Thrifty in my 60's

sheilavw

I turned 60 in February last year. I work full time in a busy school and also help care for my Brother with my siblings (he has Downs syndrome). In March we had to close the school due to snow and I got an unexpected friday off. I really enjoyed the impromptu day which got me thinking that I would like a day off every week. Hence I have gone on 4 days, today is my 3rd Monday off. I am a member of a really lovely local gym. Thanks to my Nephew I get half price membership through his company. I use it mainly for swimming. This morning I have an aqua class, then I will do my half a mile swim.

I also try to be thrifty with my bills. I am a widow, my Husband sadly died of Motor Neurone disease 4 years ago. I tend to cook a meal that I can have twice. I only wash twice a week now. I take care that I don't leave lights on etc. This goes out of the window when my Daughters visit! I'm hoping the day off won't impact too much on my salary, less pension, tax and NI etc, I may end up wanting 3 days eventurally !

Floss

Sheila, I worked out that dropping to 4 days would "cost" me around the same as my mortgage payment as there is less tax & NI to be paid - for a an accurate estimate look at https://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk  

I also have a small former employer pension now being drawn. The difference in my NHS pension contributions from dropping a day will be more than offset by paying that small pension into my private pension pot as the tax that I pay at source will be added back by HM Government 😉 (as advised by my IFA).

sheilavw

thanks Floss. I have just contacted my energy supplier Outfox the Market. I pay £155.45 a month and I am £1006 in credit. They have reduced my payment to £110 a month. They have arranged a refund. I have asked them to keep half for Winter so they are sending £500 back. I also pay a simply health plan and didnt get full use really so I reduced that slightly and save another £10, all adds up!

I_Love_comps

Thank you for all your replies so far. I like the idea of 60 things in my sixtieth year.   
 I like writing pen- pal letters . So maybe write 60 letters .
My mother is alive and is 88. I would not want what she is fading slowly away with either. She has Dementia.

boultdj

Don't forget free eye tests when your 60, it did use to be 50 about 20 years ago, but things change.  
Unless your diabetic, then you get free eye test at any age as it can affect the eyes as well as the feet.

Rosa_Damascena

I'm pretty sure you get extra Advantage Card points at Boots if you sign up to something after 60.

AnneMary

I was 60 in 2020. I had decided to do something “special“ every month of the year. Let’s just say it went somewhat pear-shaped. However, I could say it was the birthday I celebrated for almost 3 years as I finally finished the special events in July 2023!

goldfinches

I turn 60 next April and am really enjoying reading through the posts on this thread to give me some suggestions of changes I might make. 
@Floss - thanks for that link, very useful. That tax reclaiming advice from your IFA is very clever too. 

One of the things I'm investigating for myself at the moment is electric bicycles as this one I spotted in the street a few days ago would mean I could zip around so much more easily than on my current road bike.



I'm also planning to go to the Persephone Festival for a birthday treat and am determined to find either a swimming pool that's warm enough for me to use it or a Turkish bath or both. 

tinsy

Brie said:

An internet friend started a 60 things at 60 thread that we took great delight in.  One thing was to receive 60 postcards from 60 different places! Well that set us all off when we were on jolly hols!!  She also had on her list to design and make her own bra which I thought was really wonderful! (everyone who hates bra shopping put their hands up now!)

What I didn't do (& should have) was double check my pensions.  I actually had one that I could have started taking at 60 but the pension admins had given me incorrect info so I delayed and missed out on 5 years of payments - yes the pension increased in that time but the money would have been handy and the tax implications were, if not significant, interesting.  So do a financial check, including SP forecast.  

I always say I was blessed in that having found a new job at 60 I was then starting to think about how I would bow out of that at 66, 67, whenever. The blessing was that they then made me redundant at 64.5 so gave me a great whacking cushion for going into (semi) retirement.

Have recently semi retired, can't afford to go completely for a few years yet. I've just started my 60 after 60 list ticked off my first one, having paddle boarding lesson 😄. It's a great idea as time seems to fly by so quickly and so many things I want to do. 

I_Love_comps

Yesterday was an NSD for me.  Today a DD of £40 has gone out .
60 outings during my 60 year sounds good I have 2 planned outings already. Only 58 to go