The Mental Debt Struggle...

Keedie

I'd not thought about doing things differently in terms of family meals @Cherryfudge, but you make some good points. Sometimes we do have bring a dish family meals at my mum's house for things like Mother's Day or birthdays, and sometimes we go out for a meal. I don't mind going out for meals as they are less now than they used to be. Sometimes we used to go out for family meals just because we all wanted to get together. But I think picnics and things like that would be fun, so I'll suggest it. 

The tracking has been a real eye opener @Makingabobor2, and it's made me realise exactly where I am going wrong and where I am overspending. Food expenses are definitely a big issue, and so I've signed up for the February 2024 grocery challenge on the Old Style Money forum. I'm hoping that will help and there seems to be a lot of recipes on there, so I'll have a flick through.

I finally pulled my head out of the sand when it comes to my self assessment tax return and it was £1,844.80 and I only have £1,051.73 😬. So yeah, erm, I kinda messed up with that one! I'm going to have to do a lot of moving things around but I have £630 owed to me from various places that is coming on Tuesday 30 January 2024, and that will give me a total of £1,681.73 (so £163.07 to find).

I was going to use that owed money to sort out my February 2024 budget. But that ship has sailed as I have to make payment by 31 January 2024. So serves me right really.

HMRC wanted me to pay £922.40 on account for the 2023-24 tax year, also due by 31 January 2024 as well, which would have put the total bill at £2,767.20 and I've no hope of paying that. So I've made a claim to reduce it to £100 on account, as I've earned less than half of what I did from self-employment in this tax year and my wages have been lower. So I'll see what they say 🤦🏾‍♀️. 

I'll have to redo February's budget to accommodate the remaining £163.07 that I have to find. Some of my bills are due at the end of February, and that's after I get paid from work, and that copyediting job should be paid early February, so I won't be able to accumulate all of February's expenses this month, but I should more or less be able to get back on track for March. It just means no big savings or debt repayments, just the basic budget until around April.

But at least fixing my flat tyre was only £10 at the tyre shop as it had a nail in it and they patched it up for me. I got back my automatic tyre inflater thingy that I put in the car charger slot from my sister, and that enabled me to pump it up today and slowly drive to the tyre shop.

Cherryfudge

At least you got the tax figures sorted out with a few days' leeway, and you had a good chunk of the money set aside already. I'm sure you'll find a way to make up the balance.

Keedie

Yeah, the tax situation is a bit of a failing on my part to be honest. As I only have a chunk of the money because the money I had set aside for the 2023/24 tax year had to be used, along with the business account emergency fund and the sinking funds. So I'm back to zero in that account and it's still not enough 🥴.

I don't even remember what I had spent the money on, but the thinking at the time was probably that I'd freelance and make it up from this tax year. But then I haven't properly worked as I was mentally unwell. So yeah, a bit of a mess. But like you say Cherryfudge, there's a couple of days to work out what I'm doing and sort the money out. I need to do my 2023/24 tax return as soon as my P60 comes through in May. That way I'll know what I've got to pay for this tax year. 

I dunno how much work I'll get, as I've lost most of my clients as I wasn't available for work whilst I was recovering. So hopefully, the copywriting brings in some money, as the work I did this tax year was when I was finishing up my obligations for ongoing projects at the beginning of the tax year. Plus that copyediting job the other week. As I'm back to work in a couple of weeks, once I settle in, I'll have to start freelancing again. So I need to start putting feelers out there now, for HR consultancy, and then in the new tax year, switch things up.

badmemory

Definitely file your self assessment asap in the new tax year.  I can't believe how many leave it until the last minute.  I do wonder if a lot of them may be assuming that as soon as they file they need to pay but of course we have until 31st January.  I always post my cheque when I go shopping between Xmas & new year.  Unfortunately by simple assessment these days, which frankly isn't so simple for me as it hasn't been right yet.  It was much easier filing myself.

Keedie

I know @badmemory I’ve really got myself into a pickle haven’t I?!

I’m usually much more on the ball with my self assessment 🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️. I think the latest I’ve filed and paid before has been by the November and I was anxious even then. This year I really am flirting with fire!

