Forgive me Lord of Living Below My Means For I Have Sinned

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Earlier this year it was becoming very apparent that I would be unfit for work for most of the rest of the year. In April & May I purchased various Lego Star Wars models for our daughters Christmas presents. Over a couple of months I managed to save some quite hefty sums. Lego is really expensive at this time of the year. I managed to acquire 13 sets which all together contain over 25,600 pieces. She can add this to the 15,000 Lego Star Wars she already has.

We're turning one of our back bedrooms into a study for her. She has a lounge downstairs, in what was my old office. Her desk and filing cabinets are at one end. We're moving them into the bedroom along with her exercise bike, her telescope and what will become her Star Wars Lego collection.

Anyways she put in a request for a new mobile phone for Christmas about a month ago. We told her no as we had purchased her Christmas presents earlier this year. She grumbled and she is still dropping some very unsubtle hints but I know she's already accepted she isn't getting one. We managed to get one from eBay about a month ago at a good price

Daughters eh

Anyways I'm hoping to be fit for work next year. I better be as we would like to buy her first car for her and that only leaves us 18 months to save up .

Soooo ... having spent the year living well below our means and preserving our powder we decided to drop our guard for a moment.

We purchased a registration number for our daughter as a Christmas gift. Let me make it clear we haven't bought her a car yet as she will be 15 & 1/2 at Christmas. We haven't told her we are going to buy her first car for her. She genuinely believes that's for her to do.

So yes we've done something very sinful and broken our living below your means ethos. We're very good at this usually.

Her new registration is

D22 xxx

The D isn't significant. The 22 is her birth date. She shares the same birthday as me. And the xxx are her three initials. We paid £290 for the privilege, but I think we felt as if we had earned it by living below our means for the last 15 years.

Neither of us can wait to see her face when she opens it. We're putting the document in a card which will say on the front ... "From Mum & Dad - Please fix this to the first car that you buy"

Hopefully the lord of living below your means will forgive us, just this once

AiY(D)

[Howyoudoin]

None of this post makes sense to me.

Someone who is unfit for work manages to save lots of money and spend crazy amounts on his daughter?

And haven’t we already had the discussion about the daughter’s new mobile phone or did I have a premonition?

HYD

[UncleEbenezer]

None of this post makes sense to me.

Someone who is unfit for work manages to save lots of money and spend crazy amounts on his daughter?

And haven’t we already had the discussion about the daughter’s new mobile phone or did I have a premonition?

HYD

You had a premonition of your own future when your baby is a teenager?

[garfsuncle]

I’d have been lucky to be given a bicycle when I was 15. And my dad was working!

[DrFfybes]

You're buying a 16 year old Star Wars Lego??

Hope she never unboxes it then

[Rhyd6]

Our youngest grandson is going on a trip to Patagonia. He lost his job (chef) when covid struck but has been working with his elder brother and has saved like mad but he's also sold his lego collection - Star Wars and others plus boxes for ridiculous sums of money. Someone paid over £300 for one item. I couldn't believe my eyes when I watched the bids on ebay, some people have more money than sense. As per previous advice, keep all boxes.

R6

[MrFoolish]

We purchased a registration number for our daughter as a Christmas gift. Let me make it clear we haven't bought her a car yet as she will be 15 & 1/2 at Christmas. We haven't told her we are going to buy her first car for her. She genuinely believes that's for her to do.

Based on what I've read, I expect she believes otherwise.

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Our youngest grandson is going on a trip to Patagonia. He lost his job (chef) when covid struck but has been working with his elder brother and has saved like mad but he's also sold his lego collection - Star Wars and others plus boxes for ridiculous sums of money. Someone paid over £300 for one item. I couldn't believe my eyes when I watched the bids on ebay, some people have more money than sense. As per previous advice, keep all boxes.

R6

Hi Rhyd,

Hopefully he will enjoy his time in Patagonia. Having never been I can't say much about it, but I'm guessing there will be some great sights when he gets there. Star Wars Lego, dependent upon the set can be very collectable. They have UCS models. Ultimate Collector Series. The Millennium Falcon has 7,541 pieces. Just noting it's current price is £734.99. I managed to purchase the set new from eBay for £550.00.

