Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Hi Friday Frugalistas,
A gently productive day with a few budget-friendly offerings:
*Quick market visit for local farm stall veg.
*Baked bread.
*Joint effort on prepping oodles of carrots, garlic (Mr F) & other ingredients (me) for infusing overnight prior to making a batch of carrot & garlic chutney tomorrow. Recipe from old tv programme by Sophie Grigson called 'Feasts for a fiver' - bet they wouldn't be now!
*Did my mid-month budget check-in. No nasty surprises. Only £5-70 out on my original March budget & that's almost certainly from mistakenly changing a monthly dd amount a month early on my bills spreadsheet. Sent it to the Clothes Pot anyway.
*Entered a competition.
Jobs finished for the day. Mr F's cooking night which will involve salmon fillets & normandy potatoes. I'm going to make the place look cosy before settling down with my book. Soot found an ancient cat biscuit underneath the old wooden chest we use as a coffee table this morning. He was so pleased with himself, you'd have thought he'd hunted down a bison at the very least!
Enjoy your evenings, all.
F x

Suffolk_lass

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

Your frozen local authority pension will have improved since you stopped working too, thanks to some indexation. It might be worth you getting an up-to-date forecast and compare the cost (actuarial reduction) in taking it early, with the benefit of having that money early and being able to spend/save it.

In the civil service, under the old scheme (used to be the principle civil service pension scheme, then referred to as "classic") with a reserved right to scheme pension age at 60, going midway between 57 and 58 was the optimum for return. You might find that taking yours between 62 and 63 is better for you financially than waiting until you are 65. I recommend you do the maths.

My interpretation of "I am only missing 2 years & those are from working so many years contracted out" is that your shortfall is only the difference between Basic and New state pensions, and not 33 out of 35 years. In either case, yes, well worth buying those two years. 

Re your AVCs policy - for us, Mr SL drew his (direct contribution pot) down in lumps in each of the years after stopping work, before this one (in which he has started to receive his state pension). This was so that the tax free lump sum (25%) was augmented by his income in those years being below that tax-paying threshold. You should explore this too, with a view to minimising your future tax liability. You are, I think, within the ten year legitimate draw-down point and rather than adding to your lump sum in a few years time, you could use it towards project S now!

I'll stop now...

Crazycatlady2

Not been reading for along time due to a massive life change so just skim read your diary and thought I'd let you know how much I enjoy reading about your cats antics on your posts.

We recently had to have our cat put to sleep as he had cancer in his jaw. In the 22 years I've been with my husband this is first time we haven't had a cat and had upto 3 at a time so this feels worse somehow him being the last. Haven't come to bring down the tone if the thread though

I also like hearing about your home hour and realised that's kind of what I do as I don't work due to youngest being disabled and we have moved to a bigger house and I've still not get myself into a good home routine yet but I'm trying to then I'll get to grips with getting back to money saving as we got into debt doing work on the house but our old one will be sold soon so we can get sorted out

Anyway I didn't mean to ramble on sorry...hope you get out in the garden this weekend 😊

Humdinger1

I hope I'm not going from the sublime to the ridiculous but ...straighten witchy locks @foxgloves? No! As the proud possessor of curls that I like to think Bohemian, please rejoice in the curl.  Right, I'll slink out having contributed nothing to pensions chat which is incredibly important.   Love Humdinger xx 

