Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

WannabeSaver4

I wanted to also say that all your talk of little money saving wins, is really nice to hear, (as it has helped me reframe and shape my thinking around much of the things that I already do, which has made me feel more in control of our circumstance.)

foxgloves

@WannabeSaver4 - You're welcome. It's good to share ideas. We are all trying to achieve greater financial security whether it's currently a case of paying off debts &/or mortgage, maintaining new-found solvency or trying to build savings, so do fee welcome to pop on & join in with discussions. 
I have come to realise the importance of the small daily money-saving wins. Just little things like not visiting a coffee shop every time we are out & about, making a take-away count by having them much left often & for special occasions & of course making packed lunches for work days. Mr F & I still sometimes mention how, on the cusp of the LBM, we totted up how much we spent on buying lunch out during our working weeks & finding it added up to around £2000 a year in total! It's surprising how much household spending can actually be regular smallish fritters, but they certainly all add up! 
It's a similar thing with energy bills. I have probably swapped supplier about 4 times over the years since it has been possible to do so. Each sales person did the sums then assured me we would be paying less only for bills (well, apart from one real rip-off company) to remain pretty much the same. The only real reduction was when we put the effort into engaging with what we were using & stopped silly little wastages. @Blackcats would call this 'small aggregate gains'......perhaps none of them hugely significant taken in isolation, but they really can add up when it's £1 to £5 (or more) saved on 20 or 30 different things.
F

foxgloves

Hello Diary Readers,
Quite a chilly start this morning with some brisk showers, but the sun is out this afternoon & I am just chatting to you before having a wander round the garden to check on the veg.
Just a couple of money-related tasks today - first, I've gone through, checked & updated various sign-ins, & deleted various accounts I won't use again. Found a number of things which required updating - things like the county council's registration for recycling centre/tip use - which needed updating with our current vehicle. Very dull, but as Mr F seems to be planning a tip run, I'm glad I spotted it.
Second, I took the time to log into my Government Gateway account for a more detailed look at my NI payment record. I felt there was an anomaly here, which I noticed last year when I was making voluntary contributions to fill in the gap dating from my VR. There is an anomaly which I can't explain, so if any diary readers can throw any light on an obvious thing I'm missing, do feel free to share your wisdom! My pension forecast says I will need to pay 2 further years of NI contributions in order to qualify for the full state pension. I understand that & don't have a problem with it. A total of 35 full years of contributions is required for the full pension, so from this I assumed I had 33 years. Out of interest, I looked at my full NI payment record which goes back to the age of 16. I counted up every year logged on their records as a 'full year' & the total is 36 years, not the 33 I was expecting. So if I have made 36 full year's worth of contributions, why does my forecast say that I will need to pay an additional 2 years in order to receive the full state pension?
I was surprised to see the 1st 3 years of my NI record logged as 'Full Years' paid as I was still at school then, but I did a bit of a dive into this & discovered that back before (if I remember rightly) 2010 (?), one's NI account was credited in the years we turned 16, 17 & 18. I didn't know that previously, so it was interesting to find that out. Other years where I didn't pay NI were self-explanatory, as I could clearly see they were the years I was a student, so I just received NI credits for the months when I was signing on the dole during the summer holiday (which students were allowed to do back then) & between both of my graduations & starting work. But taking everything into account, there are still 36 full years of NI listed contrary to the pension forecast figures which says I need to pay 2 more years to obtain the full amount.
I just can't work this out, so I am hoping that one of you will say, "Oh Foxgloves, you numpty, it's X".
Back to other money saving oddments.....frugal nosebag tonight as we are still using up odds & ends of home made soups from the freezer. I've defrosted a portion each of chicken & tomato & lentil, which we will have with cheese on toast. Oh, & I have also done the meal plans for next week, although it was just a case of choosing a week's worth of meals from the June master meal plan. Right, must get tidied up & go & have look at how the veg plants are doing.
F x

badmemory

Have you got a DB pension.  That could cause a deduction to your contributions before 2016 when everything changed.  If you need more info could I suggest looking at the pensions board (topping up state pension part).  There are some really knowledgable people there who are always happy to help, silvertabby & molerat to name just 2.  They are inclined to ask questions & then say what does it say exactly.  But only so that they can help.  There should be a figure for what you have in 2016 showing any DB deduction & then straightforward after that.

Tescodealqueen

It’s only people who hadn’t paid any contributions prior to 2016 that need 35 years. 

The rest of us are a mix of pre 2010 pre 2016 and post 2016.
for example I retire this tax year and because I was contracted out my contracted out deductions mean that I need 44 years to receive a full pension and I have been able to pay those as class 3 (exactly 8 years since 2016 so very lucky)
for most people around my age if you had qualified under the earlier rule of 30 years by April 2016 then paying any gaps prior to that won’t affect your entitlement it is only post 2016 years. This is because a calculation was done at the switchover and your starting amount became the better of the pension you were entitled to at that point under the old rules or the new rules. As badmemory says there are some real experts on the pensions board and some great information. I left the  department in 2011 so my information is rusty but as an ‘oldie’ like me if there was no record of any work you will have received credits for the three tax years that included your 16/17/18 birthday. 

