The cost of moving

From the Netherlands to Norway

Having moved 6 times over the last ten years, I can easily say: it is not cheap. Especially when moving internationally when it is very much not cheap. So, when I lived at my parents and did not really have that many things to spend my money on, I saved up. For a move. That would take at least five years to happen. Until it happened a bit sooner. 

Fortunately I had most of my furniture as I had taken it along with me from Northern Ireland to the Netherlands. It was just in storage. I had plenty of towels and bedding: goodness knows where it all came from. I even had a bed and a spare bed! Although the spare bed was taken to my parents' house to be used over there.

 A new home in Norway

I had saved up plenty for paint and floors and such. Until I realised that the flooring alone would empty out the particular piggy bank and then some. Other piggies were emptied as well. I had all the curtains I needed as well, until they didn't quite fit. Adjustments were made and in the end it left my living room curtainless. Another hit for another piggy. 

In the end, most of the piggies I had were emptied out into the big account. I had kept a tally of all the spending on the new house and it just mounted and mounted. Mind you, as I had most of the stuff in the first place, I am still quite happy with how it has gone, as it could have been a lot worse. 

My massive bedroom in Northern Ireland

But the finances aren't the only thing. My body is tired and responding in kind. A heavy feeling in fingers and hands, knees that feel a bit sore and muscle aches appearing two weeks after any serious carrying and lifting. It will pass. And fortunately the one headache attack I had in the new place was only minor and only a 2 on the badness scale. 

My mind is also tired and responding in kind. Doing mundane tasks like the laundry is actually quite soothing, but the last load is in and from now on it will be the regular laundry instead of also doing the 'sat in a box for 2 1/2 years' laundry. I am slowly getting back to normal though. 

The new place

Whatever normal is...

Blue

In the Netherlands, all letters that come from the tax people come in blue envelopes. And even though I haven't had one this year yet, it is still blue time, as we can now do our tax returns. According to my Dad's preliminary findings I should get some money back, so I would like to file my return. 

However, so would a few other people. Quite a few other people at that. Which means that getting through to the filing part is extremely difficult right now. The site cannot be reached. You cannot log in. Please try again in a few hours.

My Dad tried to file his return early this morning at around 1 am. He did not get through. As he was awake still by 2.30 am, he tried again and that time he was lucky. He was able to file his return and print out all the papers he needed for his work today (concerning taxes). 

I tried again today, but still: the site cannot be reached. You cannot log in. Please try again in a few hours.

They chose the colour blue well!

Photos taken during a recent walk near Zwolle

Flummoxing pension things

One thing that I was going on about last week was my pension and how I was trying to get them all in one place. The first response came back on Saturday: the Dutch company I wanted the funds transferred from has not enough money at the moment to do so! I will have to wait until they have some again...

The other company I wanted money transferred from is in the UK and was asking for a lot of information that I need to give them. All was well, apart from one number. So, I called my current Dutch pension fund for a QROPS number and they didn't know. They would ask and I would be called back. Which never happened. Nor did I get an email. 

Today I called back again. I got a nice gentleman on the phone and he helped me out tremendously. Well, up to the point where I asked for the QROPS number. Which completely flummoxed him. He would ask again and in the mean time I would phone the UK to see what they could provide me with. 

So, I phoned the UK. After a long story about how pensions worked and how I could take money bla bla bla bla... I finally got through to a person. Who then didn't have a clue what I was going on about. She asked somebody else and gave me an answer that was not right. At least I thought it wasn't right. Could she patch me through?

I got patched through, I spoke to a Katie (I think) and she said something completely different again. Because she got the story from me and realised I was somewhere else altogether. In the end she found the list with the QROPS numbers on, but could not find the fund. Ah well, not to worry, leave the number out, explain why and send the whole lot to them. Which I will do today. 

Now I just need to phone the Dutch fund again... 

Unemployed

No no no! Don't worry! I haven't lost my job already! In fact, the job is going great and I will start on my own from this Saturday. Just such a shame that my schedule says I have this weekend off (ahem).

