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greent's mfw journey
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Supporting charities via CAF or Gift Aid works well btw, we always feel we have saved quite a bit that way when we do the returns3
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Suffolk_lass said:Yes, you are right about the saving on personal tax and national insurance for salary sacrifice. I believe you can also use it around the £50k threshold to continue to be entitled to claim Child Benefit, which is based on pay. Not sure what Dennis has done here yet. We have delayed building the new greenhouse though...
Edit to add, Storm Dennis has lifted the cast iron register plate in the chimney above the aga - got a layer of sooty debris all over the top. Not sure it the arch will return to normal after the winds stop (still very windy here this morning) but even if it does, it is no longer fixed by mortar so that is really a much bigger job for the summer, even if we can make a temporary repair now
Doesn't sound good about your register plateDefinitely wise to delay building the greenhouse!!
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soulRepaid mtge early (orig 11/25) 01/09 £124616 01/11 £89873 01/13 £52546 01/15 £12133 07/15 £NILNet sales 2024: £202 -
brizzlegirl said:Sorry to hear your sad news. Hope all the arrangements go well.
money situation sounds good, well donebrizzlegirl said:Supporting charities via CAF or Gift Aid works well btw, we always feel we have saved quite a bit that way when we do the returns
YEs - I like GAid on tax returns - between us we normally have quite a decent amount to put on there - although it's all going to be in DH's name now
So the funeral was Monday - lovely to see lots of family, even in those circumstances. People seemed to like the coffin choice and loved the flowers I'd bought, too (went for lots of hand tied posies and loose flowers all piled up on top of the (flowery design) coffin - we placed them on at the end when saying 'bye' - was very effective and the flowers could be burned with her - most formal arrangements can't because of the wire/ plastic with them. Plus she loved flowers and I chose lots of different ones, including lots of Spring ones in all sorts of colours
Still need to finish probate forms..... a job for next week now, maybe.
Flooding in Gloucestershire.... there's a low alert for only a couple of streets away and 'proper' flooding sadly only a couple of miles away - a rest centre has been set up in the city centre for those affectedLots of closed roads. DH has been working from home this week as a result - his route to work was impossible Mon/ Tues and only possible via one road today but it seems silly to go there unnecessarily when that route would have got crazily busy.
Pondering remortgaging the BTL and making it be a repayment mtge as opposed to the current IO that it is. No major rush, though. Plenty of other things on my to-do list ahead of that!!
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soulRepaid mtge early (orig 11/25) 01/09 £124616 01/11 £89873 01/13 £52546 01/15 £12133 07/15 £NILNet sales 2024: £204 -
Whoops - just lost a post!
So half term has been a washout weather wise, but the boys have been (mostly) very good and have also done some tidying/ clearing in their bedrooms (not finished yet!) and a good amount of stuff has been sorted to leave - some binned/ recycled, some for CS, some for shoebox appeal and some for attempting to sell. DS2 (14) is still resisting making his bedroom more 'grown up', so we'll perhaps re-visit that in the Summer hols, ready for him to start Y10.
Have opened a SIPP for both DH and myself and transferred our (small) NEST pensions in - so that's a job ticked offHave also sent company accounts stuff to accountant this week for final set of accounts and to close the business - any remaining funds will go into my SIPP as an employer contribution, thus reducing corp tax for the business
I am determined to get a handle on our retirement situation!
We were in the fortunate position this morning to still have around £600 in the current account, with only a week until payday, no bills go out and only food and fuel to pay for. I have therefore transferred £150 to the 'slush fund' and made a £15 OP to the mtgeI may also pay my CC bill early (around £160, from memory) Should there still be anything unspent by Fri next week I may split it between hol fund/ slush fund/ OP. Not entirely sure why we have this amount left (I'd already transferred around 60% of the council tax usual pymt, so it's not just that!) but I'm not complaining!! (and the slush fund can always be raided if I've miscalculated anywhere) (Some of slush fund is earmarked for new d/w (when I find one I want) and new electrics and new kitchen ceiling..... still trying to find a plasterer - you wouldn't think it would be so hard!!)
