Breaking Through, Travelling On

rtandon27

Garden progress is very inspiring KC!

We have daffs & snowdrops & crocuses/croci popping up all over the place! Spring has truly sprung!

Karmacat

I've tried to go as *safe* as possible with the projected planting, to be honest everyone seem to say how easy courgettes, nasturtium and marigolds are. Lettuce, I can open up a gro-bag and plant them in there ... and I know poppy and wild garlic grow in gardens around here, so they should be fine. I won't try to grow any root crops at all, not even radishes, till I have a raised bed, I've tried to do something almost every year I've been here and never harvested anything at all :eek:

So I'm on a roll :rotfl: I even repotted some houseplants yesterday, a couple of spider plants and one anonymous - we'll see if that one survives, it looks very ill. They do help with cleaning the air in the house. Here's hoping.

The tidying and clearing has grown to include the house, definitely, and I'm still trying with the garden. I don't much mind what bits I work on, as long as, by the end of the day, I've not only taken care of *current* jobs, but also cleared some more of the backlog. Thats what all of this is, backlog from when I was just stumbling along, doing my job and nothing more. My dishwasher is a wonderful help in this regard :j

Pantry by the back door, the top of the fridge freezer, the houseplants, a corner cupboard, the bookcase in the living room, stamps I've cut and saved from old letters for charities, paperwork that was hanging about on the floor ... all of it has been worked on and mostly cleared. I'm on a roll, gently, of course :rotfl:

Karmacat

rtandon27 wrote: »

Garden progress is very inspiring KC!

We have daffs & snowdrops & crocuses/croci popping up all over the place! Spring has truly sprung!

Thanks RT! Yes, as I've cleared up, I've come across lots and lots - in fact, I thought of the wild garlic because that little border is home to dozens of bulbs now I've managed to unearth them from the ridiculously big plants that were plonked there

Karmacat

Karmacat wrote: »

Noodling the pension
Pension contribution – I could still put in £2880 and get tax relief on it, even though I don't think I'll be paying income tax this year. Except … the contribution I made for last year squeaked in to the previous tax year for the pension company, but they didn't cash the cheque till 8 April 2016 – and I declare my accounts on a cash basis, so thats this year's tax-free £2880 already taken, sadly. Just needed to write that down to sort it out in my head. Sigh … ah well, I'll make the contribution in time in the next tax year, thats for sure.

Erm ... rethinking this yet again. I only finished work in August, so I earned during this year - a pitiful amount, yes, but more than £2880. So I can legitimately put into a pension as much as I earned, yes? I'm going to have to go to the pensions board again, I find that so difficult Got to do it!

Save

Cheery_Daff

Good luck with the pension! I'm studiously ignoring mine (although as I pay in nearly 10%, and my employer over 16%, and I have over 30 years til I reach official retirement age :eek: I'm going to assume it's ticking along nicely...)

Lovely to hear your garden plans :j I try each year to plant something and have variable results, although I suspect in my case it's down to lack of skill and abject neglect One year I had a great crop of yellow courgettes :j but since then I've not been able to keep any plant alive and away from the slugs for long enough to get more than 2 or 3. I never plant potatoes, but they just germinate all over the place from the compost Last year I actually managed to grow salad and radish in pots, but I did have to use a fair amount of organic slug pellets to keep them alive. Hmm.

Can't wait to have a bit more space so I can try a few things, and a few *more* of the things I'm trying - if I've got more than one courgette plant the slugs won't be able to decimate my entire crop in one night (I hope...) :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Apologies for being absent for so long but internet has been a nightmare for weeks, the connection constantly dropping out almost every hour:mad:. So frustrating as pretty much my whole life depends on the internet:o. It's happily working now I've switched providers:j but I won't get complacent as it's still very early days and it's very slow broadband in this area anyway. Massive improvement so far though, not to mention the cheaper prices;)


There are so many pages to read now I'm back:eek: so will have a catch-up and try to pop in again tomorrow.


I hope everyone is well and life is good:beer:

gallygirl

Karmacat wrote: »

Erm ... rethinking this yet again. I only finished work in August, so I earned during this year - a pitiful amount, yes, but more than £2880. So I can legitimately put into a pension as much as I earned, yes?

Yes you can. So, whatever you earned less the £2,880 already paid

Save

Suffolk_lass

Karmacat wrote: »

Erm ... rethinking this yet again. I only finished work in August, so I earned during this year - a pitiful amount, yes, but more than £2880. So I can legitimately put into a pension as much as I earned, yes? I'm going to have to go to the pensions board again, I find that so difficult Got to do it!

Save

There is an article in yesterday's Money section of The Times that clearly says that you can go back several (I think 4) years to increase your pension contribution and it also says you can pay up to £3,600 even if your earnings are less than this - at the moment. They were discussing it in terms of the budget which they expect to raid pensions relief to pay for social care. If you want to see the article I might be able to share it or send you screenshots, if you don't have access to it.

You can pay in up to your earnings (up to £40,000 for the current tax year) on a matched basis - it is only the minimum that allows for subsidy by (say) a partner.

I think this means your late cashed cheque can still be allocated to a previous tax year, and if you want to pay in £2880-£3600 for this year you can do so.

SL

earthgirl

I can't help with the pensions stuff, but just wanted to say, wow and well done for all the clearing you are doing, internally and externally. It takes a lot of work and effort..must feel great to see it going the right way.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

I hope that you feel lighter mentally after clearing out stuff - I love it whenever yet another bagful goes out of the door.