The Hen House Chronicles

South_coast

I've actually heard of people putting their card in the freezer - freeze it in a tub of water and then by the time it defrosts and you can see the numbers then the urge to buy may have worn off. That's the theory anyway - no idea whether it works (or if the card is any good in a machine afterwards 😂!)

A simpler step would be to remove your card details from Amazon (beware though, they "helpfully" re-save them for you after every purchase). That creates the barrier of physically stepping away to go and look for the card before you buy. Removing the app is good....but it's not exactly a difficult web address to remember 😂!

MerryHen

South_coast said:

I've actually heard of people putting their card in the freezer - freeze it in a tub of water and then by the time it defrosts and you can see the numbers then the urge to buy may have worn off. That's the theory anyway - no idea whether it works (or if the card is any good in a machine afterwards 😂!)

A simpler step would be to remove your card details from Amazon (beware though, they "helpfully" re-save them for you after every purchase). That creates the barrier of physically stepping away to go and look for the card before you buy. Removing the app is good....but it's not exactly a difficult web address to remember 😂!

I just need to develop a bit of self control! So far so good though, I bought some toddler vitamin D drops I'd usually get on Am@zon from a different online store where they were on a 3 for 2 offer which was a good reminder it's worth checking elsewhere!

MerryHen

I've tentatively taken the first step towards the house remodel by asking for structural engineer recommendations on the local community Facebook group. A friend also recommended the joiner who did their kitchen refit which included knocking through kitchen and dining room like we're planning to do (their house is newer than ours though). Their guy project-managed the whole thing including subcontracting a structural engineer and chasing building control sign off which thinking about it is probably better for us, between work and the toddler-time-vortex I can't see us having much time or energy to project manage. I remember our friend saying their guy wasn't the cheapest but was thorough and did a good job, and he has good reviews online so I'll ask him for a quote, and will get a couple of other quotes too and go from there. 

The gas and electric has been switched to a slightly cheaper tariff through the MSE energy club so we should get £25 cashback from that in 3-6 months. It can go towards the kitchen remodel.

Nothing happening with the backyard yet, still waiting for the decking materials which should be delivered next week, no delivery date yet though. I'm  watching a few mirrors on eBay, I'm thinking a well placed mirror (out of direct sunlight) could help make the space feel bigger and even if it doesn't it'll still look nice.

The front step garden is looking good, the front door could do with a refresh though. I've been saying I'll paint it since we moved in over four years ago, I'm determined to actually do it this summer. It's a nice, solid wooden door that's currently woodstained dark brown which along with the soot blackened grit stone walls, dark brown window frames and black painted railings make the whole front of the house look quite gloomy. Most of the neighbours' doors are various shades of green or grey I'm really not feeling those colours, I'm  being drawn towards yellow, that'd brighten it up. I just need to find the right shade of yellow.

The lemon tree has revived a little, it has new leaf growth and a tiny lemon bud. The blueberry bushes aren't looking too healthy though and are both a bit pale and droopy, one more than the other. I've bought them some ericaceous plant food which should arrive next week but apparently pale leaves could be a sign the soil is too acidic for them to absorb iron, in which case they might not appreciate the ericaceous plant food. I've given them some tomato food in the meantime (I don't know if this was the right thing to do but wanted to try something!) and I'll work out how to test the soil pH. I'm also worried they gota bit waterlogged in last week's rain, they feel quite wet. The pots have drainage holes and I added rocks and gravel to the soil when potting them but maybe it wasn't enough? I never realised there was so much involved in keeping plants healthy! I am enjoying their planty presence in the front step garden though so they're worth the effort. 