I’ve never filed this late before. And I’m honestly kicking myself for ignoring it for so long. It’s been playing on my mind for months as I knew I didn’t have the money and so I was burying my head in the sand. But I thought it might be a couple of hundred more than what I had. But it ended up being double the amount. And I’ve never had a payment on account for the current tax year before. So that really threw me. That alone was nearly £1,000. I wasn’t prepared for that. But that’s my poor planning really. 

My East London Sister asked what on Earth was going on as I’m usually so organised! She said, “You’ve really not been very well have you?” And ain’t that the truth. But it’s not an excuse. I needed to be disciplined and organised and I just haven’t been. I need to own that on put on my big girl pants and sort it out. I’ve applied for a £2,000 money transfer on my Barclaycard just in case the £630 I’m owed doesn’t materialise on time. As it’s down to wire now. 

I’ll pay the tax bill on Tuesday as the total amount payable as calculated by HMRC should be shown by then. It said it’ll take 2 days. So I’m assuming that doesn’t include the weekends. If they reject my claim to reduce the payment on account for 2023/24 from £922.40 to £100, then it means I’ll have the money for the full balance. 

Once I get out of this mess next week, I’ll have to sit down and have some words with myself. Then draw a line under it and work out exactly how much sh*t I’m in and completely rework my 2024 financial plan. Oh dear. What a mess. 🥴🤦🏾‍♀️. 

badmemory

Please don't think you are the only one.  The main problem with leaving it this late along with the 4 million others is the risk of a system crash.  I would say don't panic, pay what you can & then speak to them.  If it is only the payment on account you can't manage you may get away with it for a while.  You will not be the only one this has suddenly hit as the personal allowance hasn't risen like it used to.

Keedie

I must admit, I am low key panicking about the system crashing. I dunno why I've done this to myself! 😬

I just checked my personal tax account and it's showing as of 26 January, so hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday it will show the actual information as of yesterday when I filed, what I need to do with regards to the payment on account. At the moment it's showing no tax to pay as the system hasn't updated. I'll pay the £1,844.80 on Tuesday as that bit is a done deal. I'm never going through this stress again that's for sure. 

But a nice uplifting part of the weekend, is that it was my nephew's 9th birthday party today and he seemed to have a great party and lots of fun. So that's good. And it was nice to have the family come together. 

I've put £12.10 in my savings tins as I cleared out all the change in my purse ready for a new week. My little blue cat tin is more than half way full, so I'll be emptying that at some point in the next month or so and putting the money in my sinking funds. 

I'm looking forward to going to my creative writing class tomorrow, so that's something to fun to experience whilst I wait for the HMRC decision 😂. Oh dear, if I don't laugh, I'll just cry...

Keedie

Oooh, I just found another £2 coin in my food shopping coin purse so I've put that in the tin as I don't spend £2 coins. And so I've declared a PAD of £14.10 which is nice 🤗.

Cherryfudge

I do like the sound of your creative writing class. That's something I'd like to do but I don't know of any round here.

Just a thought - I know the savings tin is designated for sinking funds, but would it make life easier if this lot went to HMRC, and you could start to refill the sinking funds from tomorrow?

Keedie

The creating writing class is great as everyone is open minded and supportive and the writing prompts and games are interesting and engaging. And for some miraculous reason it's free. I don't know how it's funded, but I think because it's for people with mental health, it ticks some box somewhere for funding. It's a shame that you don't have that @Cherryfudge, as it is nice to have something to engage with other like minded people. I've seen some stuff on Meet Up and that has lots of different events and classes, and you can search for your area, and some may be online. You might find something that you didn't know existed that isn't too far from you.

My tins don't have a lot in them to make much of an impact with the HMRC tax bill. I reckon the cat tin has about £15-17 (if I am being generous as there are quite a lot of 5p and 10p coins in there). With the £2 and 50p tin, I think that this has around £40. The cat tin is easier to empty as it's reusable, the other tin has to be opened with a can opener and then it's all gone and I'll need a new tin. But I will think about it once I work out how much of a mess I am obligated to pay by Wednesday (in terms of the payment on account).

Definitely going to be doing much better filing and saving for this tax year and get the self assessment out of the way in May and get everything balanced for 31 January 2025.