make do and mend for tougher times

mardatha

Woke up to grey horrible cottonwool outside. We hardly ever get fog its dull and depressing innit? Have to take the car to garage which is 26 miles on a horrible twisty bad road and the RV is in a mood already.

2tonsils

Up early to go for my blood test for my thyroid. I will get the results on Thursday then I can get an appointment with my endocrinologist for the six monthly scan on my thyroid.

The mountain valley was full of mist and it looked gorgeous. It's now all burned off and its glorious outside. Had Greek yogurt with banana protein powder and a chopped up pear for my late breakfast after I got home from the test.

Have just taken some pork shoulder chops out of the freezer for dinner tonight and some mushroom fried rice I made last week. I will keep it simple and just do some garden peas with it. Having a cheese and onion sandwich on gf bread for lunch with a bowl of hm soup. We like pork shoulder chops better as they have a bit of fat on them. All pork chops sold here have the fat cut off them and it makes them a bit dry unless you casserole them.

Trying to think of what to wear to a party on Saturday...our friends are retiring after years of running a bar here. There is a group on so I will definitely be up dancing all night, so the footwear has to be right lol.

Going to do some cleaning around the house now and try to find my curtain wires which have disappeared, I need to get the winter lace curtains up in the front room before it turns cold.

Off outside to feed the stray cat that calls to see me..well, not exactly a stray, he belongs to a lady down the road. The cat just likes to come and visit me and curls up on the step all day in the sun. When he has had enough of the scraps a collie dog belonging to another old lady down the road comes and licks the last bits off the food pots......he used to go power walking up the mountain with me but the last few times he has decided to wait at the bottom of the mountain track for me to come back down again. He then walks the last few meters to my house as if he has gone through the whole walk with me.....

missrlr

Morning, grey misty fog here, loads of idiots without their headlights on and then the other load of idiots with the headlights on FULL beam and their fog lights on. What is so complex about not blinding the rest of us you dimwits?!?!

Sorry rant over. The empty mending box received an new housemate last night, I suppose 1 days is a miracle and it was feeling lonely, so now I have some mending to do, nothing complex just a hem that has come down. Fed up with this weather, it messes up the solar panel energy generation and makes it difficult to get all the appliances on in the correct order to uses the free stuff, esp when I am in work as stupid o clock and DH has just started his sleep. One more day with PIL with us, then the marathon task of washing all the bedding / towels and so on to get dry. At this rate I am going to invest in a tumble dryer!
I have a shopping list that seems to never end, as soon as I finish one I end up starting another!

Tawny75

Good morning everyone. Grey dank and miserable here. a really yucky day. I have got over my upset of last week about the maintenance. I managed for 9 years with nothing from him, I will manage again. I do so hope karma comes to bite him on the bum though.

I am lucky, my LL is really nice, when my shower broke this year he came and replaced it straight away. The walls are a bit dated with their wood chip paper in the living room but the rest are plain and he has let us decorate how we like. My kitchen is from the late 70's but because of that I have a proper pantry with a stone shelf to keep my potatoes on etc so it is marvellous. I would not want to lose my pantry for anything!

PipneyJane

monnagran wrote: »

Hiya.

Who was that talking about sun and warm temperatures? Come to the sunny holiday Island, it's damp and dismal here.

Interested in all thsi talk about landlords and things. I have been toying with the idea of sinking what is left of my father's inheritance into a cheap (VERY cheap) one bedroom flat and letting it to someone on benefits cheaply. We get so many through our doors at the Drop-in whose HB no longer covers their rent and they have to top up out of their already pitiful JSA or whatever benefit they are on.
Many of them are in dreadful fear of what will happen if HB is cut further. I thought that if I could let out whatever hovel I can afford (I'm joking, I would make sure that it was in a liveable state) I could rent it out for whatever the HB would cover. However, for reasons I won't go into, I only have my basic state pension to live on, so if major repairs were needed I might not be able to afford them and I would hate to think that any tenant of mine would have the sort of problems Fuddle has faced. It's a puzzle. At the moment the money is just sitting there earning nothing and, if I'm honest, being slowly chipped away if I need to dip into it. I'm sure this is a problem many of you would like to have, but I would like the money to do some good.

