Five Year Fix, Five Year Plan

savingholmes

Good luck with your plants. I love winter flowering beauties and evergreens - so will look up redo's suggestion too.

Merlin's_Beard

@redofromstart David Austin had kind of been on my radar, so good to get a positive recommendation for it. I didn't realise that honeysuckles could flower in winter so I will definitely look into that

@KajiKita I also didn't realise that maples could be shrubs, either, I assumed they were massive trees (I really do not know a lot about plants!). My garden's south facing but quite blustery because I'm near the top of a hill.

Merlin's_Beard

A good thing, a bad thing.

Midmonth round up of pensions shows that I've got more than £60,000 for the first time ever! Obviously this might dip before the end of the month, but it's nice to hit another milestone there even if it's only temporary.

Bad thing is that this is despite my boss, for the second time in a year, underpaying into my pension. Lord knows what they're doing to mess it up, I'm salaried and haven't had any OT for ages so there's nothing TO mess up. Imagine if I was one of the people that never looks at their pension (we've got plenty of them at my place).

A handy google reminder has also popped up telling me that I need to change my internet over, because my deal is running out.

KajiKita

Yaay for the £60K (even if transitory 😉). 

Boo sucks to the missing contributions! Is it contracted to a company or does your employer manage the pensions themselves?

KK

Merlin's_Beard

@KajiKitaThey manage it themselves, very small business in the grand scheme of things. The last time I got the extra back in the next pay packet, and it's only been twice in three years, but I don't really like the feeling that I have to watch what's happening!

KajiKita

Merlin's_Beard said:

@KajiKitaThey manage it themselves, very small business in the grand scheme of things. The last time I got the extra back in the next pay packet, and it's only been twice in three years, but I don't really like the feeling that I have to watch what's happening!

It seems odd that they could get this so wrong …. 🤔
Do they not have an easy spread sheet to track all this stuff? 

KK

Merlin's_Beard

KajiKita said:

Merlin's_Beard said:

@KajiKitaThey manage it themselves, very small business in the grand scheme of things. The last time I got the extra back in the next pay packet, and it's only been twice in three years, but I don't really like the feeling that I have to watch what's happening!

It seems odd that they could get this so wrong …. 🤔
Do they not have an easy spread sheet to track all this stuff? 

KK

I have no idea what crazed system they have - a lot of other staff have a lot more complex things going on (regular OT, paid by the hour, part time but with kids so constantly losing/gaining hours etc)

savingholmes

That sounds really poor - and you are missing out on pension growth time too. Hope they get it sorted quickly and I'd definitely ask what they are putting in place to stop it keep happening.

Enjoy your garden.

redofromstart

J Parker's have free P&P for the weekend - if you are willing to give bare root stuff a go.  I spotted a few nice roses at £3.50 and some perennials (bare root and small plants) that might be tempting.

Merlin's_Beard

redofromstart said:

J Parker's have free P&P for the weekend - if you are willing to give bare root stuff a go.  I spotted a few nice roses at £3.50 and some perennials (bare root and small plants) that might be tempting.

I'll definitely have a look at these, thanks!