The advice thread for random problems #2

[Rxt156]

Do you know what date your house was built? Do you know if the house was made from bricks or stone (if you can't see clearly, look at a neighbours - it should be similar)

1930s brick

 

[custard creams]

Got myself a little 2nd job to help with the cost of living, 20hrs two weekends a month .
Now I am not good at maths but I think I am getting taxed more than the usual 20%,can someone look into my wage slip and help me please
T.I.A

So your gross pay was £252 - 20% of £252 should only be around £50 should it not? I think you're right you've overpaid tax but I'm no mathematical genius either to be honest so I might be wrong

 

[chickhicks86]

Are you sure it's a milk blister? https://www.webmd.com/women/ss/slideshow-women-itchy-nipples has more options. Might be thrush even.

I thought maybe thrush too. Is it painful @stardust1 ?

 

[Crybaby Tania]

I’ve been hearing scratching some nights in my ceiling, but only when my upstairs neighbours are out/asleep. I’ve a severe hoarding problem, and thanks to my selfish upstairs neighbours can’t even get rid of few things I did before (they’re filling the waste bins literally after theyre collected - there’s several in property and none of us can put stuff in them). I’m really struggling today, lot of tears and fears about hoarding and having lost benefits so no electric. I overheard someone saying it must be rats because of me being so filthy and lazy just now is that even possible? It’s sunny but very cold here and still wet from getting caught in storm yesterday. I’m stuck re benefits as Drs don’t believe I’m disabled (everything still telephone only here yet are having meetings saying I must be better as not being seen when I can’t). They’ve already told the dwp I’m better. No one will help as everyone’s assuming I’m a fraud when I’m not. The thing re scratching is they make such a massive racket and jump on/off furniture/trampoline so much the ceiling is bowing and I know there’s no sound proofing and the space is tiny. The neighbours are VERY scary and aggressive so I now barricade myself inside; I can’t talk to them, contacting landlord makes abuse worse (they’ve made fun of my disability).

I'm sorry to read about your situation. Maybe Citizens Advice could help you make the initial contact with a voluntary group, or a church group. I hope that your problems get resolved.

 

[TheGlossy]

are your meals relatively balanced? I’d get a blood test at docs and make sure you’re not deficient in anything

Thanks. Yeah I think they are. Or at least, Im not eating any differently than I did before these past two and something years.

I did blood tests last month and all that came up is high cholesterol. I thought about anemia but it seems not the case.
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Spoiler: TW: Eating disorder talk

I had this when I was in anorexia recovery. It's like I'd restricted for so long my body was absolutely ravenous. I suppose in caveman days (a very specific measurement of time there lol), we'd go ages without food and then probably come into it in reasonable abundance so our bodies adapt quickly maybe? What is it usually that makes you feel full? E.g. for me it's fat, I find that the most satiating. I could eat all the protein and carbs but no fats I'll be hungry a lot faster.

Spoiler: Weight

I’m sorry you had to go through this. Hope you’re doing better now. Thank you for your advice and insight. I actually feel full when I eat pasta, bread or fish. I don’t eat any kind of dairy or meat, so I’m working around that. I’m hoping it will stabilize soon enough.

 

[boomska]

Are you guys friends with benefits? I mean, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to but I can see more now why you’re tempted to tell him. That has to hurt I would focus on you, your future, and doing tons of short term things to make you happy.

Nope. We’ve not even kissed!! The very first time I met him, it was to go round and have sex but I got there and we stayed up all night talking. No kissing, nothing. We then spent time again in the pub with my friends. Still nothing. Then I went round to his and we had the chat and I asked why we didn’t have sex. And he said it’s cause he was enjoying my company too much and didn’t want to treat me like a hookup. And I responded and I basically said can we be friends as I’m in the market for friends and I’m terrible after I’ve had sex with someone and I don’t want to lose what we had. And that’s it really. So I shouldn’t be sad but I am. Cause I’m worried this is the beginning of the end our friendship.