Yes. All the boxes are opened carefully and are stored in a spare room, just in case. We're also getting the window in her [soon to be] study fitted with a film which will stop the Lego from discolouring.

When she's putting her Lego together she gets both of the coffee tables in an L-shape and sits in front of the TV with us and we watch Star Wars films. More often than not one of our dogs will be curled up on her feet. We've always bought her a little Lego at Christmas and up to the age of about 10 or 11 she was happy to get Friends Lego. But that has gone away now, as it's "too young" for her

I suspect this will be the last Christmas we will be buying her Lego or anything similar. Next year's present will be driving lessons and a little bit of money towards a car.

It only seems like yesterday that we played with HappyLand and Barbie at Xmas.

Take care

AiY(D)

[brightncheerful]

A friend bought her son a personalised number plate for his 18th birthday.

Son did not share his mother's taste so thanks but declined. He said the many Xs would make others think he's a porn star.

So friend put the plate on her car instead … and sure enough!

[Mike4]

Back in the mists of time when I was a college, a girl there has given a car for her 17th birthday present. A smart-looking but clearly second hand mini with reg no "YOU 17" on it, which we all thought mildly amusing and faintly embarrassing for her but probably acquired as a whim by her parents.

That reg is probably worth an absolute mint nowadays. How things change.

[AsleepInYorkshire]

We purchased a registration number for our daughter as a Christmas gift. Let me make it clear we haven't bought her a car yet as she will be 15 & 1/2 at Christmas. We haven't told her we are going to buy her first car for her. She genuinely believes that's for her to do.

Based on what I've read, I expect she believes otherwise.

Ah ha ... a conspiracy theory

We are extremely fortunate and able to put her full allowance into a junior ISA every year. By the time she's 18 she will have a significant sum of money in there and she was previously told she could use this to either buy a car or pay to go to University or simply leave it there and add to it over time.

So, in a way, she already has the funds to buy a car. But if I am fit to work next year then I have the chance to get 5 years work in, before retirement, and generate some additional disposable income for us to enjoy.

Ninety percent of my income (when my health allows me to work) is disposable. I don't need a Porsche. I drive a white car and it's paid for. We have a comfortable home, albeit in need of some decoration and a new kitchen. On Sunday we were one of many proud parents who watched our daughter march in her Police Cadet's uniform for the memorial service. Whilst she was in the Minster we popped for a coffee and nipped into the sports shop. My good lady bought me a new pair of training shoes for £90. They replace the same make and style I bought in 2014. Whilst they look good, the soles are worn out. I have one pair of shoes which I bought at the same time. They still look decent and in good shape. My home and my girls come first. They are the reason I get out of bed in a morning. No matter how sh.it I feel.

It works both ways though. They both support me with my condition, my illness. Perfick

For me, it doesn't get any better than this.

I'm the richest person in the world

Take care

AiY(D)

[servodude]

For me, it doesn't get any better than this.

I'm the richest person in the world

Fish.. Family... Lego... Yorkshire?

I do rather think you've got it made in your own way

Kids make you do funny things.
I've got two
- one who was always mad for Lego: gave me a (creator aged 7 - recommended) Routemaster kit for my birthday today
- she's gone from Lego friends - to Lego "Friends (Central Perk)"
great way to keep a girl her age sane during lockdowns! When they're meant to be sneaking in to pubs.
Her younger sis is probably ages with your's - or 15.5 going on 30!
- for her LEGO's a thing you step on when you're trying to pinch your dad's guitar stuff
I'll forgive that because she's putting in the graft and getting the gigs - and I've ended up doing the same "no no they've got to get in they're playing" routine that I subjected my poor dad to

-sd

[stevensfo]

A friend bought her son a personalised number plate for his 18th birthday.

Son did not share his mother's taste so thanks but declined. He said the many Xs would make others think he's a porn star.

So friend put the plate on her car instead … and sure enough!

I think that our sons would hate the idea. They'd rather have the money!

