Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

@Moorviews - Our garden isn't enormous by any stretch, it's a typical 1930s one - narrow & long. It's only about 30' wide, but is 135' long with just over a third of it given over to growing food (counting the greenhouse, as that is what it is used for apart from storing my agapanthus pots overwinter) & the rest is flower borders, small wildlife pond & courtyard. I have to keep reminding myself that there is no such thing as a 'finished' garden. It helps me to think of it more as a little piece of land which requires ongoing tending, otherwise I think I'd look at all the wretched bindweed & give up! However, as a life-long exercise-dodger, I have to say that I'd be even more unfit if I wasn't so regularly out in the garden weeding, clearing & generally getting physical with all manner of green stuff!
F

foxgloves

Back again to say I did do all those planned tasks. There was more roast pork left than I thought, so as well as the allocations for the 2 further meals mentioned, I also added some to a box of assorted roast veg & gravy to form the basis of the next Epic Man Stew (as there is bound to be one looming!) & the remaining piece, I cut into chunks & froze as I can make a chilli with those. So that's 9 portions in total, working out at 1.44 per portion. I do use plenty of veg in some of these knock-on meals, as meat is expensive on our budgets & the environment so stretching a roast joint is a good way of getting all the flavour without too big a meat portion, I always think.
Also entered a competition, cast on my S-i-L's socks for the present bag (such a nice colourway, I wish they were mine! Another bargainaceous ball of yarn from our local charity bookshop).
Did a couple of surveys, including such a boring one I swear I could feel my grey cells shrivelling, & also cashed out of Taste Nation with a £5 voucher they'd run out of last time I looked, but had got back in stock.
Finally, wrote up some notes from the NI query I posted on the Pensions part of the forum. @badmemory & @Tescodealqueen - Thanks for suggesting that as a first port of call, as I understand it now. I've made some notes, revisited my State Pension Forecast & am feeling much better informed. What I perceived as an anomaly actually wasn't, but you were correct in that it was indeed to do with the fact that I was contracted out. I have made notes, & intend to explain it to Mr F, as he also has a lot of contracted out years & I think he is confused about the same aspect as I was. The upshot is that I am not quite on line for a full state pension, but I could achieve this if I opt to pay an additional 2 years of voluntary contributions. This would give me an £10-63 per week. I will give this some thought, as I do have a Local Authority pension too. I understand which years will be of benefit to fill in & as I am still 7 years away from state pension age, I have time to run various figures & give it some thought. I am due to get my work pension earlier than this, so one thing which I will consider possibly filling in those final 2 missing NI years from my lump sum. I'm glad I made those voluntary contributions last year - the comms were a nightmare at the time, but it is good to be able to see how it has made a positive difference to my forecast. 
Right, the sun has decided to make a belated appearance so I am going to check on the veg .
Hope everyone has got off to a decent start to the week.
F x

badmemory

As you say you have 7 years to think about it.  Perhaps look at it a different way.  You have 7 years during which you can put under £2k in a savings account which will give you £10 a week for life.  £400 a year after tax for life, every penny back in under 5 years.  Of course if you did some grandchild sitting you could get them free, even better!

Tescodealqueen

I wasn’t going to pay the additional Voluntary Contributions but the recent high inflation meant that the higher state pension was a better deal. You could consider starting a direct debit to pay Ni (I did it quarterly)which I did for the last two years and challenging yourself to make that extra amount from surveys etc then you are still gaining interest on what you would have paid by leaving it in savings

WannabeSaver4

Thank you the budget tips Foxgloves. I've had a go. I think in the past the I've been tempted to be optimistic rather than realistic which has meant the budget's have been unattainable. In the past I thought I had a good handle on 'need' Vs 'want' but I think worrying about what other(s) children have has meant that I've been tempted to splurge on the kids, when they for the most part don't care and secondly they really don't need to best of things as they will drop them etc. There is also method in spending sometimes in charity shops etc to avoid buying full items, but its only a bargain if you would actually by the full price item. Note to self here!

The week I have done some jiggering around in order to get the end of the month budget to balance. I'm happy to say that this is big progress, and might be the start of actual proper budgeting.
Thank you x

foxgloves

@WannabeSaver4 - You're welcome. It really is a matter of finding a budget method which works in achieving what you want your money to do for you.
I still have to tell myself about things not being bargains if I wouldn't have seriously considered them at full price. I have been an absolute devil for sale rail buys in the Spendy Era which I then barely wore because I didn't really like them enough, so I know what you mean about charity shops.
F

foxgloves

Hello Diary Readers,
Leisurely morning - popped into town for breakfast with Mr F who had a much later start due to a very late shift tonight - so will start with that:
*Breakfast at lovely old cafe. Budget-neutral as used Personal Spends.
*Strawberries on offer 3 containers for £5 which I bought for jamming (not enough homegrown ones)
*Found some piano music in charity bookshop £2.99.
*Underplanted the witch hazel on our front courtyard with rudbeckia for a splash of late summer colour (grown from free seed).
*Pulled 1kg of rhubarb from garden.
*Made strawberry & rhubarb jam (8 jars) Sugar was free as it was in that substandard supermarket delivery which was refunded.
*Watched a 25p charity shop DVD thriller. It was good. Can go back to charity shop now.
*Knitted more of S-i-L's socks for the present bag.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfadt.
Well, I am Queen of the Remote Control tonight & have just remembered half a bag of caramel buttons in the cupboard. That's me set up for 'Sewing Bee' tonight.
F x

foxgloves

Afternoon Campers,
Decent day so far. The only intended task I haven't yet done is tying in greenhouse tomatoes again, which I may get done today, but if not, will prioritise it for tomorrow morning. One thing I like about TRE breakfast time being at 10am is that it is surprising how many jobs I can get done beforehand & this means that I really enjoy sitting down with something to eat & a more leisurely coffee, while reading my book or deciding how best to allocate the rest of my day. Anyway, budget-helping stuff today includes the following:
*Baked bread.
*Picked strawberries for tonight's dessert, which we will top with a couple of tbsp yoghurt which needs using up. Plenty more left to pick.
*Made tomorrow's packed breakfast & lunch.
*Chose a week's worth of meals from June's master meal plan. As the weather looks wet, we are going to postpone our planned day trip up to North Yorkshire so Mr F is planning to try out a new recipe instead -so that was a tweak, but everything else is from the master plan & makes use of various little odds & sods in the freezer.
*Took delivery of our fish order, divvied it into suitable portions & froze. Trimmings & a lone stray fillet & chunk of salmon have gone into a box ready to make a fish pie at some point.
*Did a couple of minor financials.
*Some use-it-up toiletries lined up for bathtime later, as I'd like to make a bit of space in the bathroom cabinet. IN the time-honoured frugal way, I diluted a creamy body wash a couple of weeks ago & can't believe how many additional uses I've got out of it.
*Did a few surveys, including one which was a recruitment for some products to test.
*Found 2/3 of a bottle of red wine sitting on the kitchen dresser which wasn't anything I remembered us buying. Mr F solved the mystery.....there were several decent part bottles left after the event he staffed at work last night, so the caterer shared them out between staff, all of whom were apparently pleased to have some free wine!
Nothing to do with money saving, but I have finally talked myself into digging out my unfinished novel & getting the first draft finished. I do really enjoy creative writing, but it comes in great rushes of enthusiasm followed by very lengthy periods in which I lose all confidence in it. I read through where I am up to & deliberately left my pencil in another room so I couldn't get sidetracked by editing. I can see a part of it which needs work but also parts I'm happy with & look forward to editing on 2nd draft......but first I have to finish the pesky initial draft so have given myself a deadline of November for that. I have also given myself another talking-to as I really enjoy creative writing & as I've said many times before, it's a shame I am such an absolute b*gger for finding any kind of displacement activity other than actually putting pencil to paper!! And a completely free hobby as I am writing it in a lovely thick book which has oodles of pages left & love pencils so much, I always have a big enticing stash of those! So I have reduced this year's creative writing goal down simply to this - "Get the first draft finished". I am not thinking about any other stages or what I may or may not do with it afterwards, just to tell my story right through to the end.
Love to all,
F x

foxgloves

@Tescodealqueen - Yes, I paid voluntary NICs last year & did a lot of calculations beforehand to check that it would be a positive decision. I don't have my workings-out now, but it was a no-brainer for me & this was confirmed by the advisor to whom I spoke. I'm glad I made the decision as am only 2 years short now.

@badmemory - Yes, after reading your comment, I did have a think about various ways I could pay & I could indeed put a modest sum away each month either to cover those final 2 years in their entirety or towards a payment nearer the time. I do have 7 years to sort it out. The credits for 'Grandchild-sitting' however is a not a goer for me, as Mr F & I don't have children, either with each other or with anyone else. The very few credits on my NI record are from signing on over the summer when I was a student (which had stopped by the time Mr F was at university, he being a few years younger than me) & also in between my 2 graduations & starting work. Apart from that (which was back in the 1980s), I worked without a break & paid full NI up until taking voluntary redundancy. 
I quite like the idea of putting a little into an interest bearing account each month to cover those final 2 years though.....I could cover each year with 24 months of £36 put aside. I intend to take my work pension at 65 so could still use some of my lump sum from that if necessary or use some of our existing savings, but it would be nice if I didn't need to do so, especially if we are still wanting to relocate to a more expensive area of the country when Mr F retires.
Thanks both of you for your comments, anyway.
F

PennysIntoPounds

What a Brucie Bonus for Mr F to come back with free wine!
Great that you're refocusing on writing. Do you have a length aim in mind?