 

[Dogtanian]

It’s a rendered house. There’s a lot of jargon I didn’t quite understand/forgot he said rendered houses are usually colder but my wall was about 7 degrees

Do you know what date your house was built? Do you know if the house was made from bricks or stone (if you can't see clearly, look at a neighbours - it should be similar)

 

[xbxbx]

Some banks have coin deposit machines that you just chuck it all in, it counts it then deposits to your account.

Oh perfect, thank you! It’s been a long time since I’ve been into a physical bank so didn’t know they had these.

 

[Snippysnips]

Not a problem but a general query:

I’ve been gifted an Amazon voucher and I have no idea what to buy! I don’t use Amazon often and when I do it’s mostly for little things I can’t find in stores (hair oil, spices etc).

The voucher is for £20 and I want to make the most of it. Anyone a frequent Amazon user and can give me ideas of some things I can buy?

I’ve been trying to learn how to do gel nails at home so my first thought was buying some nail art brushes or gel polish but I’m open to other suggestions.

Also I realise this is very vague and there’s a million things to buy on Amazon but my mind is blank

They will probably be doing their Xmas an new year deals soon so you might be able to get a good nail set for £20 or even a cheaper set an something else, or you could even have a look at their flash deals an see if there's something you might like but hadn't thought about

Not sure if they have a expiry date on them but I'd check that an then just keep browsing every now an then till something eventually comes up you like

 

[Snippysnips]

I know it's old school but radio! There's millions of stations out there and some of them rarely if ever have ads. There's apps on the app stores to listen to them

Drwaback is you can’t really choose the songs.

Oh and soundcloud, there's a lot of dj sets on there, I like nora enpure, she does techno sets which are awesome. But I'm sure you can find stuff that is to your taste!

Thanks, I might check out SoundCloud, am honestly not interested in radios, I want to pick what I listen too an I like getting a world mix of music which radios won't offer

 

[Snippysnips]

I’ve checked in for a flight and my 3 year old has been allocated a different seat to me (not next to me!). Anybody else ever had this and were moved together? Did an online chat but they simply said speak to staff at the airport.

This happened when me an my brother were young, me an him were in one part of the plane, my dad way at the back an my mum way in front, staff were quite good an managed to sit us all together as obviously being young kids we couldn't be alone, I'd just say when you get there as obviously your 3yo can't be alone an usually they will either fix it at the desk or they will have the airline staff move you on the flight itself

 

[Snippysnips]

It’s very easy to change if you do it online through the switch service. I change banks quite often to take advantage of the sign up bonuses. For example last month I switched to Lloyds and got £150 and now I’m switching to Nationwide to get £200. I have a secondary current account that I switch though, I never switch my main account which my salary etc is paid into just because I do it so often. If you’re only looking to switch banks once though then it’s not a problem. Have a look at Money Saving Expert, they have all the info about switching banks. The majority of things should change to your new bank automatically but things like Netflix, which aren’t direct debits, you will need to manually change yourself. There’s also a lot of helpful info on the Reddit sub r/UKPersonalFinance about switching banks.

Best current accounts

Martin Lewis reveals how to compare and switch to the best current accounts that can save you £100s a year.

www.moneysavingexpert.com

Thanks I'll have a look at those, I kind of felt that I'd prob have to change some things over myself but so long as the majority can be automatic then it will help, just getting fed up with the poor customer service with RBS now, they can't be bothered an it's always a 30/40 min wait to see them cause they closed everyone of them down in the other 4 towns so now there's one left that everyone has to use an there's only ever 2 or 3 staff on

 

[littlepup]

Personally wouldn’t risk it without a back up plan. They may ask for ID in case of damage assuming a young group will go out drinking.
I know some premier inn/travel lodge check ins are automated, you don’t even speak to anyone but there are people on hand looking so it’s a risk they would intervene.

 

[shadowcat5]

Year 2 SATS. How important are they for the child really?
We've booked a family holiday in May during school time (cheaper by half and didn't know when the sats were) the 2nd week is SATS week .

My son didn't do them as the schools were shut due to covid so they can't be that important, right? ()

And surely 7 year olds doing sats is just so the school can tick boxes as to what they can achieve and what they have taught them.