Decades ago, I finally finished working in France and drove our French Ford Escort back to Blighty. I needed a brake light re-positioning and some indicators fitting on the sides, as well as changing the number plate. Re-registering the car was amazingly simple but I was surprised at how full the office was. When I got to the front, the woman asked me if I was there for a personalised number plate. Not being very diplomatic and still naive at that age, I answered something along the lines of 'do I really look that sad?'

She lowered her voice and whispered that many people were there to do exactly that.

Lesson learned. We have the right to spend our money how we want.

But, especially given the cost, I will never understand the attraction of personalised number plates.


Steve

[servodude]

But, especially given the cost, I will never understand the attraction of personalised number plates

I can really see how they were "a thing" with there was little influence on what you got
- so a random plate that read as if it was "something" had a value of its own - akin to finding a gem in the wild

Being able to request something like "WNK 3R" made that a little less special
- no matter how much you love to drop one eyelid as a signal

That said: I do always read number plates as if they're badly typed text messages

-sd

[Dod101]

But, especially given the cost, I will never understand the attraction of personalised number plates

I can really see how they were "a thing" with there was little influence on what you got
- so a random plate that read as if it was "something" had a value of its own - akin to finding a gem in the wild

Being able to request something like "WNK 3R" made that a little less special
- no matter how much you love to drop one eyelid as a signal

That said: I do always read number plates as if they're badly typed text messages

-sd

I could not be bothered with a personalised number plate but it is funny how some registration numbers seem easier to remember than others. For instance i have had my present car for about 15 months and I simply cannot remember the registration number, whereas were it GY 1 it would be easy.

Dod

[DrFfybes]

I could not be bothered with a personalised number plate but it is funny how some registration numbers seem easier to remember than others. For instance i have had my present car for about 15 months and I simply cannot remember the registration number, whereas were it GY 1 it would be easy.

Dod

About my dad's only extravagance was a personalised plate - H2 followed by his initials. I thought he was being parsimonious as H1... would have been 3 x the price, but mum said "No, it's because his first name begins with 'T' and given his driving record we didn't want to encourage any more accidents".

As for remembering them, a couple of weeks ago we had to enter the reg no in a parking meter and MrsF had to check the letters. I'm not sure how long she's had the car though, I only started going out with her in 2001.

[Dod101]

I could not be bothered with a personalised number plate but it is funny how some registration numbers seem easier to remember than others. For instance i have had my present car for about 15 months and I simply cannot remember the registration number, whereas were it GY 1 it would be easy.

Dod

About my dad's only extravagance was a personalised plate - H2 followed by his initials. I thought he was being parsimonious as H1... would have been 3 x the price, but mum said "No, it's because his first name begins with 'T' and given his driving record we didn't want to encourage any more accidents".

As for remembering them, a couple of weeks ago we had to enter the reg no in a parking meter and MrsF had to check the letters. I'm not sure how long she's had the car though, I only started going out with her in 2001.

Yes I sometimes use a car park where I need to enter the registration number. I have taken to carrying it with me on my phone because I have got the letters transposed more than once and have had to find the office to get them to do whatever it is they do to match with the number plate recognition camera. Maybe it is just because I am old!

Dod

[WickedLester]

I was thinking of buying a personalised number plate, but instead I decided it would be easier to just change my name to EK65RJD.

As an aside (and some of you may think i'm a bit mad now) personalised number plates is one way which MI5 use to communicate with their targets. Probably the most pertinent I've ever seen is R999SPY. I won't start on the helicopters, up to six times a day hovering over my house or getting followed by up to seven Police cars at a time around Essex.

[bungeejumper]

There's a septic tank drainage company near us, which has had the enterprising spirit to acquire the registration PO05 POT for one of its tankers. Driving along behind it the other day, I couldn't help but notice how much room the other traffic was making, in order to allow it to pass. (There are more scatological plates listed at https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/comme ... _portaloos . Some of them quite funny. )

A colleague once owned a tatty Morris Minor with RAM 666. The idiot scrapped the car and surrendered the plate, without first approaching Ozzy Osbourne for an offer. Talk about a missed opportunity.

BJ

[WickedLester]

Ozzy Osborne probably would have preferred BAT 666.