The Hen House Chronicles

MerryHen

Thanks Beanie Good fun was had by all. I did spend £6 on a Santa's grotto ticket for DD completely forgetting she is mildly terrified of him but otherwise it was a cheap and cheerful day.

Decluttering continues here.

I own three bathrobe/dressing gown items of clothing. 

1. A towel bathroom for drying after bathing/showering. 

2. A long, warm, super snuggly fleece dressing gown that I basically live in during winter.

3. And a hot pink, heavy weight waffle dressing gown that falls somewhere between the two, but is somehow neither very absorbent nor very snuggly.

Despite rarely using it I have held onto waffle gown, probably because DM gave it to me (she also gave me my much used bathrobe) but in my decluttering mindset I am trying to remove emotions from items. It has been laundered ready to go into the charity bag and the back of the bathroom door looks less crowded.

Baby steps.

badmemory

Keeping things because of their connections is nothing new.  A few months ago I disposed of my fathers dressinggown which I had been wearing for many years.  So about 23 years then!!    I felt bad about doing it but better after for having done it.

MerryHen

It sounds like your father's dressing gown had some pretty good innings BM!

MerryHen

Hmmm, something odd is going on with my state pension record.

My state pension contribution summary is:

•11 full years.

•8 missing years.

•25 years contributions required to qualify for full state pension.

•33 years left in which to contribute.

(This is of course assuming the the state pension age stays at 68 for people my age  🫠)

Five of those missing years I can account for. Four while I was at university (the first time 😅) and one for the year when I spent a few months on a graduate scheme, hated it, quit, and was then unemployed for a few months 🙈

Two years that I'm sure should be full, however, are showing the message:

"Year not full. We are checking this year to see if it counts towards your pension. We’ll update your record when this is finished, you do not need to do anything."

One is 2019-2020 when I was on maternity leave with DD, claiming maternity allowance which should contribute class 1 pension credits.

The other is 2021-2022, which I was registered as self employed for. I had low earnings due to working part time then starting my midwifery training part way through the year but I'm sure I opted to pay voluntary class 2 NI 🤔

2022-23 is also missing but I have only just filed a tax return for this year and again have opted to pay voluntary class 2, so I shall see if this gets updated.

Once I have paid that I should probably deregister as self employed. Initially I thought I'd continue doing some work during my training so stayed registered, but once I started I decided I didn't have the headspace to. Midwifery training is full on!

I have just filled in the application form for child benefit, but ticked to not receive the actual payment because DH earns more than £60k. This way my state pension should be protected over the next two years while I'm still in training.

I now need to work out what's going on with those two unexplained missing years though. 23 years of contributions wouldn't feel as bad as 25!

savingholmes

Just caught up on your diary after your visit to mine. 

My condolences on the loss of your DS. That is a heart breaking thing to go to. 

Congratulations on paying off your mortgage - and how you redesigned the garden with the decking is lovely. Glad you have your family to share it with. Glad your course is going well.

Definitely pursue the missing 2 pension years - it could make a huge different later in life. 

MerryHen

Thanks SH ☺️

I have set myself a little challenge to make all meals this week using only what we already have in.

We're going away at the weekend to stay with family so even though we're reaching the point where I'd usually book our next food shop we won't need it. We don't have much fresh food left but plenty of frozen and tinned food so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Lunch today was just pasta with (free from) pesto and olives, dinner was baked gnocchi with sweet potatoes, tomatoes, pepper, onion and passata which used most of our remaining fresh veg.

I did pop to Sainsbobs for washing powder and while I was paying one of their colleagues came over and presented DD with a gift bag containing a box of celebrations, selection box and festive crisps. It was a lovely gesture and she was absolutely made up 😍 

On the way home she pointed out that we never have to buy chocolate because people are always giving it to her, she isn't wrong 😂 She has agreed to share the chocolates and crisps with DH and grandparents at Christmas. No chocolates or fancy crisps for me because DS2 is allergic to dairy meaning I can't eat it either 🙃

DS2 started nursery today, but DD had a temperature and was off school scuppering my plans for my first child free day in almost a year 😂

Hopefully this should be quite a non-spendy week. We have most C-word things now and will just need to buy some food to contribute to Christmas day once we're down south and I'd like to get a miniature potted Christmas tree for DS1's burial place, I haven't seen many around this year though 🤔 that might be a tomorrow job if DD is well enough for school.

savingholmes

Enjoy your challenge 

MerryHen

The challenge didn't go as expected 😅

DD was quite unwell with tonsillitis the week before Christmas so I was buying anything I thought she might eat (ice lollies for breakfast anyone?) We weren't sure until the last minute if she'd be well enough to travel south for Christmas but thankfully she was just about well enough to travel a day later than planned. I was all up for staying home but she insisted she wanted to go!

Christmas was lovely albeit very busy seeing family! Quite spendy too, but I find being away from home usually is. We returned home yesterday and haven't money shuffled yet, DH wants to wait until all the first of the month payments have gone out. So I will update in due course.

I don't really do New Year resolutions but this year I plan to continue gradually decluttering. Financial plans continue to be paying back the car loan and saving an emergency fund, I think I'll start logging NSDs too. I also plan to move more, something I've never had a problem with before this year. I return to midwifery training next week so getting the steps in in shifts shouldn't be too difficult!

Wishing everyone a healthy and happy 2024.

savingholmes

Happy New Year

MerryHen

Monthly money shuffle

In addition to the regular pots and savings DH paid an extra £1000 off the car loan, and I added an additional £100 (on top of the regular payment) towards the emergency fund to bring it to a round £5000, a third of the way to our £15k target! 🥳

Start of January figures:

Emergency fund: £5000

Sinking pots: £5936

S&S ISA: £308.07

Car loan: £-5087 (18 months without overpayments)

DH contacted HMRC before Christmas and will be getting a cheque for four years of tax relief at some point, and this year's relief in his pay. I suggested he put it straight back into a pension but he's keen to clear the car loan and then up pension contributions using the money he's no longer paying towards the loan which is fair enough. We await its arrival 👀