foxgloves

Afternoon Campers!
Thanks for all your comments, to which I shall reply properly tomorrow when I'm on my laptop rather than my phone. 
A real old-style weekend here. Swapped our planned city centre trip for plans for a local-ish lakeside walk, then postponed that too, when their online car park pass purchasing system proved utterly inpenetrable. We decided we weren't fussed & would enjoy a weekend pottering around at home, with the knock-on money saving effect.
*Finally got around to making the aforementioned carrot & garlic chutney. Managed to utilise a use-it-up as didn't have the required 1L of cider vinegar so I wrung out various ends of vinegar bottles I did have. Good batch & more joyously orange than we remembered from previous batches, perhaps due to using freshly pulled local farm carrots, idk. 
*Knitted more of my socks with the lacy panel.
*Lots of reading, a bit of crosswording - so free entertainment. Mr F did succumb to a crisps & chocolate sortie in the evening, but budget-neutral as those type of vices come from our Personal Spends.
*Really useful morning in the garden today:
- Rescued more self-seeded plant freebies - 3 decent clumps of forget-me-nots, 5 more foxgloves & 2 aquilegias. Re-planted to fill gaps along with a big clump of a pretty magenta hardy geranium I divided last week.
- Emptied cold frame & scrubbed it out with hot soapy water. Investigated contents. Had lost a few bits to the usual mollusc suspects but plenty of freebies to plant out during the coming week - a white comfrey, an aquilegia (hoping that the teeny tiny seedling I appropriated is going to be a 'Black Barlow' but they are so promiscuous it could be anything!) Also 3 hollyhocks from saved seeds, a primula in bud (looks like a pale blue one maybe), 2 firethorn cuttings which I struck for Mr F's wild area behind the shed & a clump of marguerites.  Oh, & a good-sized over- wintered penstemon from my friend. These will be free gap-fillers in the newly cleared borders.
*Watered all my over-wintered agapanthus pots in the greenhouse as they are re-growing, then watered all seed trays as plenty of stuff popping up now.
*Mr F made good in-roads into emptying a very large raised bed prior to dismantling it once the appropriate tools have been acquired. He's certainly had a good work-out.
*Pear tree had a free drink of worm liquid feed.
*Sorted my stash of large jars (which live in the shed) for bottling. Recycled all the overly large ones & matched all the remaining ones up with correct lids. I should add that when I came in from dropping all the unwanted jars into our glass recycling bin, Mr F remarked that the neighbours will think that was all my gin bottles!! What a cheek!
*Sorted out a selection of troughs & pots for sowing some of our container veg next week. No need to buy any additional ones as ours are old but perfectly functional.
Mr F is now making a roast dinner.....which I am eyeing for beef leftovers stroganoff tomorrow all being well. 
I am aiming for a productive week ahead, hopefully much of it money-saving one way or another.
Enjoy the rest of Sunday,
F x

Blackcats

Some car park payment arrangements are so complicated and it sounds like you enjoyed the day without the ordeal of unfathomable parking rules.  We researched parking in the seaside town we visited on Friday in case there were no spaces in the hotel car park.  From my interpretation of the car parking info we had to pay on line in advance for tickets of up to 4 hours between 8 and 6 but couldn't do that for stays of more than 4 hours and an overnight stay would be discounted but had to be paid for by app in the car park.  Of course, that was just my interpretation and as I flunked my A level in car parking in seaside towns I could have got it completely wrong.
luckily MrBC managed to manoeuvre our car into the wonkiest, tiniest, hemmed in by concrete pillars hotel parking space and the car stayed there throughout our stay,

Suffolk_lass

I shall never forget my trip to the local glass bank with three crates of bottles and two of jars - I was part way through when someone observed that it must have been a good party. Before I could stop myself I had retorted that it was just our normal consumption, and then they looked embarrassed, said OH! and clearly reclassified me as an alcoholic. What I didn't say, was that I hadn't emptied the glass stash at home for nearly three months, due to work at home preventing the crates being moved (but still permitting those with arms like Mr Sl (or Mr F) to reach in and add more.

In turn, that reminded me of the time I was showing prospective buyers around our family home - a large house we had shared with my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, and our cousins. The front wall had flat mortar panels with names on. The potential buyer said how sweet, that all the pets names were there. I retorted that they were not pets, they were children. They left, really quickly, and it was only when recounting this to my Dad that he burst out laughing and said she had assumed they were buried under the plaques, so when I said they were children... anyway, they didn't buy our house!

foxgloves

@Suffolk_lass - Thanks for your pension thoughts, which I shall factor in, along with everything else. I have no desire to start spending my work pension even if I did take it early, as we shall need all the help we can get to bridge the property price gap if we are to move to Suffolk, which is still our intention. Your tale about the children's names in the plaques made me laugh!