However, before I did start this job, I was unemployed. And got unemployment pay. For a few months anyway. I needed to provide them with details about any jobs I might have had in other countries that would be counted towards my unemployment pay. That took some time I can tell you! 

But this past week I all of a sudden was back in. With pay as well. I am now eligible for unemployment pay (complete or partial) until early February 2021 (as they still haven't counted all the years). But, as I earn more than I would get, I will cancel the UP as soon as I have received the complete pay for June and the partial pay for July. After that I should be able to get by on just wages.

It was a nice surprise this morning though when I saw my bank account. It definitely gave me a bit of an UP!   

On the plus side

Yes, this work thing is quite tiring. Last week I was in bed by a ridiculous early time to recover from my first week. That is not going to happen this week: I am on lates, so not normally home until well after midnight. Mind you, that also means I can have a lie-in in the morning. Provided a certain Miss O isn't hungry (which she always is).

I am slowly getting used to the daily routine of going to work again. I am still in the learning stages though. Some of the routes are easier to learn than others. Some routes are already in my head but then I get distracted and nearly go wrong anyway. Only thanks to my mentor saying: 'we should turn right here', did I avoid going wrong last night. 

But I am getting there. Apart from one route in town that I have only done once so far, I know all the main routes now. There are still some out of town routes that need some attention, one I haven't done at all and another which is just plain difficult in my opinion. It is getting better though. 

Today however, there was another reason to be joyful: wages time! And when I checked my bank account earlier today, I was happily surprised. Very happily surprised indeed. I am not yet back to full wages obviously as I only worked two weeks, but from next month I should be earning regular and I will be back to how I was before the bankruptcy trouble and Corona trouble. Finally...

Money

Ever since I moved back to my parents, I have been saving a lot of money. I reckon I am on about 30-35 percent of my income that goes into savings. That is a lot, although some of the money is just put on hold elsewhere, until I might need it. I have a piggy for Miss Oswin's vet bills, a piggy for the dentist and a piggy for Eurovision (fingers crossed for tickets). Plus several other piggies. 

Then my sister told me about something she had read on Facebook. About saving money. Basically, you equate the x-th day of the year with the same number of cents/pennies/whatevers. So, January 1st equals one cent, January 2nd 2 cents etc. February 1st would be up to 32 cents already and so on and so forth until December 31st equals 366 cents. 

According to this method, you could save well over 600 euros/pounds/whatevers in one year! Around 667 my sister said. Hm...

I am up to 21 cents right now! 

Not even

No, I am not even going to apologise for not blogging that much lately. Even if my hours are decent again and the money coming in even more so, especially compared to Northern Ireland. 

Over the last few days I have actually been grappling with that money. Not literally of course, but figuratively as I am trying to figure out what I am owed. Apparently I would be paid automatically, but I didn't realise that and declared my hours. Which means that sometimes I have been paid too much (apparently last week) and sometimes not enough (no weekend bonuses for example). 

It meant having to go through everything, demanding work sheets over the work I have done and trying to get it all sorted. Then I tried to get some mileage money as well and was told that 'I might be entitled to some more than I claimed'. 

Apart from the paying job, I also had the non-paying job and I found it was too much. Yes, after only four weeks at the shelter I gave it up. I wasn't available on the Tuesdays, but I still needed to make five days at work. Which meant six days a week and sometimes even seven! It was too much for me. At some point I will likely do something like it again, but not right now when I need the money more. 

However, the money is okay, I get about what I thought I would and I have started paying off the debts I have. Which makes me feel good. It's not much, it will take a long time, but it's a start. And apparently, that's where you begin!

So, right now it's checking time: hours against pay against what I have on paper. It's going to be fun...

Photos from our recent trip to the zoo

Money money money

I got a message last week from my Norwegian bank. I had to pay my credit card. And I was wondering why? Since I had paid off the credit card a long time ago and had blocked it being used everywhere. Turns out a membership to something that I was sure I had transferred to my British account, was paid using my Norwegian card. I was in the minus again.