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soulRepaid mtge early (orig 11/25) 01/09 £124616 01/11 £89873 01/13 £52546 01/15 £12133 07/15 £NILNet sales 2024: £204 -
For a shorter month, Feb has seemed quite long! I think it's because a lot of my time was spent sorting stuff after my Nan died - various visits to places, lots of phone calls/ emails/ letters, the funeral itself (and all the planning beforehand, trying to ensure everyone was happy with the choices!) and the probate paperwork. Everything has gone off now and the funeral bill has been paid - all I need to do is transfer the life assce funds from my account when they've cleared (they sent me some cheques...) to my Nan's account and sit back and wait for the grant - at which point the house sale can rev back up (fingers crossed the buyers will wait!) and funds can be dished out to the beneficiaries (not me, sadly!)
In 'honour' of the extra day this month I've made a £50 OP to the mtge this morning. Not masses, for sure, but it's still a little extra:) We ended up with only a few £ left in the c/ac, as I did things like pay for DS3's school residential, his leavers celebration, DS2's DoE final pymt, etc - all of those things really add up!
I'm now 99.9% sure we have enough money in the hol fund, too (insert jumping smiley....) I've got 6 sessions of work at school 1 this month and fingers crossed I'll get some cover work from school 2, too.
What else does the new month bring for the greent household.....? Hopefully we'll finally order a dishwasher!!! And get the kitchen ceiling replaced and all the (current stage) of electrical work done... although finding a plasterer is still proving quite hard..... sigh.... DS3's secondary school allocation arrives on Monday.... one student comes home for the Easter hols at the month end (the other a week later) it's my (50th!!!!) birthday within the next week, DH has his first 'big' review at work (he's hoping for a grade/ pay increase... fingers crossed) - and hopefully DH will claim all of his expenses from 1st Oct to now.... grrrrr…..
It's another very wet and windy weekend over here..... we have a very open plan garden (missing fence at front and back) but it cannot get sorted whilst the ground is so wet. I'm hoping Easter might be a possible time to get it done! Hope everyone stays warm and dryxx
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soulRepaid mtge early (orig 11/25) 01/09 £124616 01/11 £89873 01/13 £52546 01/15 £12133 07/15 £NILNet sales 2024: £205 -
I'm with you on thte fence, greent, mine is much more open than it should be right now (oops ...). Seriously though, you've done so well sorting your nan's estate out - I hope you have a nice memento to remember her by as well. And happy extra savings day!
2023: the year I get to buy a car4 -
Thanks, Kc
I'm not one for ornaments/ knick-knacks in general - but I did take some of the pots from her garden when I cleared all of that last year (others had some, too - I didn't take them all!) - and most had Spring bulbs underplanted in there - so the pots in my garden which were hers are now flowering with her bulbs, which is lovely. I also took some cuttings from a few of the many plants in her garden, too
Oh - and her glass pyrex jug (she had 3 in varying sizes - I had one, a cousin another and the last went to CS)
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soulRepaid mtge early (orig 11/25) 01/09 £124616 01/11 £89873 01/13 £52546 01/15 £12133 07/15 £NILNet sales 2024: £206 -
You can't just sneak the birthday in there amongst the other plans - we spotted it 😂 I'm a March baby too, it's nice to have it just as nature is waking back up again. When I see the daffs I know it's not far away!
Love the idea of your Nan's plants continuing to bring joy after she's gone ❤Mortgage start: £65,495 (March 2016)
Cleared 🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️!!! In 5 years, 1 month and 29 days
Total amount repaid: £72,307.03. £1.10 repaid for every £1.00 borrowed
Finally earning interest instead of paying it!!!5 -
I was just going to say the same thing South_coast - I am also a March baby - but then I am of the generation where people went on their holidays in early summer and stuff happened, oh, and if your baby was born in the old tax year, you got a whole year's tax relief. Shame my cousin was two weeks late - cost his parents a whole year's tax relief!Save £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £4863.32 out of £6000 after May (81.05%)
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £1286.68/£3000 or 42.89% of my annual spend so far
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here6 -
I missed the birthday! There are two March birthdays in my family, and I never remember which way round they are, I have a huge blind spot about it. Happy Birthday for next week, greent!
2023: the year I get to buy a car2
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