Right, the toddler is asleep and my plan for the rest of this beautiful evening is to catch up with work while sitting out on the front step garden with a cool elderflower cordial and the last piece of father's day rocky road. I love June evenings!

teapot2

You might already know that blueberry plants really need to be watered with rain water?  I collect some in a couple of old ice cream containers and use that in dry spells.  If its too dry to collect rain water then tap water is better than not watering them at all.  Good luck with yours

MerryHen

teapot2 said:

You might already know that blueberry plants really need to be watered with rain water?  I collect some in a couple of old ice cream containers and use that in dry spells.  If its too dry to collect rain water then tap water is better than not watering them at all.  Good luck with yours

Oh yes thank you, I had read that somewhere, no shortage of rain water at the moment. Good tip about the ice cream containers, I turned the toddler's water-play tub upside down earlier because it was collecting water- I should have just left it for the blueberries! 

MerryHen

TL;DR. Merry Hen looks at pensions and plans to increase monthly contributions so as not to face destitution in retirement.

Financially speaking, during our early twenties we focused on saving for a house deposit.  Our mid twenties on overpaying the mortgage. Our late twenties were taken up by having kids which took our focus right off finances, especially DS's death. Now in our early thirties our financial focus has shifted to saving for house improvements. In all this we've barely thought about retirement plans, and even though it has been on my to do list for several years every time I started looking into pensions I'd get so worried and overwhelmed by it all I'd put it off again, so it hasn't been done. Spending a bit of time on this forum has prompted me to actually start sorting it out, so that was this weekend's job. Here goes.

Merry Hen's Pension Plans
Background:
Aged 31. Self employed since 2013. Standard Life personal pension since the end of 2018, contributing £240 each month (+£60 tax relief). Pension pot currently at £8,310.

When I set up this pension I was confused about how much I could pay in and claim tax relief on. This page on the gov.uk website says:

"You can get tax relief on private pension contributions worth up to 100% of your annual earnings."
but then goes on to say:
"If you do not pay Income Tax you still automatically get tax relief at 20% on the first £2,880 you pay into a pension each tax year (6 April to 5 April) if both of the following apply to you:

• you do not pay Income Tax, for example because you’re on a low income

• your pension provider claims tax relief for you at a rate of 20% (relief at source)"

I wasn't sure where this left me because at the time of setting it up I'd been on my first set of maternity leave for most of the year and was due to go on my second lot of maternity leave soon after, so hadn't earned more than the £12,000 to pay income tax but had earned more than £2,880. I set it up to pay £240 a month (£2,880 a year) into it and intended to find out whether I could contribute more but DD was born soon after so I've only just got around to finding out- it seems I can. I can pay up to my full yearly earnings. So I'll up my contributions slightly. For now I'll top them up manually each month, work has been so patchy recently I don't want to inadvertently go over my annual earnings. I'll probably manage £400/450 most months and once DD is older and I'm working more I can contribute more.

I'm kicking myself that I didn't start my pension back before having kids when I could have paid more into and just set up a regular payment each month and not thought about it but hey ho, I did what I thought was best at the time and better I'm doing it now than in another 10 years time.

Mr Merry Hen's Pension Plans
Also aged 31. Employed, has had a workplace pension since 2014 when he was auto enrolled, he's always paid the minimum amount into which recently has been 5% of his salary and 3% from his employer.

His current work pension is with Nest and has £5584.33 in. At my suggestion he's just increased his monthly contributions by £500 a month which brings his contribution up to 16% of his salary, and should help build a pot for a slightly more comfortable retirement than he was on track for. Reading about it looks like Nest might not be the greatest pension but I figured it's better to paying into a pension even if it isn't the best than no pension and I can start looking into better pensions for him.

He also has a Scottish Widows pension from his old work place, looking through paperwork at the weekend I noticed the last statement for this is from 2015 addressed to our old house so I suspect he didn't update his address with them when we moved, he's contacting them this week to do this. I'll keep reminding him until he does.

DH is a higher rate taxpayer and needs to contact HMRC to claim the extra 20% tax relief above the basic 20% already being claimed. I believe it can be done through self-assessment which he isn't currently registered for so I'll find out if he is able to fill in a tax return just to do this or if he needs to phone/write to someone.


State pension wise we're both on track to receive a full state pension. DH had been in full time employment since 2010 and I have 10 full years out of the past 15, missing only the five years I was at university/ teacher training. I plan to continue working and paying national insurance for at least the next 20 so unless anything drastically changes we should be okay.