Being in the minus meant I had to transfer money again. Which is an expensive business. It's cheaper to just put money in an envelope and send it off! Anyway, I found the money, sent it off (paid 15 pounds to get it sent) and it arrived in Norway. Where I had to pay another 10 pounds to get it received. Meaning: I still lacked funds to pay off my credit card! How annoying.

Fortunately I know one or two people in Norway. And after posting on Facebook that I needed some money (about 3 pounds), one of my friends said she would be quite willing to help me out. The money arrived today and I paid off the credit card immediately. 

I decided after that that I would close all accounts I still have in Norway. They are empty and when I get my tax money next year, I will just have to get it transferred to a foreign account for them. Receiving money only costs me 5 pounds anyway...

Paperwork

Find the critter (yes, there is one!)
At the Seaforde Butterfly park

Once upon a time, the first computers started making their way into our lives. It would be easier to keep up with our lives they said. It would be easier to see what we do they said. It would be environmentally friendlier they said. 

I don't know who those 'they' were, but I am not so sure they were right. I mean, look at me: moving to another country and finding out that paper is all around. For everything I do online, I get a paper confirmation it seems. I try to go paperless and they send me a letter in the post to tell me I have now gone paperless! 

In the garden at Seaforde

Today however, I needed to sort some of my life. I had to change my address for several things. I wanted to register for the electoral roll, even though I can only vote in local/regional elections. The amount of paperwork I had received needed sorting through and I realised quite late in the day that I had an MOT (EU-kontroll/APK/annual vehicle check) coming up tomorrow! What with work and the move and stuff, I had completely forgotten all about it.

Other than that, I am rumbling along nicely. Miss Oswin is asleep at the moment (guest bed, would you know) and is about ready for her first foray into the new outdoors. Well, she was ready on day 1, I find it best to wait about two weeks for her to get her sense of the building she lives in. It worked well before.

Telling a bit more

Going down into the caves

Well, as you know I have been busy lately. Mainly due to the fact that once they got me on that coach, they didn't want to stop and I have been driving the larger coaches now for a few weeks. I have been doing the Glasgow Express quite often, to the degree where I get recognised when entering the truckers lounge! In fact, this week I will be doing that journey four times! 

But, it hasn't been all work. My sister and I had a lovely day out a few weeks ago, where we visited some caves. We had hoped to use a little boat to get into the caves, but the water was too high due to heavy rain the night before, so we had to walk. It was still very beautiful.

A natural path made through the rocks by water

After that we drove up to Belleek Pottery. I love small vases and I wanted to see whether there was any to add to my collection. Unfortunately they were all too big to my taste, but my sister did come away with one. Then we had a lovely scenic route home. 

I also found out that where Norway 'works', Northern Ireland doesn't. Norway has a system that works very easy. You have your own personal number and that can be used to do most things. Open a bank account? Done. Taxes? Done. Sell your car? Done. And I don't mean having to wait for three working days for it to be done, it's done in an instant.

Just a service ladder, it didn't lead anywhere

I had opened a bank account here in NI, but I also wanted a savings account. I used the same bank, which should mean my information was on file (it was, sort of), yet I had to give the exact same information as I had to before! Plus a whole lot more. How much was I to put into my savings account? Where would the money come from? The what???

Well, I struggled through those 45 minutes and we were finally done. Although I did NOT have my account number yet, that would take a couple of days. I now have to manually add my savings account to my online banking! They blame it on new rules and such, not sure I agree, since Norway has to adhere to the same rules. Anyway. It's done now, I have the number and I can now start saving for a rainy day. 

Atlantis. Well, it was the reflection of the stalagtites in the the still water

On Tuesday I will be visiting my new place and then hopefully after that I will be able to move in. It would be so good not having to drive half an hour to my sister after a long shift. Instead, it is just a five minute ride and I can jump straight into bed. Bliss....

Money money money

Whenever I tell people what I earn here in Norway, they are always quite surprised: that much?? What they don't see at first glance is that when I buy things, it also costs that much! For example: a simple pint of lager in a bar downtown could easily set me back 100 kroner (more in some cases), whereas I would pay half that in the UK. It's relative.