Our first holiday in 10 years and of course we chose that week

Don't come for me about a term time holiday, they all have 100% attendance, for now anyway

woudlnt worry about it and go enjoy your holiday. If he wasn’t making good progress you’d already know anyway so the Sats is likely just box ticking.

 

[Codiaeum]

Has anyone got a recommendation on a tried and tested strapless bra for bigger boobs? Or should I just gaffa tape the bastards

Not sure if I count in the bigger boobs department - I'm a 65E/30DD and had good success with the Wonderbra Strapless - comfortable and it has these grippy bits inside so it doesn't slip down all the time. I survived two weddings + dancing in it
They do more sizes than displayed on that page, I had to shop around a little bit to find my size.

 

[stardust1]

Does anyone know if you contact your GP can they print out information from your file such as letters from consultants and also a list of your prescriptions?

Yes my doctors does it for my son x

 

[Londonsays]

Yes, it's totally possible! Where I live there happens to be a private GP who works on the floor above my NHS GP. They can be contacted by email, telephone or even via Facebook. You can just have a one off check, no need to be a registered patient etc. I originally looked into it because I needed to keep up with my Depo contraceptive injections during Covid lockdown and my surgery wasn't doing them but the private clinic was, they were even doing house calls!

I'd just google for your nearest ones, pick the one you feel most confident about and give them a call.

Thank you. I’m sure we know people who have gone private but I’m pretty sure they’ve had private medical care with work.

I’ll look online.

He’ll be off nursery for 2 weeks over Christmas so I’m just curious to know this time off away from lots of bugs if his breathing calms down.

 

[shadowcat5]

Depends, is there anything aside from sick leave you have done wrong? I assume you are UK, if so then company's need to have three steps before firing, a disciplinary, a written letter of a disciplinary, then a meeting which can result in your last warning or a sacking, failure to do these can result in you taking them for unfair dismissal an can go to the courts

The only way you could be straight up sacked is if you have done something massively wrong, i.e shown up drunk, been on drugs, stole, got into bother with the police that will go to court etc

If you are in a temporary contract then they can just not offer you another one, but if you have signed a permanent one then they can't just let you go without warning as you will have past the trial stage since that's usually the first few weeks you start

Could it be they maybe want someone to work alongside you? Do you have a backlog that maybe they are wanting a second hire to help clear it?

It will depend on the terms you are employed, you say you’re not permanent so what is The arrangement currently? I suspect it’s not a case if being sacked but if they were looking for someone permanently you current contract may not be renewed.

Quoted both of you so not to repeat the same thing!
I've not done anything wrong besides the illness. Yes in the UK! I signed a permanent contract the other week.

I looked at the company website and my job is not listed on there so I assume it's that they advertised on lots of job boards and just haven't taken them down.

 

[littlepup]

Not a problem but a general query:

I’ve been gifted an Amazon voucher and I have no idea what to buy! I don’t use Amazon often and when I do it’s mostly for little things I can’t find in stores (hair oil, spices etc).

The voucher is for £20 and I want to make the most of it. Anyone a frequent Amazon user and can give me ideas of some things I can buy?

I’ve been trying to learn how to do gel nails at home so my first thought was buying some nail art brushes or gel polish but I’m open to other suggestions.

Also I realise this is very vague and there’s a million things to buy on Amazon but my mind is blank

Lavender Violets gel sets are decent. You can get about 20 colours for £20. They sometimes go down to around £15 I think but very good value either way

 

[bookworm1210]

Are you pursuing a masters? Also how well does the job pay?

no it's a pgce so a 1 year course. The job pays slightly more then I'm on but currently on but that's because I will be going from part time to full time so if I would to go full time in my current job then it would work out less (if that makes sense)

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Well done! Nice to be headhunted for something I’d say that if you’re not desperate for a job right now you should stick to your long term goal to study. It might feel like losing an opportunity that’s fallen into your lap but you have a plan and want to stick to it, right? Or talk to your friend about part-time?

it's definitely a full time job and the reason why I haven't gone for it before but thought now might be right time. Thank you for the advice - ideally I would like to study. My main worry is the financial aspect of it - but then again a family member is back studying so why shouldn't I?