Upping pension contributions will mean less money going towards mortgage over payments and savings but that's ok. We have an an emergency fund earmarked within our savings, the mortgage has already been reduced a good amount and if we don't have enough yet to do the house stuff we want to do we'll keep saving until we do. It's a bit of a relief to have started looking at the pension stuff.

In other news, our decking materials arrived today so I can get started on that

Bargainhunter30

I'm with you on the pension front Merry Hen. I've just turned 36 and really need to up my contributions and decide on where to invest. I have 2 tiny ones and a tiny wage that hardly contributes due to small children. Wish I'd started at 18, but will just have to contribute more now and be more savvy. Also agree the OP's may have to slow down or stop. Good luck x

badmemory

Be careful if OH earns over the £50k limit re child benefit.  If you are not going to earn enough to pay NI on your own account then you may need to tell HMRC/DWP that you don't want the money from child benefit but YOU do want the credits for your NI.

MerryHen

Bargainhunter30 said:

I'm with you on the pension front Merry Hen. I've just turned 36 and really need to up my contributions and decide on where to invest. I have 2 tiny ones and a tiny wage that hardly contributes due to small children. Wish I'd started at 18, but will just have to contribute more now and be more savvy. Also agree the OP's may have to slow down or stop. Good luck x

It's a shame it isn't something that's taught in school, would have been a useful key skills lesson. I'm almost tempted to start a pension for DD to pay in a small amount each month just as a teaching exercise.

badmemory said:

Be careful if OH earns over the £50k limit re child benefit.  If you are not going to earn enough to pay NI on your own account then you may need to tell HMRC/DWP that you don't want the money from child benefit but YOU do want the credits for your NI.

Oh yes, good reminder of that. So far I've always paid enough national insurance to not need the CB credits so have never applied for it but I might fall short for last year, think I can make voluntary contributions but not sure what they go towards- will check when I do my tax return!

magritte said:

MerryHen, happy to have found your diary! What a journey you've had so far... I'm impressed with your resilience and determination. Will be following.

MerryHen said:

DH is a higher rate taxpayer and needs to contact HMRC to claim the extra 20% tax relief above the basic 20% already being claimed. I believe it can be done through self-assessment which he isn't currently registered for so I'll find out if he is able to fill in a tax return just to do this or if he needs to phone/write to someone.

In my case there was no need for self-assessment to claim the extra 20% tax relief. I called HMRC and told them the net amount I contributed in each tax year, then they sent me the money to my bank account. 

Thanks for your kind words and useful information @magritte, I've passed that on to DH. He's going to have to claim for the past four years, let's hope he knows where his p60s are!

MerryHen

The start of the month money shift (a few days ago) saw: an extra £275 towards my pension on top of my regular £280 contribution, £595 towards the mortgage and £1900 into savings (house, car, emergency fund all lumped together).

NS&I interest was paid today so that's £16.16 which has been tidied away ready to be moved back into the NS&I when we have £500 to deposit (minimum deposit amount).

DH tried contacting Scottish widows about his old work place pension but had some faff getting through and was then cut off when he did, so he's sent a request through NEST to pull that pension into his current one. I've informed him he should contact HMRC about tax relief and will remind him until he does.

I made a start on the decking Friday night by cutting the first lot of joists to size. I want to treat the ends before screwing them together though and there was a wait on cut end treatment, DH said he'd order it but forgot and then Screwf1x had to order it in. The weather was so wild this weekend anyway I didn't really fancy being outside in it so no real delay. DH collected it this evening so once the toddler has been transferred into her cot (from her current sleeping place on me) I will treat some cut ends.

The toddler is waking during the night a lot at the moment, 18 month sleep regression I think, so I'm a zombie (even more so than usual). My extra concentrated zombie state means lots of things I should be/want to be doing are not getting done (like contacting builders for quotes and reading a few more diaries here) I'm making myself make an entry here though just so I keep at it!