I get by quite easily. At the end of the month I have been able to save up over 10% of my wages and usually still have some money left over. I don't complain. But it is quite a shock when you get to see the 'average wages list' of jobs here in Norway. And you just know you're in the wrong line of work.

You may have guessed that my job as a bus driver is not a high ranking one. Putting up our wages means having to put up ticket prices which in turn means fewer people take the bus which means that there is no need for so many lines and in turn that means no lines no buses and no bus drivers. A vicious (literally) circle. 

Every year a list is compiled with the average wage of every profession. A total of 335 professions made it onto the list of 2017. I definitely do not want to be working as a helper in a farming situation: the lowest of the bunch. Bingo hosts (yes bingo hosts) and bookies are not that much higher on the list: 322. Tour guides only make 314 (although to be fair, that is their wage, they might get some in tips which of course is not listed). The 'everythingpossibleman' (probably a handy man) made it onto place number 304. 

The top end of the list is filled with doctors, managers (the one in oil/gas is in first place), judges, engineers etc. 

So, where am I? What place on this grand list do we bus drivers fill? Drumroll.... place 252! Perhaps I should become a writer (88), 'another engineer' (77), train driver (63) or a politician (24). Or I could remain a bus driver and enjoy my job. 

Taxes and death

Well, I am not going to talk about death just yet. I have the goal of reaching 120 and I am not even halfway yet. Up till then, I will have to pay taxes. Even in Norway! About one third of my wages is taxes to both national and local authorities. They use that money to build bus stops where there were perfectly fine bus stops to begin with and to close roads for a month and then not open them for six. 

However, once the tax year ends (December 31st), there may be a bit of money in the pot that is due to come back to me. And I know it is, since I pay in extra each month. I get by fine on the wages minus that extra, so getting it back is a nice bonus. However, once the returns go online, it is nearly impossible to see them. Everybody wants to know how much they get back. Or in some cases what the tax bomb will be if they have to pay back. 

So, patience was the name of the game yesterday. And finally, just before I went to bed, I was able to log in to my personal site and see that yes, I would get back. A nice amount as well, not huge, but nice enough. Of course I won't get it back immediately. The tax office will pay me when they get around to it. Which could be anything from June to October. Mind you, the later the better really, since their interest rates are higher than my saving account's rates! 

Oh, and just so you know: I can NOT see anybody else's returns, nor can they see mine. Unless there is hacking involved. But people here in Norway are quite open about money and will gladly tell you how much they get back/have to pay. 

Photo on Sunday 2016-15

No more car loan! Good feeling...

Of teeth and money

It was time for my annual teeth inspection. Otherwise known as a visit to the dentist. Which went great. Until she came closer with that needle. And closer and closer. And then it didn't hurt. I did squeak however, but since I had told them I would, they were not that surprised. The teeth themselves were fine. It was just that one (of two) fillings was a bit loose and needed to be replaced. Which was what she did. I got out with a new filling, but a bit less money!

My next visit was to the bank. I had heard so many conflicting stories as to what was possible regarding buying a home for myself, I decided to get it straight from the horse's mouth. She was of course nowhere near horse-like, although I didn't hear her laugh...

Something like this would be nice!

Anyway, horse play aside, buying a home. It turns out that some of the things I had heard were true. I needed to have 15% own capital to be able to buy. The other 85% were then put up by the bank. We then proceeded to find out how much the house could be. After some adding and subtracting, taking the square root out of the carrot bowl (whatever happened to the circular root?) and a lot more calculating, she figured that I could buy a home for around 900.000 kroner. Provided I had the 15%. 

Which... I don't. I have 4%. Meaning I am only a teensy tiny bit short. There are a few options I could pursue though. Getting somebody else to co-sign. Putting up their house as collateral. Which for me is a no-go. If I can't do it, I am not getting somebody else to do it for me. Another option is to find a community that will actually loan me the 15%, a so-called top-loan. The community in which I live at the moment is not very top-loan friendly. There are however communities around here that are. A third option is to keep renting and to keep saving.

