Hope is not an Effective Financial Strategy

SuperSecretSquirrel

Yep, the personal allowance is increasing from £11850 to £12500, and the higher rate threshold is moving from £46350 to £50000 I should personally be around £150 a year better off. Not massive, but I'd rather be £150 better off than £150 worse off

shangaijimmy

Great info - approx £20 a month in our pockets! I'm thinking beer fund.

Suffolk_lass

Sorry to be the gloom-meister. Occupational pension contributions are going up at the same time so it might not be as good as you think. SSS is bang on about the personal allowance thresholds though.

This link to the pensions regulator gives the details in the first table link.

Of course you might be in an occupation where it is better than this

shangaijimmy

Sufflok you are indeed a gloom-meister...shame on you! Fortunately I'd already calculated this when we got notification from work in January. I see it an a nice free bonus off work for retirement.

Well countdown to payday begins today which is really a sign that we have run out of cash, but with 5 days to go that just shows we have made all our £'s work hard for us.

Suffolk_lass

I might have known you would already have your finger on the pulse! It is better as it ups the amount your employer has to contribute to your pension, so a bit more safeguarding your future plans. Just hard for a lot of people at the bottom end (my Son, for example - but he will also get a 38pph increase as his employer is upping the living wage he receives).

I know what you mean at this stage of the month - all the payments have gone and my purse is firmly shut. Just a tad under £10 left in the grocery challenge pot if I take the monthly average as my total. I actually work on an annual budget but I track within each month. There is another bit I could tap as I was so frugal in January (not great - it just meant we bought too much for the festive season and had to use it up!)

try_harder

We get paid daily , would be so nice to get paid once a month..

shangaijimmy

Daily?? How on earth do you plan for the month. I get frustrated with Mrs SJ's pay which is every 4 weeks so we get a different pay date in the month.

Well 2 days to payday and those 2 days cant come soon enough. Working this morning and I'd promised to do some paint work in the hallway but my motivation level sits as low as our current account balance... I'd much prefer to do a long dog walk, a long run and a snooze though.

Suffolk_lass

Not sure where you are in the NW but I thought your best window of weather was afternoon today and morning tomorrow so painting early might be a good option (we are off to the dump shortly - we know how to have a good time!)

try_harder

With great difficulty .

The alternatives do sound more appealing especially the snooze part

shangaijimmy

Painting didn't happen, snooze didn't happen (though i fell asleep on the couch at 8.30, woke up at 10 and zombied up to bed and slept through till 8.30...so i must have needed it), I did put some things up on the garden walls for Mrs SJ though so i got a few (non redeemable) brownie points.

The hoover gave out on Sunday with a plume of dust in the living room that caused more dirt than i was trying to hoover up. So new one bought and ready for collection this morning. It seems like the house is conspiring against us at the moment. Washing machine at Christmas, Dishwasher flooded the kitchen last week (Mrs SJ's sushi rice and not scrapping the plates again was to blame there... I'm refraining from verbalising that blame as i like getting well fed), TV is picking and choosing if it wants to turn on, now the hoover...

Payday has come and gone with barely a wimper. Money quickly in yesterday and quickly out again this morning. I often wonder what it feels like to have cash in the account for longer than 2 days...! Seriously I don't know how people in the cycle of debt, minimum payments, constantly overdrawn cope. At least we're only skint due to our MFW quest and we could stop/break at anytime.

A few days left of the month and then it'll be time for accounts reckoning and posting. The first month of our new mortgage, which although its a 5yr fix it does feel like the start of the final steps...60 to be precise so maybe I need a new countdown device...hmmm?!?!