightInMyNorthernSky]

Having just got through the most stressful week ever due to a nightmare situation of my own making, I thought I would share a previous and current cautionary tale.

1. Always remember to change the address on your V5 and not just your license. I didn't. DH got caught speeding twice on the same day on the same stretch of road (33 in a 30) in my car. Both fines went to old address. Didn't answer them, obvs. The whole sorry mess played out without me being aware and by the time it all caught up with me it was had been banned from driving for six months and fined £2k - five months earlier! So had been driving while banned for five months!!!

If you've got a fungal toe nail, neat tea tree oil for a couple of weeks every day (on clean feet) will more than likely cure it.

NOt a cautionary tale - just good advice.

Do not, under any circumstances, trust an inspector (whether that be health and safety, education/OFSTED, environmental health etc etc).

They are not your friends, they do not have your best interests at heart, they are not there to support you - they will pretend that they are.
They can and will make up "evidence" to support their own agenda, and their entire team will close ranks on you if you protest.

Sincerely, someone who is now having to sue a government inspector for criminal fraud.

Don’t expect it to automatically renew. We thought it did and it didn’t. Luckily we were in the unofficial grace period and had no accidents otherwise it could have proven costly!

I REALLY need to know what happened here???

Or when you move from England to Scotland - found out that payroll had me on the English tax code for over a year. When it was adjusted, I owed a lot in tax.

Always tell someone where you are going if you are meeting someone new.
I found out that the hard way on an awful first date when I had to escape through a pub window and dive down the nearest tube station and run to my friend’s house.

Buy a keysafe box but don't use the screws that come with it, use ones that are double the length.

Never write anything in a text or email that you wouldn't want read out in open court.........

Eh?

Reminds me of an old friend who would shout 'Shake your wet lettuce dry!'

If you are eating Hungarian Goulash soup, and crumbling dried chilli/paprika peppers into it, do not touch your eyes. Definitely avoid doing this in the middle of a fancy restaurant with non waterproof mascara on.

It’s boring, but get into the habit early on to save at least once a month for the rainy day that will inevitably come, as sure as night follows day. Possibly at the cost of spending on overpriced mini-breaks or useless crap you won’t ever sell on for good prices. It may be a four figure sum you can save one month, another month it may be a fiver, but when the shit hits the fan you’ll be grateful for that money.

Don't hide letters, no matter how depressed and anxious you are. Speak to your OH and deal with your debt. To explain, I lost my mum in 2007 suddenly. Spent a year saying I was fine, then ended up with deep depression. Mums policy didn't cover a third of the funeral, so I robbed Peter to pay Paul every month... I hid demands/letters, because I just couldn't look to people like I wasn't coping. I lost us our house. It was an awful awful time, which I really don't want to go into here.
But I was very very lucky and there isn't a day goes by that I don't thank the Gods and Goddesses. Because with the equity we had built up, the sale of mums property and a top up from my dad, we bought a house outright. And I managed to pay off all my debts.
But you don't always come up smelling of roses and I'm very aware that we could easily have ended up in a far worse position.
Honesty is always the best policy, I learnt the hard way...

If you have short hair or are wearing it up and going to a day-long outdoors event, put sunscreen on the back of your neck and reapply throughout the day.

Yeh perhaps it’s because we are good honest people and don’t set out to make shit up about dead grandparents ? 🤷🏼‍♀️

We all have sixth sense. Don't ignore it.

I took a job last year and the hairs on the back of my neck went on end when I met my colleague (same level).
First day travelling home this colleague called me to check if he'd put me off. He had but I needed to work.
Three months later he was my boss. Three weeks after that he got me sacked.
Four months into this year I find he has been accused of rape by a member of his staff.
He is currently on bail for company fraud.
He made every other toxic boss I had look like a kitten. He makes me shudder.

Buy good pans and kitchen knives. Cheap will not do.

Marry someone you like.

More fool you, thats four extra days of annual leave!

Think when getting ready in a hurry

• do not spray hairspray on freshly shaved armpits instead of deodorant

-do not bend your head over the bath to rinse hair with the hose while washing your teeth as mounds of mint foam comes down your nose- felt like a dragon breathing fire it hurt so much

Re Income protection. If you are meaning providing a tax free income if you are long term ill, it is vital that you choose a company which defines your eligibility as 'unable to do your OWN job' not any job. Most companies limit you to a tax free income at about 60-65% of your earnings. It is a lot cheaper if you have a longer wait time before it is paid out. So eg paid after 6 /9/12 months not 1 or 3. Check your job's provisions. Some will pay full salary for 1/3/6 months and half pay for another 1/3/6 months, then a much reduced, if any, income. Long term ill health is a major cause of poverty.

Also it is a lot cheaper to ensure an income, say £20k pa tax free for 20 years, say until your baby is out of Higher education, than to insure a lump sum to give an income. ( Though of course if you die near the end of the term you will still get the sum Insured if it's a lump sum you are insuring.) If you write an insurance policy in trust it will be paid out quickly and you won't have to wait for probate eg. Also it will not be counted as part of your estate and add to possible IHT.

Be aware that if you and your partner take out a joint policy you will have to re insure, possibly at much more expensive rates , if you subsequently separate/divorce.

Or ear drops for eye drops!

Like this one especially the points about not being angry at people being themselves and assuming incompetence rather than malice: wise words!

https://www.gov.uk/mot-reminder

@Iwishicouldflyhigh sorry my last message reads quite rudely. It wasn't my intention. You were right to take her to small claims court as she'd been overpaid for holidays. That's the part that's the same. Whether I agree with the additional cost for temps is immaterial if it doesn't match the courts.

Did she literally say she wasn't coming into work one day? That's shitty.

I gave both my employers (large companies) suitable notice. One was a week as I misread the contract and had told the new employer. I gave them the option of holding me to the month. They said don't bother 😂

The second was a 3 month notice with no senior responsibility. They had done absolutely nothing for me and one month was the notice for others in my team. They were quite possibly the worst company ever.

Never put diesel in a petrol car, caused me months of disruption when young. My husband put petrol in a diesel car once as an experienced driver.

That too - l could never tell a lie like that but l know people do