Five Year Fix, Five Year Plan

FlacosFloozie

Really glad you've moved in- congratulations! Sorry about the car but at least you had the emergency fund to cover it.

Merlin's_Beard

Pay rise has hit my bank account! A little less than I was expecting - not a huge amount less (£50ish), but will be interesting to see what my payslip says when it arrives. I wonder if HMRC has tweaked my tax code after giving me the mileage last month. More likely that the salary calculator just got some tax wrong.

With a little bit of poking, I think I've found my council tax banding - D, which is higher than I was hoping for, but what I was budgeting for. I guess I just squirrel away £150 a month until they come asking for it.

Same with gas/electricity - no sign of the company pulling their finger out and getting me set up, so putting aside £150 a month for this? I have no idea what's reasonable here. My DD was £74 in a mid terrace 2 bed, now I'm in a 3 bed detached, if anyone has any ideas.

£200 regular OP will come out on the 1st, so this is budgeted for. Recent news has definitely reinforced that I need to pay this down as much as possible while I have a good rate, because it's not guaranteed to be great when I re-mortage in 5 years time!

Pension I'm going to leave as-is at £300 until the new year, to prioritise emergency fund and having cash to hand as I sort out house bits. Will re-evaluate in January when I re-evaluate what emergency fund needs to be.

I'm not planning on any big spends for October, but I might start getting quotes in for the garden IF I can figure out what I want for it. If anyone has any places they can point me towards for ideas for a tiny garden, or a planning site/app, I'd be forever grateful. I think I have it in the back of my head that if I can find someone I'm happy with, I might be in for a wait to get them to do anything anyway, so hopefully this gives me the start of a garden by next year but also time to save to pay for it (If I get them to do some paving for paths and leave the planting to me I'm still expecting it to be in the thousands though I have no idea if that's right?)

Lots of guessing about money doesn't make me happy but it'll sort itself out in the end I guess. Now for an evening in front of bake-off!

LadyWithAPlan

badmemory said:

That course sounds perfect, even if a bit too late for me.  My father taught me quite a lot whilst we were refurbing at this house (over 30 years ago).  But the thing he taught me about this house is that it has pipes & wires running in random directions & that I need to KNOW that I am not going to be drilling through one.  He almost drilled through one & we never figured out where it was going from to.  He was also going to fit me a new light fitting but when he took the old one down ALL the wires were the same colour.  Thankfully we had a tame electrician as every time we decorated more parts of the electrics cut out (but didn't blow a fuse).  The paste from the wallpaper was getting into the plugs & the wires were not screwed down.  The lovely man actually came out on a Sat night on his way out on a date with poor girlfriend in tow to fix one of them.  That was the third he had done.  During the next week he came out & did every plug in the house as it was getting beyond a joke.

The reason for this screed is just to warn you that things may not turn out to be quite as you expected, so take care.

I am aware of the wires issue but we dealing with that on electrics week - do they not sell a tool that tells you? I wish I had been taught such stuff or had your tame electrician!

Merlins beard - dont blame me, its all  @Sistergold fault - she started me off ... try your local authority or even colleges where they do 16-18 years olds construction/apprentice stuff as well. Mine is an all women one.
I looked at lots of one day courses £160+ each  but this one is better as its more general. My college also does one with certificates but then it is much slower and you dont learn as quick as they have to follow a manual/process and get v  health and safety  industry focused as opposed to this is what you do, here's how you are safe, now try. Also tutor is more able to answer specific DIY questions rather than stick to a rigid schedule

Plastering yesterday - my first attempt was fun and very doable.. I would feel confident to do myself now. 

savingholmes

On the garden - you could post a rough sketch of it and we could all have fun suggesting things to do. How big is it as that will affect design as will any doors you have that back on to it (front or back).

Does your garden already come with anything? Any patio flags? A fence? A lawn?

I would want to think about where the sun is at different times of day and potentially year. You don't want to put your shed in the only sun trap for example. While logically you'd put a patio just outside your back door / any french doors - again you may want to consider where gets the most sun and when and what time you get home and make sure you can put some seating there.

Do you want seating to double duty as storage?

You also need to consider the ground conditions. Is your soil very clay based and water logged or very dry?

Are you likely to be a low maintenance person or do you want your garden to help screen you from noise and on-lookers? Do you like a very perfect design or a more cottage style garden....?

You can often get free plants from friends and family - although best check these for weeds.

Do you want it to be wildlife friendly - perhaps with a pond or bird bath?

Do you like listening to birds - if so water and something to attract pollinating insects helps...

badmemory

Your local councils website should tell you what the council tax is for the different bands.

South_coast

badmemory said:

Your local councils website should tell you what the council tax is for the different bands.

I'd second that. I'm paying £85/month for 12 months and I'm Band A with single occupancy discount (ie as cheap as you can get), so £150 sounds very low for Band D

Staffordia

South_coast said:

badmemory said:

Your local councils website should tell you what the council tax is for the different bands.

I'd second that. I'm paying £85/month for 12 months and I'm Band A with single occupancy discount (ie as cheap as you can get), so £150 sounds very low for Band D

We're Band E and pay £228 a month, but it really does depend on the council. 

badmemory

I'm band B & pay £161 for 10 months no discount as my son lives with me.  I believe London councils can be cheaper.  Probably because all the properties are closer together.  Not a factor I am going to complain about EVER.

killerpeaty

I have no idea what my band is but £122 (just wanted to be included)

I also wanted to do a DIY course when I first bought but then the apocalypse happened! It's still something I want to do. However, I strongly recommend getting a Collins DIY book because it covers a lot. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Complete-Manual-Albert-Jackson/dp/0007425953 I was recommended by my friend and my mum and it comes in handy when I don't know what something is called.

Merlin's_Beard

I think my council must be really cheap (I didn't think so because my previous was cheaper!). In my old rental (same parish) my Band B bill was £122 over ten months with single occupancy discount. I'm fairly sure I've math-ed my discount right - if I've tripped up then that's where I've gone wrong.

@killerpeaty have put that book on my amazon wishlist!