make do and mend for tougher times

fuddle

Ok, I now have a pension fund. I have gone with simple and easy with virgin money. If I put in £10 per month and agree to increase that by 10% every year until I retire at 68 it assumes that I will have a grand total of £85 per week when I retire. (of course not worth as much as it is now) So when I earn more money or don't need to spend as much on kids etc I can put more money into it. I feel relieved. It might just be £10 and if nothing changes and I can't afford to put more in I will still have some money coming in and of course will try to add to it when I can. So much happier

Mrs_Chip

Fuddle

Can't remember but if you or OH are, or will become tax payers it is also worth considering cash ISAs. I was an ISA doofus for years and had one but did nothing with it.

Essentially, ISAs allow you to save tax free (hence question about tax). You are allowed to put something over £5k a year, the limits are set in the budget. Every provider has different terms and pay different interest, but if you find one to suit you once you or OH are in a tax paying situation it's a good way to save.

Any money (plus the interest if you leave it in) you put into an ISA stays tax-free until you take it out, so as the years go on you can build more and more, moving all ISA money into new products (they all have time limits) and adding up to the yearly allowance, all tax free.

There is prob an article on MSE about them somewhere

prepareathome

GQ oh I am so angry on your behalf. You do everything right and everything still goes wrong. How can these people who know their mistakes can cause so much upset and worry not check, check and check again that they have done things correctly - if you fill in a form wrong you are penalised but nothing happens to them. As you so rightly say if someone had depression or mental health issues such a letter could end up in their death and all that would happen is family would be told sorry computer error and that is it.

Don't blame you going down appeal route nor making sure its signed for - even then they are still good at trying to say Post Office is wrong saying they received it until you then say well you will inform PO and suddenly letters or forms are found.

Just hope you are feeling a bit better today and that your payments turn up.

Hugs and Lovexxxxxx

katieowl_2

DD's BF spoke to Rackman (the personage formerly known as the LL) this morning. He's now seen the photos of the flat my other DD took yesterday, and had 'no idea' it was so bad!!!(grrr:mad:) It was organised for the BF to gain access to upstairs to see if he could ascertain the source of the leaking. Dare say he was rubbing his money grabbing hands together at the thought of getting it fixed.

Current upstairs tenants gladly let him in, BF says the bathroom is in such a state that it is impossible to tell what is leaking, as all the pipes are wet. They also have water coming down the walls, and have been unable to get Rackman to do anything about it - they've been there three months.... They also report that the LL's 'handyman' is a drunk who never turns up when promised. and apparently the very top floor flat is as it was left with piles of dog poo all over the floor, and the LL has made no attempt to clear it at all.

BF says there is no way he would attempt the work there unless he knew he was going to get paid for it. The materials alone would cost a lot of money. As I pointed out, it's not like it's in your flat either! I send a mate of ours round who is also a builder, and they went armed with environmental healths' phone number, if Mr builder says it's a hazard, BF will call them in.

I've just been looking on Pembs council web site though, and I'm not at all sure that they will respond, as apparently it's all down to the health implications on the most 'vunerable' member of the family. Are they going to turn around and say that they are both young and fit, and a few mould spores will be character building?

There is no way they can stay there... they need to get out. The s*dding letting agent appears to work out of a van/off a mobile, there is no office address on the internet for them, or I'd have been round there giving him a piece of my mind earlier. Oh and apparently the garden, which they were told went with the Ground floor flat, is shared...

And I've just had a phone call from the builder guy that went round there and they've found five pages of stuff wrong with the flat. And he says that he was in there for 20 minutes and he started feeling ill too. He's told me to make sure they don't spend another night in the place...so we are currently sorting that out!!!

Kate

fuddle

Yes DH is a tax payer and I intend to be one again when I can get the childminding going. It's definitely a good idea to not have all your eggs in one basket isn't it?

Here's a question. You know how savings are means tested? Would the fact you have a private pension effect whether or not you can get help from the state should you need it? I can't imagine we'll have a lot of money to retire on. I suppose nobody knows what is going to happen in the next 5 years let alone the next 40

prepareathome

KATIEOWL Tried to quote from your post but just got a blank box!

Anyway was just going to say I think a call to the papers is in order as these flats sound like something you read about in Dickens novel that were run by wealthy slum landlords........maybe even local TV company might be interested or C4

prepareathome

Fuddle at the moment pensioners get their pension and then pension credit (if I have name right) to top up if they don't have a private pension or any other income plus HB/CTB.

Even if they are billionaires they will still get the basic pension that is their right under present rules......

Mrs_Chip

Oh Kate, what an absolute f'ing disaster! Don't hold your breath re Pembs council, sorry to say they are not the best, I hope they prove me wrong! It does sound like the place is a death trap though, so they might respond.

It beggars belief that a LL can be allowed to let their property - that people are living in and paying for the privilege - get into such a state. It does seem that whether you are in HA or private, you are very lucky indeed if your LL treats you fairly .

GreyQueen

:eek: OMG Katieowl, that sounds like a horror. Get them out, nothing is worse than wrecking your health. A pal of mine was living in grotty private-rented with several others years ago and one of them died; as asthmatic overcome by the mold.

I'm back from the salt mine and I made SuperGran very happy as I obtained some sturdy cardboard boxes from a shop on my way home (I did ask the shopkeeper ) as she is working steadily through her kitchen and boxing it up ahead of the refurbishment. Which sounds a bit fancy for ripping one out and installing another. Nearly 40 years of life from a fitted kitchen isn't at all bad, I consider. She's dreading the upheaval but looking forward to having it done. Ya can't make an omelette without cracking eggs, of course. Just glad they haven't got their sights on my kitch..........:rotfl:

Fuddle, great news about starting to save.

Thanks for the well-wishes, people; you really are a bunch of :A. I'm still feeling a bit out-of-it and exhausted. Wasn't helped by being too stressed to eat last night. Don't really feel like eating today TBH but can't carry on like that so will eat something with fresh greens etc in a while. When you're not too well anyway, these things really send you into a tailspin. I still can't get over the sheer unutterable incompetance of it, it really rocks your confidence. I'm lucky that I'm articulate and able and have a background in admin and can handle such things but what about some poor soul who is barely literate?

Well, gonna go start cooking a meal and I'm sure that when I've had that I will feel a lot less jangly.

Laters, GQ x

prepareathome

GQ I hope you have moved yourself into the kitchen and actually cooking something properly if not you will have me on your back (pops you as well) I am still all worked up looking to take on the world:rotfl:

Oh yes Katieowl I would happily phone TV/Papers/MPs/Housing Ombudsman etc for you, just say the word...........:mad:

Not been great at keeping up my blog but think its about time I started putting down what I think is wrong with this country and what us poor serfs can do about it..........will start a revolution that will beat the French and Russian one hands down....yes am in fighting mode now.......so long as I have my painkillers:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: