Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Cheery_Daff

Hope you got your chocolate bunnies! 🐇 

We had our water bill yesterday too - a 9% increase for us. But we are not on mains drainage so our bill is pretty cheap anyway, the increase is about £1.67 a month so I can't complain too much (although that £1.67 would probably have furnished us with a nice extra packet of chocolate bunnies I suppose 😂)

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams! (though I should add that we have had just as much in the way of squally rain showers & hailstones as we have sunshine)
I can assure all well wishes on the subject, that it was indeed little chocolate bunnies, filled with caramel, which we shared between us.
I must sign out after I've put today's post on - I can feel a stiff neck-induced headache getting set in, due I'm sure to too much screen time this afternoon. Much more than I intended, but there have been a lot of surveys & it's a shame not to keep earning from them once on a roll. I shall rattle off today's budget-friendly odds & ends, the sign out, go & fetch a big glass of water & have some eye-rest.
*Checked veggie seedlings. Nothing untoward going on yet. I could do with the aubergines getting a shift on from the seed-leaf stage as I shall want propagator space for cucumbers soon.
*Cooked the chickpeas I soaked yesterday & made a batch of falafel. I always use the basic Cranks recipe for chickpea croquettes, but make smaller round falafel shapes instead. I also vary the spices from time to time so lobbed a bit of za'atar into the mixture today. Some will be served for tonight's meal with some spicy veggie bulghur & the others have been frozen for either another meal, a picnic or snacks/a starter at some point.
*Home care hour - Vacuumed all of downstairs, cleaned the bathroom, took a good wodge of Pink Paste to the kitchen sink (good at removing coffee stains), emptied bins & then went around topping things up - multi-surface cleaner, bubble bath decanter, bathroom diffuser bottle. Mr F said to leave something for him so he can vacuum upstairs & the staircase tomorrow when he's off. Well, you just can't turn down this sort of offer, can you?
*Online grocery order arrived on time. Only own-label frozen peas unavailable. What an odd thing not to have in stock. Everything sorted & put away. We did make good use of that £10 off a £75 spend code as we took the opportunity to stock up the pantry on a few regularly-used basics plus thinking ahead to a couple of ingredients I shall need for Easter baking. I unladed the crates straight onto our stairs, which are right by the front door. The delivery driver said, "Oh, I see you've got your little helper". I turned round & there was Soot sitting on the stairs in the middle of the shopping investigating every item as it was added. It didn't take him long to find the Lick-e-Lix & then a pack of deli-meat for Mr F's sarnies!
*Did quite a lot of surveys. Kept thinking "I'll stop after this one" then another one would pop up & it seemed silly not to leap onto back to back £4 ones, as these can help increase earnings total without spending hours. Anyway, my March PA earnings are currently at £32-08 once everyone has paid me. Not quite mid-month yet, so will keep checking. I think Mr F said he's doing well too this month, he's earned a lot more than me which will doubtless delight him as I gather he has some or other limited edition muso box-set arriving any day now.
*Knitted the ribbing on 2nd presents stash sock.
And that has pretty much been my day. I'm not intending to do anything else that could be considered 'a job' except cook dinner & I have already done most of the chopping & prep for that while waiting for the groceries to arrive. I do intend to take the straighteners to my witchy tresses though before I get my backside onto the sofa, so I shall head in that direction now.
Enjoy your evenings & hope nobody has got caught in any of these brisk hail showers.
F x

Makingabobor2

Is your multi surface cleaner by any chance, an orange smelling one?  I know you frequent the zero waste refill shops, like I do.  If not, you should look out for that one, as its really nice. I'll be paying a visit next week as I have a few things to top up.  
Hope your headache doesn't come to anything. 

cbsexec

Cheery_Daff said:

Hope you got your chocolate bunnies! 🐇 

We had our water bill yesterday too - a 9% increase for us. But we are not on mains drainage so our bill is pretty cheap anyway, the increase is about £1.67 a month so I can't complain too much (although that £1.67 would probably have furnished us with a nice extra packet of chocolate bunnies I suppose 😂

We are not on main drainage but our water company have decided that we deserve the biggest rise - 46%     I need chocolate bunnies for the shock 

Makingabobor2

cbsexec said:

Cheery_Daff said:

Hope you got your chocolate bunnies! 🐇 

We had our water bill yesterday too - a 9% increase for us. But we are not on mains drainage so our bill is pretty cheap anyway, the increase is about £1.67 a month so I can't complain too much (although that £1.67 would probably have furnished us with a nice extra packet of chocolate bunnies I suppose 😂

We are not on main drainage but our water company have decided that we deserve the biggest rise - 46%     I need chocolate bunnies for the shock 

46%??!!!   That is outrageous.  How can we be paying so much for such a basic commodity?   The world has truly gone mad. 