I will let you know what happens in due time.

Budget

My only 'souvenir' this time was the little white vase with the tulips.

I live by a budget. Ever since I was in serious trouble several years ago where I didn't open any mail, nor paid any bills and ended up being uninsured for about three months. The real wake-up call came however when I found out that when moving to another country they want you to take money with you. Which I didn't have. 

So, I set about getting rid of my financial troubles. Got rid of the car, no more holidays (not as bad as you might think, due to my fantastic job which still allowed me plenty of (free) travel), no more dvd's and no more other frivolities. It took a few years, but I managed in the end. 

I had had a sort of budget when living in the Netherlands, but I didn't really bother with it after a while, but after moving to Norway I started using one again. Just to find out where my money went. Especially after moving to my lovely little red wooden cottage in the Norwegian countryside. And then this year I found an even better version than the home-made version I had used for a while. One with so much more options and possibilities. I was hooked and from then on, I have been quite religious in making sure it's up to date.

Well, up to date it wasn't today. I hadn't updated it since I went away on holiday two weeks ago and I was afraid I would be up Caca River without an oar or even a rowboat, even though I had saved all the receipts. Or had I? Only one way to find out. Write everything down and then try and match it to my bank account. Guess what!

It tallied!! It matched. There is one receipt missing, but I knew what it was anyway, so I was fine. Job well done I would say! I am pleased with myself!

PS: the second photo shows my collection of 'foreign' money. There are Euros (notes and coins), US Dollars (notes), Swedish Krones (notes and coins), Danish Krones (coins) and British Pounds (coins). I tend to forget to take them away on holiday. So the stash grows!

The daily grind

I had gotten quite used to waking up at about 8.30am every morning. Sometimes a bit earlier, sometimes a bit later. The amount of times I had to get up at around 5am in the last eight weeks, I can count on the fingers on one hand! Most notably of course the day I was to go to the hospital (the day of the operation was actually 6am). 

But, going back to work means alarm clocks again. Waking up early again. Putting on my uniform again. Making a packed lunch again. It was tiring and I hadn't even gotten out of the door yet. 

Because I had been a bit apprehensive about going back to work and driving again, I had asked for a support driver. Just in case. For some reason this got misunderstood. Instead of someone supporting me in case of, I was supposed to be supporting somebody else! Well, after eight weeks of not driving (not counting the one day between holiday and sick leave), I was not letting somebody else do the driving!! So, the person on training, could just sit beside/behind me and tell me what way to go. Everything else I would do myself thank you very much. 

The shift I had wasn't too long. Fortunately, because by the end I was completely pooped. I am glad to say though, I was immediately at ease behind the wheel again. I knew my routes (even the one I hadn't done before, since it changed during my leave) and was even able to (more or less) keep to the time table. Tomorrow I will have an easy day. Yes, it's longer, but the routes are not hard and there aren't that many people around since it's Easter holiday this week. 

In other news: I deposited the money order and was told the money was going in immediately. Which means I can pay the rent on time! All of my colleagues I told about it, were quite surprised about the whole thing. They all thought it would arrive naturally in my bank account. It must have been something I did wrong (like not filling out the account number), but it's finally done now and I don't plan on going on sick leave any time soon again!

Blonde

For days I have been checking my bank account now. Every day I checked to see whether any more money had arrived. And every day I was seriously disappointed. I knew how much money was due to come in, I had after all gotten the letter from the Social Security people, yet no money appeared.

Today I got another letter, stating how much money I had been paid, how much taxes and such. At the bottom it stated where (website) I could find when the money would arrive. But for some reason I didn't go there. Instead I got back to the first letter. And looked it over. Properly this time.

Oh my Grrrrrrrr. Really? Could I have been that blonde? Could I have been that stupid? Well, apparently I could have. Since I got the letter four days ago and could have had the money around the same time. If only...

If only I had read it properly. Which I obviously hadn't. Because I thought that since Norway is such a civilised country with such good internet banking and such, the money would be paid into my account. Alas. That was not how it works. At least not for me this time. 