Happy to pm you if you think it would help

foxgloves

@badmemory & @tescodealqueen - Thanks both of you. Yes, you are right, I do have a public sector pension which was contracted out, so I am sure you are right & it will be something to do with that. I do know about the contracting out thing, though I think it complicates matters when trying to explain things. I spend ages trying to explain to a friend that nobody had 'enrolled her individually in anything without her signature', but that this contracting out happened widely in the public sector. I'm not sure she entirely understands it now tbh, but it is complicated to explain & feels a bit sort of pointless in hindsight (unless there is some finer detail I'm missing) Anyway, I am going to take your advice & post on the NI thread to see if I get any response as to how it has caused this 2-year anomaly in a nutshell. 
F

Tescodealqueen

As you probably know the whole scheme would be contracted out and to join the scheme you contracted out by default. Those in the scheme paid reduced NI contributions and in the majority of cases the DB pension was better. Although not madly keen on paying those contributions I based my decision to retire early on my DB pension and the much lesser Retirement Pension I was due to receive. The 2016 changes have meant I can improve  our retirement income and will break even surviving four years from age 66 . Hope to do much better than that

foxgloves

@Tescodealqueen - Yes, I do remember it happening & we received the information about it at work. I just find it complicated to get my head around. I'm an overthinker at the best of times!
F

foxgloves

Beans planted out today after a later sowing than usual. I have put this photo on as have been such a tight-wad with them! Climbing french bean variety called 'Blue Lake'. Seeds leftover from last year's packet which contained plenty. Wigwam built with sticks from Mr F's log pile, which lurks behind the shed. Bird scarers made from old CDs & some extra-strong plastic string which came from a horsey friend's hay bales. I use biodegradable jute string or twool for everything else, but I can't use it on the bean frame or the sparrows peck it to bits for nests. Our many local woodpigeons don't seem to like the dangling CDs at all, which is of course, the idea. Planting holes filled with home made garden compost & extra nutrients from some fertiliser pellets my allotment friend gave me & some of the chop & drop comfrey I cut the other day. Even the plant label is a piece of broken crockery. I do love to re-purpose resources, so felt that I had been nicely stingy here! Now we just want a bit more consistent sunshine to cheer everything up!
F x

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams (I say that lightly, as it is only later on this afternoon that we have really seen any proper sunshine),
I feel as though I've had a reasonably productive day. The budget-helping bits are as follows:
*Planted out beans as detailed above.
*Made bird scarers from a stash of old CDs (cast-offs from Mr F) & string.
*Planted out 2 tromboncino plants, one either side of the arch into our veggie plot. Only grew a single plant last year, but it did well & we liked them, so have gone for a couple this time.
*Watered all the veg & administered a drink of seaweed solution to anything looking a bit peaky. Tied in some of the tomatoes again. 
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Wrote grocery shopping list for tonight. Mr F says he has received vouchers for money off a number of the things we buy, so I know he will prioritise the £1-off ones rather than the 50p-offs. I turned the current cat meat box out over the floor this morning for a count up (Soot thought he was getting 2 breakfasts!) in the hope we wouldn't need a new box of 40 tonight, but of course we do, as we get through 5 pouches a day. We do have enough Persian Queen variety for Ash (who as an ex-feral has become quite cheekily fussy about such things!) so have suggested a box of F (AGAIL) for Soot who likes it & is usually a little bit cheaper. 
*Posted my state pension forecast query on the NI thread.
*Wrote June's birthday cards - bought a while ago for my stash, ditto stamps.
*Made dough for tonight's pizza & a batch of rolls.
*Did a few surveys - not a lot, but it all adds up. June's PA earnings currently at £12-12, but the month is yet very young.
*Knit heel flap & turn heel on current sock for presents bag....ideally get the foot stitches picked up & shaped too.
We have been discussing the weekend today. Mr F suggested an outing to a local-ish gorge which is one of our favourite weekendy places & I was torn, because if we just have one final gardening weekend big push, we will have caught up despite the weather & my birthday holiday, etc, & from then it will just be maintenance. He says he is all for having the 'big push' weekend as long as it could also involves some beer allowance & an ice-cream! Yep, I think we can manage that! I love it when the garden gets to the maintenance stage. There's still the weeding, watering, feeding, etc, but it also starts to become about picking, cooking, preserving & eating and all the garden bits can just be tackled on very much more of a pottering about basis. Well, Soot telling me the outright fib that it's cat tea-time, which it isn't as they have it at about 5.45pm, but I must go & check those rolls & get them into the oven if they are nicely proved.
Wishing everyone a nice evening.
F x