Suffolk_lass

I have just been reading on @edinburgher's diary about the increase in the tax reporting threshold for side hustles (which includes surveys income for some) and as I am reading your diary it occurred to me that you (being ER/VR) are below your personal tax threshold, and then I thought about the transfer of personal tax allowance you could make to Mr foxgloves if he is not a higher rate tax payer. And I have never heard you mention this.  If he is a higher rate tax payer, could he pay some of that above the threshold into a SIPP so he (gets the tax back, and) can draw it down when he is retired at a lesser tax rate? as part of Project Surbiton? then you could transfer your unused tax-free unused portion to him to further reduce his tax (and increase your savings) - a free and legitimate way of increasing your savings

Also, your state pension. I know I have mentioned this before but Martin's podcast this week talks about people needing to make up any shortfall years since 2006 before 1st or 6th April (which I think you looked at) but then he went on to sort of answer a question from someone who had been in an occupational pension scheme and how the years before April 2016 only count towards the basic pension, not the higher "new state pension" (NSP). What he didn't say while I was listening to (and I was popping in and out) was that if you were in that sort of scheme up to when the Chancellor removed the SERPS reduction (2016), any years you worked after that, do qualify towards years of the NSP. I believe you were in a public sector scheme so this applies to you, but similarly to anyone in a defined benefit scheme (occupational, based on final or average salary).

So (for example) say you took VR in March 2018 - you would have two years towards NSP. If you then bought the remaining six years between then and now (completed TY), you would have 8 now, and if you continued, you could bridge the gap to a greater degree, between Basic and New (for the 2024-25 tax year, the full new State Pension is £221.20 per week, while the basic State Pension is £169.50 per week; so a current difference of £51.70. Per week!). 

I know you are really very savvy with your spending and low impact, and you might know all of this and be on it, but as you don't really talk about it (and because it may impact other readers of your diary, and the deadline for going back to 2006 to fill gaps is rapidly approaching), I have hijacked your diary to mention it again; invest in your future someone calls it.

foxgloves

Thanks for all of that @Suffolk_lass - I'll have a closer read-through later. Re state pension, I've defo talked about that in my diary when I was moaning about not hearing back from HMRC for months when I submitted a complaint about non-existent comms. When I paid all those voluntary NICs last year (or it might have actually been 2023), I did go back for as many of those years as I could get after discussing it with an advisor. I am only missing 2 years & those are from working so many years contracted out. I am minded to pay for the additional two, but atm I am waiting to hear about something else which might impact me financially. I have a Local Authority pension - have left it in situe rather than taking it early as we are comfortable enough on Mr F's salary for our present lifestyle. I intend to take it at 65 as planned. I also have a very small AVC pot (that wasn't really an optimum product for me at the time I signed up for it) but it will still add to my lump sum, as it looks as though I will be able to take it as cash. Mr F is not a higher rate taxpayer btw. 
F

BrilliantButScary

foxgloves said:

Thanks for all of that @Suffolk_lass - I'll have a closer read-through later. Re state pension, I've defo talked about that in my diary when I was moaning about not hearing back from HMRC for months when I submitted a complaint about non-existent comms. When I paid all those voluntary NICs last year (or it might have actually been 2023), I did go back for as many of those years as I could get after discussing it with an advisor. I am only missing 2 years & those are from working so many years contracted out. I am minded to pay for the additional two, but atm I am waiting to hear about something else which might impact me financially. I have a Local Authority pension - have left it in situe rather than taking it early as we are comfortable enough on Mr F's salary for our present lifestyle. I intend to take it at 65 as planned. I also have a very small AVC pot (that wasn't really an optimum product for me at the time I signed up for it) but it will still add to my lump sum, as it looks as though I will be able to take it as cash. Mr F is not a higher rate taxpayer btw. 
F

https://www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance

We've taken advantage of this both ways, allowing me to pay less tax when I was working and now my husband pays less tax on his combination of state/occupational pension.

It can be backdated  to April 2020, provided you meet the criteria and is very easy to do online. You could get a nice tax refund for Project Surbiton, if you don't already do this.

foxgloves

@BrilliantButScary - Thanks for the above.

badmemory

Just to stick my oar in on the state pension.  If you do have a short fall then it can be very worthwhile buying if you are around £6.32 a week short of the full amount & payback is 3 years if you don't pay tax & not that much longer if you do.  It is really a no brainer.  Have you looked at your account & checked out what it says.  There are a lot of threads on here & some really knowledgable people on there.