@Crazycatlady2 - Plenty of cat antics here - Soot has had to have a shout this morning & Ash 2 bangs on the kitchen window for being a monkey. So sorry to hear about your cat being pts. I can really identify with the sadness of this as we lost our previous dear old cat to cancer too. They anaesthetised him for a routine procedure (part of trying to get to the bottom of why he'd been so poorly) & that's when they found advanced cancer we decided it was kinder not to bring him round. It's always hard to lose a fur friend & I do understand how different the house feels with no meows. Maybe in time you will feel able to adopt another, but it can take time, I know, to feel ready.

@Blackcats - That was some feat of car parking by Mr BC! Fair play to him for beating the system in a small but significant way!

@Humdinger1 - Lol, I am taking myself to task more for having used the term 'witchy' in a perjorative manner - my hair is very definitely NOT curly. It's straight, but kinks for no good reason other than spite, so showing it the straighteners on a fairly regular basis has to happen to show it who's boss!
F

foxgloves

Greetings Monday Money Savers,
Fairly normal Monday for me here at Foxgloves Manor. Decided to prioritise indoor tasks with the intention of using Wednesday & Thursday, which are forecast to be sunny, for some good productive garden sessions. A low spend day - I did need to renew an annual membership to a county family history group, but that is a hobby so financed from my Personal Spends & has no effect on the household budget. Budget-friendly stuff today:
*Fed sourdough jar.
*Cut up yesterday's roast beef leftovers to make stroganoff tonight. 
*Did 2 loads of laundry & pegged out to dry.
*Did my regular Monday morning budget updates - not a lot to do, mostly grocery budget & Personal Spends. Reconciled my CC statement which landed today - no nasty surprises, the amount owed is exactly to the penny the single transaction I expected & is a planned payment in March's budget.
*Received a £5 off discount code from online purveyor of tights for filling in a customer survey. Hadn't intended to order, but it seemed silly not to use it so just ordered a new pair of black footless which I wear a lot in the warmer months with my summer uniform of dresses/tunics/footless tights & sandals. 
*Cleared out my in-basket right to the very bottom & dealt with everything. Some of it just required filing, other was stuff which needed actioning - now all done. Felt so motivated by this that I applied the same vigour to my email inbox afterwards. Good to get this done before it reached the 'Annoying Jobs' stage.
*Wrote new library wish-list.
*Noted new interest rates on our various savings accounts.
*Big filing session.
*Home care hour today has been laundry, vacuuming & cleaning muddy pawprints off a windowsill.
*Am decluttering an Ignored-For-Years-Bought-Back-In-The Spendy-Years-Musical-Instrument to my very musical nephew. Could I afford this item at the time? Nope? Well......technically, as I bought it direct from the craftsman with my birthday money (having convinced myself it would be useful at work) BUT as often happened with birthday & Christmas money back in the bad old days, I would actually spend it multiple times. I spent it on this item, then because it did have potential use in a specific element of my job (& I couldn't afford the large singing bowl I had seen on a training course, I told myself it didn't really count as 'a present' so went my usual way of spending the same amount again (in cash) on something else, then often again (on a card). I seem to remember another of us late-reformers used to employ the same birthday money stretching technique - @Blackcats, was it you? I think it may have been. Anyway, I digress.....the important thing is that this instrument which has lain up in the loft for over 2 decades is off to pastures new. I have checked it over & bubble wrapped it & am so pleased it will be used & appreciated. 
*Dealt with my stair bag & put everything away where it belongs upstairs. 
*Checked propagator & all seedlings now coming up. Got to look after this year's food supplies!
Well, that's been today. Hoping to get a chapter of my book read too.
Am feeling motivated for the week ahead & hoping to have achieved plenty of stuff (& spent very little) by Friday.
Take care, m'dears,
F x

Makingabobor2

Another productive day.  I'm hoping to get out in the garden later in the week as well. Was bitter cold here today.