I got a letter with a little bit attached. Normally it would be the to-pay bit, this time it was the to-be-paid bit. Which I have to fill out and take to my bank! And obviously haven't done yet and today the banks are closed. Monday will be my first option. I had better get in touch with my landlady!

*Sigh*

Money money money

Being on sick leave is getting old now and I must admit that even though I have gotten used to daytime television, I would like to be getting back to work as well. If only to make some money again!

In Norway (as in the Netherlands and most other European countries) when I have to go to hospital: it's free. I don't pay a penny towards care, towards medication, towards anything. Only when I come out of hospital do I start paying for my own medication. As well as not having to pay for my hospital stay, I get money for being sick. No, that is putting it wrong. I don't get money for being sick, however I do get sick pay. Because I do pay my taxes and the rent does need to be paid!

The only problem with my sick pay is that it is not the company I work for that pays it. Only the first month of my being sick is paid by the company, after that the social office takes over. The one that pays out pensions, disability pay, unemployment pay and more. The company I work for pays me around the third week of the month. The social office does not. My pay from the company (I still had some owed) was less than one tenth of my normal pay. It wouldn't even pay a third of the rent!

Fortunately I still had some money left over from last month and I had some savings left. I can't wait to get the rest of the money though, which is due this week. It's a good thing I have just stocked up on catfood!

So, it will be good to get back to work. Earn money. Fill up my accounts. Before my holiday money will be coming in in two months' time!

Blue

Anything tax related in the Netherlands comes in a blue envelope. A dreaded blue envelope, since it usually means you have to pay. Over here in Norway however, that is not the case. It is an ordinary white envelope and most of my colleagues have gotten it already. Some have to pay, others get money back and they are all quite open about it. But I haven't gotten mine yet. 

Today a colleague told me however that even though I hadn't physically received the letter, I could still find out whether it was pay or receive for me. Just go online, enter my details and hey presto. 

Well, the amount covers the amount I spent (so far anyway) on my Frysian inspired outfit, it will cover my holiday in Northern Ireland at the end of this month, my stay in Oslo next month and it might even be enough for my holiday to the Netherlands in August. 

So, the blue envelope that isn't blue and hasn't even arrived yet? Well, it certainly didn't make me feel blue!!

Give me some credit!

Money? Just get a sugarfamily: works a treat!

When I first wanted to move abroad, the main obstacle in my path was my debt. I had quite a big debt and had to get rid of it before being able to do anything. So, I stopped the holidays, most of the dvd's, the car and a lot of other things that cost money. And I paid back the debt at double speed. But not having any debt wasn't enough, I needed money as well. I continued without the holidays and the car and a lot of other things that cost money. Until I had saved up enough to visit the country of my desire. And then the other country of my desire. 

When I moved from the Netherlands to Norway, I came without debt and with money. I had a letter from the Dutch credit rating company saying I was without debt and had been for some time. I needn't have bothered with that letter. The Norwegian bank told me basically: you start from scratch. Not just because they didn't trust me, but because they had had huge problems in the past with people applying for loans and credit cards, taking out the maximum and then disappearing and not repaying. 

Over the past year I have paid every bill I got. Most of them are paid automatically so I can't forget. I have bought things online and paid those as well. I have not been below the black line. I have saved a bit. And after the year I had to wait, I made my way to the bank yesterday. And applied for a credit card with the lady who had told me I had to wait for a year. 

The application was denied! DENIED!! Well, the lady remembered me and immediately got on the phone and demanded to know what was going on! She has a steady job, she told the person on the other side. Full time as well. No debts. Little savings. She is Icelandic! (Dutch actually) She is Dutch!

I will soon have a credit card. My first step on the road to Norwegian credit rating. 

PS: I think everybody knows you need good credit rating to get loans and mortgages. Either that or a bucket load of cash. Since I don't have the latter, the former will have to do. And in order to get that, I will need a credit card and next year perhaps a car loan. Moving up on the rating's ladder so to say!