Escape to the country & living off savings

Skint_yet_Again

Yes he will Time2count 🤩 He came with me so he could check he was happy with being able to match up the pattern 😆 He was getting fed up of my being indecisive in the end so I bought the only one we both liked rather than my favourite at £35 a roll 😬

My council tax bill has arrived. Increased from £102 to £110 for April and £106 for May to January. Have updated my budget. 

SuzeQStan

Hey SYA good to hear you feelin better -

interesting about the council tax - am
in trepidation about ours.  We pay it over 12 months to spread the pain out and also so it helps my brain by making the budget more uniform.  

I have a weird thing where I don’t like to see basic bills in total increase by more than £100 (all in) every 5 years.  And over the last 30 years we have pretty much been on track with that.  Not sure 5 years from now though the way bills have risen.

Skint_yet_Again

Wow Suze I bet it’s interesting to look back over 5 years  🤔 

I get the council tax single person discount and pay over 10 months with the other 2 months going into one of my pots. Have used it to visit family this year. I thought the increase might be more. 

badmemory

Basic state pension rising by almost £7 a week.  So £30 a month.  Water rates up by £20 a month & council tax by £10 a month.  Anyone would think I lived in a palace not a band B.  It is a good job I worked on for an extra 5 years so I had enough to live on but that only goes up by 1.7%.  Still the next years increase should be over 10% again.  But as they say 10% of not a lot is not a lot.  Thank goodness for savings.

Skint_yet_Again

                                             2017  2022   2025
Mortgage................................ 208.  223        0
Council tax............................. 128.   167  110
Electricity and gas                     58.    95    77
Water rates.............................   44     40    21
Mobile phone............................   7.    8     10
TV Licence..............................   12.12.      15
Landline/Cable TV/ internet....... 38.    62    0
Petrol/diesel...........................    40.    40    40
Presents (birthday, christmas etc).50 .50   50
Entertainment........................... 50.          100
savings for bills....................... 100.          100
Car                                           28.28.   50  50
food                                                     120 160

You've got me looking back now Suze. 😂          I can’t compare exactly like for like due to changes in my circumstances such as 2025 now living on my own, water meter in 2025 etc but it’s still interesting to see what changed and what stayed the same in my budget. 

SuzeQStan

Ooh I love it SYA - it’s amazing how a lot of your bills have gone down!  

My grandma kept weekly diaries all 68 years of her marriage and weekly spending. My favourite diary is from the Great Depression era. People were just so resourceful and I guess she had to be when my grandad was away at war.  My grands grew a lot of their own food, and once demob grandad bartered his trade for what they needed. (Plasterer who routinely carried 6.5 stone bag under each arm) 

I have my own version of diary - more of a binder with bills and pages of notes - it’s funny how dreams change over time - it’s wound down quite a bit tho since everything moved online. Boring spreadsheet nowadays. 

But why did I want a coffee table that was £800 back in 2004?!? Obviously that didn’t happen 🙄🤣🤣

Skint_yet_Again

 It’s definitely cheaper living up north than down south Suze !! Your grandparents sound amazing. I only keep a diary here and went back to my old one to check the changes. I also reread my diary over covid. It’s amazing what we went through. £800 for a coffee table 😳

Sorry to hear about all the costs rising for you too badmemory. Are you having to manage on your own? 

Sunny but rain showers today and cold. Have just been resting and reading. Popped to my friends for a cuppa. Off to my sisters in the morning so might not post over the weekend 

badmemory

I am actually very lucky although I am virtually keeping my son who hasn't been able to work for 5 years now.  He doesn't give me much but that doesn't matter as long as we still have enough, after all he will get the lot anyway.  I say lucky but a lot of it was self made luck.  I knew my state pension wouldn't be enough & just before I was due to retire my DC pension sank like a stone & the annuity rates also sank, so I worked on for 6 years & deferred my state pension for 5 years & back then it was 10.4% a year & saved all the first years pension.

The biggest joke of all though was my mother always cried poverty so when we went out together my siter or I always paid.  I'll leave the rest to your imagination.  But it did add to my "luck".

It just gripes with me that they keep implying that all state pensioners are so well off & most are not.  If they were then there would not be so many extra being dragged into paying tax that HMRC are grinding to a halt.  My notification was 6 months late & I only got it then because I rang & had a whinge.

SuzeQStan

Hey SYA hope you had a lovely time & weekend at your sisters?  Xx

Skint_yet_Again

Glad you are able to look after yourself and your son badmemory. 

Had a lovely weekend thanks Suze 😊 Nice walk along the seafront on Saturday in the warm sun. Home now. 

Did a small shop in aldee £20.62 including meat, loo rolls, milk, fruit, curry sauce, washing up liquid. I already have peppers, courgettes, butternut squash, onions, eggs, cheese, tin tuna, bread, butter, mayo, tin mixed beans, tin chickpeas, tin tomatoes in fridge/cupboard plus goose mince and white fish & veg in the freezer 

Remaining in current account £55.32 should cover petrol next week and groceries. 

Aquafit in the morning