That's enough of my meanderings.

My shopping trolley arrived yesterday afternoon (Sunday!) and I can't wait to do the trolley quick-step round the co-op.

Just noticed Grandma's sig about people not noticing old clothes if you wear a big smile.
That's as well then.

All together now ........ CHEEEEEEESE.

X

Bl**dy cold around here. Damp and horrible, regardless of the weather bulletin.

Monnagran, I'm a landlord too. Rent out my one-bedroom bolt-hole from before we got married. If it helps you, this is my philosophy. (It helps that, when I was in tax, 99% of my clients had rental properties, so I've picked a few brains along the way.)

I bought the flat with the idea that I'd never sell it; when we moved on, I'd rent it out. (I was already with DH by that point.) So I looked for a purpose built place that didn't have large service charges/ground rent. Also, I paid a some attention to layout - a rectangular living room is easier to furnish than a square one and an easier "sell" to a tenant (the flat's is 15' x 9').

External repairs are covered by the management company, to whom I pay service charges and of whom I am a shareholder. In this property, we also own shares of the freehold. Service charge is £96/month. The management company has a pot of money set aside for repairs and maintenance.

Internal repairs are my responsibility, so I gradually built up a float of £2,000 to cover those. The flat is let furnished, which is more tax advantageous, but you don't have to provide everything, just the basics (bed, wardrobe, couch, table and chairs) on top of the kitchen (with cupboards, fridge and stove) and bathroom. Also, having the float means that I can cope with voids.

I use a managing agent, who organise everything from the annual gas safety certificate to finding new tenants when necessary. They charge me 13% of each month's rent and it's money well spent. They deducted a float of £300 from the first month's rent, which is used to pay for repairs, gas checks, etc, and then topped up from the current month's rent as appropriate. They're authorised to spend up to £50 before contacting me but, in practice, have always emailed me first for my permission. Be warned, there are some dodgy agents out there. They should either charge you a tenant-finders fee or a monthly service charge, not both, and some only collect the rent without managing the property.

On the subject of rent: in my neck of the woods, rents today are at a similar level to what they were when I did all those tax returns in 1999. For a couple of years (2007-2009), rents on comparable properties were actually £100-£150 lower.

I have a mortgage, so when I did my sums I had to figure out how low rents could go before I stopped breaking even/making money. Also, while mortgage interest is considered a business cost, capital repayments aren't tax deductible, so when interest rates rise there might come a point where the rent is completely eaten up and I'd have to pay tax on the flat out of my salary. (Does that make sense?) As it is, I've tried very hard to brainwash myself so that I don't view the rent as day-to-day income - it's paid into a separate bank account and is gradually accruing until the day comes when I can pay the mortgage off in full or we decide to buy another rental property. My mortgage broker tells me that I can keep rolling the mortgage over until I'm in my 90's as long as it's covered by rent.

HTH.

- Pam

PipneyJane

Good morning everyone and thanks for the welcomes.

2tonsils wrote: »

Pip posted:

''More recently, I just finished reading Michael Lewis' Boomerang, which explained how the Greek tax system has been abused over the years and how it is the poor people on PAYE who are getting stung to pay for all the austerity measures. According to Lewis, very little tax is collected from those who are self-employed. It's not that the laws aren't there, it's just that the tax inspectors and tax collectors are so corrupt that they aren't applying them. I don't know how true this is. What's your opinion?''

Lewis is right, almost all the self employed were declaring that they earned very little money....in some cases this is true of course, especially in these days of hardship.....but from next month they are all paying 30 percent tax of assumed income. At the moment the government here are judging your income on your belongings...if you have a large house, car or boat etc then they assume you have at least 20,000 a year income. Unfortunately we have a big very old house and an old car but they tax us on an income of 16,000 euros. Actually we get around 11,000 a year from my OH pension and not what they assume...and its taxed at source in the UK so we actually pay tax twice when we shouldn't do! I have complained to all and sundry but still had to pay three different taxes this year here. Yet the politicians have moved millions of euros out of the country to hide it in offshore accounts......

Businesses....well to start a business it will cost you 2,000 euros in business fees and licenses...then you have a solidarity tax to pay (1000 euros this year)......then taxes on top of that of 30 percent.....building taxes according to how big it is......social security insurance of around 800 euros a month for yourself and 400 for employees...all year round even if you only open in the summer. So its hardly worth trying to run a business here.....

It's true the poor people are getting stung by taxes...I know pensioners who are just surviving on 400 euros a month...but they still have to pay house/car taxes on top of that and any other savings they have...not that many have any money saved any more.....it's all gone.

Thanks for the info, 2Tonsils. It sounds as if the Greek government are trying to make things more equitable but haven't considered how far can you squeeze the little people before they're dry? It's getting to a point where the consequences are turning ugly.

I'm hazy on this (been 12 years) but, if the Greek tax authorities won't take the UK taxes paid into consideration, you may be able to get a tax refund in the UK and a change in his notice of coding so your DH's pension isn't taxed as much. There should be something set out in the double taxation treaty. You'll need to speak an expert, though.

D&DD

Morning all
Thanks Pipney he's right fed up with it all now and his boss is now off for a weeks leave..will keep you posted X

Had Bernie Lawrence's chicken curry for tea last night done in the slow cooker its such a nice recipe but noticed my book is starting to disintegrate so need to get the recipes copied out,having her macaroni chicken tonight

Having a can't be bothered day today..some days you just don't want to do it all do you?? Or is it just me
Good news is I did loads yesterday so hopefully no-one will notice!

Hope all are well XXX

fuddle

Yes, dismal here too. The girls have hi-vis vests in this weather as we live on the brow of a hill. Drivers fly up the hill and down the other side (30mph) if they don't have their lights on they are upon us before I know it.

Having a sneaky cuppa (neglecting the breakfast dishes) and then off DD's harvest festival where my DD is in the choir. Now my DD is awfully good at a lot of things... but awful at singing - she auditioned and got in so I dread to think what I'm about to be subjected to :rotfl:

mince, onions, tinned carrots in slow cooker for dumplings tonight.

Oh pumpkins! I got our halloween pumpkin from Aldi £1.49 (are they easy to grow at all? Fancy growing next years in a bag) And we'll do the obligatory carving next week. What can I do with the flesh. I've done soup and pumpkin pie... any other ideas?

DD's are making playdoh later. A bit apprehensive as you need to use boiling water!

Have a good one everyone x

Mrs_Veg_Plot

Not foggy here this morning but it is grey and damp. I posted on here last night but it has vanished.
Got the first coat of paint on DD's bed room yesterdau and painted the ceiling. Boy does my back ache today.

I am trying to reduce my grocery bill by £15 a week and have decided that I need to go back to the following
Meal planning
1 or 2 meat free meals a week
1 fish meal a week
1 soup and sweet meal a week

I roasted a chicken for tea last night so this week will be a rubber chicken week. Roast chicken last night, chicken in tomato sauce with pasta tonight, chicken risotto tomorrow night and a chicken veg and barley soup the night after. Will do a butternut squash curry for Friday night and fish pie on Saturday

I can stretch chicken and mince really well but can not get the same mileage out of other meats.

I can not hear OH upstairs and have a sneaky feeling he has gone back to bed, he seems to think that he can stay in bed until mid morning when he is on holiday and we stay at home. The second coat of paint needs to go on the bedroom wall today as we have a second bedroom to decorate this week as well.

Enjoy your day everyone.

Mrs VP

Possession

There's about a million recipes for pumpkin on Pinterest Fuddle, muffins, breakfast bars, curries, even fudge. I must admit carving pumpkins is one of the things I'm an old grouch about, I hate it!
DH driving me mad, he's barely slept thinking about the job situation and he's dithering about it now when he should be preparing for today's interview.
Pork chops ready to put into the slow cooker, need to think what to do with them.